WHY I HATE Barry Bonds

If you pay any attention to the news at all, you have seen the overwhelming coverage of the steroid scandal in baseball. The face of which is Barry Bonds. Barry’s name is mentioned in every article on the topic despite the fact that he has never tested positive for drug use. What he has been proven guilty of, is having a close relationship with a ring of convicted drug distributors who created a pair of performance enhancing drugs designed to fool Olympic screening. Bonds admitted he tried these products for a short time in leaked Grand Jury transcripts, although he said he thought the 'clear' and the 'cream' to be flaxseed oil and an arthritis balm. He was one of ten major leaguers caught up in this dragnet, yet he alone is painted as the face of the steroid use.

It bothers me that the story has been so Bonds-centric. Playboy ran an article (see, we do read it for the articles) about the investigators at the IRS who hated Bonds arrogence and wanted to prove he was a cheater to shut him up. BALCO is the fall out from that investigation. Press coverage also seems to target Bonds singularly, despite the inclusion of other baseball players in the BALCO probe. One of which, Jason Giambi, was also a recent MVP and is the 120 million-dollar player for the Yankees. Unlike Bonds, he admitted to steroid use. Yet he isn’t the face of the scandal. Giambi plays in a bigger media market, making more money, and was a reigning MVP when the scandal broke but his name is rarely mentioned. Major League Baseball was so forgiving of Giambi that he won the Comeback Player of the Year award after he admitted the drug use and missed a season due to related aliments and injuries. In contrast, Baseball won’t offcially celebrate Bonds milestone HR’s because of the implication that they are tainted.

Does it not sound odd that MLB will not celebrate for a player for whom there is no proof of cheating, but will celebrate for another player who admitted to cheating? Why is there a double standard? I say it is because Giambi is a nice guy, because he is not the HR king and because he is white.

I think people try to justify Bonds being the face of the scandal because of his assault on the record books. Where this might be partially true, most writers admit that they have always hated Bonds and think he is getting his just deserts. They say he is an a-hole, reaping what he has sewn. This is the part that scares me, as I think it is reflective of how society still won’t tolerate a brash black man. Oh, we love our Cosbys and Will Smiths because they are clean-cut and polite, they have nice smiles and are not intimidating. [To this point check out “Through the Fire,” the documentary about Sebastian Telfair. If you do, you should notice that the head of Adidas is in the video about five times complementing Telfair on his nice smile and unselfish demeanor. Adidas is excited to market Telefair because he is a clean-cut and friendly looking kid from the tough Coney Island projects in New York.] Bonds legendary ego clearly is intimidating.

I think intimidating black men still draw the ire of the American public. Think I’m wrong, think that the focus on Bonds is all about a cheater's assault on the record books? Then why when the news leaked this week that Roger Clemens was named in a separate steroid probe was it not front page news? It wasn’t even front page news in the sports column. Every Bonds article is front page fodder for the Chronicle and newspapers nation wide. But when “the greatest pitcher ever” (according to ESPN) gets his name mentioned, it is 6th-page below-the-fold in the sports section news? Clemens isn’t a nice guy and he isn’t liked by players. Ask Mike Piazza about the Rocket, who not only head hunt the ex Dodger (hee hee) regularly but went as far as to throw a broken bat at him during the World Series!

Bonds may be guilty of everything he is accused of, but that he alone is the target of the scrutiny of the press and general public, is reflective of more than the issue of drugs in sports. What it sickenly reflects is that this country is using the steriod scandle to put another "uppity" black man "in his place." This steroid scandal has revealed the state of the American psyche. That is, America can tolerate many things but an arrogant black man is still not one of them.