Strike Three for Barry Bonds

 

BREAKING: David Ortiz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first turn on the ballot, while Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were denied entry in their final year under consideration amid suspicions they used performance-enhancing drugs. https://t.co/CNdcXcJZpc

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 25, 2022

RT if Barry Bonds (@BarryBonds) belongs in Baseball Hall of Fame

🐐: https://t.co/tyVthktpvi pic.twitter.com/4Aw9vJ45wx

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 25, 2022

So many current and ex players tweeting about Barry Bonds being a Hall of Famer. It’s recognized within the game. He had 494 HR and 1,405 RBI prior to the year 2000, which is when he supposedly began using PEDs. You can’t tell the story of baseball without Barry Bonds.

— Will Middlebrooks (@middlebrooks) January 25, 2022

Okay. So what rules do you want changed? What (if anything) should keep a player out of the HOF even though his accomplishments on the field warrant induction. Not that what does/doesn't warrant induction is 100% obvious to begin with. In large part it's a popularity contest.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

I could not agree with this statement more, especially since EVERY OTHER COMMERCIAL on TV these days is for legally betting on sports from the comfort of your own phone. As for Clemens & Bonds, they cheated the game so I'm fine with keeping them out of the HOF for however long. https://t.co/jh54BHJRuw

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 25, 2022

I think it's obvious that Pete Rose should be in the HOF. His gambling was not performing enhancing. But based on antiquated MLB rules voters have every right to keep him out. I agree that some induction rules should be tweaked, but I'm not the one in power to tweak them.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

Via A Line A Day: By any other name he would still be PETE ROSEhttps://t.co/kL93l35dys https://t.co/AwOUy8ydjr

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 25, 2022

As for Barry Bonds, one of the greatest we ever got to watch play the game of baseball, remember when he was just "one swing away" yet we didn't even care any more? https://t.co/LSCVAWjQSw IMAGINE how heralded he would be had he never cheated the game: https://t.co/EAF7Pd5i75

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 25, 2022

Personally, I don't think seditionists belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I'd put the juicers and gamblers in first. https://t.co/TBMgW3WIbo

— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) January 25, 2022

Personally, I don't think seditionists should have statues erected in their honor, especially using money from tax payers. But seditionists/bigots/xenophobes/sexists/& all other manner of unpleasant people are capable of being good at stuff. Schilling was very good at baseball. https://t.co/y324tJpmq5

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 25, 2022

If you don't like Curt Schilling personally, I get it & agree with your stance. Go to his induction day and boo him if you want. But his play on the field was sufficiently impressive that he deserves the opportunity to make that speech imho. But not before Pete Rose. He goes 1st.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 25, 2022

No Hall of Fame for Barry Bonds but at least he had this day. A Line A Day: He's not one away any more https://t.co/q91Eo4ojpV

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

https://t.co/8jcop4O5fd pic.twitter.com/yU1m2KkkND

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

Trying to make sense of it won't get you far. But yes, this is a valid point. If you declare someone to be a cheater because they juiced or messed with the ball or the bat or whatever, then any records they broke via cheating should be stricken. Not in HOF b/c stats don't count. https://t.co/BQcta2TdRk

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

That's true. He could have become a muscle bound guy who struck out all time. Instead they couldn't get the ball past him. Steroids don't improve hand eye coordination. They probably helped him recover from fatigue/injury faster & maybe turned some deep fly balls from outs to HRs

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

by those who vote players into the #MLB Hall of Fame (or refrain from doing so)? Not really, especially since Barry Bonds was less than charming to them. In baseball as in life and even Twitter, likability goes a long way as does the opposite.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

Barry Bonds at this stage was the Mike Tyson in his prime of baseball. Opponents were shook from him just walking up to the plate. https://t.co/24qRqVb1hc

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

If you only counted Barry Bonds stats from prior to him putting on quite a few pounds of juiced muscle, he had a Hall of Fame worthy career. If he went from mediocre to great, that's 1 thing. He went from amazing to superhuman and lost credit for the amazing portion of his career

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

If the stats still count then eligibility for HOF induction shouldn't be affected. Keeping players out for moral reasons is ridiculous. It isn't Heaven, it's the #MLB Hall of Fame. You either get in because your play was good enough or you don't get in because it wasn't. No gray.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

So what's fair for someone like Barry Bonds (Trump s/b jailed, enough about him)? He got caught. He wasn't kicked out of the league. He continued to be paid well for his services. His records count. BUT he wasn't inducted into the HOF? If that too harsh, not enough, just right?

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

Or do we just stick with RULES ARE RULES? Break them & you pay the price. End of story. Unless this alienates your fan base so much that it starts affecting your pockets. Then perhaps you rewrite some of those #MLB rules. Even the holy Constitution needed Amendments.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

Barry Bonds, did steroids, kind of a dick: no hall of fame

Alex Rodriguez, did steroids, kind of a dick: no hall of fame

Roger Clemens, did steroids, kind of a dick: no hall of fame

David Ortiz, did steroids, likable dude: 1st ballot Hall of Fame

Lesson: do roids, be nice

— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) January 25, 2022

David Ortiz gets the call to the Hall of Fame pic.twitter.com/HSRbBRoU63

— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) January 25, 2022

MLB players should start their own Hall of Fame. ‘Players only’ vote.

— Gary Sheffield Jr. (@GarysheffieldJr) January 25, 2022

You know who the one person is that I never hear complaining about Barry Bonds not being in the Hall of Fame? Barry Bonds. I haven't see so much as a single think piece or peep out of him on the subject. I guess he's a Que Será, Será kind of guy.

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

Here's a POV on Barry Bonds becoming a Hall of Famer that ISN'T dominating my timeline. https://t.co/B7JA5KJLI8

— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) January 26, 2022

 

Switching briefly to another sport, two NFL quarterbacks that I'm pretty sure will be in their own league's Hall of Fame retired after their final games this season. Both of them made it to the playoffs in their final season but not quite to another Super Bowl. One of them had such a remarkable career that I wouldn't be surprised if they made his image into a league logo someday. I wrote a blog post about the other guy once. Both of them, the latter in particular, stood in the way of my Jets winning a championship (in the seasons that they were actually halfway decent) time and time again. No hard feelings though. Bon Voyage Ben and Tom!

Dumbest "controversy" of 21st century to date

The ongoing presidential primaries have certainly provided ample material that would fit the title of this blog entry, but I've decided that above all else, uproar over the cover of the current issue of Vogue magazine is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. Announcement to people of all colors, creeds, races, religions, political parties, sexual preferences, and also to anyone who hasn't quite figured out yet that public funds are not intended for use by elected officials to subsidize extramarital affairs or trips to their brothel of choice: Black men and white women are allowed to be in each other's company without raising a major stir! This is the year 2008. Racism has not vanished from the face of the earth, but as everyone other than those who Barack Obama listens to on Sunday mornings should have figured out by now, we no longer reside in the era of Native Son or To Kill a Mockingbird. Within certain families trouble will no doubt be brewed if the wrong answer is given to the age old question - Guess who's coming to dinner? Nevertheless, the times they have already a-changed to a refreshing degree. As result it is actually possible to look at a photograph of a black man with a white woman, even one where the black guy is clowning (which apparently looks way too much like demonic scowling to some), and not automatically assume that the picture is a reinterpretation of a King Kong movie poster. I did not look at the accompanying photo and fear that the poor model was about to be raped or mugged or eaten alive by the primitive holding her captive. I did not conclude that LeBron was just begging to be lynched. What I thought was - there goes a picture of two young, attractive, famous, rich people, one of whom happens to be the girlfriend of the quarterback for the losing team in the Super Bowl. And then I moved on with my day. Anyone who gave this picture much more thought than that has way too much time on their hands and way too big a chip on their shoulder. I was not offended by the image in the slightest, but I am offended by anyone who takes issue with it because they are stuck in a past that is keeping us from moving full speed ahead into the future. A color blind world may not be right around the corner even if the right candidate is elected president, but surely we live in a day and age when a magazine should be able to blatantly peddle good old fashioned sex without inciting a race riot because the man and woman pictured do not look like genetic brother and sister. Reverend Wright was slandered endlessly for harshly criticizing this country, and Barack Obama was roasted by association. But aren't a few potshots warranted by a nation so obsessed with race that a pretty picture is able to distract us from the fact that we have (for starters) an economy in dire need of fixing and a weakly plotted war desperately in need of an ending?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Roy Pickering (Author of "Feeding the Squirrels: A Novella)

http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_feedingthesquirrels.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

p.s. - IMHO this is one heckuva speech: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23690567/

The Dog Eat Dog World of Michael Vick

Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons once seemed to be the most potential rich athlete in the NFL, if not perhaps all of professional sports. Although not that easily impressed, I was moved enough by his skill set to gush about him in an article for Suite101.com that can now be accessed at the end of this post at A Line A Day: Vick Still Slick?

That was then, this is now. On the field Vick has not quite lived up to his potential the way you can say someone like Lebron James has somehow managed to equal his hype, but the greatness of Vick's athleticism is undeniable and has led to many spectacular moments from end zone to end zone. His career is still in a relatively early stage, his team is no doubt better with him on the field than off, so what he lacks in playoff victories he has more than made up for in endorsements thanks to his being a pretty decent quarterback trapped in Eric Dickerson's body - the NFL's ultimate double threat. The sky has continued to be his limit even though other players at his position such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have managed to achieve more tangible success with their physical gifts than Vick has with his highlight reel theatrics. To put it most mildly, when your turn comes up to play against Michael Vick (once known as the smarter of the Vick brothers which isn't saying much when your brother has the track record of Marcus Vick), you don't neglect to keep Michael's skill set in mind when concocting your defensive game plan.

If one has the proverbial whole world in his hands and opts to throw it away, hopefully the reasoning will be sound and heart true to self. Or in the case of Ricky Williams, you better at least have an excellent supplier of your favorite muscle relaxer (Isn't the brain a muscle? If not, it oughta be). The world of professional sports is full to overflowing with stories of superstars who screwed up their near magical careers, threw away the ridiculously wonderful opportunity to be paid a fortune to play a game they naturally excel at. The culprits tend to be repeat offenders - addictions to alcohol, to drugs, to whoring, to gambling, and combo packages of all of the above.

Michael Vick has certainly upped the ante when it comes to being a screw up. His vices fall within the genre of gambling, but they did not lead him to typical destinations such as the casinos of Las Vegas or Atlantic City. To the best of my knowledge he does not run in the same circles as Pete Rose or any NBA refs. Rather than falling under the spell of the blackjack table, Vick has managed to jeopardize his endorsements, his career, his reputation, and his liberty (not to mention safety from the wrath of PETA members and other friends to canines) by allegedly running an illegal dog fighting operation (not that there is any such thing as a legal one).

If guilty, and the evidence certainly does seem to be overwhelming, only one word comes to mine. ASSHOLE. Whatever interpretation you personally take from this description, chances are it applies. Unlike many, I don't expect or insist that the athletes I admire strictly for their athletic skill be perfect role models. I understand that like everyone else in the world they are imperfect, and therefore subject to temptation from all ten of the commandments and each of the seven deadly sins. Throw in tax evasion to either of those lists. I shake my head whenever these stories make front and back page news, but by no means am I shocked beyond belief or unwilling to forgive if they seek it sincerely. Child molestation is probably the one horrific act that I find completely beyond redemption, but it tends to be the result of serious mental/emotional issues that one can at least try to empathize with. But pitting dogs to fight each other to the death (not to mention killing pooches who aren't good enough at it by other sick means) to make a few bucks but primarily for the perverse thrill of it is about as low as the depths of hell gets. I've combed through my dictionary, thesaurus and extensive vocabulary of ebonics and a lone word of description keeps jumping to the top of the list.

ASSHOLE.

Here's the indictment for those who may find the specifics of the alleged heinous acts of interest: http://msn.foxsports.com/id/7035302_37_1.pdf

Consider this article the exclusive opinion of Roy L. Pickering Jr. (Author of Feeding the Squirrels)

http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_feedingthesquirrels.html

- Roy Pickering (author of FEEDING THE SQUIRRLS: A Novella)

http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_feedingthesquirrels.html