LSU231
04-07-2004, 05:17 PM
I've gone through the plethora of thoughts on Barry Bonds. I've though of him as a pompous ass, a conceited and spoiled super star and a person who has no respect for the common human being. I've heard the stories of him telling a group of people (children included) to "get a life" when they were standing there waiting for him in hopes of getting an autograph.
I caught a different glimpse of Barry Bonds yesterday during Sports Center during an interview. He was talking to reports about catching and passing up Willie Mayes on the all time home run list. Bonds actually cracked a smile, something I've not seen in the last few years. Of course, I don't get many Barry Bonds interviews, but none the less, it surprised me.
Then I saw the interview he did with Rick Sutcliff that struck me. It seems as though when Bonds was at his surliest, his nastiest, was when his father was sick. I don't know the details of the diagnosis that Barry Bonds was given about his father, but the effect on him was noticeable. Rick Sutcliff said something last night that made me think. He said, "Bonds is well known for not being a media friendly player and being a bad person because he doesn't take time to do interviews…. It's not that he doesn't want to do them; it's that he doesn't have time. He worked out twice a day during the first part of spring training…. He's dedicated his life to baseball right now."
I don't care if he took steroids or not. I, personally, don't think steroids enhance your reaction time to a 95 mph inside 2 seam fastball or an 87 mph biting slider. I don't think steroids enhances your bat speed, which has remained virtually the same through out his career, he just shortened his swing. I don't think steroids will enhance hand and eye coordination.
The one thing that we are able to say is that we saw Barry Bonds play, and whether you like him or not you've seen a Bonds home run and you've been amazed, be it the pitch location, the distance or the fact that he just beat your team single handedly. When he is long gone and we are old men sitting with our children and grand children, they will ask us, "What was Barry Bonds like?" We'll forget the steroids and the bad attitude and we'll say, "Son, that guy could hit like no one I've ever seen. He would hit balls so far. He impacted the game like no one since Babe Ruth." We'll sit back and think of how lucky we were, like him or hate him, to watch Barry Bonds play baseball.
I caught a different glimpse of Barry Bonds yesterday during Sports Center during an interview. He was talking to reports about catching and passing up Willie Mayes on the all time home run list. Bonds actually cracked a smile, something I've not seen in the last few years. Of course, I don't get many Barry Bonds interviews, but none the less, it surprised me.
Then I saw the interview he did with Rick Sutcliff that struck me. It seems as though when Bonds was at his surliest, his nastiest, was when his father was sick. I don't know the details of the diagnosis that Barry Bonds was given about his father, but the effect on him was noticeable. Rick Sutcliff said something last night that made me think. He said, "Bonds is well known for not being a media friendly player and being a bad person because he doesn't take time to do interviews…. It's not that he doesn't want to do them; it's that he doesn't have time. He worked out twice a day during the first part of spring training…. He's dedicated his life to baseball right now."
I don't care if he took steroids or not. I, personally, don't think steroids enhance your reaction time to a 95 mph inside 2 seam fastball or an 87 mph biting slider. I don't think steroids enhances your bat speed, which has remained virtually the same through out his career, he just shortened his swing. I don't think steroids will enhance hand and eye coordination.
The one thing that we are able to say is that we saw Barry Bonds play, and whether you like him or not you've seen a Bonds home run and you've been amazed, be it the pitch location, the distance or the fact that he just beat your team single handedly. When he is long gone and we are old men sitting with our children and grand children, they will ask us, "What was Barry Bonds like?" We'll forget the steroids and the bad attitude and we'll say, "Son, that guy could hit like no one I've ever seen. He would hit balls so far. He impacted the game like no one since Babe Ruth." We'll sit back and think of how lucky we were, like him or hate him, to watch Barry Bonds play baseball.