ryno4ever
Jan 17th 2007, 1:22 am
Jan. 16, 2007, 12:26AM
When Barry meets Bud? Priceless!
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Timeline: Review Astros in '06 If you like to see the rich and powerful squirm, the 2007 baseball season might have a moment you'll remember forever.
It could happen as early as the Fourth of July, depending on certain things. Like indictments and suspensions and how much a certain cantankerous 42-year-old ballplayer has left in the tank.
In the rich history of the grand old game, this might be the most awkward moment of them all. Well, other than the time an MLB executive told a story sprinkled with profanities in Drayton McLane's presence.
I glanced over, and Drayton looked like he was about to pass out. Talk about awkward. That almost got too awkward.
If Drayton laughs, someone is going to accuse him of having his mind in the gutter (that would be me). If he doesn't laugh, he's going to offend a big shot.
As I remember it, he settled for smiling and pretending to laugh, but you could tell he would have preferred to be just about anyplace else on earth.
756 will be an awkward moment
That's the way it's going to be this summer. Forced smiles and dead-fish handshakes all around.
It'll resemble the expression an NFL coach has when he's compelled to shake hands with Bill Belichick. After hearing Mike Ditka light up Belichick on the radio on Monday, I'm praying they end up at the same cocktail party during Super Bowl week. Someone is going face-down in the onion dip.
Baseball has had its share of awkward moments over the years. There was that ball bouncing off Jose Canseco's coconut for a home run. There was Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem. There was even one year when Roger Clemens didn't need six months to decide if he wanted to pitch again.
That winter, no one knew what to say when the Big Fella was around. There was a lot of clearing of the throat and shuffling of the feet and stammering, "How about those Rockets?"
Nowadays, it's easy.
"Come on, Big Hoss, just one more season."
None of those moments compares to the one that's coming up a few months from now when Bud Selig probably is going to be forced to stand at home plate in some ballpark and play nice with Barry Bonds.
And what about Aaron?
Selig is going to have to recognize Bonds as baseball's new home run king. He'll have to smile and make a speech, pose for photographs and treat it as a historic moment. He'll have to decide whether to invite Hank Aaron to share the pain.
Aaron wants nothing to do with Bonds, but he has been Selig's friend for four decades. If Selig asks, Aaron will be there. He won't like it, but he'll be there.
Selig despises Bonds. He might not despise him personally, but he certainly despises what Bonds represents. For one thing, Bonds reminds Selig of his failings as commissioner.
It's not just that Bonds will own the most coveted of all baseball's milestones. (He'll begin the season with 734 home runs, 21 behind Aaron's 755.) It's not just that he'll be passing Aaron, one of the game's true gentlemen.
It's that baseball, while recognizing Bonds, is going to be forced to recognize the lasting impact steroids have had.
Selig has been the game's best commissioner by miles. Thanks to him, the game has labor peace, record attendance (and revenues) and more parity — seven champions in seven years — than some thought possible.
Baseball also had steroids. Or has steroids. No one is quite sure. Even if steroid use is down, some players are using human growth hormone, which is undetectable.
This debate shouldn't be confined to baseball. One of the NFL's star defensive players, Shawne Merriman of the Chargers, was suspended for using steroids this season.
His suspension created little more than a ripple. Selig hates that baseball is held to a different standard. That's life.
We might never know how many baseball players used performance-enhancing drugs, then or now. We do know that Selig — and reporters and some club officials — were slow to catch on to what was happening.
To Selig's credit, he pushed for — and eventually got — the toughest testing program in sports. By the time it began in 2003, the damage had been done. Baseball's record book had been obliterated.
We didn't know what Mark McGwire was doing when he broke the single-season home run record in 1998. We weren't even sure what Bonds was doing when he broke it in 2001.
We're pretty sure now. Reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Daily News has tied Bonds, McGwire and others to significant steroid use.
Bonds commands attention
Yet while McGwire is living in seclusion in Southern California, Bonds is front and center. He has agreed to a $16 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, but it hasn't been signed because the two sides are arguing about such things as the size of the entourage he can have in the clubhouse.
(Since Jeff Bagwell retired, the Astros don't have a single player with an entourage. Bagwell's entourage for years consisted of Brad Ausmus and ... well, just Brad Ausmus.)
The Giants also apparently want to modify the language on the guaranteed money in Bonds' contract. In other words, they don't want to pay him if he's indicted or suspended. It's hilarious to see the Giants get religion at this late date. Bonds has helped them become a cash cow. He has filled seats and made the franchise enormously valuable.
Giants' headache
In exchange, the Giants allowed him to come and go as he pleased, to make his own rules, to separate himself from the other 24 players (and the manager and trainer). Now with his career almost over, with his value declining, with a grand jury considering whether to indict him for perjury, the Giants seem tired of Barry.
Selig might still be hoping Bonds doesn't get to 755. He has all but vowed to suspend him if his own investigation finds proof of steroid use or if Bonds is indicted. Both those things seem like long shots, and barring an injury, Bonds is set to make history this summer.
I'm not sure what baseball's marketing department has cooked up for a 2007 marketing slogan. One comes to mind: "Oh, Barry, please don't."
UGGGGGHHHHH! For the love of GOD! It's not too late...the ink isn't on any paper. He is still a free agent. Leave him that way. Don't give him a contract. Don't let him play ball. If he can't play ball...he can't hit the home runs he needs to pass Hank Aaron.
And, if the Giants do end up finalizing a contract with him.... he needs to set an all time intentional walk record. He can't run, so having him on base would be a disaster. Okay, so don't walk him...BEAN HIM. I'm not one to condone violence in baseball...okay, except I did scream like a school girl when Barrett righ hooked AJ...and Farnsy went crazy... BUT FOR THE INTEGRITY OF BASEBALL HISTORY it is going to be the responsibility of each opposing pitcher to avoid giving this Walking Steroid to break Aaron's record. I hope that if the day comes that he takes over the "Home Run King" title...that the crowd is filled with people with posters that don't have anything on them but "*"
I am so tired of hearing about Bonds and his "alleged" drug use...steroid use... hgh use...anphetymene use (then throwing his team mate under the bus to avoid responsibility for his stupid actions). WHY IN THE WORLD IS THIS MAN STILL A POSSIBILTY FOR THE 2007 SEASON????
Okay, I'll calm down now.... please, for the love of the game, keep Bonds out of it!
When Barry meets Bud? Priceless!
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Timeline: Review Astros in '06 If you like to see the rich and powerful squirm, the 2007 baseball season might have a moment you'll remember forever.
It could happen as early as the Fourth of July, depending on certain things. Like indictments and suspensions and how much a certain cantankerous 42-year-old ballplayer has left in the tank.
In the rich history of the grand old game, this might be the most awkward moment of them all. Well, other than the time an MLB executive told a story sprinkled with profanities in Drayton McLane's presence.
I glanced over, and Drayton looked like he was about to pass out. Talk about awkward. That almost got too awkward.
If Drayton laughs, someone is going to accuse him of having his mind in the gutter (that would be me). If he doesn't laugh, he's going to offend a big shot.
As I remember it, he settled for smiling and pretending to laugh, but you could tell he would have preferred to be just about anyplace else on earth.
756 will be an awkward moment
That's the way it's going to be this summer. Forced smiles and dead-fish handshakes all around.
It'll resemble the expression an NFL coach has when he's compelled to shake hands with Bill Belichick. After hearing Mike Ditka light up Belichick on the radio on Monday, I'm praying they end up at the same cocktail party during Super Bowl week. Someone is going face-down in the onion dip.
Baseball has had its share of awkward moments over the years. There was that ball bouncing off Jose Canseco's coconut for a home run. There was Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem. There was even one year when Roger Clemens didn't need six months to decide if he wanted to pitch again.
That winter, no one knew what to say when the Big Fella was around. There was a lot of clearing of the throat and shuffling of the feet and stammering, "How about those Rockets?"
Nowadays, it's easy.
"Come on, Big Hoss, just one more season."
None of those moments compares to the one that's coming up a few months from now when Bud Selig probably is going to be forced to stand at home plate in some ballpark and play nice with Barry Bonds.
And what about Aaron?
Selig is going to have to recognize Bonds as baseball's new home run king. He'll have to smile and make a speech, pose for photographs and treat it as a historic moment. He'll have to decide whether to invite Hank Aaron to share the pain.
Aaron wants nothing to do with Bonds, but he has been Selig's friend for four decades. If Selig asks, Aaron will be there. He won't like it, but he'll be there.
Selig despises Bonds. He might not despise him personally, but he certainly despises what Bonds represents. For one thing, Bonds reminds Selig of his failings as commissioner.
It's not just that Bonds will own the most coveted of all baseball's milestones. (He'll begin the season with 734 home runs, 21 behind Aaron's 755.) It's not just that he'll be passing Aaron, one of the game's true gentlemen.
It's that baseball, while recognizing Bonds, is going to be forced to recognize the lasting impact steroids have had.
Selig has been the game's best commissioner by miles. Thanks to him, the game has labor peace, record attendance (and revenues) and more parity — seven champions in seven years — than some thought possible.
Baseball also had steroids. Or has steroids. No one is quite sure. Even if steroid use is down, some players are using human growth hormone, which is undetectable.
This debate shouldn't be confined to baseball. One of the NFL's star defensive players, Shawne Merriman of the Chargers, was suspended for using steroids this season.
His suspension created little more than a ripple. Selig hates that baseball is held to a different standard. That's life.
We might never know how many baseball players used performance-enhancing drugs, then or now. We do know that Selig — and reporters and some club officials — were slow to catch on to what was happening.
To Selig's credit, he pushed for — and eventually got — the toughest testing program in sports. By the time it began in 2003, the damage had been done. Baseball's record book had been obliterated.
We didn't know what Mark McGwire was doing when he broke the single-season home run record in 1998. We weren't even sure what Bonds was doing when he broke it in 2001.
We're pretty sure now. Reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Daily News has tied Bonds, McGwire and others to significant steroid use.
Bonds commands attention
Yet while McGwire is living in seclusion in Southern California, Bonds is front and center. He has agreed to a $16 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, but it hasn't been signed because the two sides are arguing about such things as the size of the entourage he can have in the clubhouse.
(Since Jeff Bagwell retired, the Astros don't have a single player with an entourage. Bagwell's entourage for years consisted of Brad Ausmus and ... well, just Brad Ausmus.)
The Giants also apparently want to modify the language on the guaranteed money in Bonds' contract. In other words, they don't want to pay him if he's indicted or suspended. It's hilarious to see the Giants get religion at this late date. Bonds has helped them become a cash cow. He has filled seats and made the franchise enormously valuable.
Giants' headache
In exchange, the Giants allowed him to come and go as he pleased, to make his own rules, to separate himself from the other 24 players (and the manager and trainer). Now with his career almost over, with his value declining, with a grand jury considering whether to indict him for perjury, the Giants seem tired of Barry.
Selig might still be hoping Bonds doesn't get to 755. He has all but vowed to suspend him if his own investigation finds proof of steroid use or if Bonds is indicted. Both those things seem like long shots, and barring an injury, Bonds is set to make history this summer.
I'm not sure what baseball's marketing department has cooked up for a 2007 marketing slogan. One comes to mind: "Oh, Barry, please don't."
UGGGGGHHHHH! For the love of GOD! It's not too late...the ink isn't on any paper. He is still a free agent. Leave him that way. Don't give him a contract. Don't let him play ball. If he can't play ball...he can't hit the home runs he needs to pass Hank Aaron.
And, if the Giants do end up finalizing a contract with him.... he needs to set an all time intentional walk record. He can't run, so having him on base would be a disaster. Okay, so don't walk him...BEAN HIM. I'm not one to condone violence in baseball...okay, except I did scream like a school girl when Barrett righ hooked AJ...and Farnsy went crazy... BUT FOR THE INTEGRITY OF BASEBALL HISTORY it is going to be the responsibility of each opposing pitcher to avoid giving this Walking Steroid to break Aaron's record. I hope that if the day comes that he takes over the "Home Run King" title...that the crowd is filled with people with posters that don't have anything on them but "*"
I am so tired of hearing about Bonds and his "alleged" drug use...steroid use... hgh use...anphetymene use (then throwing his team mate under the bus to avoid responsibility for his stupid actions). WHY IN THE WORLD IS THIS MAN STILL A POSSIBILTY FOR THE 2007 SEASON????
Okay, I'll calm down now.... please, for the love of the game, keep Bonds out of it!