Is it just me, or does anybody else have the feeling that in 30 years, when Barry Bonds is old and quiet and ravaged by cancer brought on by all the steroids, we're gonna look back on the last couple years and say man...we were really tough on that guy. Ya know, cause he's clearly not the only person who took steroids. Sooner or later we'll find out that nearly every superstar took em at some point or another from this era, and it we'll look at the last decade just like we look at the deadball era or the pre-1900 game. It was there, and those records are officially on the books, but it was just part of the history of the game.
Think about it like this...If in a couple years someone hits 60 home runs in a season. Are we not going to still get excited about it? Will that mean any less because Sosa and Bonds and McGuire did it before? Of course not. Above all else..above the game and the players, baseball's history is about the discussion. If there were so many clear cut answers, if wouldn't be a sport people would feel so passionately about. And this era in baseball is doing nothing else but continue that trend. There isn't a record in the sport that can't be argued or disputed. I once read a columnist who wrote Cal Ripken did a disservice to his city and his team by insisting on playing every day, weakening him over the season so he couldn't fulfill his potential. And that is the one record that pops to mind that you couldn't possibly complain about. So who knows.
Everything looks better in time. Everyone tries to hold on to their youth and claim that their memories are the most valuable and important ones. Right now the loudest voices in the media are still the ones who remember Sgt. Pepper and Roger Maris so fondly (tho they just as likely booed both when they came to town in the 60s.) The advantages that one player has over the ones of the previous generation will continue on and on until the end of time. Sure, Aaron did it without steroids, but he also did it without legal supplements, advanced weight machines, digital video analysis and the whole lot. Whatever. We can only dream what the guy who breaks Bond's record will have at his disposal. I can already see the "Bonds did it without cloning!" Signs in the outfield of decrepit CitiField.
But in the end, nobody got hurt. There's no way to go back and change things now, so what can you do. It's all just something else to talk about. The need for that will never go away.
Just like it has always been Shea Stadium and not SheaStadium, the new stadium, one day to be old and in need of replacement, is called Citi Field and not CitiField. I despise corporate naming but might as well as least get it right!
Posted by: Zooomabooma | September 04, 2007 at 05:03 PM