756

[The Jays]

Updated: 5 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO - Finally, Barry Bonds is the home run king.

Bonds hit a blast to center field off Washington Nationals starter Mike Bascik on Tuesday, earning his 756th career home run to nudge ahead of Hank Aaron for the all-time record.

[TheGMANN]

::yawn::


thank god that's over.

[Goatweed]

fuck him.

[The Jays]

well he's no Sadaharu Oh.

[Galt]

I love Barry Bonds. Everyone hates him just because everyone hates him. You are all sheep.

[The Prodigal Son]

No, I hate him because he is an arrogant cocksucker who thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. Tremendous ballplayer who didn't need to juice to be a sure fire Hall of Famer. But, he is a total piece of shit.

[GonzoStyle]

I never understood that, how people base opinion on someone based on how they think they are, yet they dont even know them. Especially when basing a personal opinion on someone whose job description doesnt even entail being a "nice guy". The man is a baseball player, who gives a shit if he's a nice guy? Dislike him cause you think he tained the record by juicing, dislike him because he plays for the giants and you're a dodger fan, but to dislike him cause he's "not a nice guy" boo hoo. His job is to hit a baseball and catch a baseball and he does it as well as anyone and better than 99% of the men who have played the game over the last 100+ years. It's one of the main gripes I have today with this society so hell bent on being involved in every aspect of celebrities lives, naturally it's the celebs faults who have opened up their lives with all these reality shows and have given everyone the feeling that they actually know these people now cause they watch them on tv for 30 minutes a week. Out of 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 365 days in a year, can you really know someone after 22 minutes plus commercials? It's the same retarded reason a lot of people voted for Bush the first time around "he seems like a guy you can have a beer with"... who gives a fuck? So bonds is pompus and arrogant, wouldnt you be if you were quite possibly the greatest baseball player to ever play the game and only comparable to people like Ruth, Mays & Aaron? That's like a boxer being compared with Ali & Robinson, yeah you'd have a bit of an ego too. Plus it is also the fact that this guy is scrutinized 24/7 and how friendly would you be having to answer the same questions, day in and day out? How many times a day do you get annoyed at work when someone says or asks you something dumb? Now multiply that by a thousand and put it on a repetitive loop every day of your life. Sure I wont weep for Bonds because he is a multi millionare whose immortal fame comes from playing a game where he hits a ball with a stick but I cant and wont deny the fact he is without a doubt of of the greatest athletes of all time and of course he juiced but of all the guys juicing in all the years past, how many have hit 757 home runs and excelled for as long as he has? So maybe he would have only had 600 or 650 or passed only mays but you can also factor in a dozen other factors into it, expansion, weaker pitching, better nutrition, greater understanding of physiology, etc etc. from the days of aaron and especially ruth. So Maris hit 61 in more games than ruth, so bonds hit against weaker pitching, each generation is gonna have more tools available to them, steroids is just taboo but its not like the man just takes steroids and chills till he has to play. Anyone here would pretty much have a breakdown 10 minutes into one of his training regiments, so he juices, so lets put a ban on gatorade and make them drink water if you really wanna level the playing field, Ruth didnt have gatorade. Mainly tho just get over this whole thing of having to like someone and acting as if you know these people cause you watch sportscenter.

[Keyser Soze]

I agree pretty much with everything gonzo said (cause im a sheep, or shep....is shep singular for sheep?)

I actually dig barry cause he doesn't give a fuck what you think about him.He's a tremendous athlete who may not have broken the record without the benefit of lengthening his career with steroids but was a first ballot famer if he never put a single substance in his body. He was a great player before his head grew to the size of a watermelon.

Steroids will not improve your hand/eye coordination, in fact I believe the armor that Bonds wears on his elbow gives Barry more of an unfair advantage over other players than any drug could. The apparatus he wears allows him to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. It also allows him to explode through the strike zone, by locking his arm and creating a fulcrum, and making his hands move quicker than other hitters who do not have the benefit of this device.

Barry gets less hittable pitches, and still manages to hit home runs at an obscene rate. He's an exceptional hitter that steroids plays no role in. Steroids may have helped some balls go further, and allowed his career to go further, but his armor is the most unfair advantage Barry has ever had.

[The Prodigal Son]

I never understood that, how people base opinion on someone based on how they think they are, yet they dont even know them. Especially when basing a personal opinion on someone whose job description doesnt even entail being a "nice guy". The man is a baseball player, who gives a shit if he's a nice guy? Dislike him cause you think he tained the record by juicing, dislike him because he plays for the giants and you're a dodger fan, but to dislike him cause he's "not a nice guy" boo hoo. His job is to hit a baseball and catch a baseball and he does it as well as anyone and better than 99% of the men who have played the game over the last 100+ years. It's one of the main gripes I have today with this society so hell bent on being involved in every aspect of celebrities lives, naturally it's the celebs faults who have opened up their lives with all these reality shows and have given everyone the feeling that they actually know these people now cause they watch them on tv for 30 minutes a week. Out of 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 365 days in a year, can you really know someone after 22 minutes plus commercials? It's the same retarded reason a lot of people voted for Bush the first time around "he seems like a guy you can have a beer with"... who gives a fuck? So bonds is pompus and arrogant, wouldnt you be if you were quite possibly the greatest baseball player to ever play the game and only comparable to people like Ruth, Mays & Aaron? That's like a boxer being compared with Ali & Robinson, yeah you'd have a bit of an ego too. Plus it is also the fact that this guy is scrutinized 24/7 and how friendly would you be having to answer the same questions, day in and day out? How many times a day do you get annoyed at work when someone says or asks you something dumb? Now multiply that by a thousand and put it on a repetitive loop every day of your life. Sure I wont weep for Bonds because he is a multi millionare whose immortal fame comes from playing a game where he hits a ball with a stick but I cant and wont deny the fact he is without a doubt of of the greatest athletes of all time and of course he juiced but of all the guys juicing in all the years past, how many have hit 757 home runs and excelled for as long as he has? So maybe he would have only had 600 or 650 or passed only mays but you can also factor in a dozen other factors into it, expansion, weaker pitching, better nutrition, greater understanding of physiology, etc etc. from the days of aaron and especially ruth. So Maris hit 61 in more games than ruth, so bonds hit against weaker pitching, each generation is gonna have more tools available to them, steroids is just taboo but its not like the man just takes steroids and chills till he has to play. Anyone here would pretty much have a breakdown 10 minutes into one of his training regiments, so he juices, so lets put a ban on gatorade and make them drink water if you really wanna level the playing field, Ruth didnt have gatorade. Mainly tho just get over this whole thing of having to like someone and acting as if you know these people cause you watch sportscenter.

Wow, I didn't realize that I didn't like him because he's not a nice guy. Thanks for clearing that up for me Gonzo.

I don't give a fuck if he talks to the media or not. I don't care if he walks old ladies across the street. The guy is a fucking lowlife. It is so obvious that he got a little help along the way to 756, it's laughable.

When he says "this record isn't tainted", that's when I hope he drops dead.

[The Prodigal Son]

I agree pretty much with everything gonzo said (cause im a sheep, or shep....is shep singular for sheep?)

I actually dig barry cause he doesn't give a fuck what you think about him.He's a tremendous athlete who may not have broken the record without the benefit of lengthening his career with steroids but was a first ballot famer if he never put a single substance in his body. He was a great player before his head grew to the size of a watermelon.

Steroids will not improve your hand/eye coordination, in fact I believe the armor that Bonds wears on his elbow gives Barry more of an unfair advantage over other players than any drug could. The apparatus he wears allows him to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. It also allows him to explode through the strike zone, by locking his arm and creating a fulcrum, and making his hands move quicker than other hitters who do not have the benefit of this device.

Barry gets less hittable pitches, and still manages to hit home runs at an obscene rate. He's an exceptional hitter that steroids plays no role in. Steroids may have helped some balls go further, and allowed his career to go further, but his armor is the most unfair advantage Barry has ever had.

You're right, steroids does not help hand-eye coordination. But, it does helps turn many flyouts into home runs.

I never said he wasn't a unbelievable ballplayer before the steroids. But to have the balls to say the record wasn't tainted just proves he is a piece of shit, just like Mcgwire with his avoidance of the issue and Sammy Sosa with the "No speaka the English" defense. This is why I don't baseball like I did when I was a kid.

[Keyser Soze]

barry bonds and the steroid era players don't change my enjoyment of baseball. as for him saying it isn't tainted, what the fuck do you think he is going to say? people are such children. stop looking to celebrities and athletes as people who are somehow any different than anyone else. they're flawed people like anyone else, and add on top of that having to deal with hundreds of people a day wanting a piece of them. chances are you'd be a real asshole too.

[The Jays]

At the end of the day, it's a number. Baseball fans know that 700 is the highest plateau in home run hitting, and now they have three to judge against the future; Ruth, the man who innovated the home run, Aaron, the truest home run hitter, and Bonds, the modern era superhuman, allegedly chemically enhanced. The records they set are made to be broken, and when Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols pass them by and set the 800 plateau, fans are going to be in awe of the ability to have surpassed those three unique templates of the power hitting baseball player.

Major League Baseball dropped the ball on instituting a steroid policy earlier on, they probably should have put more emphasis on ensuring cleanliness after the first steroid scare that happened in the early 90's. For that, the game must suffer through the lack of truly fair play by allowing steroid users to have played baseball. Oh well, the entire history of baseball is involved with great stories of unfair advantages, they come at the game at the frequency of US wars, every twenty years or so. In the next twenty years, I bet body armor will start facing that scrutiny, who knows. In the end, Bonds is a number, a number that must be surpassed.

[Galt]

Barry rules; you all drool.

[Bloody Anus]

Hey that rhymes!

[GonzoStyle]

To prodigal, my post wasnt directed towards you specifically, it was just in general I have been hearing all week how people hate barry specifically cause he isnt a "nice guy". I do completely agree that while the roids dont automatically make someone a home run hitter, they do take a bench player to an every day player and in bonds case make a elite player into a legendary player. I agree that it also helped a few fly balls just make it over the fence, which is why I said he probably woulda hit in the 600's and possibly wouldnt have made it to 600 cause the main thing steroids do is help longevity more than simply power. I don't dislike bonds nor do I like him but I do think he's an amazing player, roids or not. I just dont see the big deal, like chris rock said on Bob Costas' show last week "you cant charge someone with a crime last week" Blame MLB not Bonds, if someone told you, you could take a pill and quadruple your income, you'll take the pill.

[Bloody Anus]

Tony Gwynn also said the record isn’t tainted. Does that make him a piece of shit too? Do you hope he drops dead too?

I saw the game at a bar and the bartender was some Filipino or Puerto Rican or something and he kept interjecting his thoughts into Bonds’ post-HR speech. “I’d like to thank steroids for helping me out along the way…” that kind of shit. He went on to quote what he’s heard ad nauseam in the media - all the stuff about him getting so much bigger, his head is bigger, his feet are bigger, blah blah. I then asked him, “Well what about Julio Franco? He’s much bigger now than he was in the mid-80s at the beginning of his career. He’s 48 and still playing. Why is nobody suspicious of him?” He had no response to this, I suspect because a) he has no idea who Julio Franco is; and 2) he knows nothing about baseball.

I mention this story because this bartender is the embodiment of most of the Bonds haters. They suspect he took steroids, so assume that is only reason he has had such incredible success later in his career. They’ve never even seen one of his at bats, or if they did, didn’t pay any attention to what they were actually watching. The reason he has enjoyed so much success as he has gotten older is because he has mastered the strike zone. 2001-2004 Bonds walked at such an astronomical rate not just because pitchers were afraid to pitch to him. Obviously that’s a part of it. But there were so many times when pitchers have challenged him, with the intent of getting him out. But he will not chase anything that he knows he can’t handle. That’s what makes him a great player. During those four seasons, he couldn’t have had more than a dozen or so check swings. He mastered the strike zone and mastered the art of knowing how to hit. Steroids has absolutely nothing to do with knowing that a slider is coming in a fastball count. It has nothing to do with being able to adjust to an off-speed pitch when you’re looking fastball. It just goes to show how simple and illogical people have become. If his body is bigger, and he hit a lot of home runs, then he must have used steroids. What other explanation could there be?

I’m not saying Bonds hasn’t used steroids. I’m pretty sure he has. It just doesn’t matter as much as people make it out to be. The only reason people are in such a tizzy over it is because it’s a (gasp!) drug. And there is such a taboo in this country surrounding drugs which the government has deemed illegal. If these people were so outraged because he “cheated”, why aren’t they protesting for Gaylord Perry to be ousted from the Hall of Fame or for an asterisk to be placed next to his name? He readily admits to throwing a spitball, an illegal pitch. He cheated. But everybody laughs when the topic of the spitball, or nail files, or petroleum jelly is brought up. How many Hall of Famers used a corked bat? George Brett had an illegal amount of pine tar on his bat. He cheated. The issue isn’t about cheating, it’s about drugs. It’s not about “performance enhancers” either; it’s about drugs. It’s not about the ability to recover quicker from injuries, which steroids presumably do. If that were the case, why is nobody protesting the use of cortisone shots? Players receive them all the time to help battle through injuries over the course of a season. Isn’t that just as responsible for enhancing their performance and decreasing recovery time from injuries as steroids are? Baseball players are bigger and stronger today than they’ve ever been, and steroids is just one of several factors that contribute to that fact.

This whole hatred of Bonds is a prime example of the retarded hypocrisy in this country. Baseball fans have no problem with the likes of Brett Myers or Julio Lugo or Elijah Dukes or Dmitri Young or Josh Hamilton. You’ll never hear an entire stadium boo a wife beater or crack head. That’s perfectly acceptable in our society. But use steroids and be an asshole to the media? Well that’s just sending a very poor message and setting a bad example to children. We can’t have that! Speaking of which, isn’t it odd that you’ve never heard of Bonds beating his wife or mistress or children? Domestic abuse has been a bit of an epidemic amongst baseball players for quite a while, though you don’t really hear a lot about it. With all the steroids he’s been alleged to pump into himself, you’d think he’d have more than a few violent, Benoit-like outbursts. After all, every single person that takes steroids is bound to have bouts of roid rage. Right? RIGHT?

[Keyser Soze]

Amen, anus.