Does Barry Bonds Deserve his Criticism?
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When Barry Bonds announced he would not participate in the Major League Baseballs Home Run Derby, many were disappointed. People claimed he was being typical Barry and only caring about himself. I would like to present a question to you: What does Barry Bonds owe baseball? If you ask somebody what the first thing that comes to mind when you say Barry Bonds, their answer is bound to be steroids. People claim he is a rude person, but thats not what you think of when you think Barry Bonds. You think cheater who used steroids. I am not saying I do not think Barry used steroids. I just think he is unfairly criticized. If he participated in the Home Run Derby, it would no longer be about Barry hitting home runs, it would be Barry and steroids again. Just leave the guy alone. Just the other day John Kruk was saying how Barry should stay in the lineup, because it does not matter where he hits 755 and 756. Well Kruk, I don't see you saying anything about the Braves sitting Hank Aaron so that he would pass Babe Ruth in Atlanta. In the historical perspective, do you want this moment to be remembered as Bonds getting booed as he accomplished such a great feat. Plus, lets be realistic, he was a great home run hitter before using some sort of performance enhancing drug. I'm not condoning what he has done, but it is time we just stopped criticizing him. It is time to accept that nothing you say or do will change what Barry did in the past. If you want to blame Barry, well then we better start digging up every player who played in recent years and ridicule ever single person who used steroids. Nobody says nearly as much about Palmero, Giambi, Sheffield, McGuire, or Sosa. People do not even talk about Palmero and 3,000 anymore and that was a huge accomplishment. If your going to criticize, Barry, you better criticize every player, because everybody could have used performance enhancing drugs.
As for the comment that Bonds "was a great home run hitter before using some sort of performance enhancing drug", that's irrelevant. Michael Johnson and Marion Jones were great runners before they took steroids. Cheating is cheating, even if you had an "A" average before cheating on the final exam. It still threatens and tarnishes the integrity of the game, and insults all who played by the rules.
Granted, the "rules" were not very clear cut, and MLB and the union also are responsible for the steroids era. However, as long as people are unhappy with Bonds' alleged steroid use, they have every right to boo him and badmouth him. Any athlete that does things anything morally questionable -- be it A-Rod for distracting Howie Clark, T.O. for being a greedy ass, or Johnny Damon for going back on his word -- and continues to be in the public eye is a fair target to criticism. If Bonds doesn't like it, he should address it with the media, something he's refused/declined to do all season.