Quoting Kevin Towers Was a Bad Idea
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- I spent too many sad days and nights watching him in cathedrals like Wrigley Field and the waterfront park in San Francisco, loathing his every swing, hating what he was doing to my boyhood memories, knowing he was living a chemical lie. - Jay Mariotti
One word - Bullsh*t.
It was not that long ago at all when the biggest sympathizer for Barry Bonds was indeed the Jay Mariotti. Infatuated with Bonds' suddenly enlarged body frame, along with an abnormal cranial diameter increase, Mariotti gushed in his now defunct column* in The Sporting News :
- His critics are missing the motives behind his recent power surge. Contrary to popular psychology, Bonds does not hit home runs merely to satisfy a monster ego. No, dingers are fun for him only when they have meaning. At 37, he wakes every morning with a hole in his heart, wondering if he'll ever play in the World Series.
That was written back on August 27, 2001. One might mistakenly excuse Jay for being a little naive. After all, steroid abuse allegations were simply whispers and admittedly seemingly unsubstantiated innuendo at that time. However, anyone familiar with the back page pundit's column* in recent years, knowingly understands that Mariotti has bashed all alleged parties to be involved in major league baseball's steroid scandal, including ridiculing the tainted slugger's die hard fans. It is one matter to roast the elements within the game that turned a blind eye towards illicit performance enhancement drug abuse in baseball. Fair enough and that it was exactly why there was a Congressional hearing on the matter, along with the very ballyhooed George Mitchell investigation. Criticizing the fans is another matter completely. Especially, when Mariotti himself was a self-confessed Bonds defender :
- I still like home runs, knowing they energize a sport that too often slips into comas. Better still, I like sluggers who don't use steroids and supplements to bulk up like chemically bloated space aliens. Any innuendo about Bonds should stop. One of the most outspoken anti-steroids critics in the game is Kevin Towers, general manager of the San Diego Padres. He has a good idea of who is using and who isn't.
- "Believe me, Barry is au naturel," Towers said. "He is a wonderful athlete blessed with God-given ability. He's hitting more home runs than he did five and six years ago because the pitching isn't as good and parks are smaller. What he's doing is very real and very special."
Following the 2001 baseball season, Jay was still enraptured by the home run totals of Bonds and apparently extremely comfortable in the role of unofficial publicist for the slugger. Despite growing whispers of steroid abuse swirling around Bonds, Mariotti remained adamant :
- With all the unsubstantiated whispers about steroids--he insists he never has used them and offered to take a test, unlike Sammy Sosa- -the public has missed the point on Bonds. At 38, he never has been a better or more patient hitter, nor has baseball seen a hitter so productive at such an advanced age.
So what flip flopped Mariotti's opinion concerning Barry Bonds? The George Mitchell Investigation? Congressional hearings over steroid use in professional sports? Greg Anderson's imprisonment? Game of Shadows?
No, nope, nah and nyet.
Barry Bonds called out Jay as a "hater" during a press conference at the 2003 All-Star Game. Whatever blood flowed in the dwarf's atherosclerosis challenged heart dwindled just a tad after the exchange. And apparently, the divorce was very dramatic for Mariotti :
- As I was about to write before Barry Bonds so rudely interrupted me--You're a Barry Bonds hater," he said at the All-Star Game, breaking my train of thought--he has pulled off a modern social miracle. Somehow, he has overwhelmed his abundant arrogance with his magnificent performances. Much as you want to boo him, much as you want to shake him every time he has verbal diarrhea, you can't.
From that point on, Mariotti hated Barry Bonds. No longer just another misunderstood athlete, Bonds according to Jay, was "a despicable human being".
And no different than Jay's failure to let go of his resentment towards Ozzie Guillen concerning "Fag Gate" or the current feuding with Brian Urlacher, Mariotti is only overcome with joy on yesterday's federal indictment charges against Bonds for personal reasons. As always, Jay's column* is all about himself at the expense of the illusion of providing an objective critique on the current topics of interests in the world of sports. Mariotti could care a less about the integrity of baseball. Today's column* about Bonds, as all the others published after July 30, 2003, are about settling personal vendettas.
That illusion perpetrated on the back page of the Sun-Times is as damning and hackneyed as Bonds' career home run record*. And it is indeed unfortunate that Congress never called for Jay's testimony on his "expert" opinions and knowledge of Barry Bonds.
Otherwise, there may very well have been another person indicted for charges of perjury yesterday.
Fire the F*cktard.
Two white guys battling for heavyweight supremacy?
I don't think so!
