Rival Dodgers Not Allowing Fans to Give Barry Negative Attention...But I'm Sure The Media Will Pick Up the Slack
| 5
|
by The Jaunt
Dodgers fans wanting to boycott Barry Bonds' all-time home run record chase, will have to do so without all the fervor other stadiums have come to know during Bonds' last few scandalous seasons. Barry Bonds starts a road trip today as his San Francisco Giants travel to Dodger Stadium to take on their heated rivals from Los Angeles. Stoking the fire for this heated contest will be tortured superstar, Barry Bonds needing only 1 home run to tie Hank Aaron for the all-time record. However, stadium security will ensure that fans do not go overboard with their heckling and overall treatment of the Giants' slugger.
> The league might be distancing itself from Bonds, but officials are taking steps to reduce the negative environment if the 43 year-old slugger ties or breaks Aaron's record on the road. On the Giants' last trip, to Chicago and Milwaukee, league officials directed ballpark security to confiscate signs with references to steroid use or cheating. If Bonds breaks the record at Dodger Stadium, where he is booed louder and longer than anywhere else, there will be no signs declaring the event a fraud. "Our policy is, we do not allow banners or signs of any kind," Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said. "That would hold true for this series as well."
Along with the heightened security, reports are also stating that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will be in attendance for today's game -- one in which Bonds may not even be in the lineup. Nonetheless -- as is usually the case when Barry Bonds appears-- Dodger Stadium will be a circus atmosphere with the media playing the part of the annoying clowns. For a guy like Bonds who gets chastised on a daily basis for cheating and being aloof, sure enough if the man ends up just even tying Aaron's record in the coming days, this is all the media will be talking about. From highlights to career retrospectives, the mass media will be wall-to-wall Barry...make no mistake.
For all the evil that Barry Bonds may represent, he is still slightly more honorable and trustworthy than media conglomerates who feed us televised hatred, then pat him on the back with their other hand when they want to run a story of his accomplishments (or capitalize on his popularity by creating a 'reality' show centering around the controversial figure's life). I would state my life that when all of this is said and done, we will be seeing a preview for an upcoming made-for-TV movie produced by a certain megalomaniacal sports news corporation. We will all be urged to watch 'Barry is Burning,' or 'The Shot Heard 'Round the World (with shot -- of course -- being a pun on Barry's alleged steroid use).
Well -- I for one -- certainly won't be tuning in if there were such a movie to be made....just like I won't be tuning in to seeing Bonds break the home run record. And really, why would I even have to make it a point to watch? All that I will be hearing about and seeing -- while trying to catch regular sports news over the next week -- is the trials and triumphs of one Barry Lamar Bonds. Clumps of my hair are falling out just thinking about it.
View Original. For more articles covering the atmosphere of sports, visit www.thejaunt.com
