The Idiocy of Marc Ecko
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by Afjumpman08
Before September 15, 2007, Marc Ecko was nothing more than a simple fashion designer. A multimillionaire, no doubt, but just over a week ago, Ecko had a substantial impact on only one realm of society.
That has since changed.
Ecko has since announced himself as the winning bidder in the auction for Barry Bonds' record breaking 756th home run and earning this distinction was far from cheap. While many thought that a home run ball, as historic as it was, would not fetch even $600,000, Ecko forked over a staggering $752,467 for the rights to what will undoubtedly go down as one of the single most recognizable artifacts in all of sports.
When one considers that Todd McFarlane paid over $3 million for Mark McGwire's then-70th home run in 1998, Ecko's purchase does not seem too outrageous. The difference is McFarlane genuinely wanted to own a piece of sports history, the so-called "hope diamond" of baseball, while Ecko is, as Bonds himself has stated, "an idiot."
Instead of opting to put it in a display case in his home, Ecko posted a website that allowed the fans to vote on what he should do with the ball in order to "democratize the debate." The choices were as follows: 1. send the ball to Cooperstown; 2. send the ball to Cooperstown after branding an asterisk on it; 3. shoot the ball into outer space.
One might be inclined to think that I am criticizing Ecko because I am a blind Giants fan who, like all those who sit beside me in AT&T Park, will always unconditionally support Bonds and thereby, criticize anyone who is against him. This is far from the truth. We cannot say for sure whether Bonds does or does not deserve an asterisk next to his records, if not for any reason other than the fact that there is enough reasonable doubt to make such claims less than certain. Is there a chance that Bonds took human growth hormone or a number of other drugs to hit 73 home runs in 2001? Sure. But we don't know, and it's never been proven.
But that's not even at the heart of the dispute. I'm not going to fault Ecko for believing that Bonds cheated. A lot of people hold similar opinions. What I do fault Ecko for is spending such an obscene amount of money on such a trivial gesture. I get that since it's his money, he's free to do what he wants with it, but there are still a lot of other things that Ecko could have done with that money that would benefit society and/or himself far more than branding an asterisk on a record-breaking ball. If we want to go with the humanitarian route, Ecko could have given the money to charity, invested in hedge funds to create jobs, given grants to schools, etc. If we want to go with the selfish route, he could have renovated his home (or a room in his mansion, anyway), bought a high end luxury car, or at the very least, he could have kept the ball for himself because at least that would make some financial sense. But that's not what he wanted. He wanted to throw his money away to make a gesture. In truth, he wanted to be a hero of sorts to the millions upon millions who have already convicted Bonds before the indictments and subpoenas. It might be possible that Ecko sees this as his only chance to be linked to immortality, as because the Hall has chosen to accept the ball in spite of the asterisk that has been branded on it, Ecko's name will live on in the walls of the Hall.
Bonds speaks and people assume that what comes out is garbage, but he was spot on this time. "He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said, responding to Ecko's course of action. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid." Nothing Ecko does will ever take away home run number 756. In effect, all he's done is spend $752,467 to make a statement.
Perhaps we should look into branding "sucker" on Ecko's forehead.
