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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
After 755, standard bearer’s still same
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Pardon me for taking so long before coming to this realization about Barry Bonds, but you know what? He’s actually going to do it.
This stinks.
Every eighth at-bat now, the ancient but efficient slugger for the San Francisco Giants zips closer to becoming better in the record books than Hank Aaron.
Just the thought of Bonds trotting around the bases toward 755 and beyond is enough to make you wish to take a Louisville Slugger to your head.
According to a recent poll by ABC News and ESPN, I’m not alone in cringing over Bonds reigning sooner than later as the home run king. The poll determined that the majority of fans are pulling against Bonds breaking the record. For some, it’s racial, because that factors into all aspects of society. For others, it’s personality, because Bonds isn’t exactly warm and cuddly. For most, it’s Aaron, the eternal icon as a player and as a person.
All of that’s fine, but we’re still missing something here.
What?
“The thing that really is gnawing at people is that, for the first time, unlike when Babe Ruth held the all-time home run mark, the standard bearer and the record holder are being separated,” said Dr. Harry Edwards, 65, the famed sports psychologist and sociologist, over the phone from northern California. In addition to his celebrated work through the decades with the San Francisco 49ers and Golden State Warriors, Edwards is a consultant to baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
Added Edwards, “With Barry Bonds admitting that he may have unknowingly taken [steroids], you have the record going into the hands of somebody who has tainted that record. It doesn’t matter whether it was knowingly or unknowingly. At the end of the day, it just leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths. Fans of all colors haven’t been able to conceptualize it or sort of wrap their minds around it. So they just blurt out, ‘It’s because Barry’s black. It’s because of his personality.’ No, no. This is about something that is sacred in baseball, which is the record book.
“You’ll have the standard and the standard bearer. Then you’ll have the record and the record holder. For the first time ever, they broadly will be acknowledged to be totally different people.”
Well, make that for the second time ever, because there also was 1998. That’s when Mark (“I’m not here to talk about the past”) McGwire was juiced with androstenedione and whatever else he was using to blow away Roger Maris’ record 61 home runs for a season. Three years later, the artificially inflated Bonds topped the mark of the artificially inflated McGwire. So, if you go by Edwards’ theory, our subconscious has ignored Bonds’ No. 73 and McGwire’s No. 70 and declared Maris’ No. 61 as the true magic number for most home runs in a single season.
Which means Aaron’s No. 755 will live forever — no matter what happens with Bonds, Alex Rodriguez or anybody else from baseball’s steroids era that began during the early 1990s.
“People always are going to say that the standard bearers are Roger Maris and Hank Aaron, and that the record holder is Barry Bonds,” Edwards said. “I just think that Barry, in a very significant way, is going to join the world of O.J. Simpson. It’s like, he’s out there, and he’s running around, but he’s not free. Although Barry will hold the record, he won’t get any applause, and he shouldn’t look for many citations, honorary degrees or endorsements.”
Thus the final thing, and it’s a splendid thing: The standard bearer will become even more popular than the record holder after Bonds goes deep for No. 756.
“Oh, that’s going to be a huge day for Hank Aaron,” Edwards said. “Watch how they respond to Hank after that. They’ll spend more time praising the standard bearer than the record holder, and it’ll be that way into the future.”
I’m feeling better.
Permalink | | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Liberty Media is clueless
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Individuals, not “Things,” should run professional sports teams. “Things” can’t attend games, which is a significant problem. After all, fans of professional sports teams want to see their owners cheering or cringing in the stands.
Now the Braves are on the verge today of going from one “Thing” to another “Thing”, but in this case, the good overwhelms the bad by the collective distance of Hank Aaron’s 755 home runs.
Here’s the bad: Liberty Media isn’t shy about saying it only will purchase the Braves from Time Warner for tax purposes. So I’m guessing that many among the hierarchy of Liberty Media don’t know Chipper Jones from Starr Jones.
Good.
Actually, great.
That means the Liberty Media know-nothings will leave Terry McGuirk, John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox alone.
The primary reason baseball commissioner Bud Selig is pushing the owners to approve this deal is because Liberty Media agreed to keep the Braves’ local management team intact. Since 1991, that management team has produced 14 division titles, five National League pennants and a world championship. The Braves also have a decent chance of reaching the playoffs this year for a 15th time in 16 seasons, but their latest “Thing” couldn’t care less.
And you know what?
The choppers and the chanters should care less that the Braves’ latest “Thing” couldn’t care less.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
