Chicago turned on him ruthlessly. He went from one of the post-strike heros to pariahs. (Personally, I like him least of those three. At least McGwire and Bonds had shown extraordinary talent long before their alleged juicing.)

And if racism is such a big issue

See, that’s one of the big misconceptions here. It’s not such a big issue. It’s complimentary to the situation.

It’s almost a testament to the fact that things are better than they were when Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record. Those that hated Aaron and wanted him to fail were hard-pressed to base it on his personality. He just wasn’t that bad of a guy.

With Bonds, you’re speaking in percentages and degrees. I doubt that many people want Bonds not to break Aaron’s record (and the already too-late ghost of Babe Ruth that still mattered when Bonds hit 715) because he’s black.

They think he’s a cheating jerk who doesn’t deserve it. The argument that follows, however, is that if it were McGwire instead of Bonds, they might want him not to break the record a little bit less.

Again, a matter of degrees and percentages.

They hate him more than they hate other cheating, unfriendly jerks because he’s black.”

Or they hate him more than others because he’s the only one currently close to the home run record. That puts you in a bigger spotlight. Yea there may be other a**holes who are cheating, but they arent closing in on the biggest record in the game! That’s the difference.

Griffey was one of the biggest could have, would have players in baseball. He was amazing, and quite frankly now I wish even more than I did before that he did not endure the injuries he did just so we could be putting this debate to rest. Griffey was… still is… an amazing pure hitter. He was on pace to easily break Aaron’s record and I believe that he would have been widely cheered on.

No I guess we have to hope Ryan Howard can get out of his current funk and go back to belting 50 HR a year and see if he can’t get close a lil bit down the line.

And if racism is such a big issue, I dont know why people are putting the latino players, especially the darker skinned ones like Sosa, in a seperate category from black players. To people who would be racists there isnt much of a difference.

The tired old “they hate him because he’s black” narrative.

They hate him because he’s a cheating, unfriendly jerk.

They hate him more than they hate other cheating, unfriendly jerks because he’s black.

And when did I say that whites have to be fans of black players?

Iverson has a long history of bad behavoir. Just look up his bio on Wikipedia to include spousal assault.

Jerks are common in sports. However, when the jerk is in the media limelight, it become a different story. In football, baseball, and basketball, race is always going to be an issue. Look at how Chris above almost demand that whites have to be fans of black players. But, most blacks are not fans of any white players, denegrate white players on a regular basis, and will avoid any sport that is not played by blacks. Just look at the audience for the upcoming college world series and the total lack of black faces.

Just look at how blacks of stopped playing baseball or how fewer female athletes there are outside of basketball. If you look at the NCAA scholarhsip numbers, there are few black athletes outside of football and basketball and black females are underrepresent in sports versus there percentage of college undergraduates.

The tired old “they hate him because he’s black” narrative.

While I was covering the criminal trial of an non-surly black man by the name of Orenthal James Simpson, who in advertising parlance was about the most race neutral African-American in America until that bit of messiness with his wife and Ron Goldman, I did a story based on the following scenario.

After arguing with her estranged husband at an ice cream parlor earlier in the evening, Nicole Brown Simpson returned home and put her children to bed. She then drew a bath, lit candles and put soft music on the stereo.

How these acts were perceived had bearing because the predominately black jury also was predominately female.

What I found after interviewing a bunch of people, including academics, was that perceptions of Nicole’s actions broke down into roughly two camps:

* Women generally saw the actions as those of a tired woman who had had a rough day managing her young children and feckless former husband and wanted to spend some quality time for herself.

* Men generally saw the actions as those of a woman who was prettying herself and her condo up for the arrival of her lover.

Allen Iverson became a supposed jerk when he talked about practice (one of the single funniest moments in sports). But was the only member of the 2004 USA Basketball team that carried the flag like it should… PROUDLY. He said it was an honor to win any medal and it was always a dream of his. He was cordial, polite, and respectful. Leave Iverson out of the jerkfest. Cornrolls, tattoos, and anti-practice talk hardly makes you a jerk.

If racism plays a part in the Barry Bonds story, it is because he seems to fit the “surly black man” steortype with his public persona. That would seem to affect how some whites view him versus some blacks.

A grand slam!

He is a jerk. Class 1. And he probably cheated (though he cheated our morals, not baseball’s rules). Still, baseball has a tradition of cheaters, and some of them made the Hall of Fame because they were so good at it.

When you look at the perception of Bonds vs. the perception of McGwire vs. the percetion of Clemens vs. the perception of Sosa (oh how the mighty have fallen for him) vs. the perception of Giambi, there are many more mitigating factors besides race. And they are probably the more important factors.

But at the end of the day, it seems Bonds gets it just a little bit worse, and the biggest difference there is skin color.

Personally, I think Bonds, Rose, and McGwire should be in the Hall of Fame. Baseball should acknowledge that which makes it great alongside the ugly face of baseball (which is definitely a part of what makes it great).

I don’t know how often or how many years Bonds has played juiced, but hitting so many home runs over so many years is an extraordinary accomplishment period because of the consistency and focus it requires and all of the great pitchers that he has faced who try as they might, couldn’t get him out. The man has walked or been intentionally walked over 1,500 times.

Besides which, we’re both left handers, altho I bat right.

Is racism in sports and toward sports figures worse now? At the risk of being jumped on by the folks who can’t leave home without a briefcase full of facts, I think that it is not worse.

I say that as someone who grew up in a home where civil rights activism was a big part of our lives, who has covered civil rights issues as a journo and hung around a lot of ball parks where the virtually all white crowds (except for the wives’ section) are now much more integrated.

I think that things are a lot better, but racism, (or in the case of Bonds racism veiled by the cheating thing for some people) remains alive and well.

You say on your website that Giambi isnt villified? Do you talk to baseball fans? The only people I know who speak well of him are Yankee fans, just as the only people who speak well of Bonds are Giants fans… gotta defend your own, right? But to say Giambi isnt hated is absurd. Sure he doesnt get the same press, but he isnt breaking home run records…. that is where the difference comes in, not thier race!! Bonds has been after one record or another for the past few years now, and this will place him in the center of media attention. If Giambi were doing the same he would be under just as much scrutiny as well.

Bonds was a very good player for a very long time, however the current animosity shown towards him is not race based, but steroid based.

I’m sure that there’s an element of racism in many people’s dislike of Barry Bonds, however I think the larger reason is that he seems to be an unmitigated jerk. He would be just as disliked if he had lily white skin–at least I like to think so!

It’s not just the media he’s bad with. He has no time for fans (who ultimately pay his enormous salary), his teammates appear to struggle to find something nice, or at least not negative, to say about him, and management doesn’t seem to get along very well with him either.

Bonds has had personality issues all the way back to his high school days if anyone cares to look back that far. He’s always had an ego bigger than most anyone playing the game today, although I agree that Clemons is pretty obnoxious also. I dislike Clemons almost (not quite) as much as I like Bonds.

Hank Aaron may have been quiet, but he also didn’t go out of his way to be rude to just about anyone that encountered him.

Unfortunately, you are in reality part of the Old Media, just now presenting you views in this forum. And Old Media does not take lightly to being questioned or challenged. We (the rapt audience) are supposed to bask in the illuminating words of wisdom and experience that only a Professional Journalist can bring us.

Bullocks.

Take your ball and go home because we won’t play by your rules. You have exposed your true conceits.

Sure, there is probably some racism out there that is being directed at Barry Bonds, but I don’t think for a second that it makes up for the bulk of the flak he is facing.

I did not say that McGuire was a role model, I said that when he was on his run, he worked hard at improving his image. However, his testimony in front of Congress took it all back.

While watching the Spurs Jazz series that are good African-American athletes without the drama.