So, I finally got around to reading the Barry Bonds article in Sports Illustrated, and I'm glad I didn't read it right away, because if I'd have read it and then listened to all of the people calling talk radio last week, I'd have probably driven into oncoming traffic with my eyes closed.
Can that many people really be in denial?
I was ready for the people who don't care. The people who wonder what the big deal is. Everybody's doing it, they say. It wasn't banned by baseball, they say. It wasn't illegal, they say. (That's not true, but they say it anyway.)
Those people are frustrating, because it is a huge deal, and it's ruining the only sport where the records of generations past are comparable to those of today.
But I cannot believe how many people are still saying they won't believe it until Bonds admits it or they see video of him injecting himself.
There is no way a rational person can read that story and not be absolutely sure that Bonds was on steroids. Never mind that he already admitted to the grand jury that he used steroids, with a ridiculous excuse for why and how.
They have a mathematical formula, for crying out loud, that explains how it is physically impossible for Bonds to be the size and shape he was without the help of steroids. He cheated. He's a cheater. So is Mr. Mark "I'm not here to talk about the past" McGwire. So is Mr. Sammy "I forgot how to speak English" Sosa.
And the only reason Bonds is being singled out is because the people he got his steroids from were sloppy and the police got involved. If the Bonds books sell big, someone somewhere is guaranteed to go public with more stories.
Bonds isn't even denying it anymore because it would be comical if he did. I'm just hoping someone who is considered universally crazy already, like Tom Cruise, comes out in support of Bonds and even his most loyal defenders had to take a step back and consider it a possibility.
Seems like every time I start to actually care about baseball, something like this comes along. I want to like the Giants, but its hard to like a team that's built around a juiced-up cheater, and that leaves its Triple-A team so devoid of talent. Oh well, its only 5 months till preseason football. Is there anyone left on the 49ers roster who knows how to play the game?
Chicago, Summer 2003. First inter-league game between the historic Chicago Cubs and the pathetic Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In Chicago for three months at a temp job, I go to the game and root for my home-town Rays. I'm in the left-field bleachers. Bottom half of the first inning, Sosa comes up. His bat breaks. There's no jumbotron. No one knows what's going on. Nothing is ever announced on the loud speaker. But, for some reason, Sosa is called out. He doesn't come out to play the field at the start of the second. I'm on the cell phone with my father who's watching the game back home in Tampa, Fla. He says Sammy had a corked bat. Sammy's excuse to the media over the next couple of days? He likes to show off during batting practice to "give the fans a show." Going to the game was a big deal for me. First time in Wrigley. I went by myself. I waited by the gate and was the first in line to get in the ballpark. Sammy already had finished hitting by the time the gates opened. I paid $24 for a seat in the bleachers. $24.
Yes, baseball has some cheaters in it. Watching the home run chase of '98 was awesome. Seeing Mark and Sammy go at it. When McGwire would swing the bat and send one into the upper decks with his left arm extended. It was a thing of beauty, man. It felt like if he could do that, he could do anything. As a fan of his, I felt like I could do anything if I worked as hard as he did. Now it's clear that he, Sammy, Bonds, Ralphy, Canseco and Giambi were all juiced. They cheated the game but they cheated us. Sure, we too can accomplish great feats ... if we cheat.
Baseball has other problems, too. The Yankees' payroll is seven times that of the Devil Rays, who are in the same division. Wonder why there's no competition? In football, the Saints or the Cardinals could win the Super Bowl next year. Probably won't. But they could. People laugh when I suggest the Rays could win 70 games. That's 12 below .500.
It's hard to be a fan in times like these. Pretty hard.