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Grandstander · 08-05-2007, 11:55 AM

Selig's "appearance" last night in San Diego was a microcosm of the tainted aspects of the record. One wonders why Selig felt obligated to be there if his behavior was going to be such as to send the message that he, and by inference, MLB, did not approve of the event.

As Bonds circled the bases, there was Bud with his hands in his pockets and his face blank..that anything of note had just happened, you could not tell from his body language. The game was not stopped so that Selig could come onto the field and offer congratulations or stage a brief ceremony. Then, in his official message, Selig offered a left handed honor, making sure to metion that the reason he was there was that in America, one is innocent until proven guilty.

The commissioner's performance was such so as to shriek to the world, "This is not a joyous event, this is not something we welcome or embrace." If he was going to do that, he could have done it better by simply not showing up at all.

Please, don't take any of this as me defending Bonds, I'm a Giants fan with a realistic attitude about Bonds and steroids and would have rather not seen Aaron's record fall to a cheat. Even without the steroid business, Bonds always made it impossible to warm up to him in any manner beyond appreciating his baseball talent.

Rather, my complaint is with this fence sitting act by Selig and MLB. Yes, we acknowledge the new record holder...except of course he's a cheating SOB and doesn't deserve it.

I guess the lesson here is not to expect too much of our athletic heroes. We get the Cal Ripkens and Stan Musials and Lou Gehrigs, but we also get Babe Ruth drinking and whoring around and treating his own manager with public contempt. We get the violently psychotic racist Ty Cobb, the gambling addicted liar Pete Rose and now the surly egoist cheater Bonds. There is obviously no mandatory congruency between athletic talent and a properly heroic athletic personality. The well behaved George Bretts and Tony Gwynns behaved well because that was their personal pathology. The crude, rude Ted Williams and Gary Sheffields, also the product of personal pathologies.

The commonality is altletic greatness, but the commonality ends there.

08-05-2007, 11:55 AM	#12 (permalink)
Grandstander Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Parts Unknown Northern California Posts: 5,562	Selig's "appearance" last night in San Diego was a microcosm of the tainted aspects of the record. One wonders why Selig felt obligated to be there if his behavior was going to be such as to send the message that he, and by inference, MLB, did not approve of the event. As Bonds circled the bases, there was Bud with his hands in his pockets and his face blank..that anything of note had just happened, you could not tell from his body language. The game was not stopped so that Selig could come onto the field and offer congratulations or stage a brief ceremony. Then, in his official message, Selig offered a left handed honor, making sure to metion that the reason he was there was that in America, one is innocent until proven guilty. The commissioner's performance was such so as to shriek to the world, "This is not a joyous event, this is not something we welcome or embrace." If he was going to do that, he could have done it better by simply not showing up at all. Please, don't take any of this as me defending Bonds, I'm a Giants fan with a realistic attitude about Bonds and steroids and would have rather not seen Aaron's record fall to a cheat. Even without the steroid business, Bonds always made it impossible to warm up to him in any manner beyond appreciating his baseball talent. Rather, my complaint is with this fence sitting act by Selig and MLB. Yes, we acknowledge the new record holder...except of course he's a cheating SOB and doesn't deserve it. I guess the lesson here is not to expect too much of our athletic heroes. We get the Cal Ripkens and Stan Musials and Lou Gehrigs, but we also get Babe Ruth drinking and whoring around and treating his own manager with public contempt. We get the violently psychotic racist Ty Cobb, the gambling addicted liar Pete Rose and now the surly egoist cheater Bonds. There is obviously no mandatory congruency between athletic talent and a properly heroic athletic personality. The well behaved George Bretts and Tony Gwynns behaved well because that was their personal pathology. The crude, rude Ted Williams and Gary Sheffields, also the product of personal pathologies. The commonality is altletic greatness, but the commonality ends there.