Asterisks for Everyone!

So I was sitting at my desk today when one of my friends sent me a gmail-chat message with the following question:

Are you upset about this asterisk thing?

Now, this was before I’d done my morning perusal of the various sports websites I frequent. So I had no idea that she was referring to the guy who bought the Barry Bonds record breaking home run ball and his plans to brand Bonds’ record setting ball with an actual asterisk before he gives it to Cooperstown. I assumed she was just asking how I feel about the idea of placing an asterisk in the record books, or the mental asterisk that has been placed in all sports fans’ minds by the media and The Game of Shadows authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams.

I told her that there are cheaters in all sports. In the last few months there’s been Landis in cycling, Belichick in the NFL, and Donaghy in the NBA. I think the entire era needs to be looked at with a wider lens, rather than just focusing it on Barry Bonds. Pitchers were juicing. Batters were juicing. Some were using human growth hormone. Some where using steroids meant for livestock. Hell, some probably used horse tranquilizers or something.

Bonds is the record holder and will be the record holder until Alex Rodriguez breaks the new record. There were plenty of other records established during the steroids era that are just as worthy of an asterisk. But people only focus on the home run record because it is the most visible. What about the World Series’ teams that were carried on the acned backs of steroid users? I think the fact that NO ONE ever brings up the issue that the outcome of the sport’s championship each year for nearly two decades were determined by steroids users is an important issue.

The reason you don’t hear about it is because MLB doesn’t want the fans to think about it as a system wide problem. They want to only highlight the players that broke the rules. They don’t want you to think about the reality that management and MLB officials knew what was going on, but looked the other way because it was good for business.

The thing is there is nothing that can be done about the era to “fix” it. You’d have to put an asterisk on every accomplishment achieved during the era. Barry Bonds broke the rules. So did hundreds of other players. And they did so while the ownership and MLB put on the proverbial blinders. Don’t get me wrong. I am very pissed that Bonds cheated. He was my favorite player before then. I’m still a fan, but it’s not the same anymore. I do try to rationalize his misdeeds by bringing everyone else down with him. I just don’t think he should be singled out.

Even if Bonds were to admit to cheating, it’s not going to change most of the opinions out there. If I were in his shoes though, I’d be thinking, “Why should I confess to anything? Everyone else (besides Giambi) is stonewalling. Hell, Selig doesn’t even have the balls to admit it was an institutional problem. He keeps trying to pin it on us players.” I have become skeptical about all accomplishments in baseball from the last 15 years. The most obnoxious part of this whole thing is that the media LOVES to hate him because he’s a prick. They focus all their vitriol on him rather than talking about the need to move forward. The past cannot be changed no matter how many righteous men (or women) pen a new tirade on the Bonds scandal. Yes, he is a cheater. But he’s not the only one, I’ll tell you that much.

At this point in my soapbox moment, I saw this headline: Bonds Ball Will Go to Hall — with an *. So as an addendum, I had to say that branding an actual asterisk onto the ball before it is given to the Hall of Fame is very, very stupid. I don’t care if the fool who bought the ball had an online poll to determine the outcome of the ball. Are you going to chisel an asterisk onto each World Series trophy since the late 80′s? Are you going to stitch an asterisk onto Mark McGwire’s HOF jacket when he finally gets inducted? Is the homage to Bud Selig that will ultimately exist in Cooperstown once he leaves his post going to be decorated with a border of asterisks? Of course not.

Barry Bonds is the unwanted poster boy of steroids. Bud Selig is the spineless commissioner that stood by and let it all happen. But he’s making sure that he won’t be sharing the poster space with Big Head Barry.

Tags: Barry Bonds, By Lunchbox, do what's right, MLB, steroids