Say Anything Blog

Ouch.

I felt that one way over here.

Feel the love, Babe!

For all his accomplishments on the field (I’ll say again that he is a great player, though not as great as the steroids have made him) Barry may well be end up going down in history as the least popular hall of famer of all time. 

He ranks right up there with Ty Cobb on the likability index.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

HELL YA!

Ty Cobb came by it honestly.

Barry too.  I’ve never liked him.  He’s been the epitome of the pampered, arrogant professional athelete since day #1 in the league.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

This was from what… a month ago?!  C’mon Rob, you’re better than that… aren’t you?

/just playing with ya

It is old though.

And lay off my Detroit Tiger Ty Cobb.  They were all racist wife beating drunk bastards 100 years ago.

That banner is from May 5th, I believe, when the Giants played the Phillies.  I thought it was one of the better ones he had to read.

Rob said, Barry too. I’ve never liked him. He’s been the epitome of the pampered, arrogant professional athelete since day #1 in the league.

Yeah,..I thought the same thing when I asked him to sign my little notebook and got a reply of, “naw man, I don’t do that kind of thing” while at club Tonic in Pontiac. Look man, you’re at a club that is nearly empty, three or four other people besides myself are on the dancefloor, nobody recognizes you because nobody cares at a venue like this and I have a pen and pad and you won’t sign it? Well la-ti-da then.

It’s interesting to me that there are still an awful lot of guys who lobby long and hard FOR Pete Rose to be included in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, while there is clearly so much animosity toward Barry despite what he has accomplished.

Somne of that animosity is clearly over his being “juiced.” An awful lot of those “home runs” would have been right field fly ball outs without the obvious chemical enhancement.  But an awful lot of this is clearly about Barry himself, and the fact that over his career he has very consciously portrayed himself to the rest of the world as an arrogant prick.  And that does neither the game itself, nor Barry Bonds, any good at all.

Pete Rose should be in the hall.

It’s interesting to me that there are still an awful lot of guys who lobby long and hard FOR Pete Rose to be included in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, while there is clearly so much animosity toward Barry despite what he has accomplished.

There is a huge difference between the two.  Rose broke a rule of baseball that, arguably, had nothing to do with his on-field performance and thus his credentials for inclusion in the Hall of Fame.  Bonds, on the other hand, allegedly broke a rule that did (and possibly does) enhance his ability to perform on the field.  That distinction makes all the difference in the world between the two cases.

I do believe that a certain amount of the animosity toward Bonds comes from his attitude toward the media throughout his career.  You just can’t run around pissing off the very people who would shape public opinion about you.

With all that said, I don’t think either one should be included in the Hall of Fame (assuming Bonds is found to have violated the steroids policy.) They both knowingly violated a rule of the sport they played and should suffer the consequences.

For what its worth, my personal opinion is that Pete Rose WILL be in the Hall of Fame one day… and it will only happen after he is no longer around to savor the honor.

Rose is a tough case.  His gambling on his own team (and subsequent lying about it for decades) is a huge no-no and does not deserve to be rewarded by admission into the hall.

On the flip side, the hall already has plenty of criminals inducted...Ty Cobb (who beat a black man to death during the course of his career) not the least of them.

The sentimental part of me would like to see him in.  He was my kind of player.  He gave 100% effort every time he was on the field, and when he couldn’t contribute in a “big” way (he was never much of a slugger) he did all the little things that counted, like taking extra bases or sacrificing for his teammates.

Admitting him after he’s dead and gone would be the way to do it.  He doesn’t deserve to be honored, but neither should his contributions to the game be forgotten.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs: