Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 2238
Location: Gold Canyon
Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:33 pm Post subject:
Tony Massarotti / NBCSports.com today wrote:
The truth, quite simply, is that nobody really wants him. Not his bosses. Not his teammates. And certainly not the powers entrusted with the care of our national pastime.
Yet Barry Bonds continues to turn up like the proverbial bad penny.
The start of spring training is now just days away, baseball followers, and here is the disturbing reality: We essentially have spent an entire winter talking about a man who is stuck to the bottom of baseball’s shoe as if he were a stale wad of Juicy Fruit. Like most major leaguers, Bonds hasn’t played in a game since Oct. 1. As best anyone can tell, J.D. Drew has had more off-season suitors (one) than the man who currently ranks No. 2 on baseball’s all-time home run list.
What Bonds lacks, too, is a contract, which seems to make perfect sense were it not for one small glitch: the Giants reluctantly have been trying to give him one. San Francisco has looked like a conflicted groom for much of this offseason; according to a recent report by from the Associated Press, owner Peter McGowan recently sent a letter to season-ticket holders explaining why the Giants elected to keep their star player.
There’s a new one, eh?
Most teams go into damage control when they lose a star player.
But Bonds being Bonds, the Giants have to explain why they want to keep him.
At the moment, of course, the issue surrounding Bonds concerns his contract; the player and the team are still working on "language" in the one-year, $16 million deal. According to reports, negotiations have included everything from additional personal appearances (a clause reportedly rejected by Major League Baseball) to San Francisco "escape" clauses in the event Bonds is indicted for perjury, though the latter assertion has been dismissed by Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris.
And so, like most things concerning Bonds in the last few years, the matter drags on, with no conclusion in sight.
Is anything easy with this guy?
On the surface, the Bonds negotiations should have been nothing more than a batting practice fastball. From the moment Bonds’ representatives trotted him through the winter meetings in December, most everyone knew that Bonds had no place to go. When the homecoming queen shows up for a night of speed dating, it’s probably indication that she’s desperate for a prom date.
Now, nearly two months later, Bonds and the Giants are still celebrating a pre-engagement. Throughout baseball, spring training is due to open next week. Somehow, though no club other than the Giants is believed to have expressed any sincere interest in Bonds at all, his saga has played out all winter as if there were actually some element of drama to the proceedings.
Today, outside of San Francisco and beyond the walls of Alcatraz, let’s all admit something: We are all very tired of the Bonds stories. We are tired of everything about him. We are tired of the lies, of the incessant need for attention and foolish desire to grant it. We are tired of the name and everything associated with it.
Nine years ago this approaching summer, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa engaged in a pursuit of Roger Maris’ single-season home run record, we all followed the story with great anticipation. At the time, we really didn’t know better. We were all ignorant and naïve, and maybe we wanted to be. We look back now and see how foolish it all was.
Now comes Bonds and his pursuit of Hank Aaron, and you would think that we might all know better. Bonds really is not chasing a record at all, not the way he has done it, not with what we have learned. From the fans and media to the players, officials and owners, what we say and what we want are two very different things, and the latter is simply indisputable.
Sooner rather than later, we all want Bonds to just go away.
Tony Massarotti is a columnist for The Boston Herald and is a regular contributor to NBCSports.com.
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