Hirp Diction

I’ve been a bad blogger, and I don’t mean that in the Jules Winnfield way. I make no excuses, I just ask for forgiveness. I hope to re-establish myself as the eForce you came to know, and I know I’m overstating things just a tad.

Enough of the sappy shit, lets do this thing.

Last night Barry Bonds finally hit the record breaking home run. We all knew it was coming, some of us were excited about the prospects, some anticipated the event like a trip to the dentist and some were just curious to see both the achievement and the reaction. I fit the description for all of the above. After he hit the record breaking home run, which I heard about from a chime on ESPN.com and my girlfriend suggested we put ESPN on (how cool is she?!) we flipped the channel in time to see the celebration. Hank Aaron was pure class, and his statement erased any criticism I had of him for not being there in person. In retrospect, he was absolutely right to not be there and to handle it the way he did. I also thought Bonds was dignified and classy in his thank you to the fans, if only he’d show that side of himself 51% of the time rather than 5%.

Later I laid in bed mulling over all that had happened in the game I love. It dawned on me that this “scandal” isn’t any different than most modern day scandals. Driving in to work this morning, Peter Gammons said it best on Mike & Mike in the Morning. He said that this isn’t the “steroid era” as everyone keeps referring it to as, but it’s the era of “whatever it takes.” Not just in sports, but in our society. We have Starbucks shutting down local coffee shops in every big city and small town. Target, Wal-Mart and megastores have replaced mom and pop shops. Our politicians are willing to say anything about their opponents. The Catholic Church pays millions and millions of dollars to deal with it’s skeletons. There’s no one taking the moral high road. But we want our sports to be different.

Truth of the matter is, as disgusting this situation with Bonds, baseball and steroids is, it’s really very similar to George Bush winning the 2000 election. In all likelihood it wasn’t achieved on the up and up. Even if it was, the level of suspicion surrounding it is so thick you can’t tell the difference between truth and theory. And in the end, even if George Bush really did steal the election, he’s still President. You may not have voted for him, it might piss you off and keep you up at night, but at the end of the day he’s in the Oval Office. Well, at the end of the day, the name Barry Bonds sits at the top of the all-time home run list. Perception, morality, and what you may want has very little to do with the reality of either situation.

Those who write books or columns, make jokes on late night television and sell clever bumper stickers aren’t as righteous as they fancy themselves. As much as they feel they are trying to shepherd the weak through valley of darkness, they’re capitalizing off these huge “injustices.” I have yet to hear Mike Lupica offer to return any income earned from his book about the summer McGwire and Sosa captured our imaginations. I haven’t heard any players, who have tried and convicted Bonds and others of crimes, suggest that any team forfeit their World Series titles earned in this era. Bud Selig has kept every dime he’s earned, even though his salary is directly affected by the level of popularity which is highly influenced by the home run and not by the chemicals in those that hit the home runs. Just like Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Keith Olberman and Dennis Miller.

And you will know my name is Hirp, when I lay my blog upon thee.