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Why I Told Tom Joyner That We
Must Respect Barry Bonds
Dr.
Boyce on CNN Paula Zahn Thursday Night at 8
By Dr. Boyce
Watkins
I was recently invited on the Tom Joyner Morning
Show to discuss the alleged Steroid…I mean, Homerun King, Barry Bonds.
I was happy to hear that a major black show was going to weigh in
on the issue, since the predominantly white media tends to let racism
mess everything up. Even
the most rational journalists can’t escape the infection of color-driven
perception when covering black male athletes, since they can’t tell an
inmate from a surgeon if they both have braids in their hair.
I’ve always respected Tom Joyner,
especially after hearing that he once flew each day between Dallas and
Chicago to host two separate radio shows.
To put it bluntly, that’s gangsta.
There are some people willing to kill to become successful, and
Tom might be one of those people.
I also have some degree of respect for
Barry Bonds. But I must
lace my respect with a teeny bit of reservation.
Why the reservation?
Because Barry can be a complete jackass.
Not just a jerk to some people, but to nearly ALL people,
especially journalists.
Anyone can understand the desire to treat the media like crap, but you
can’t be disrespectful to the media and then get upset that they are
making you look bad. Human
beings tend to be quite human, and journalists get angry like everyone
else.
In spite of his personality flaws, the
fact remains that Barry Bonds must be given his “props”.
He’s one of the all-time greats in Major League Baseball, and
there’s no denying that.
Even if he got involved in the whole doping era of his sport, it was
likely MLB’s blind eye approach to steroids that caused the problems,
not Barry Bonds. The
athletes around him were juicing more than a Tropicana Factory, so there
is no way you can talk about Bonds without talking about problems with
baseball itself. Also consider
this: had it not been for the raid on the BALCO labs, none of this would
have been uncovered. How many not-yet raided labs are producing drugs
for athletes right now? You will probably never know.
The steroid policy in Major League
Baseball has as much teeth as a new born baby, and if the policy were
stronger, then great players like Bonds would be able to find a way to
naturally beat the competition.
However, when you’ve just lost fans because of a strike, it’s
much easier to fill the stands with juiced up players performing super
human feats than with natural players with amazing talent.
Remember: Baseball is a business
more than anything else.
The “asterisk theory” is also
interesting. This is the
argument that Bonds’ records should have an asterisk next to them
because they may have been obtained under questionable circumstances.
OK, well, if you want to put qualifiers next to athletic records,
let’s start with the pre-integration era.
During this period, every record on the books was obtained
without having to compete against black people.
If steroids are a performance enhancer,
then racism is a magnified performance booster that also allows you to
completely rid yourself of the competition.
In fact, some would even call it cheating.
Did Babe Ruth cheat his way to greatness?
You should ask some of the great hitters in the Negro Leagues who
had to hit against Satchel Paige.
The past 15 years were an ugly period
for baseball, and someone is going to have to pay.
Barry is going to pay by dealing with Federal authorities and a
public that makes him wish he were caught dog fighting instead.
But the price should not only be paid by Barry Bonds, for he is
the little fish in this scam. Instead, it should be paid by baseball
itself, which may have sold its soul in the 90s.
Dr. Boyce
Watkins is a Finance Professor at
Syracuse
University and author of
“What if George Bush were a Black Man?” He makes regular appearances in
national media including CNN, ESPN, CBS and FOX.
For more information, please visit
www.boycewatkins.com.
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