sfsfsfgiants wrote:I think the same thing about McGwire and Sosa. I dont care that Bonds is on the Giants. I have grown up being taught until you are PROVEN guilty. Not when everyone, even the commissioner, THINKS that you are.

Not even talking about steriods.

Okay, I will rephraise it. I try not to be biased when it comes to my team. When they play bad, I say it. When a guy sucks, I say it.

badabing8888 wrote:Oh man, funny how your rationalize behavior when a guy plays for your team.

For the record, I was lobbying for a Stephen Jackson trade far before Mullin pulled off the deal with Indy. I've also always been a fan of TO, Vince Carter, Tony Stewart, Curt Schilling, and pretty much anybody that the sports media considers "an ass".

These guys are hired to play; not to be model citizens. To me, being upset with a sports player over his off-the-court behavior is on the same level as being upset with a president that gets his knob slobbed in the White House. It has nothing to do with his job.

You can hate Bonds all you want, even though I'm 90% sure you've never met him and base your argument that he is "an asshole" off what the media has told you. Performance is really the only thing I'm interested in when it comes to sports. When a guy takes his jersey off, its no longer my business.

32 wrote:

badabing8888 wrote:Oh man, funny how your rationalize behavior when a guy plays for your team.

For the record, I was lobbying for a Stephen Jackson trade far before Mullin pulled off the deal with Indy. I've also always been a fan of TO, Vince Carter, Tony Stewart, Curt Schilling, and pretty much anybody that the sports media considers "an ass".

These guys are hired to play; not to be model citizens. To me, being upset with a sports player over his off-the-court behavior is on the same level as being upset with a president that gets his knob slobbed in the White House. It has nothing to do with his job.

You can hate Bonds all you want, even though I'm 90% sure you've never met him and base your argument that he is "an asshole" off what the media has told you. Performance is really the only thing I'm interested in when it comes to sports. When a guy takes his jersey off, its no longer my business.

I totally hear ya 32. I dont condem a guy for not being nice. I can still appreciate them as an athlete. But the tone of some of the posts (or at least how I took it which could be totally wrong) was the Barry was really a good guy, it is just the media that makes him out to be bad.

I am not saying Barry is evil. I dont believe that. But it is a fact that he is an arrogant asshole to people not in his circle. He does not treat outsiders with a lot of respect. But that has nothing to do with him being a good player or not. He is not obliged to be nice to people

So I think he is an a-hole and that he knowingly took steriods, but I would still call him the greatest baseball player I have ever seen and anyone not voting for him for the HoF on the 1st ballot is OUT OF THEIR MIND!!!

32 wrote:

badabing8888 wrote:Oh man, funny how your rationalize behavior when a guy plays for your team.

For the record, I was lobbying for a Stephen Jackson trade far before Mullin pulled off the deal with Indy. I've also always been a fan of TO, Vince Carter, Tony Stewart, Curt Schilling, and pretty much anybody that the sports media considers "an ass".

These guys are hired to play; not to be model citizens. To me, being upset with a sports player over his off-the-court behavior is on the same level as being upset with a president that gets his knob slobbed in the White House. It has nothing to do with his job.

You can hate Bonds all you want, even though I'm 90% sure you've never met him and base your argument that he is "an asshole" off what the media has told you. Performance is really the only thing I'm interested in when it comes to sports. When a guy takes his jersey off, its no longer my business.

I think there's a limit for everything. Just look at the Bengals. Having one (extremely talented, as that's the only reason to have one of those guys) headcase is one thing, but if you add several more to the same roster, that's a call for trouble. I mean, S-Jax can be keep quiet in our team... but not if we add Artest and 'Sheed to the roster.

That's from a performance point of view. As for "hating" a player for the kind of guy he is, I agree. Unless I've met him personally and have a reason to hate him, I don't care what he does off court. It's his business, not mine.

interesting discussion. No debate that of all the steroid-users/abusers, Bonds was the best and that is not surprising, since he was one of the 3 best everyday players of all time pre-steroids, in my opinion (along with Mays and Ruth). As for his unpleasant nature, again, geniuses have often been unpleasant, from Dostoevsky to Dylan to Picasso. The only thing that is relevant in discussing Bonds as a baseball player is how he performed and how he was able to perform how he performed. I have no doubt that it will come out that about 1/2 of major leaguers were on the juice during the steroid era, and, with masking agents being continually improved, I am sure it is still going on.