this is kind of an awkward event for MLB, but i don't think the blame for that goes entirely to barry. ultimately it was his decision to use PEDs, but the higher-ups in baseball were responsible for creating the environment that drove so many (including bonds) to cheat: no testing, the glorification of home runs, and a tacit understanding that they'd look the other way if anybody was up to anything illicit. so, shame on them. shame on everybody.

any time you create a massive incentive for people to cheat, with minimal disincentive, some people are going to cheat. that's human nature, and all grownups should know that. yeah, it's disappointing that people choose to act this way, but it's not like we should all be shocked that they do.

He's great.  He used amphetamines, he probably used steroids...  I really don't care.  As for the record, like all records, it's fundamentally just accounting trivia.  I refused to get worked up about it, in a good way or a bad way.  

Granted this is more important than, say, HBP in a season by a switch hitter or something, but really it changes nothing.  He was awesome, he played a long time, and when all was said and done he happened to have more HR than anyone else.  Someday someone will hit more; it will not make Barry any less of a player, just like this doesn't take anything away from Aaron.  It's just another incredible player's turn to be the answer to a trivia question for awhile.

So he went out and spent a summer working out and juicing and the rest is history.

I have been paying special attention to Bonds AB lately, and will continue to do so until he is the sole leader.

Most(including me) believe he has been less than honest during his playing career.  However, he still is a great ballplayer and we can acknowledge and celebrate it.  If Bonds someday is proven beyond a doubt to have taken steroids or other performance enhancing drugs, then we can place the asterisk or whatever.  Remember, MLB did nothing to stop steroids until a few years ago.  I believe MLB execs did know something, but it was secret and good for the game... Lets not repeat the Salem Witch Trials here and convict someone based on perceived actions.  In the end, the truth will prevail.

Again, Congratulations to Mr Barry Bonds on #755.

As such, I'm certainly not going to waste the few years I have left watching him hit baseballs because of off the field issues.

I wonder how much of the hatred and resentment directed towards Bonds is a product of fans feeling duped while they watched McGwire and Sammy Sosa chase "the most hallowed record in MLB" (as it was called at the time, although this year it seems so be the one held by Aaron and Bonds). Maybe it's just because I've been listening to Who's Next a lot lately, but is the baseball world collectively saying to itself, "We won't get fooled again", and thus rejecting Barry now so as to make up for their acceptance and support for Mac and Sammy?

Let's face it, that chase was what "healed" baseball after the strike, no? That what I remember everyone saying at the time. Well, I guess the current controversy is just MLB reaping the whirlwind they sowed as they celebrated and pumped up the events of 1998.

So when Bonds goes out there and gets booed, he's getting booed for not only taking steroids himself but being the first one we knew about. He's getting booed because we feel tricked somehow by Mac and Sosa, and this is the easy way to express that. "We don't get fooled again, Barry," we say. "So your "record" gets an asterisk, you giant Roiding freak!"

Barry's getting booed for the sins of his generation, and on top of that, he's getting booed because we once cheered those like him. We celebrated those who did not deserve it and now must exact revenge on someone to make up for it. Well, Mac is gone and Sammy has a big smile, so it's all on Barry now.

It's hardly fair if you ask me, but I guess it's kinda human. When you feel duped and taken advantage off, it's natural to lash out. But common, people! For just a week or so, can we acknowledge that Bonds was the best hitter of a generation, even if it was a generation of "cheaters"? We take context into account all the time when talking about how good a player was all-time. Well do it for Bonds and McGwire and Sosa, too.

So do what you want with the next week, I guess. Be angry and bitter about what Barry is doing. Gnash your teeth, gesture animatedly with your beer (but make sure you don't spill any, for chrissake!). I for one and going to just watch it for what it is:  history before our eyes, the best player of a generation accomplishing something amazing.

A black columnist from the New York Times (I believe) said that Bonds breaking the record was "great" and that he was innocent until proven guilty.

Mitch Albom and another white reporter were basically "disgusted" by him breaking the record, and seemed genuinely shocked by what the other guy was saying.

It kind of reminded me a bit of the reactions to the OJ verdict.

Now I just dislike Barry as a human being, and he could be blue or green instead of black as far as I'm concerned, but it seems like race does play some rule in terms of cheering for Barry or not.

Or maybe this mornings reactions were just a coincidence.