Re: [Marxism] Bonds, Genes, Racism

[Paul Cooley <americanjacobin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I never post to this site, and spend more time listening to Mike and Mike on 
ESPN radio or Jim Rome, but I had to comment and clear things up regarding this 
racism and Bonds thing.  It seems like people on this list are arguing 100% one 
side or the other, but don't acknowledge all the factors.  It's absolutely true 
that racism is a part of the general criticism at Bonds, but I'm not sure 
that's the main root of the criticism.  As I huge Pirates fan, I stopped liking 
him after he choked in the playoffs for the third year in a row, batting only 
.191 with 1 RBI and 1 hr, in three consecutive playoffs.  And regarding Sid 
Bream and Andy Van Slyke receiving better treatment, going back to the article 
Lippman posted, they didn't mention that Bobby Bonilla was one of the most 
loved on the team, and that Van Slyke was a somewhat court jester comedian of 
the team.  Van Slyke says if he would have stuck around in baseball, he would 
have most likely done steroids to remain competitive.  Many in baseball view 
Bonds as an asshole, and that's a reason why Bonds is getting heavily 
criticized.  It's general consensus regarding players, managers, reporters, 
other baseball stars, that Bonds is not a team guy and he's hard to get along 
with.  I think he's somewhat mellowed in years, but that's the consensus.  I 
guess you could chalk that up to racism, but there's plenty of black players 
that don't have that rep, and plenty of white ones that do.    I think he's a 
tragic dude because he probably would have been the greatest player of all 
time, but because he played in the steroid era and cheated, he sabotaged his 
stature and legacy.  I don't blame him for cheating, everyone did, and many 
still do, but if it was McGwire instead of Bonds he'd get criticism too.  
McGwire today is viewed as a joke for not 'man-ing up' (to use a sexist sports 
term) and at least deny or admit his steroids use; his famous line 'I'm not 
hear to talk about the past.'. But what really got me thinking is this 
statement by Naveen Jaganathan, "sociologically racism pervades everything" 
Maybe that is true?  It's just hard for me to agree with that since the 
cheating and the assholeness by Bonds hasn't been taken into account on this 
list. So if we could somehow remove the assholeness and cheating we'd be able 
to find out if it was racism.  Well actually that experiment already happened 
when Sosa was chasing the single season record.  Of course it was before we 
'knew' about steroids, but sosa was well liked and was supported.  Although I 
guess you could argue that he had McGwire's blessing, making it okay to support 
a black guy.  I don't know, let's see what happens in 7 years or so when AROD 
smashes bonds record.peace out yo's  americanjacobin  
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