how we were there for history

i've mentioned before about my thoughts about barry bonds and his whole chase. he's insufferable, unlikeable and defiant in the face of very substantial evidence against him. if you're not a giants fan who owes him everything, from saving the team in the city to the building of this gorgeous ballpark, it's very difficult to find a reason to cheer him on. and that's been the tact i've taken in my time here.

however, last night, for the first time, i cheered.

then again, last night, i saw history made.

i didn't really cheer for the man. the achievement, however, is staggering. and because of that, the stadium was electric (and these are fans more concerned with their pinot noir than their pitch counts).

here's the photos from section 141, left center:


as bonds batted, the place lit up with camera flashes. think of a huge glass jar full of a million fireflies.


turning a 5 into a 6 had never taken such importance.


although it was obvious that hammering hank had a shotgun aimed at his head from off camera, seeing him and hearing him was an amazing surprise.


$40 a ticket bought us some bragging rights.

how i'm with san diego on this one

just like the sellout crowd at petco park in san diego, when barry bonds hit number 755, i cheered. loudly.

i wasn't exactly cheering for the man. i was cheering for the achievement. and, although you can say that he wouldn't have gotten 755 without steroids, you can also ask if ruth would have hit 714 if there were black pitchers in the league. or if henry aaron would have hit his if he didn't play in the launching pads of atlanta and milwaukee.

bonds is the poster boy for this era of steroids, amphetamines and advanced genetics. and guess what? he's not the only one. he's one of many, probably a majority. and to discount his accomplishments would mean you'd have to discount the accomplishments of the entire generation.

if you're gonna do that, fine. just don't stop now. go back and asterick everything from each era.

because you can.

i saw history live on television. congrats, barry, on tying the most heralded record in all of sport.

no matter how you did it.

how this is all about piling on

i'm sure you might have read about HBO's expose with steroid chemist patrick arnold as he claimed that there's no way barry bonds didn't take steroids.

i think, at this point, the media is just piling on.

let's be honest here:

1. bonds took steroids. just because the tools haven't been invented to catch what he did doesn't exonerate him. there's more than a mountain of circumstantial evidence to prove this.

2. the only people who really doubt this are ardent bonds fans, the uninformed, the misinformed and giants fans. usually, these people are one and the same.

3. all that being said, he's not a cheater. a cheater is someone who finds an unfair advantage over his opponents. in this case, he's not the only one who took steroids. in fact, more pitchers juiced up than batters. so by not doing it would have put him at a disadvantage. that's not excusing what he did. he just wasn't alone.

4. like i said, we know already.

i don't think this is news.

this is just the media finding another way to take a punch at bonds. he's about to break a record, albeit tainted, but instead of letting that be the story, they're just finding something else to ruminate about.

i'm just sick of it all.