Bonds, Barry Bonds

Beliefnet is exploring Barry Bonds' assault on Hank Aaron's home run record from a theological point of view. Today, Michael Kress, who says he finds himself "overcome by a deep sense of sadness and more than a little outrage when contemplating Bonds's achievement," weighs the issue of justice v. forgiveness and comes down on the side of justice.

Starting to inject oneself with performance-enhancing steroids so late in an already-amazing career strikes me as just craven, a self-loathing act of desperation, a statement that being great isn't good enough, that nothing less than the history books--nothing less than god-like perfection--will suffice. Bonds wasn't--isn't--some striving rookie, he was already an established star, a role model, a leader. He could have become one of baseball's elder statesman, retiring gracefully with one of the best careers ever. Instead he chose to artificially prolong it, making a mockery of the natural aging process and his God-given body, as well as his opponents and teammates, and the game itself.

David Kuo and Patton Dodd offer differing points of view.

Posted by Jim Naughton on August 6, 2007 5:54 PM | |
Comments (1)

Why pick on Barry Bonds - it was legal at the time he did it - blame Major League Baseball instead of scapegoating one man.

Posted by Ann Fontaine [TypeKey Profile Page] | August 6, 2007 11:04 PM

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