Bonds & 756

Barry Bonds is the most pompous, arrogant and reprehensible athlete in sports today. But last night at about 12:15 a.m. EST I found myself cheering for him. As Bonds crushed his 756th home run I finally saw Barry Bonds through the eyes of his son. As Bonds rounded third his son, the Giants bat boy, was waiting for him at home plate holding up his finger to signify that his dad was now the #1 home run hitter of all time.

Barry Bonds is somebody's father. I never really thought of it that way, and how amazing is it to have your dad not only play major league baseball, but break one of the greatest records of all time in any sport. The pride was beaming from his son's face as he hugged his father.

Then when Bonds addressed the crowd and talked about his father, I felt myself getting choked up as well.

Here's a man who I know to be pretty much an awful person and there I sit in front of my TV feeling happy for him. I am confident he used steroids in his career, but I still have to tip my hat to a man who lasted long enough to crush more home runs than any human being ever has. On top of that he's the major league leader in walks, so this is no Dave Kingman we're talking about.

McGwire, Conseco, Palmeiro & Sosa are all claimed to have used steroids and none of them have even come close to 700.

Maybe Bonds will turn out to be a nice person after his career is over, but I doubt it. But at least for this Mets Lifer for one night (or early morning) on August 8th, I actually cheered for Barry Bonds.

He's still a jerk though.

P.S. How sweet was it that a Mets fan caught the home run. Loved him being carted out of the stadium in his Mets away jersey. Priceless