I'm not really a huge baseball fan (though I admit I did just read the almost embarrassingly fawning profile of Derek Jeter in today's New York Times), but I'm intruiged by a new poll suggesting Americans are deeply divided about Barry Bonds.
35 percent of people polled said they genuinely hope Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's career home run record, while 30 percent actively hope he fails. The other 35 percent of the nation presumably doesn't give a rat's ass either way.
People were polled at random, which means it's impossible to determine if the folks who responded are fans of the sport. A more valuable poll would survey only those who care about the game. Would they want Bonds to fail because they want to preserve aaron's legacy, a record arrived at by a guy who played fair? Or would they want to to succeed because the game is all about winning? Are today's baseball fans traditionalists, or is the whole thing being hijacked by the same showboating mindset that has already ruined pro basketball?
Personally, I don't even know why Bonds is still being allowed to play. He is and has always been a superb athlete, but when a player goes from being a normally-proportioned guy to an angry Bruce Banner in about two seconds, he didn't get that way by working out. Somehow commissioner Bud Selig insists there is no evidence Bonds is using illegal substances, though the proof would be his own physique. Then again, MLB's rules on doping are hopelessly byzantine anyway, and nobody took Bonds aside and tested him as soon as he entered Ben Grimm mode, so who knows?
Probably Bonds will continue to play, and assuming his arms don't don't fall off or his chest explode, break Aaron's record. After his retirement, it will be proven that his performance was enhanced by dubious means, and either an asterisk will be attached or his accomplishment will be stricken from the record, and he'll be denied entry into Cooperstown, despite his record. This depressing scenario could be avoided if Selig would just enforce the rules.
But that hasn't happened yet, and probably never will.
