Murphy vs Bonds — Dale takes the gloves off

Murphy vs Bonds — Dale takes the gloves off

Dale Murphy recently fired out at Barry Bonds for his “unknowingly” taking performance enhancing drugs.  I was shocked at the public display of, well, hatred he has toward Bonds.

“…  I’ve heard the last few weeks, that that he’s being treated unfairly. You know, life just usually isn’t like that. You don’t usually get treated unfairly. You usually get what you deserve. This is what Barry deserves. He’s a hard guy to like. He’s a hard teammate to have and, you know, he’s set a terrible example for our kids.”

And that’s from a relatively respectable source.

And he’s right!  Here’s someone who cheated (regardless of whether it was explicitly against the rules or not, the spirit of the rules were breached), and is being rewarded with a very coveted record in a major US sport… “America’s Past Time.”  And we honor him.  That’s the “American Way.”

3 Responses

  1. Mike W. says:

    I’m not a Barry Bonds fan. I wish he had the class to walk away at 754 and leave the record intact. However, it should not be his personality that affects how we treat his record. Ty Cobb was a jerk. There have been many others who have been. Just because Barry isn’t a nice guy doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have the record, and the quote seems that’s what Reluctant is implying from the context. The quote says nothing about the steroid issue (which to me is the only one); it only refers to the personality conflicts, complaints of being treated fairly, and example for kids (which is in the context of it being hard to get along with Bonds).

  2. Reluctant says:

    Only the last two sentences in the quote are about personality.

    I agree that personality shouldn’t be a factor in how we treat a great athlete or successful individual. But when they break the rules (as I mention in my last paragraph, and what Murphy is talking about throughout the article) in order to accomplish that record, then I don’t feel like I need to honor this individual at all.

  3. Mike W. says:

    Dan,

    Barry saying that he hasn’t been treated fairly by the media has been going on for a long time, longer than the steroid stuff, about 10 years. He has whined about it constantly. It just became more intense after the steroid stuff. My point was that, using only the words you quoted, it sounds like Murphy is discussing Bonds not being treated fairly, not being a good team mate, not being a nice guy, and then you use that quote as a springboard to not recognize the home run record.

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