In recent posts I have read responses from bloggers that they CRIED when Barry Bonds hit # 756. In all honesty when I heard that Barry Bonds accomplished this feat...a tear rolled down my cheek and I'll tell you why....

BUT FIRST let me pause and reflect on other events that made me cry.

I CRIED: When Roberto Clemente, a true sports hero, Thurman Munson, and Cory Lidle were all tragically killed in plane crashes.

I CRIED:  When Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck and savagely beaten because of  the Rodney King saga.

I CRIED: When the Tsunami of 2005  swept away and killed hundreds of thousands of people who perished on Christmas morning.(Our time).

I CRIED: When BOTH my daughters were born because in my eyes they were perfect and exquissently beautiful.

I CRIED: When I heard about Jon Benet Ramsey.

I CRIED: Throughout the 1972 Olympic games in Munich.

I CRIED : When my daughter read her first book cover to cover and she was so proud of herself. And I was too.

I CRIED: When my dog Buster, and Sir Thomas O'Shay my pet hedgehog died.

I CRIED: After the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 W.S. ending 86 years of frustration.

I CRIED: When O.J. got off.

I CRIED: When Tony Conigliaro got hit in the head with a fastball.

I CRIED: When Hank Aaron was rounding the bases after hitting HR # 715. I was 12 and his amphetamine usage wasn't known at the time.

I CRIED: When the Challenger space launch exploded killing her crew.

I CRIED: When I heard how Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died even though they had died in 1959 three years before I was born.

I CRIED: When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the south coast killing thousands and making thousands of thousands more lose everything and homeless.

I CRIED: The day my now 7yr old made a makeshift memorial with sticks to our cat who had died 2 yrs earlier, and scribbled the name Phoebe on it. Bless her sweet little heart.

I CRIED: When the SAWX lost the '67,''75 and '86 World Series and the ''78 playoff game with the Yanks.

I CRIED: When Christian Lattner hit that miracle shot to beat my UCONN Huskies in the '97 NCAA tournament.

I CRIED: When one of my best friends died in a motorcycle accident when I was a senior in high school.

I CRIED: When my brother put down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt to win our regional Babe Ruth League championship.(Anyone can hit a G.W. HR, try a G.W. bunt base hit).

I CRIED: The first time my daughter ran up to me, threw her arms around me and said "Daddy's home".

OTHER TIMES I HAVE SHED TEARS: 1980 Miracle on Ice victory over the heavily favored Russians; When Nadia Comenichi landed the first of her many perfect 10's; And when the Patriots won their first S.B. in 2001.

So why Barry? Why did I cry? I wasn't happy Bonds broke the record. Always felt Bonds' has never been 100 percent up front with us about this whole steriod issue.

  Put your head back and think back when you first saw the game. Deep down I know why;

 Baseball is a game of inches. You hear it all the time. THERE"S a line drive down the third baseline.... FOUL by inches. Did he make a diving catch?! Unbelieveable! Oh wait the Ump says he trapped it!  Hit the sweet spot on the barrel of the bat and it's gone. Get under it a quarter inch and it's a pop out or flyout. Over by the same amount you hit a grounder to short, double play inning over.

Baseball is also a game of numbers, a statisticians dream. ERA, RBI,HR, W-L, K-BB ratios, WHIPS, SLG PCT....you get the picture. And we base our GREATS of the game by these numbers. And what greats there have been: DiMaggio, Williams, Ruth, Banks, Clemente, Gibson, Clemens, Seaver, Foxx, Killebrew, Greenberg, Kaline, Cobb, Hornsby, Mantle, Ripken, Aaron, Speaker, Mathewson, and just so many more.

 Then there's Voices of the game. Oh, Curt Gowdy, Vin Scully, Harry Carrey, Phil Rizzuto( Anyone from back east remember THE MONEY STORE ads. not to mention Meatloaf's Paradise on Dashboard Light), and just countless others.

 And finally there are the Kids. They say baseball is a kid's game. Passed down from generation to generation. My father who coached Farm League, Little League and Babe Ruth League passed it down to us kids. And my PePe and MeMe passed it down to him. PePe was a big fan of baseball. His Uncle Larry 'Nap' Lajoie was a  second baseman for the Philadelphia A's. He musta been pretty good too seeing that "Nap" was the 6th player enshrined into the baseball HOF. They took him to see Ted Williams at Fenway to watch the SAWX, and taught my Dad the game through a players perspective. My Pops loved baseball just as much as my PePe and dove right in. I went to my first SAWX game when I was 6. It was a 4/5 hour drive and was exciting as hell. Yaz didn't hit one out and we lost, but it was love at first sight. The Fens is small and cramped and at that time in '68 it was still one of the older parks like today. It had what I like to call; a lived in feeling. But it was very cozy.The big columns of cotton candy, the smell of popcorn and cracker jacks not to mention the hot dogs and kielbasa with onions. I learned to love the place through the years watching Yaz, Pudge Fisk, Rico Petrocelli, Luis Aparicio, El Tiante and my favorite BoSox Dewey Evans. Man had a RIFLE of an arm. And through this I learned something. Something important. Baseball is like family. It's about being out in the garage while helping you dad take the carburator out and listening to the game. Or mom throwing some concoction together at dinnertime because it was almost gametime. I still don't know what half that stuff was. It's about getting in trouble for making a raquette upstairs playing paper baseball with a taped up piece of paper and a wooden dowel, in the frigid cold of February with a foot of snow on the ground. Hit it over the railing and downstairs it's a HR because I'm not getting it. It's the tree is first base, the twig is second, the bow of the boat is third and the stone in front of the garage is home. Anything hit past the apple tree is a HR. The most important thing about families it's about our KIDS. They come first. A youngster is taught in Farm League, Tee Ball, Little League, Babe Ruth, Pony Leagues, high school varsity and jv. to learn the basics of the game. Practice hard, and play the game the way it was meant to be played. With INTEGRITY and BY THE RULES. 

Why did I start off with the I CRIED. It's simple really. They are all real emotions that have an honest core. Just like when I was a KID. The same kid that we all have in us today. 

 I CRIED: When Barry Bonds hit his HR because he ushered in the Steriod Era regardless if he did them or not.  It's sad somewhere along the way we decided that an Institution MLB, an organization MLBPA, and individuals who use steriods can get away with cheating. By letting this STERIOD ERA have a free pass we have lost an important link in our lives. The memories of those who DID not CHEAT in favor of those that do. The Steriod Era has put in question  the integrity of the game. It also has put into question the performances of the Greats of the game. To strip those who have not cheated and give accolades to those who have is unfair. And that includes the integrity of my Great Great Uncle Larry 'Nap' Lajoie. Sorry Nap , Love ya. You see PePe and Pops taught me that baseball is my extended family. And families are honest with each other.  And because of this: We have cheated our kids.

Both BIG and SMALL