This will be short and sweet. I won't regale anyone with mass statistics about any of the controversial figures because everyone else is doing that. All of the statistical information I need is two numbers, 714 and 755.

The number 714 equals the number of career homeruns hit by Babe Ruth. Currently this places him in second place on the all time list. SECOND PLACE.

The number 755 equals the number of career homeruns hit by Hank Aaron. Currently this places him in FIRST place on the all time list. FIRST PLACE.

Do we have it? Can you see it?

I won't disparage Babe Ruths career. It was phenomenal. I won't trash Barry Bonds career because there are enough people out there doing that already.

But everyone out there comparing Bonds vs. Ruth are arguing for arguments sake. Why argue over the number two spot? Regardless of how you feel about Bonds or Ruth making this much noise over second place, for whatever reason, is a joke.

Bottom line - All you people are doing is slamming the career of the All Time Homerun Leader in MLB - Hank Aaron.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

I am an active participant on this site. I respond to others blogs and have posted a few myself.  But since this contest has begun, the last three posts I have written have been buried immediately. They show up nowhere. I have been told that it is because there ar so many people posting stuff that nothing stays around. Yea, right!

I am not the best writer here. I also don't think that I am the worst, by any stretch of the imagination. But I didn't sign up for the contest. I was also under the impression that I could still post stuff and it would be treated no differently than anything else. Did I not understand something? I am looking at some of the two sentence stuff out there that stays available for weeks, and I don't get it. Some of my posts are long but no longer than many others.  I look at some stuff that makes me think it was written while the author was liquored up, or is borderline illiterate. As I have already stated, I am not the best writer here but for crying out loud, some of this stuff is horrible. I started here because I like sharing opinions. I like hearing what  other people have to say and with any luck, they would be able to relate to what I say, and agree or disagree. This has actually happened a bit here and it has been fun. I respect everyone's right to an opinion and really like the venue provided to express them.

I also think that there are quite a few of you who are in the same position. I am not being picked on. I would have had to have been around here a lot longer than I have been and would think I would have had to upset someone tremendously to be picked on. I ain't that good. Nor am I that bad. I write and hope that some will respond if for no other reason the opportunity to have a little back and forth, give and take conversation. In order to do that, people have to know you posted something. This contest, and whoever keeps an eye on it, isn't allowing everyone the same opportunity. For those of you who are entered in the contest I wish you the best of luck. Socal, LGRW and anyone else who has been here consistently, I wish you the best. But the opportunity to continue the concept of communicating through a blog site, unless you are involved in this contest, is extremely limited. Sour grapes! Yea, maybe a little!  

After weeks and weeks of responding to all the Bonds Bashers and Bonds supporters out there, Barry has finally done something to tick me off.

I am not a baseball "purist" who thinks that Bonds has ruined the game of baseball because he used steroids or didn't use steroids but might have used steroids and won't admit it. I am not a baseball "purist" who thinks the size of Barry Bonds head is clear and conclusive evidence that Barry Bonds took steroids. I am not a baseball "purist" who insists on doing photographic comparisons as conclusive proof that Bonds used steroids by comparing pictures of Bonds in his early 20's to pictures of Bonds in his early 40's. I am not a baseball "purist" who acts like Bonds is the only person that ever used a performance enhancing substance and therefore is the only person who should be accused of being a "cheater" by the general public and baseball "purists." I am not a baseball "purist" who thinks Bonds name and accomplishments, at any time of his career, should be banished from the game forever.

Frankly, I could care less if Bonds has a mistress. I could care less if Bonds ever talks to the media. I could care less if Bonds doesn't get a celebration from MLB when he passes Babe Ruth on the all time home run list. Actually, if I were pressed about it I would say that he shouldn't get a celebration for being number two. I could care less about anyone, including Bonds, who makes a race issue out of Bonds (black) passing Ruth (white) for number two when it has already been done by Aaron (black). Seems rather ludicrous and stupid to me. And I could care less about anyone who thinks that Barry Bonds has hurt anyone, or anything, other than himself, by taking steroids, or maybe taking steroids but not admitting it to anyone. This also seems ludicrous and stupid to me. I could care less if "Bonds on Bonds" has a great audience, a mediocre audience, or no audience at all. I could care less if  "Bonds on Bonds" is an attempt to "cleanse" Bonds image or anything along those lines.

I am not a baseball "purist" and I could care less about Bonds or his alleged steroid abuse or Bonds Bashers. I think I respond to them just because I don't understand the incredible anger and hate that baseball "purists" and Bonds Bashers feel toward this guy. I think MLB has more issues than Barry Bonds. I think MLB should take a deep dark look inside itself and quit going after issues and people to hide and misdirect people. I posted about Bud Selig last week (a rather long post)  and think that MLB should look at his relationships and conflict of interest career and then do something about it. But as long as owners have power it won't happen. I think most of the people who bash Bonds probably, hopefully, have more important things to do with their time and efforts.

And then it happened. Although I wondered out loud to my wife how many people would get mad at Bonds for spitting a sunflower seed on the floor of the dugout last night on a close-up, that wasn't it. Although I wondered how many baseball "purists" think there was some kind of edible performance enhancing substance on the sunflower seeds and would voice those concerns in the near future, that wasn't it. What was it? What did Barry Bonds do to finally tick me off? Here it comes.

 He showed me that I must care about something or I wouldn't have been so bothered by what I saw last night. He showed me that I care about the behavior of hordes of people out there who are hypocrites by nature and action. More than I apparently was ready to acknowledge. People in Philadelphia held up signs and  booed him constantly. And then when he absolutely crushed a ball for his 713 career homerun these people stood up and cheered loudly and took about a million pictures. And this isn't just Phillies fans, it is everywhere. Yea, we hate your guts, but do us a favor and blast another bomb for us, will ya? Yea, you used steroids and you lied and cheated the great game of baseball, but, hey, could you launch another mammoth homerun for us so we can get a picture of you?" Yea, your knees are bad and you have chips floating in your elbow, which is a sure sign of steroid abuse, but, if you could only blast the biscuit out of here one more time for us, we would sure appreciate it.

Why does that tick me off? Because I am a human being, like Bonds and all of the baseball "purists" and Bonds supporters and Bashers. And, while I am not perfect, I really try and support my opinions by my actions. If I couldn't stand Bonds and I voiced that opinion everywhere, I wouldn't cheer anything the man does. That means I wouldn't hold up a sign bashing him and then stand and cheer him when he rocks the pill out of the yard. I don't consider Bonds anything more than a baseball player who can dessimate a baseball with one swing, and as such, with the Giants/Phillies game on last night, I channel surfed back and forth to watch his at bats. And I got to tell you, when he hit that homerun last night, I smiled. I have always liked watching this guy hit homeruns. Am I a Bonds fan? No! But I think that all of the negativity aimed at him by fans and media may be starting to turn me into one. Am I a MLB fan? NO! EMPHATICALLY, NO! I haven't been a MLB fan since 1994. Actually, probably earlier than that. When they put old "conlict of interest" in charge of MLB I seriously questioned the integrity of the games leadership. It has only gotten worse. The greatest baseball MLB game I ever saw was the 7th game of the 1991 World Series. It has gone downhill from there.

Bonds, and all that encompass him, shows me the hypocricy of people and the very fallible side to human nature. Here I was getting that on the news from around the world and from some posts here. Here I was getting that on world affairs from political leaders worldwide. Here I was getting that from local community leaders and oil company executives. Here I was getting that from the commissioner of MLB.  And then, I turned on a ball game, and I got it from there. From inside the YAAAARD!  I'm sure it has always been there. I just didn't pay attention to it before at a sporting event. Thanks Barry. Thanks alot for bringing that to me, clear as a bell, when you hit your 713th career homerun. Thanks alot for opening my eyes to that human spectacle last night as you rounded the bases. Thanks for your part in ticking me off to the point that now when I turn on a ball game or a hockey game or a football game I will be looking at the hypocrites who say one thing and act another. And I thought guys that painted their chests and went shirtless when it was 32 below outside at sporting events were bad!

This is long but I think interesting in that it might refresh people on some of Bud Selig's actions as MLB Commissioner.

"When it comes to the integrity of this game, an impartial, thorough review is called for and Baseball must confront its problems head on." - Bud Selig - MLB Commissioner - 3/30/06.

How ironic that Bud Selig should speak to anything which requires the word "integrity" as a part of an explanation or reference. As the commissioner of baseball, in using the word "integrity' to talk about the game, perhaps one should consider their own actions and see if integrity is, or has been, integrated into those actions.

integrity

noun

1. Moral or ethical strength: character, fiber, honesty, principle. See strong/weak.
2. The quality of being honest: honesty, honor, honorableness, incorruptibility, upstandingness. See honest/dishonest.
3. The condition of being free from defects or flaws: durability, firmness, solidity, soundness, stability, strength, wholeness. See better/worse.
4. The state of being entirely whole: completeness, entirety, oneness, totality, wholeness. See part/whole.

The definition of integrity and the components of what it means to have integrity can be enough to make you think when you look at Bud's track record as commissioner of MLB. The following is a chronological account of Bud's ascent into the position he holds, the Labor induced strike shortened 1994 season, contraction, two different conflict of interst claims, an arbitration settlement on racketeering charges, no World Series, a tied All-Star game and favoritism displayed to one owner, while charges that the same consideration has not been given to arguably the games greatest hitter. There is a close association with Selig, Bart Giamatti and Fay Vincent (Selig's predecessors to MLB's highest position) which has been referred to with more than passing interest by some, to keep Pete Rose out of the HOF. On a side note to this part of the story, Selig told Rose that if he admitted  publicly to having bet on baseball he would consider reinstatement for Rose but has since altered the stance to having Rose's admission include exactly when this happened, as a player, as a manager, or as both. There are also comments regarding the current steroid issues and Selig's comment about cocaine after the death of Steve Howe.