Friday, November 16, 2007

Barry Bonds versus Lance Armstrong

The shoe has fallen. Barry Bonds has been indicted for lying to the American people about how he got to be the Homerun King of the World. Tsk tsk. (Google Barry Bonds right now if you want a fresh news tip. I'm not going to link to anything.)

I never really liked him or The Giants, even though I love baseball and San Francisco. And I'm the first to tell you that competitive homerunning has ruined the great game.

BUT.

As friend Ryan points out, the second most controversial athlete on drugs is Lance Armstrong, and I'd guess most Americans still think he's a hero, even though he left his wife for Sheryl Crow, and then left her for someone younger, and is now rumored to be running around with one of the Olson twins...even though he's definitely 'roided up. You know he goes biking with our incompetent president, Dubya?

...don't yell at me yet. I know he only has one ball. I know he has a charity. I have seen those yellow bracelets everywhere. Live Strong. Yellow bracelet. Bicycles rule. Yes yes and yes. But if Bonds is getting reamed for personal issues (tax evasion, infidelity and being friends with Jose Conseco were unsubstantiated smears that came up in the BALCO trials), why are we turning the other cheek to Lance's indiscretions?

But let's cut the bs. The question is: what would happen if Lance Armstrong were black?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its not always a black and white issue. Just remember, mark mcqwire was also asked to testify and was put under the microscope. The difference is he admitted to it and cried.

Lance Armstrong is in a sport that no one here in america really cares about. Its the tour de france, not the tour de amerique. Baseball, on the other hand, is supposedly our national pasttime.

b.

Anonymous said...

My personal distaste for Barry Bonds has nothing to do with color. He's an egotist who tolerated his fans and only loved them back when it suited him. As far as baseball personalities go, he was no Tony Gwynn.

I'm also not fond of competitive homerunning. PacBell Park (or whatever it's called now) was built around Bonds' swing.

As a complete aside, the Padres wuz robbed this past season.

ill iterate said...

Susie-

yes and yes.
My personal distaste for Bonds has nothing to do with race either. Entirely to do with what he did to baseball, or rather, what he and his associates did to baseball.

And yes, the Padres. Best pitchers no one ever got to see.

Anonymous said...

He'd be dating Tia Mowry?