As everyone probably knows, Barry Bonds (playing at home in San Francisco) hit his 756th Home Run, breaking Hank Aaron’s record. Story at Yahoo right here.So, should we be celebrating? It is a momentous achievement but we know that this event is also tainted by the specter of Steroid use. Dan Wetzel, writing in his column available on Yahoo states that today’s sports is “…an era of sports where rule-breaking is rampant and honest heroes such as Henry Aaron are in the shortest of supplies.” Is Barry Bonds a hero in the vein of Hank Aaron given the background of both players? Moreover is the accomplishment comparable?
My view is that the sport has changed since Hank Aaron accomplished his feat and although Barry’s record is an “achievement”, it is comparing two different sports. With the rampant use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, the ‘record’ that Bonds now has will forever have an asterisk next to it that indicates there is another dimension to this story (i.e. steroid use) and Bond’s record will never be told standalone, instead will have a rider attached to it with the reference to the performance drug issue. It is not unlike how President Clinton and his presidency will always be told with the Monica addendum to it. The two issues are inseparable and quite frankly should be.Dan Wetzel’s column can be found at Yahoo Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AkEKdf_ry1Z8rnwOSlRJdrIRvLYF?slug=dw-756bonds080707&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
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