B-O-N-D-S

Why is it that in their hearts every sports fan in the U.S. wishes they can be in the stadium when Bonds breaks the HR record, but won't admit it?

This is going to be the biggest sports moment of our era. He is the greatest hitter people my age have ever seen. He has nearly 3000 hits, is a career .299 average hitter, and he hits a HR every 13 at-bats (AB). That is amazing especially considering he is walked every 4 at-bats. Put those together and he is hitting a 1 HR every other game.

I had the opportunity to attend a San Francisco Giants game just recently. It was my birthday and I was in SF and I could think of no better way to celebrate than to go to AT&T Park and see Bonds play.

It was a great experience. To begin I was overwhelmed by the fan support. The game was a sellout on a Thursday over 41K fans, 80% of which had on Giants gear. To those of you Cardinals, Red Sox, Yankees fans this is no big deal, but for a guy coming from Texas this was awesome. I had to purchase tickets on a website where season ticket holders can sell their unused tickets.

I can definitely attest that the Bonds "hate" comes from outside of SF. When Bonds came up to bat he received a standing ovation. Are you kidding me they see this guy every day? His first AB he slaps a double off the center field wall for an RBI. The whole crowd sighed with disappointment. How many players can hit an RBI double and the home fans are disappointed??? We all truly believe that he is going to hit a HR every time he steps up to the plate (assuming he is pitched to).

He may not have the greatest personality. The steroids cloud may always follow him, but we can' forget that at the time most players were using. So whose to say he would not have hit more if the pitchers of that day were not using. He admitted using the cream and the clear, but he denies knowledge they were steroids. So he is lying, they can't substantiate this as a fact, and at the time MLB was not testing. He still holds to the fact that he has never tested positive for steroids......

The old-timers can put an asterisk by his name for the rest of their lives, but when I am siting in the room with a bunch of young kids talking about baseball. I will be telling them about Barry Bonds, the greatest hitter that I ever had a chance to see play the game of baseball.