Barry Bonds should be back in the news, but he isn’t.
Whatever your thoughts on Bonds, his place in the social conversation just seems to dumb down everything and make it all feel dirty. The conversation around Bonds sounds like what you hear when you walk into a pet store.
Rationality disappears (this isn’t a Bonds-only phenomenon, obviously), everyone gets really angry, and it all gets old really quickly. Bonds is a well to throw all of our problems down. He’s where we can project all that we’re currently upset about in sports. Whatever we want to be outraged about, we can find a way to direct it at Bonds.
So, allow me to bring him back into the conversation.
We all know the tragic story of Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was beaten into a coma in the parking lot at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day. It brought out the trolls and the cranky, old tough-guy sportswriters—who in this case are one in the same—but more than anything, it was just an awful story. A few days ago, one of the suspects was arrested, and Stow’s family has announced they’re suing the Dodgers. Although his condition is improving, Stow’s still been in a coma since April. He’s a single father with two kids in middle school.
Bonds, as a former Giant, has a place in this story. On April 22, he visited Stow in the hospital. Bonds then offered to pay to put both of Stow’s children through college. The story never would’ve even reached the media if Thomas Girardi, Stow’s lawyer, didn’t mention it yesterday.
This is what your reaction is supposed to be:
But, obviously, he didn’t tell the media because he knew the media would find out and have to report it anyway, thus making it look like he was showing a shred of humility. But, really, it was all totally planed just to make him look humble. And everyone knows you can’t plan humility, right? Right?
It’s no huge chunk out of Bonds’ bank account, but it’s still pretty awesome. Were it a friend of the media making the donation, this would be bigger news. Saints get sainted over and over again. But, as SI.com’s Jimmy Traina pointed out, it’s not even front-page news for ESPN, SI.com, or MLB.com.
—Photo AP
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