photo by me

It’s that time of the year. Today marks opening day for baseball season.

Those of you who have been following me over the years, know how much I love baseball. I think it’s in my blood. I have to like it. I spent years watching it with my dad, playing softball, watching it with my brothers, talking about it, thinking about it, and lamenting over the direction the players / owners / leagues take it in sometimes. And while I may worry about it, I always love it. It’s that unconditional love that you feel for those things that have been with you for so long that you wouldn’t know what to do if they weren’t in your life any longer.

It’s opening day for the sport I love the best.

And Barry Bonds is still in the game.

Bonds is perched on the precipice, about to break the great Hank Aaron’s record for most home runs. Why does this matter? It matters because Bonds cheated to do it. He took steroids to pump himself up because he had an ego problem and didn’t want to see Mark McGuire beat him to the record. McGuire, who fully admits to using steroids, was in the home run race. Bonds saw him getting there faster and decided that he needed help to beat him.

Cheaters shouldn’t win. Cheaters shouldn’t receive accolades for conquering a record that was made by an amazing athlete. Cheaters shouldn’t even be allowed to stay in the game.

Personally, I think Bonds should step up, be a man and admit that he used steroids. I also think that, should he surpass Aaron’s record, that he should not be given a place in the record books nor should he be put in the Hall of Fame.

The man may well be the best hitter we’ve ever seen. We’ll never know for sure, though, because he had to cheat in order to secure his place in history.

Frankly, that makes me sick. It makes me sad for the game of baseball…this beautiful, amazing game. He has ridiculed it. He has spit upon the thing he says he loves. He has mistreated it and the fans who love it more.

He needs to step away and leave records to those who deserve them.

Oh…and the Cubs are going to the World Series this year. Really.