It's Not Because He's Black

There are no shortage of articles this week discussing Barry Bonds and racism. There's the right, the left, the middle, and all the others chiming in on something that's such an easy target, regardless of your perspective. So, here's my take, and of course, I know I'm more right than most.

Barry Bonds is a cheater, and that's why I don't like him. There's no other reason. I do not care that he's a jerk to the media because I don't cover the guy, and frankly think most of the sports media locker people are a bunch of jackasses. I don't care that he's crass. I don't care that he's flippant. I don't care about any of these things, most of all, that he's black. It never enters my mind. In fact, I'll admit to feeling the way, and pardon me for getting philosophical on your asses, but I'll admit to feeling the way Jean-Paul Sartre claimed white people sometimes felt about their black friends.

It's been a while since I've read Sartre's work, and I'm generalizing what he said, but the point is/was 'you can know someone who is black, and be friends with someone who is black, but that doesn't mean you're not a racist. As soon as that person becomes your friend, that person ceases to be black, in the social sense.' This is why Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods aren't viewed as black, per se. They transcend color, are now icons, and are just people. Still, you can see it that way, and still be a racist. I'm not saying I'm a racist, but what I am saying is that when I see someone who is famous, I don't even think black or white. I think famous. Friends of mine who are black, I don't see black, I see friend.

When I see Bonds, I see famous athlete, who is an asshole because he's a cheater...and I don't like cheaters. All the other stuff, I don't care.

As for baseball making this about race, well that's a joke too. The media has made this about race, for sure. And it's mostly the black people in the media, or the ones afforded an opportunity to be a part of it with regards to the issue.

I won't deny that Major League Baseball is classless because they allowed this whole thing to transpire in the first place. had MLB stepped up the plate in the 90s we wouldn't even be discussing this issue right now (by this issue, I mean the assault on Bonds).

MLB baseball allowed Mark McGwire to be a poster boy knowing full well this guy was on steroids. To a lesser extent they allowed Sammy Sosa to be one as well, but Sosa was secondary not necessarily because he was black, but because he was usually in second place! Down the stretch, "Beeg Mac", as Sosa would say, pulled away, so Sosa was viewed as number 2.

I will also say that I can see people in the middle of White America (Kansas/Missouri/Illinois/Indiana) loving having a white guy rise to the top in sports because these days it so rarely happens. I believe they supported McGwire out of some sense of white pride, to some extent, but not out of black disdain. I'd say most of the support came from the fact that this legendary record was being shattered. Do you think 20-year old white kid were saying, "Dude, Big Mac has got to beat that old black dude!!!"?

Regarding this "white pride" thing, it's no different for when blacks have pride about one of their own. It's just that whites are supposed to not get too publicly excited because they seemingly own the world, and have suppressed blacks in the past. But these people didn't suppress blacks, or at least not in the historical sense. These weren't the people who were against Hank Aaron. Well, maybe some were/are, but the majority of sports fans today, younger fans, they don't care about that at all. They're a SportsCenter fan, and to them, an athlete is an athlete. These white fans are sports fans who rarely see a white guy dominating in this day and age, like McGwuire did. It was their Jordan.

Baseball allowed all of this to happen. Baseball, knowing full well he was a drug user and a cheat, allowed this so they could bring back the ratings and the fans. Now the media looks at this differently. The black people in the media, and the others who agree point out that baseball didn't do this to McGwuire. Yes, you're right, they didn't. But not because he was white. It was because he was bringing back money, ratings and fans. It was just timing. Had Bonds been the record breaker at that very moment he would have been received the same way, for the most part. There'd be no steroid issue, like there wasn't for Sosa. Bonds would be treated the same. Although, Big Mac was viewed as less of a jerk than Bonds, so the coverage would have been slightly different. But again, not because he's black, but because he's a jerkoff.

This whole thing comes down to bad timing; not racism. Baseball would have been more than happy to support Bonds if Bonds was bringing people to the ballparks the way Sammy and McGwire were. Now the day has changed. Now the focus of baseball is on steroids, and Barry Bonds is at the center of that storm not because he's black, but because of his own history, the timing, his probable steroid use, and the record he is about to break. As the steroid issue grows, like any other issue which is negative, it gets worse for this involved. Bonds is still involved, and every night he is on display.

Now the baseball fans and the media are telling baseball that the records mean something, even though baseball didn't care when the assault on the records began. They were happy to let them be broken if the money poured in. If McGwire was breaking these records now he'd be receiving the same exact treatment from the media, but he's not. It's bad timing. There are investigations going on, there are no rules against doping, and so much more. Timing. Not racism. Timing.

One can make the argument that it'd be different for a white guy, and to some tiny extent, that could be true. But by and large, it'd be the same thing. I don't feel that black people who believe there is racism here should be told to be quiet, or that their beliefs are unfounded because they live with racism every day. They actually feel it, so I see/feel their perspective. A lot of times they're right, like when the NBA started making the players wear suits. But this time, while their could be a SLIVER of truth, they're generally wrong. It's just bad timing.

And it sucks from top to bottom.

The Last Fight

So, the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight was all it was expected to be by anyone other than someone who doesn't work for HBO, or is in some way affiliated with the fight itself: garbage.

Basically, Mayweather is a better fighter, landed more jabs, more power punches, and threw fewer punches. De La Hoya was the aggressor in a sense that he moved forward, and tried to corner him, but he really wasn't the aggressor, per se.

See, De La Hoya had no choice but to move forward because he is the bigger fighter. Had he been moving backwards at any point he would be giving away the round to the smaller fighter, so on some level he had no choice. However, he could have moved forward, yet kept his distance while throwing the jab. That was his one advantage, the jab, and yet he gave up on it before the halfway point of the fight. When he did that the fight was officially over. Not to say his jab would have kept him in it, or would have made it exciting at all. When Oscar got too close he ended up throwing flurries of bunches while landing few, if any. Mayweather laughed...to the bank.

Floyd stuck his punches, and then moved out, all night long. Total bore. You usually only see so few punches landed in heavyweight fights, but on Saturday these guys put that idea to rest.

Both fighters feared getting knocked out, and not because they feared the other fighter, but because they feared the reprucussions of having been so. Mayweather has his undefeated career recrod to consider, and Oscar has the thought of being knocked out by a smaller man, or just getting pounced by another fighter in his prime. Oscar has never beaten a great fighter in his prime. His fear of losing to the smaller man is another reason he had no chance. Not to say he would have won because he was outclassed in every aspect, just that if he had let his hands go he may have had a chance of knocking him out. Instead, pure boredom.

In the end, boxing wasn't saved, and all the HBO hype has done nothing to lift it at all. At best, boxing remains where it was on Thursday, and at worst, and likely, boxing has taken another hit for even the media hype machine couldn't make this thing worthwhile. Now there is no future fight left to talk about, and no one has anything interesting to say about boxing.

So what's next? Well, the UFC is already here, and what is so obvious is that even a not-so-great UFC card is better than a night of boxing with a title fight. There's no way boxing is going to overcome this. Not without American fighters in the heavyweight division who have personality and charisma. Unfortunately, these fighters are nowhere to be found. The Sugar Rays and the Roy Joneses can help a sport with heavyweights sustain it's dominance, but they cannot make the sport, and that's a fact.

I expect a few things are going to happen now, but I'll explain them all tomorrow...or the next day... :)