Friday, June 23, 2006

The Babe's Edge

"...And Bonds? Surly, sulky, suspicious, foul-mouthed and self-pitying. Everything you don’t want your hero to be. He craves admiration, but does nothing to reward it; he has none of Ruth’s easy ability to connect with the fans. Despite his enormous success, he exudes resentment. Does he take steroids? It’s a reasonable question, and the answer is all too obvious, but he resents it. His detractors, he says, are racists. He’ll go to his grave blaming everyone but himself for the ill will he provokes. It just goes to show that the richest man on earth can always persuade himself that he’s a victim. Bonds has, to a superlative degree, what is now called “attitude”; Babe Ruth never heard of it..." Read on...