He cheated.
And the world applauds.
And young athletes ask themselves, “What should I do if I want to be better than Barry?”
May Proverbs 11:1 guide them.
Tweet
Barry Bonds Did It
Posted in: Uncategorized
About the Author
Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
Who cares? They all did it. It was a level playing field because most players did it. In fact, the pitcher he hit the tying homerun against tested positive for steroids in the minors. Yes, I know Barry is breaking a record….still he was facing pitchers and other players doing the same thing.
I wish that this issue would spark an outcry of cheating in sports.
Steve, I am wishing along with you.
But….
There are parents who wake their boys up at 10pm and 2am to eat so that they can reach the magic 300lb mark and “guarantee” a college linebacker’s scholarship.
They have heard the health problems of NFL players who bulked up for the sake of competition. Still they want their child to have an advantage.
When you are willing to sacrifice your child’s health for the sake of a sport I don’t really think it matters what you use to do it.
BTW – I wonder how many children in homes professing to be Christian have NO real education in their faith because sports, dance, drama, or a number of other activities were a higher priority.
Jason, I suppose he is guilty before proven innocent. Just because his head grew 7 additional sizes doesn’t necessarily mean he was on steroids.
James, Yes. Barry is “guilty” though it may never be proven.
James, it’s not so much the ‘roids that will make his noggin grow to the size of a beach ball, it’s the human growth hormone.
The directors of BALCO have all admitted to giving Barry the “cream” and the “clear”, it’s only Barry whom hasn’t been responsible enough to say he did do it.
alright no argument there, he took steroids, he cheated. But what do you do? Do you throw out his records? No. You can’t. If you throw out his you might as well throw out about 99% of records recorded in the last 10 yrs. This era will be known as the steroids era. its simple, they’re all (almost all) doping. Its sad but its true. The MLB needs to crack down hard and stop it now but you can’t change the past. it does nothing.
Plus no one has proved steroids makes a ball go farther. You still have to give Barry credit. He hit 755 HOME RUNS IN THE MLB!!! That is amazing, steroids or no steroids you still have to be an amazing hitter. There are plenty of guys who took steroids and never got close to 100 hrs. because they had no talent. Steroids does not make you into some home run hitting freak, it still requires talent. Does this make it right no. but you still have to give him respect when respect is due.
Steroids gives you muscle but you can’t get that muscle even with steroids by doing nothing. you still have to work out and train. Steroids also weakens your ligaments so you are very prone to getting hurt and tearing a lot of things that shouldn’t tear. (remember Gabe Kapler (OF, BOS) rounding 2nd base tore achilies tendon? I bet you can guarantee he was on steroids. seeing as he was a body builder.) My point is that its not like he just took steroids and *poof* he’s Mr. T. It doesn’t work that way. Heres the stats:
* Career Average: Aaron beats Bonds .305 to .298
* Career Slugging: Bonds beats Aaron .608 to .555
* Career On-Base %: Bonds beats Aaron .444 to .374
* Career OPS: Bonds beats Aaron 1.052 to .929
* At Bats per HR: Bonds beats Aaron 12.98 to 16.38
* RBI per Game: Aaron beats Bonds 0.68 to 0.66
* Runs per Game: Bonds beats Aaron 0.75 to 0.65
Bonds vs. Aaron other than hitting?
Hank Aaron was a fine outfielder and a very good base runner. He won three straight Gold Gloves from 1958 to 1960. He stole 240 bases in his career and finished in the Top 10 in steals eight different times. Although Aaron was fantastic in these aspects of the game for a power hitter, Bonds is otherworldly. He won 8 Gold Gloves from 1990 through 1998. More importantly, Bonds has stolen 510 bases in his career, making him the sole member of the 400 HR-400 SB and 500 HR-500 SB clubs. He trounces Aaron in both categories.
oh and i can’t stand Barry Bonds so i’m not just saying this because i’m a fan, i’m not. i wish he didn’t come close to the record, but he did because he can hit home runs and you can’t say he doesn’t deserve it.
He doesn’t deserve it.
Do cheaters “deserve” to win?
Is cheating OK if the opponent does it?
The numbers and stats are very important to baseball. People sit in stands and fill out the little stat cards, announcers use the numbers as constant trivia to fight off the boredom, encyclopedias are written filled with baseball stats…
But cheaters have ruined America’s great game.
They deserve nothing but shame. For that is all they have earned.
Paul said to Timothy, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” I guess Paul was wrong since even cheaters work hard.
How many steroid users do you believe have “won”? I would say close to 1%. Like I said before you don’t just sit there and take steroids and instantly your a huge hitting machine. He is still a great ball player. Even before his suspected doping he had hall of fame worthy numbers.
Once again he hit 755 home runs in the Major League Baseball. You don’t do that unless you have talent.
The guy had 8 GOLD GLOVES! EIGHT!
I guess steroids helps you catch better too. The guy has had 500 STOLEN BASES! 500! I guess steroids helps you run faster also. No matter how you put it the guy put up numbers.
Oh and age of Bonds when hit 755: 43
age of Aaron when hit 755: 42
.
Though Aaron reached the same goal with less at bats and did not cheat, Bonds is better?
Jimmy, no matter what you say, Bonds cheated. If you are right, then he didn’t have too. But still he did. What a fool! There are many talented fools.
But, Jimmy, you seem to be saying lets honor him for his natural talent and ignore the fact that he cheated. Ben Johnson, Tyler Hamilton, Mike Tyson, the man who cheats on his wife but still wants to be an elder in the church, the student who cheats on his test but is still smart and wants an “A”… these people love what your saying.
Um have you looked at your stats lately?????
Aaron Vs. Bonds
Career AB’s
Bonds: 9,771
Aaron: 12,364
Career Games
Bonds:2,957
Aaron:3,298
Career Walks
Bonds:2,540
Aaron:1,402
# of Seasons played
Bonds: 22
Aaron: 23
Stats are important, especially when you get them correct.
This is what irritates me about Americans today. All they hear is “Bonds Cheated” or “Bonds took steroids” and that is enough for them to just simply throw out everything he’s done, even though they obviously haven’t studied anything. They go online, onto blogs, etc. and bash him till theres nothing left and they really don’t even know his stats!? How can we have an opinion or force our opinion on people when we’ve not studied the matter at hand?
and how much “unnatural” talent does Bonds have??
Jimmy, I find it amusing that you are irritated with me and my fellow Americans. And then to accuse us of not looking at the stats as if the stats are all that matter.
For instance what if Babe Ruth would have had as many at bats as Bonds? What record would Bonds be trying to break? Those were the stats I had in mind a few comments back, when trying to state that stats aren’t the end all of the discussion.
But it is obvious to me that the stats mean EVERYTHING to you. Not integrity. Not honesty. Not good-sportsmanship. Not honor. Just give me the long ball, Bonds!!
Cheating doesn’t matter. Cheaters should be in the Hall of Fame, just look at Pete Rose…. Oh wait, HMMM that stat doesn’t work either…
no, now your just taking what i’m saying and your just coming up with false conclusions.
what i’m saying is the guy has talent, the guy hit 755 home runs in the MLB, the guy is a phenomenal baseball player and deserves credit for what he’s done. was he stupid to dope? YES. was it wrong for him to dope? YES. But as of yet nothing has been proven, so yes, the stats mean everything. and as far as stats go Bonds is a terrific ball player.
as i said i am NOT a Bonds fan but i can put my feeling against him aside and give him credit where credit is due.
Oh and Pete Rose should be in the hall of fame. Call me a “bad” Christian, or whatever, but he was a good baseball player and so is Bonds no matter how much I dislike him.
Jimmy, I appreciate your consistency. But please don’t get irritated at us Americans. Don’t forget, you are one even though you are from Vermont
haha. Real Vermonters are conservative.
Remember that.
How do you know that Aaron didn’t cheat? Perhaps, he was just smarter than Bonds at cheating. What about cork bats? Could have used one?
BTW, I agree that Steroids and the like have ruined the day. This is why I don’t go to MLB, or even the Minors.
I prefer college, and the LLB.
Jason, I was being somewhat sarcastic. Of course I think that Bonds is guilty, hence the comment about the size of his dome.
wow, was that a Tyler Hamilton sighting?
Bonds would have been mentioned among the best ever had he never broken the two most important record in baseball. Now, he will always be villified, not for cadillacing fly balls or for standing at home plate and staring at a ball go over the fence, or before he started juicing, go to the warning track. Now he is villified for making a mockery of the game.
Before steroids he never hit more than 50 home runs in a single season. He has always had great bat speed and amazing hand eye coordination but he only had “warning track” power. Now he can take the same pitch that was a routine fly ball and blast it out of the park. Steroids do not increase his ability to see a pitch, it does however allow him to send that ball into the upper deck. Those aren’t real home runs.
They need to remove those home runs from the record book, they should never have happened.
Pete Rose should never be allowed in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was banned for life! He has been excommunicated from the game. The only hall of fame he belongs in is the degenerate gamblers hall of fame.
Tyler Hamilton showed a lot of heart while racing in the 2003 Tour de France with a broken collarbone, but that is overshadowed by his stupid decision to cheat.
It’s baseball! So in the end who really cares.