Cal & Tony

Jose Canseco is saying that Alex Rodriguez uses steroids. It seems that everyone is under suspicion these days. All of our athletes are junkies and criminals. After watching the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony yesterday, I can't help but wonder: what happened to the Cal Ripkens and Tony Gwynns of the world? The athletes who we could point out to our children and say, "See, look at him. Be like him! He's one of the good guys!" Now we have people like Barry Bonds and Michael Vick, who we pray our children never grow up to emulate.

In 2007, Barry Bonds stands poised to break Hank Aaron's career home run record, and a significant number of baseball fans are not happy. Bonds gets booed in every city he visits. Fans throw toothpaste tubes and syringes on the field. He snarls at reporters, telling them, "It doesn't matter what I say. You're going to write whatever you want." He is a juiced-up, surly and unhappy man. Some people say that steroids don't matter, but they do. No one is saying to their kid, "Look at Barry Bonds. Be like him. He's one of the good guys." Let's face it, no one really likes Barry Bonds.

In 1998, we all cheered for Mark McGwire as he broke Roger Maris's single season homerun record. We all really liked Mark McGwire. We all cried with him as he touched Maris's bat, brought down from Cooperstown just for the occasion. "Look," we all said, "he's so touched! What a good, all-American guy." He seemed like one of those men we could point at and say, "Look at Mark McGwire, there's a man with integrity! Be like him! He's one of the good guys." Then we found that he was using steriods (or MAYBE was using steroids, or MAYBE he just didn't want to tell Congress about it, or who knows) and it cast a shadow over our feelings for him and for other athletes we cheered--we questioned our other heroes. Now Mark McGwire has gone into hiding somewhere in California. He was eligible to be elected to the Hall of Fame this year, but received less than 25% of votes. Who knows whether or not he will actually make it to Cooperstown?

With Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn there was never any question. There was never any suspicion. There was no shadow of doubt, no whispered accusation, no scandal. When the ballots came back this year, Cal was elected with 98.53% of the votes and Tony with 97.6%. There's no uncertainty there. The baseball world knows how it feels about these two men. We can say with absolute certainty "Be like Tony. Be like Cal."

Men like Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. make us believe in heroes, make us think that good men still exist. Seeing them elected to the Hall of Fame makes us think that maybe the nice guys don't always finish last, because certainly these two didn't. These are two men who made it to the top, and they did it through hard work and dedication, not through lying, cheating, and stealing.

But Cal and Tony don't play baseball anymore. We don't read articles about them in our daily newspapers. We can't take our kids to an Orioles or Padres game to watch these men in action. So who do we hold up as role models? Where have all the good men gone? In this day of steroids, blood doping, tax evasion and dog fighting, are there any real good guys left out there? If so, where are they? They certainly don't seem to be on the playing fields, courts, and rinks of the sports world. Who are the good little boys growing up to be? When I have a son, who can I point out as a good role model to him? Who will be his Cal Ripken, his Tony Gwynn?

"No, Mr. Bonds, I expect you to die!"

Barry Bonds is ruining my life. Yes it's true. Well, at least my social life. For those of you who don't know, Barry Bonds is currently on track to break the career home run record (755 HR, held by Hank Aaron) sometime soon, probably in the next week or so. My boyfriend is supposed to go cover this event--Bonds hitting No. 756 and becoming the new home run champ. Okay, so how does this affect me?
August 10, 11, and 12 (Fri, Sat, and Sun) the Nationals will be in Phoenix playing the Diamondbacks. Mark's family lives in Phoenix, so I am planning to make the trip with him.
Now, let's say that Barry Bonds (my new best friend) has not broken the home run record yet, but is on track to break it that weekend (say he has tied it, which he will do as soon as he hits 2 more home runs--last week he did this in one game). In that case, I will not be going to Phoenix and neither will Mark. Instead, I will be going out with my girlfriends, and Mark will spend his birthday weekend watching Barry Bonds potentially break the home run record against Mark's beloved Pirates. Nightmare scenario. Of course, as I pointed out, Mark could also be spending his birthday weekend watching the Pirates crush the Giants. I don't think he sees my logic.
That's worst case scenario, here's another one: As things stand now, Mark is in Philly today and is scheduled go to New York on Friday and come home on Sunday.
If Best Friend Barry hits two homers at any point this week (bringing him up to No. 755), then Mark doesn't go to New York, he goes to San Fran to start following Mr. Bonds (or "Barroid") around until he hits No. 756, which could take who-knows-how-long. Of course, if Best Friend Barry doesn't hit 755 until this weekend, then instead of coming HOME on Sunday, Mark flies out to LA and then to San Diego to follow the Giants and Best Friend Barry, and then back to San Fran tomeets up with the Nats. I won't see him for three weeks (that's half of spring training, folks).
I tried to tell him that he shouldn't complain about two weeks in California, but again, he doesn't really see my logic. Wonderful boyfriend that he is, Mark says he would rather be home with me. Awww. I would rather be gallavanting around sunny California with him.
In an ideal world, Best Friend Barry will break the record against the Nats when they are in San Francisco and it won't disrupt Mark's work schedule at all, nor will it disrupt MY vacation plans (and really, isn't THAT what's important here?).
So thanks to you, Barry Bonds, I have no idea when I will next see my boyfriend, and no idea what plans to make for the next couple of weekends. In addition to everything else, this makes you stink even more.