I know, I know – I said I wouldn’t talk about Barry Bonds again, and I really meant it. And this really isn’t directly focused at him, so it really doesn’t count. I watched a snippet of a Danny Glover interview, I believe it was on ESPN, on Saturday, when Glover, a friend of the Bonds family, defended Barry by saying something along the lines that all the negative criticism that Bonds was getting was because he was black.
I want to preface this rant by saying that I always enjoyed Danny Glover, from the middle-aged cranky cop side-kick of Mel Gibson’s in Lethal Weapon, to the guy who was trying to sell us a new phone service in those MCI commercials. I’m sure the guy has been in other movies (none of which I can currently think of), and I’ve seen him interviewed before – he always seemed pretty intelligent.
But, man, did he look and sound like a total schmuck during this interview. I’ve heard Paris Hilton say more eloquent and intelligent things in her “home video release” than Glover did in this interview. Sure, when Aaron was chasing Ruth back in the ‘70’s, he was getting death threats from a bunch of racist, uneducated Americans. There was certainly quite a bit more racism back then than there is now, without question. And, yes, McGuire probably should’ve been worked over harder by the media and fans when his steroid-swollen ass collected the home run record in the late 1990’s (I have a theory as to why he didn’t get grilled then – because fans wanted to fall in love with baseball again).
However, to say that this Bonds bashing is solely racially fueled is like saying that all of the O.J. Simpson bashing was racially motivated. Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous! I’m a firm believer in the term “you reap what you sow.” Bonds has been a prick his entire life … and worse than that, he has been a jealous prick. So, when McGuire bulked up faster than the Incredible Hulk to hit 70 home runs, Bonds decided he had to bulk up even quicker. However, one major difference between Bonds and McGuire (no, not skin color) was that Bonds enjoyed being a jerk to just about everyone he met, while McGuire was more of a fan favorite.
This doesn’t make McGuire right. McGuire’s records should be eliminated from baseball’s record books as well. My point is that Glover should’ve at the very least acknowledged how much of a bite-in-the-ass his “friend” Barry was, instead of pushing all of the blame to the racist media and people of the United States. I’m guessing the deal for Lethal Weapon 5 fell through, and this is the only way that anybody will give a flying rat’s ass about Danny Glover again. Well, done, Murtaugh!
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2 comments:
I love Lethal Weapon. It's up there in my top 10.
I would say about 20% of the criticism Bonds gets is racially motivated, because that segment still exists that judges race harshly. But only 20%.
In my days of autograph collecting at the Vet, I have come in contact with both Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. Mark McGwire in 1984 was a member of the US Olympic team that came to the Vet for an exhibition, and he came over to the first base side after the exhibition to sign autographs with the other players. I remember it vividly because he did more than just sign, he laughed and talked with the fans too. No matter what you think of him now, he had a great side to him that was good to the fans.
Barry Bonds, when I saw him, was before a game and he was on the Pirates. He got out of a cab outside of the Vet, and completely ignored us. There were about 10 of us there. And how to explain... some ballplayers ignore you, and still seem nice about it. Barry seemed unapproachable. Even Darryl Strawberry signed for us before a game once, and was good about it.
I guess if Barry signed more autographs, he would be happier now. Take that, Barry!
Danny Glover in Predator 2...Come on MANNNNNNNNNNN.
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