Does Bonds deserve our praise?

By Justin Albers
basketballss132002@yahoo.com
INDIANAPOLIS- Just before nine o'clock on the West Coast, Barry Bonds sent a 3-2 pitch into the right field bleachers. He stuck his arms up in the air with the weight of the record lifted off of his back. But, is the record forever tainted?
First of all it is not "forever" tainted because there is more than an outside chance that Alex Rodriguez catches Bonds before it is all said and done. Besides that, let me start by saying that Barry Bonds is a great player. Hitting 776 home runs off of Major League pitching is an incredible thing to accomplish; especially if you factor in all of the times he has been walked. However, Bonds is a clear steroids user and a cheater of the game. This is kind of like a kid entering a science fair. There might be that one really smart kid that always wins everything, but you are not dumb yourself. Maybe you use an illegal material in building your project and end up winning first prize. Are you a really smart kid? Yes. Do you deserve to be in first place and have everyone praise you? Probably not.
Bonds handled his situation about as well as he could have handled it. He rarely made a big scene with a reporter, and dealt with the constant criticism without a word. I respect Barry Bonds as much as any player in baseball, but I am not going to be one sitting around talking about how great it is that he broke the record. The home run record is tainted- for now anyway.