I have a few more thoughts on Barry Bonds. Many pundits claim that Bonds is a) the greatest offensive baseball player ever and/or b) the greatest baseball player ever and/or c) the greatest professional athlete ever. Let's examine each. Greatest offensive player ever: a quick run down of some key statistics-Barry Bonds has a career batting average of .300, not bad. Babe Ruth has career average of .342. That's an enormous difference. But Bonds walks so much more than anyone ever, they may say. So let's look at on-base percentage: Bonds, .442; Ruth, .474. (And, consequently, watch a Bonds at-bat sometime. The guy gets more strikes called balls than should be possible. Umpires need to sack up.) How about career slugging percentage? Bonds has a cool .611, very nice. Ruth? .690. Ruth has more runs, hits, doubles, and-get this-more triples than Bonds. So if Bonds isn't the best offensive player ever he can't possibly be the best ever period, right? Let's look anyway. Bonds did win 8 Gold Glove Awards and Ruth was probably not the best fielder. But Bonds won most of those Gold Gloves without Andruw Jones or Jim Edmonds as competition in the outfield. And Babe Ruth was 94-46 with a 2.28 ERA as a pitcher, regular season, and he was 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA in the World Series. Ruth won 7 rings to Bonds' 0. If he's so great why can't he carry his team and win the big one? Perhaps it's his .245 career postseason batting average (compared to Ruth's .326.) Yeah, Bonds has won 18 MVP's or whatever the number is, but let's be real. Many of those were won on name alone. (See 1993, Fred McGriff, .291, 37, 101, numbers at least somewhat comparable to Bonds. Most importantly, though, the Braves go a ridiculous 52-17 after acquiring him from San Diego, winning the NL West and sending "MVP" Bonds home to watch the playoffs. "Value" doesn't necessarily mean best stats.) As for greatest athlete ever, Bonds isn't even in the conversation. Michael Jordan (enough said,) Wayne Gretzky (9 MVP's, 61 NHL scoring records,) Pele (1,280 goals, including 6 as a 17 year old to lead Brazil to a World Cup,) or Ruth (absolutely iconic figure in American history) would make the list. And 20 years from now LeBron James may make us forget about any of those guys. Scary thought.
Another sports story getting a lot of run is the Duke lacrosse rape scandal. A few thoughts: first, I don't really care about the lacrosse team. But there are a few key issues in regard to the court of public opinion. Does anyone remember the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing? Who knows, maybe these dudes did it, but shouldn't we wait and see what evidence there is? (Two DNA tests have already proven inconclusive.) And secondly, maybe a girl who doesn't want sexual advances should choose a career other than stripper. Maybe I'm being harsh but seriously, you're a freaking stripper. Chances are horny, drunk college frat boys may get ideas in their heads. Again, call me insensitive, but let's all wait to pass judgment on anyone when rape allegations come up. As Dave Chappelle says, "Don't dress as a cop if you don't want people to think you are a cop."
Now a word on auto racing: it's retarded.
Movie Review: M:I:3. Good summer action flick. Phillip Seymore Hoffman is money as the villain, and Cruise is still the man in action movies. He may be a closet gay and a kooky scientologist but I for one am still a huge fan. Lots of bangs, lots of twists. Solid movie, Grade: A-. And by way of preview I could not be more stoked for The Da Vinci Code this weekend. I look for it to be the best movie of the year.
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