The Newest Major Rivalry

With record breaking numbers being seen throughout the major leagues, a new rivalry has been formed between the steroid raging Barry Bonds and baseball's golden boy Alex Rodriguez, or at least the media would like you to think so.

Although A-Rod recently failed to break the "Month of April Home Run Record" (he only tied the previous record set by the Cardinals Albert Puljos at 14) his power hitting seems to be all that baseball fans can talk about this season. And with Bonds now only 13 homers away from the all time home run leader, Hank Aaron, his quest to break one of the most sacred records in the sporting world has been overshadowed. Even though Bonds had his best opening season since April of 1996, when he hit 11 home runs and notched 32 RBI's, no one is willing to remove the 28 million dollar man (who by the way took about 4 years to prove his worth it) from his pedestal and mention the pill-popping junkie.

Now, obviously I'm no fan of Barry Bonds either. I actually find it kind of funny that if A Rod stays on track he could potentially hit over 100 home runs this season. I find it even funnier that if he continues his career numbers and only hits 30 home runs a season from here on out, he'll be in Bonds all time record range by the time he's 40. So then what's the point?

I find it ridiculous that while Barry Bonds suffers simply because he was the only person actually caught using performance enhancing drugs his numbers are over looked while Alex Rodriguez is drooled over by the media and fan alike. Hasn't anybody noticed his considerable change in over all size since he first appeared in the big-leagues? I realize that there are a few out there have written on the subject and questioned his liegitimacy as a player, but for the most part, and more specifically this past month, he has been nothing but glorified for his incredible numbers while Bonds remains ridiculed and seemingly forgotten. I'm not syaing I want Bonds in the headlines, in fact I'd prefer not to hear about him either. I'm only suggesting that before we bow down to all that is A Rod, maybe we should keep in mind that that the MLB is a level playing field these days.

Booing Bonds

Barry Bonds is slowly catching up to Hank Aarons all-time home run record, now hitting 740 on his quest for 755. This means that he is only 15 more swings away from taking over the crown fo

r the most sacred record in sports, all-time home runs.

Unfortunately for Barry, at the pace he is going he is scheduled to break the record some time in the middle of June. This would mean he would be in the middle of a road trip and this could lead to a terrible situation. If bonds would hit the record breaker on the road, this would lead to a 20 minute celebration of what should be an honorable great time in baseball, but would ultimately be 20 minutes of the opposing fans booing, throwing things and heckling at Bonds while he rounds the bases.

When Aaron did it back in the day, Booy Cune the commissioner at that time told Hank that he could not sit out to break the record at home, but it worked out that he broke it in Atlanta anyway. This is an accomplishment that will be remembered forever in the history of baseball, and it would be a shame if it was overshadowed by the disgruntled fans.

"This guy is going to go down as one of the greatest players of all time," Bochy
said. "I'm still amazed, even though I get to see it every day."

This would very damaging to baseball, since this should be a time of celebration in remembering Aaron and celebrating the greatest record in sports finally being broken. Barry Bonds, The Giants, and MLB can not afford this to happen and they need to make sure that the record breaking swing is done at home in San Francisco. This might ultimately lead to Bonds sitting out a few games, but it needs to happen.