Jayson Stark evidently isnt the most obtuse writer at ESPN.com
That distinction appears to go to Todd Boyd who, when not ginning up racial controversies for ESPN, is a “professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.” Not only that, he is the author of “The Notorious Ph.D.’s Guide to the Super Fly ’70s.” Wow. We’re clearly dealing with Algonquin round table material here. I see credentials like that and I’m thinking “My Dinner with Andre” meets “Take Time for Paradise.” Alas.
Boyd essentially claims that it is racist to presume Bonds used steroids because he hasn’t been convicted, and even if he did, its OK because blacks used to be prohibited from playing in MLB. Or something. Trying to wring a rational thesis out of this dog’s breakfast of racial grievances is a fool’s errand. Emblematic quote:
“At the end of the day, it would be great to see people put away their childish racial resentment of Barry Bonds and give the man his due, but as an adult I have no illusions that this is going to happen.”
Indeed. It is clearly my childish racial resentment of African Americans that moves me to view Hank Aaron as the true home run king. How silly of me to think otherwise.
May 16th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I was in Fort Myers, FL this past weekend perusing the local newspaper, when I came upon the sports columnist… your own Deion Sanders. Yes, *that* Deion Sanders. If I may, I’ll do my best to sum up his column: Regular folks don’t get people like Barry and Me. We’re just misunderstood. It’s racial - after all, people wouldn’t be reacting this way if Mark McGwire was breaking Aaron’s record. I’m not saying he did anything wrong, but if he did, it’s okay.
I think that about sums it up. Aside from the incredibly arrogant and ignorant notion that regular folks just don’t get talents like Bonds and Sanders, and thus inherently misunderstand their transgressions, the thing that struck me was his reference to McGwire - and his assertion that McGwire would be treated differently. Quite amusing, considering that the stated reason that McGwire is *not* in the HOF (where he belongs) is because people believe he took steroids. McGwire is white, so apparently cannot play the racial card - yet sportswriters and fans have villified him, and punished him, for something that has been unproven. Um… I don’t think it’s a stretch to therefore surmise that if McGwire was in the position that Bonds is in, well… most of the same people would be reacting much the same way. The big difference is that McGwire wouldn’t have an army of apologists supporting him purely on the basis of race.