FanHouse

The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones ... and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.



The Earth is still spinning.

The nation's flags are not flying at half-staff.

Major League Baseball still exists. There are games scheduled for tomorrow, people are expected to attend and watch on television, and generally enjoy themselves.

There is not an ominous black cloud hovering over every baseball diamond in America.

The earth did not open up and swallow AT&T Park.

Hank Aaron did not strap 30 pounds of C-4 to his chest, walk into the BALCO offices, and make a martyr of himself.

Bud Selig is not, to my knowledge, hanging by his necktie in a closet.

Barry Bonds is baseball's all-time homerun leader, and it looks like we're all going to be fine. Phew. I think it's even OK to be happy about it. No higher being is going to smite you if you'd like to smile and be glad that you witnessed sports history last night.

(Also at the bottom: ... The Yankees and Blue Jays express displeasure with one another ... Brady Quinn, for the first time in months, acts like he has an interest in football ... and the Mariner Moose is free to plow his ATV into whoever he'd like ... )

In fact, as far as career record-breaking homeruns go, this one might be the most cheerful of all time.

When Babe Ruth set the record, he did it at a time when, in the official judgment of Major League Baseball, black people were not worthy of sharing the same baseball diamond as a man of Babe's dignified pale pigmentation. Is that an era we're proud of?

And despite how everyone universally loves Hank Aaron now, and uses him as a contrast to the evil Barry Bonds, that wasn't the tone at the time Aaron broke the Babe's record. No, Aaron had to compete through a series of death threats and a barrage of racist hate mail. Is this a moment in time that baseball can be particularly proud of?

And last night, when Barry Bonds broke the record ... our biggest concern was that Barry was one of a great number of players who put some chemicals into his body.

Are we proud of that? Not necessarily, but it's easier for me to come to terms with steroid use than with racism. If, hundreds of years from now, people are trying to pick which era left the blacker mark on baseball's history, and they regarding the steroids era as more embarrassing than an era in which black people were denied access, then there's something really really wrong with us.

Watching the highlights of #756 last night, it sure didn't look like a black mark on the history of baseball. In fact, the fans at the game last night seemed relatively happy about it. There was no violence, there was no hatred, there was no bloodshed. A guy set a record, and people yelled and clapped and celebrated. It looked like some place that I'd have liked to have been.

If it's a black mark in anyone's life, it's because they choose to let it be. Bob Costas, for one, will probably remember last night as a dark and disgusting night, one which will taint our nation forever. And there are probably a lot of sportswriters to whom Bonds has been churlish are probably waking up to tear-stained pillows.

And sure, if you want to, you could protest, hold up your clever little asterisks, and make your witty signs. You can take your baseball record books and put an asterisk next to Bonds' name if you want to.

But just in front of that asterisk, the name "Barry Bonds" is going to appear atop the list of sports' most hallowed record. That's a fact. No crying or whaling or gnashing of teeth is going to change it.

And it's OK to be upset about that, if you'd like ... just know that it isn't necessary.

Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, and Hank Aaron -- a list of guys who might be considered authorities on competition -- chose to celebrate by sending video messages to Bonds to be played on the stadium's scoreboard.

Maybe they said to themselves, "For better or worse, steroids have been a part of baseball for the last couple of decades, and even so, Barry Bonds has been better than anyone else -- batter or pitcher -- who juiced themselves. Greatness is greatness, and we know it when we see it."

Maybe they said to themselves, "If everyone recognizes Babe Ruth's numbers as legitimate, then they have to recognize Bonds' numbers as legitimate. Trying to guess how many homeruns Bonds would have hit without steroids is as pointless as trying to guess how many homeruns Ruth would have hit had he faced the pitchers of color the country had to offer. So to hell with it ... if Babe Ruth is a storied part of baseball history, then so is Barry Bonds."

Or maybe they just said to themselves, "Life's too short. You could find a reason to complain about anything you wanted. We don't necessarily like the steroid era, but there's always something not to like about everything. So to hell with it. Let's just be happy for the man."

Just so you know, those are options, too. You don't have to hate this.

Books have been written -- smart, authoritative, well-researched books -- about how Bonds has most likely used steroids. Fair enough.

But if someone chose to, they could also write books about how Bonds is the most talented player, steroids or not, of his generation. And another book could be written about how Bonds' combination of vision, intellect, and hitting knowledge dwarfed that of the vast majority of all other current baseball players.

If all the points are going to be made about steroids, it only seems fair to emphasize those other points, too ... the ones about the man's otherworldly talent.

Last night, you could choose to focus on whichever those points you wanted. For me personally, it felt more appropriate to celebrate Bonds' talent and to be glad he's shared it with us for all this time.

And I don't feel like I'm doing a bad thing. This post-Bonds world, I think ... is going to be just fine.





Say what you want about the 2008 Beijing Olympics ... they are going to be pretty. This was part of some 1-year countdown to the big event, and celebrations took place all over the country last night. Imagine what the real show's going to look like. If they're going to prove anything, it's this: pretty light shows can go a long way to mask human rights violations.







"I heard somebody chirping when I was talking to Lyle (Overbay) ... Tony Pena is running his mouth off and I was like, 'What's this guy running his mouth off for?' This dude is a quitter. He managed a team and quit in the middle of the season because he couldn't hack it."

- Blue Jays pitcher Josh Towers, on the aftermath of his plunking Alex Rodriguez.

BURN. Josh Towers hurts not only knees, but psyches.



Hank Aaron. I'll be honest, I wasn't completely enthralled with The Hammer's actions to this point during Barry Bonds' homerun chase. It never went so far as me losing respect for the man or anything, but I thought he came off as a little selfish and a little disrespectful at a time when baseball really could have used his support.

But he did the right thing with his scoreboard video message last night (kudos to Major League Baseball for keeping that a secret, too). The Hammer said before that he was "making a statement by not making a statement," and then he made a statement by making an actual statement last night.

"I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball's career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity and determination.

"Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball, and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement.

"My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."

Can't do it much better than that. He didn't have to be there in person, he didn't have to hug Barry Bonds, or pose for any photos ... but some courteous well-wishes were appropriate. It was a class move ... and looking back at it now, Aaron seems to have played this exactly the right way, from a media standpoint.

No matter your view on Bonds, it's hard to find any fault with how The Hammer's handled all of this. He's been a public relations maestro. Baseball seems in short supply of those these days.



FK Zeta Fans/Hooligans/Racists. American soccer player DeMarcus Beasley (pictured, black) is plying his trade for Glasgow Rangers these days, and in a road game against FK Zeta in Montenegro, he was taunted with monkey chants and noises.

"It sickens to hear these chants, but when you are on the pitch, you have to try to blank it out," Beasley was quoted as saying. "It degrades the game for everyone. I will discuss the situation with Rangers because I feel strongly about it, and we will decide if we should file a complaint."

I guess if that's the only course of action here, fine ... I mean, I'd rather these fans be identified and clubbed in the face with ball peen hammers, but if a formal complaint is all that's there, I'll take what I can get.

And by the way ... monkey chants? We're still on monkey chants? Where are these guys getting their pointers on racist taunting, from 1950s American documentaries? It's just sad. I guess the rest of the world has a lot of catching up to in terms the evolution of their racist taunts.



Deserving Of Your Full Attention ...

9:00, Discovery. MythBusters. Baseball Myths. Myth #1 ... Rickey Henderson is an actual human being, and not a genetically engineered comedy machine.

Other Stuff ...

7:00, ESPN. MLB. Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets.
7:30, ESPN2. ATP Tennis. US Open Series. Rogers Masters, Day 3.
8:00, FX. Movie. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
9:00, NFL Network. NFL Preseason Scrimmage. Baltimore Ravens @ Washington Redskins.
10:00, ESPN2. Wednesday Night Fights.