Marc Ecko’s $750,000 Piss-Me-Off Idea, Update!
6 Comments Published by travis September 26th, 2007 in Sports. Share ThisThe voting is over for the fate of Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball. It will be officially branded with an asterisk and sent to Cooperstown (baseball hall of fame). Vote756 recorded over 10 million votes, 47 percent of which opted for branding the ball. Second place was the option to bestow it in tact with 34 percent and banishing the ball into outer space came in third at 19 percent.
I went on my rant before and I’ll do it again, except it will be shorter. I really think the hall of fame should do one of two things: reject the ball, or display it in a way that does now show the asterisk and makes no recognition of said branding.
Cliff notes: Go fuck yourself, Marc Ecko.
I think its a brilliant idea. Bonds is just an example of what has destroyed baseball as America’s game. McGwire and Sosa are in the same group.
yeah honestly I am all for this. The guy didn’t do it fair, no matter how baseball fans try to spin it. He juiced up, just like most of baseball does. Its only through inaction by the leagues involved that they all have not been punished about it.
And I say this coming from the fact that I think its stupid that steroids are illegal, which I do, and could throw you a slew of websites by leading scientists who disprove many of the notions the law and the media have about steroids since they got their science based on a 1980’s study that was discredited 4 years later. But at the same time feel that athletes should achieve their goals without them or any performance enhancing drug, the whole point is they are supposed to be supermen from the getgo.
That asterisk is never going to be removed from the actual record. It’s only fitting that it’s on the ball as well. Anyway, its only a ball! It’s not some religious artifact with special powers. The record is already ruined, so why not brand a piece of leather?
Jim: Note that most pro players start their careers in high school, and note that there is also a vastly increased rate of Attention Deficit/Hyper-Activity Disorder amongst children than there used to be – and the primary medicinal treatment of ADHD is amphetamines.
What is “fair” in this case? Those kids are going to excel at sports, because they have an inflated amount of energy and endurance – and one of the psychological effects (indeed, the reason they apply those drugs) is that you have increased concentration, even for repetitive and boring tasks. Adolescence is when your muscles will most develop – the end result being that you find a high incidence of the best athletes also being on drugs.
Can you take the kids off the drugs? Is that fair to them, and the corresponding lack of performance? Is it ever fair to cap someone’s performance either by applying or withholding a fetter or tool? Unfortunately, this does mean that as time goes on and as we understand the human body better, and are better able to modify it, these things are only going to happen more. It’s not the same game, and never will be.
Baseball as an organization had ample time to do something about all of the suspicions / allegations. They failed to produce anything of merit – so tough poo… The record stands and while I concede that in some people’s mind the record will always have an asterisk by it – it should not lessen the significance of his accomplishment. And yes, Marc Ecko is a moron.
I totally wouldn’t be going back to college after failing spectacularly if it weren’t for key pharmaceuticals. Let’s hear it for Meth!(ylphenidate). But I think the idea with competitive sports is that it’s supposed to be a level playing field that pushes the limits of natural ability. If you want to go past that, you can have the Xtreme Baseball League, with those guys that have biceps bigger than their waist and corked bats and a 500 foot stadium. It’s only a matter of time before Mutant League Hockey becomes a reality, I hope.