I think Barry Bonds needs some psychological help. How can you generalize a city in which you have never lived or even played as being racist? Can we generalize about him taking steroids?

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds.../06/18/18bonds/

Um, actually, he might have a point. I recall seeing a book in a bookstore about racism in Boston sport. I think the general point was Boston preferred seeing white players and took much longer to incorporate non-white players into the mix. Oh yeah, google rules my existence:

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/featur...002/oct/redsox/

In Bonds's defense, he specifically said that he was going on the words of others whom he trusts.

Like all generalizations, the "Boston is racist" line is necessarily over-inclusive. I'm a native of this area, and neither I nor most people of my acquaintance could be remotely guilty of that charge.

However, as a generalization, there's more than kernel of truth to it. It's a little known fact that the Red Sox were the LAST team in major league baseball to have a Black ball player on the roster, despite the fact that they were the FIRST to have a crack at Jackie Robinson. That's right -- if Tom Yawkey weren't the small-minded racist pig that he was, Jackie Robinson could have been a Red Sox.

Twenty years later, Bill Russell, arguably the greatest basketball player in history to that point in time, led the Celtics through their glory years, while suffering terribly from racism at the hands of the press and the fine fans of this city.

In 1974, the lovable Irish of South Boston (who to this day send their hard-earned money to the IRA so they can murder innocents) violently took to the streets rather then send their spawn to school with Black children.

Are things better now? Yes, they are. But Black people of my lifelong acquaintance who grew up here and have since lived elsewhere report far more comfort living in places like Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta.

So Bonds isn't altogether off his rocker on this one.

[ June 18, 2004, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Skiguy ]

As a Giants fan, I probably cut Barry more slack than some on this board. He's cranky, he's got "issues", he's... Barry. (But he's our Barry.)

Having said that, calling Boston (the city, not the team) racist on the eve of a series is still kinda dumb -- talk about "bulletin board fodder" to fire up the Sox! The thing's sold out, so no need to pump it up more than it is.

Skiguy gets the gold star for the evening. The above summary is a good overview of the racist history of Boston. While everyone knows there is an Old South, many forget that there is also an Old North. The racial climate in northern cities such as Philadelphia under Frank Rizzo and Chicago under Richard Daley was far worse than in many southern cities.

Points taken and understood regarding the sad history of racism in Boston's sports. But Barry Bonds hardly seems like the rational individual to discuss it.

When it was suggested to Bonds that Boston's racial climate has changed, he said, "It ain't changing. It ain't changing nowhere." How the hell does he know? Does he talk to black athletes who currently play for Boston sports teams?

When it was mentioned that a tunnel was built in Ted Williams honor and was asked what would be built for him, Bonds said, "I'm black. They don't build stuff for blacks."
Willie Mays has a statue outside the Giants' ballpark--where he plays. Arthur Ashe - Richmond. Michael Jordan - Chicago. Joe Louis - Detroit.

Bonds also points out in this interview that Muhammed Ali has no statue, but "Rocky" does in Philadelphia. When it was pointed out to him that Ali has recently "morphed" into one of the great sports heroes, and ground has been broken for a Muhammed Ali Center in Louisville, Bonds said, "We can count those things on our hand. You [whites] can't count those on your hand. I live in the real world brother. That's all. I do the best I can in the real world. I ain't mad at it, but it's still the real world."

Barry Bonds has alluded in the past that it is racism, not his personality, that makes this country not embrace him as a sports hero. I'm sorry, but if this was true, then some should explain (to him) the popularity of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

[ June 19, 2004, 08:09 AM: Message edited by: Cattledog ]

Whatever Bonds said, last night's game at Pac Bell, errr SBC Park, was amazing. Great turnout by the Boston fans gave the park a very different feel from the typically laid back California attitude. Lots of hotties wearing BoSox gear too.

Despite the Giants' loss, it was a great night to be at the park.

As Barry Bonds homers his way towards Henry Aaron's record, I hope the two of them sit down for a conversation about what Aaron endured in his chase of the home run record--the racially-motivated death threats, the shouts of "nigger," and the general taunts from small-minded people. During all that, Aron did not tar an entire city for the actions of a small group.

If Boston in general is still such a divided city, why are we not hearing Bond's complaints coming from African-American players now on the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics?

~Adam

Barry Bonds thinks he's living in the real world? He makes millions of dollars a year to play a game, and he lives in the real world? Since it does happen, then it is the real world, of course. But it's a wacky world when teachers can hardly afford to attend a ball game in person to watch a bunch of men, a good number on drugs, playing a game for much more money in one year than the teachers will earn in their entire 40 year careers.

The real world is also one of racism. But Bonds reflects his ignorance when he claims that it's the same as it was. If things were as they had been, he would not be free to express himself as he is now. He should talk with old-timers, who understood that they could not speak out or speak up, or they'd lose their livelihoods. He should look around at athletes who are celebrated and admired (and are paid a lot of money to endorse products)--in addition to Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, there are or have been: Walter Peyton, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Marion Jones, Carl Lewis, Sammy Sosa, Reggie Jackson, Barry Sanders, Reggie White, Karl Malone, Shaq, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Pedro Martinez, Kobe Bryant, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar. Also in different ways for Allen Iverson, who's so determined to keep it real that he plays at being a thug, Latrell Sprewell, Lawrence Taylor. The list is a lot longer when including athletes who are popular in their local areas.

If Bonds wants a tunnel named for him, he should: change his surly attitude that reflects contempt on those around him, especially the fans of his sport, call for and support through his own actions drug testing in baseball, so that his accomplishments might be accepted as real, instead of inflated by performance enhancing drugs (he could learn a lot from Carl Lewis, who fought a lonely fight to bringing stricter drug testing and standards into track & field), and find a way to publicize his efforts to help those in his community and town (I don't assume that he does nothing, but if he does do anything with those millions he makes other than counting them, it'd a great example to hear about it). Darrell Green and Doug Williams, both formerly Redskins, have done tremendous things in their communities to provide opportunities, teaching, training so that others might strive and achieve.

As for Boston--is his own town of San Fran any better? Or Los Angeles? Or Oakland? African Americans encounter racism throughout this country, including California (or is my memory fading and Rodney King was really beaten in Boston rather than LA?). Yet African Americans have a history of overcoming racism to survive and thrive. What does Bonds do to encourage the surviving and thriving? How does he reach back to help those less fortunate than themselves, other than trashing a city for a period that was 30 years ago?

Physician, heal thyself.

I'm afraid I can't take anything that Barry Bonds says seriously. So I regard anything that Bonds commented about Boston as worthless. I remember Bonds complaining that pitchers were throwing well inside when he was crowding the plate, waiting for an umpire to have the guts to call a strike just once, after he got hit by a pitch that was over the plate. Then he had the nerve to call Turk Wendell a coward when he accused Bonds of taking steroids, when Bonds failed to voluntary submit to a test with the results made public, that could have ended the steroid allegations against him. Bonds is a great baseball player and has shown this year that he can still hit a lot of home runs even without steroids (as for the previous five years or so, when he piled up home runs, we'll never know for sure if he was taking steroids or not). But off the field, Bonds seems to be lacking in rational thought.

Good Hands makes excellent points. I think Bonds is one of the greatest baseball talents of his era, but I take his comments cum grano salis, to put it lightly. He tends to whine a lot and craves coddling.

That said, I lived for one third of my life in Boston, and it was, during that period, one of the most racist places I've ever experienced. I say this having also lived in the South, other parts of the Northeast, and the Midwest. I once was nearly attacked by St. Patrick's Day revelers in Andrew Station (which its between South Boston and Dorchester); I was called "n-" more than once on the street, especially at night; and once a car full of white youths actually threw a botttle at me and a female friend around midnight in Cambridge; etc. Those were just PERSONAL encounters with extreme racism.

And, more than once during those years various politicians of *all* parties expressed varying degrees of racist views, against blacks, against asians (Albert "Dapper" O'Neill, I believe, slammed the Vietnamese), latinos, you name it. The Democrats even ran for governor a particularly vile, tyrannical person named Dr. John Silber, which led me to cast my first vote ever for a Republican (Bill Weld). Boston's particularly history, at least in the 20th century, is notorious in terms of race. Journalist Howard Bryant has written an excellent book on the Red Sox and their particular racial problems, though any discussion of race and Boston sports would also have to take into account the Celtics, Russell, Bird, and how many outsiders perceived Boston's sports teams and fans for years.

At the same time, some of the most wonderful people I ever met were native Bostonians, many of them white. And I also keep in mind that that blacks have lived there since the 1600s and in many ways, and repeatedly so, the city has also been one of the most progressive in terms of dealing with race in the United States, more so than Philadelphia, New York, or other older American cities. It has had its really awful racial moments, though, but what American city hasn't? (Portland, Oregon?)

I have since visited Boston many times since I moved away, and I must say it felt like a very different city, with far less overt racial tension and much more diversity.

You make so many excellent points. I wanted to add that even as we write, things evolve. The treatment the Williams sisters receive in 2004 is quite different than in 1999, when they were viewed as upstarts and they provoked both overt and coded racial commentary. I don't think anyone would bat an eye if Serena won her third Wimbledon. With Tiger Woods (who is also Thai and Native American), he experienced a racist remark from idiot Fuzzy Zoeller after his first Masters win, but now professional golf CRAVES to have him at or near the top of the leaderboard, because fans of ALL races adore him. Black latino players like Sosa and Martínez once were pretty much ignored by the national media, but millions cheered on Sammy Sosa during his race with McGwire for the home run title in 1997, and he's beloved not only among Dominicans and latino fans but by fans of all colors.

It is certainly a different world from when great black athletes like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Willie O'Ree, Roy Campanella, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Arthur Ashe, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Lou Brock, Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or the courageous Curt Flood, who made it possible for all baseball players, including Bonds, to get rich and was destroyed in the process, played. Bonds knows this, I'm sure--hell, his father played during the earlier era.