COOPERSTOWN AND PHARMACEUTICALS

I was driving to Pony League baseball practice the other day, and my son piped up and said, “Hey Dad, you know who the all time home run leader is?”

I figured he had a point to make, so I bit. “Who do you think it is?” I asked.

“Henry Aaron,” he said.

“Really? How you figure?”

“Because that other guy cheated,” he retorted.

 “What other guy?”

“The guy who played for the Giants,” he said, not even mentioning the name, which obviously, in his mind, further emphasized his point.

When I arrived at practice, I asked a few of the Cheviot Hills Mustang Division Yankees what they thought of Barry Bonds.

The general consensus? -- he cheated.   Enough said.  Smart, these nine and ten year olds these days.

I bring this up because I saw where Bonds spoke to the media a bit recently. He talked about how that wretched personality he embodied and promoted during his long career was not real.  He says, he “created that guy, for entertainment.”

Well, if your idea of great entertainment is Hannibal Lecter, he nailed it.

But no attempt at post career image rehabilitation will undo the steroids issue. Ever.

All this inevitably leads us to the great Baseball Hall of Fame issue of our time.  What to do with the players during the “Juiced up Era?” With names like Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Juan Gonzales, to name a few, up for immortality consideration, I have an idea.

Cooperstown should consider a special Pharmacy Section, just like at the grocery store.

Hey, it’s a start isn’t it?  The Pony League kids would get it, trust me.

KINGS FANS AND THE BANDWAGON

Now that the Los Angeles Kings are in the Stanley Cup finals since 1993, the term “bandwagon” is being bandied about.  Loyal, long suffering (and that’s an understatement) Kings fans rightfully might resent the “new” fans who are probably watching the Kings for, oh, the first, or second time-- depending on whether or not the remote control got chewed up by the dog and it took a while to change the television channel.

“Jumping on the bandwagon” is an American time honored tradition.  In 1855, the greatest promoter of all time, P.T. Barnum, would parade his circuses into a town, led by a big wagon with the brass band aboard.  This, of course, was to draw attention. In the 1890’s, politicians, most notably, Teddy Roosevelt, used the term to describe what happens when the majority opinion agrees with a particular politician’s viewpoints, thereby, voters would “jump on the bandwagon.”

I understand this resentment from L.L.S. (loyal long suffering) Kings fans. I was an Atlanta Braves fan in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. That hurt. But let’s put some historical perspective on this.  The first Kings owner was the late great Jack Kent Cooke.  He was a Canadian by birth. He bought the Kings in 1966.  As the team struggled he relayed his frustration at poor attendance and lack of community interest.  He was told 300,000 former Canadians lived within three hours drive from Los Angeles. Cooke’s famous retort was, “Now, I know why they left Canada, they hate hockey.”

A famous Alan Massengale quote has been, “L.A. has great hockey fans.  And all 18,118 of them fill Staples Center every game.”

My suggestion to L.L.S. Kings fans, be gracious and allow the newcomers to jump aboard the bandwagon and enjoy the ride.  I know it galls all you who bleed purple and black. What harm can they do? Of course, most won’t know a “grinder” from an “enforcer.”  But what harm is there if a few more “puck bunnies” fill up the space behind the boards?

 My family and I recently enjoyed watching the solar eclipse. These things don’t happen very often.  And that’s the point.