Barry Bonds' reputation has been tarnished forever. He will make the Hall, but he won't be a first-ballot guy. (I don't get that; If a guy's not a HoFer one year, what makes him an HoFer the next, and vice versa?) What should he do in 2007, though?
- Bust his butt. Do it before you reach the record, but don't slack once you've broken it. The way to win the hearts of the fans is by playing hard.
- Hit home runs. He has already lost irrevocably most of his fan base outside of his base outside of the Bay Area, so keep the real ones, the ones who don't half care if MLB doesn't celebrate his breaking of the record, because they will.
- Don't act spoiled. This one is really an intangible; how can he seem less surly and aloof? I don't think he's going to ditch his famed recliner, so this'll really depend on how he acts around his teammates. Signing for about $8-10 million would have helped, but we're past that now.
- I think the most important thing for Bonds, even though this isn't entirely in his hands, is for the Giants to win. If the Giants won a World Series in Bonds' last season (something I highly doubt would happen, but hope springs etenal), then all would be well, and Giants fans at least would remember him for helping bring a title to The City, more than anything else.
Yes, if Barry follows these four steps, I think his fan base wil be rejuvenated in no time! It won't be easy, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment