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By Sara Normand
Ever since the Super Bowl ended and the Olympics began, it seems like the world of sports has been focused on every move of the Giants’ controversial left-fielder Barry Bonds. He arrived to camp at this time. He started batting practice at that time. He spit sunflower seeds at this time. He spurned reporters at that time. He said he was retiring at this time. He said he wasn’t retiring at that time.
Surprisingly, so far the biggest shock of spring training has nothing to do with anything on the field.
Barry Bonds, the all-moody, media-criticizing, 7-time National League MVP actually has a personality?! Was the moon full? Were the stars aligned? Did he rub some laughter lotion on his knee? Did Victor Conte give him a prick of character?
There I was, eating dinner on Tuesday night, half-watching and half-listening to SportsCenter, waiting for the usual clamor about Bonds to finish before the real news came on.
I thought I was hearing things when the names “Barry Bonds” and “Paula Abdul” were used in the same sentence. But then again, it was ESPN, so I shouldn’t really be surprised if pop-culture made headlines should I?
Then I saw something I don’t ever want to see again. Barry in drag. Barry as a blonde. Barry smiling. I still can’t decide what’s more of a surprise.
Thanks to the genius idea of San Francisco’s first-baseman Mark Sweeney, the Giants staged their own version of “American Idol” in which the younger players had to sing.
Though the event raised $337 for the Giants Community Fund, no amount of money could match the value of witnessing the spectacle of Bonds dressed up as Paula Abdul, one of three judges on the real TV show on FOX.
Other veterans and stars participated, such as shortstop Omar Vizquel and actor Rob Schneider, but we all know about their sense of humor.
But Barry Bonds? Who knew? For a man who doesn’t like media attention, one can only ask, “What was he thinking?” Or even more, “How much is that blonde wig going for on eBay?”
This whole ordeal has to be a PR move. The 41-year-old has a good shot to make history this year, and he probably realized it’d be a lot more meaningful with the country on his side.
In 1961 people didn’t want Roger Maris to be the one to break Babe Ruth’s single-season record of 60 home runs because Maris wasn’t a fan favorite or someone who loved the limelight like his teammate, Mickey Mantle.
In a similar fashion, people in 2006 generally don’t want Bonds to be the one to pass Ruth’s 714 career home run mark. His 708 homers put him third on the all-time list behind Ruth and Hank Aaron (755).
But it’s really going to take a lot more than cross-dressing for fans to immediately forget the suspicion of steroid use that hangs over his head, which by the way, has grown a lot bigger (literally and figuratively) over the years.
And if you haven’t seen more than enough of Bonds than you ever wanted in this past week, just wait. His new reality TV series (“Bonds on Bonds”) airs on April 4 on ESPN2.
Too bad we don’t need a reality show to see who the real Barry Bonds is.
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