[Sports] What To Do About Bonds

What does a record mean to the game? That should be the question Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig asks himself as he prepares for Barry Bonds likely breaking of the career home run record. Unfortunately, it seems that Selig is instead asking himself, “What does Barry Bonds mean to the game?” While the latter is the question on all of our minds as we look back on what will undoubtedly be known as the “Steroid Era” of baseball, it is not the time for the baseball commissioner to be asking that question, especially since he presided over the game during the time that steroid abuse fueled the season home-run races we all now question.

One wonders if Selig’s apprehension to decide where he will be for Bond’s imminent breaking of Henry Aaron’s record is not a result of his own inability to address the steroid problem when it first became apparent that a problem existed. I wouldn’t be the first one to question whether or not Selig turned a blind eye to steroid abuse in the hopes of bringing the American public back to the game following the backlash from the 1994 player’s strike. Certainly, the recent reports about “juiced balls,” that is baseballs with a larger rubber core, used during Mark McGwire’s record-setting 1998 season, have fueled much more malicious conspiracy theories than simply the aforementioned complicity (Read ESPN’s report on that here…very interesting stuff).

But, right now, the question is not about a conspiracy, it is only about how the league will respond to Bonds breaking Aaron’s record. And it seems as though Selig is seriously considering abstaining from any recognition of Bonds accomplishment, as if some verdict in allegations of Bonds use of steroids will be returned and a decision on what to do with record-setting abusers will take place. I assure you Bud, when Bond’s breaks the record the entire era of baseball in question will still be shrouded in mystery.

For my part, I have admittedly made a big reversal in my position, mostly as a result of the inevitably of the record being broken, but also because of some deep reflection on the issue.

The way I see it, the more Selig resists answering how the league will respond, to Bonds, the greater the spotlight becomes on Bonds himself and not the record, or most importantly, the game. It would be nice to believe that the record books of America’s greatest pastime are unblemished by suspect achievements, but, with or without performance-enhancing drugs, that is simply not true (lest I remind you of the “Dead Ball” era of the game). So, if anything, the breaking of the record should simply be another reason why the game is so much larger than the record books.

True, there have been moments when a certain player becomes bigger than the game itself, and deservedly so. Such moments include Lou Gehrig’s final game, Jackie Robinson’s first game, Roger Maris breaking of the season home run record and Dave Roberts steal of second base in the Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS (okay, so that’s a personal one), but one thing that each of these moments eventually became a testament to is the greatness of the game and the love we have for it. With Bonds, the exact opposite will be true. If Bond’s becomes bigger than the game, especially if it is because the league does not wish to recognize his achievement, then he will do so because of the negativity he represents.

So instead of dwelling on the possible tarnishing of the record books, let Bonds break the record with our lukewarm acknowledgement and let’s move on. Let his record be a testament to the fact that records are just candlelight flickers in the supernova that is the game. Assuming Bonds breaks the record, his steroid use will not be an asterisk on that record. Instead the annals of baseball will write the record as an asterisk to the steroid era of baseball. And the conclusion of that era, if we wish to preserve the sanctity of the game, will be a crop of players selfless enough to abandon their desire for immortality in record books and who will instead be rewarded with immortality in our hearts. I, for one, already see such a game emerging from the shadows.

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[Politics] The Urban Gun Debate

It's been a long time since we had a serious discussion about guns in this country, and following the shootings at Virginia Tech you would think the issue would get raised again. It hasn't. Many have said that the Democrats have turned their heads on the unpopular issue. What's worse is that I don't know that if the Democrats were speaking up on it they would be approaching the issue properly. It's not that I think guns should be banned. I know, people kill people, not guns, but people with guns kill more people than those without. So we still need to be willing to keep guns out of the hands of the people using them to kill.

Rep. Tom Tiahrt (R-Kansas) is sponsoring a House amendment to ban the sharing of gun trace data between federal agents and municipal police departments. The biggest opponent of the amedment is a coalition of more than 200 mayors form around the country led by New York's own Michael Bloomberg. Read Time's article about it.

This is what I like about Bloomberg. He understands the power and importance of city politics in relation to the dominant national scene. Gun violence is one of the most concerning issues for all cities, as is shown by the overwhelming number of mayors behind Bloomberg's confrontation of the national leaders. And yet, while gun violence is a concern for such a large portion of the nation's population (though albeit, one that does not take up a large amount of space) it is not a concern for our sprawling rural areas in the same way, and naturally, these are the places where many of the guns used to commit crimes in cities come from.

This disconnect between gun sales and gun use in rural states and cities is a significant crisis for the nation because it means that if we want to keep the second amendment we need to learn how to have a debate that is fair to responsible gun owners and cities looking to prevent and prosecute gun violence. This is possible. It just takes a little creative thinking, and an essential part of that creative thinking is the sharing of information between the federal government and the local governments.

If we have learned nothing since September 11th, it should be that a flow of data, intelligence and information between federal and local authorites can prevent crime and create a smarter law enforement atmosphere. It is not a matter of whether or not the information violates the privacy of gun owners or gun dealers. The informaton is already there. It is only a matter of whether or not it is shared.

Recently, Bloomberg sued several out-of-state gun dealers for illegally selling guns used which wound up being used in crimes in New York. The NYPD conducted an undercover sting operation to catch these dealers. Critics have said that Bloomberg is out of his jurisdiction enforcing a federal law through a civil suit, but what Bloomberg is really doing is taking action on behalf of urban politics.

If Democrats are having too much trouble nuancing a position on gun control to mention it, then it is about time for those affected by illegal gun sales and gun violence to do something about it.

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Man-Animal War: Are Bees on a Kamikaze Mission?

Before I brief the readers on the latest development in animal attacks on humans, I should make one realization perfectly clear: humans need animals more than animals need us. Simply put, humans are at the top of the food chain, whereas most animals are a little further down the trough. The weakness of being at the top of the food chain is that eliminating humans has no effect on those lower in the chain, whereas eliminations at the center or the bottom create a chain reaction toward the top. I think the bees know this.

Einstein probably didn't say that "if bees were eliminated from the planet, humans would follow only four years later," but there is still some truth in it. Scientists estimate that over a full quarter of the human diet comes from plants pollinated by bees; apples and almonds would not be possible without these little pests. Even cows, which we depend on for Big Macs and Whoppers, depend on the bees to pollinate their alphalpha cud. And, in case you are wondering, there is no way man-made technology could match the efficiency and work ethic of these colonies (our fragility in the food chain begins to take shape). So it is not alarmist when scientists begin worrying about the drastic disappearance of honeybees, because our food supply truly is dependent upon their survival (read this article from Yahoo! News).

So, as long as scientists are at a loss for why honeybees are disappearing, consider this theory: they are on a kamikaze mission to cut off the food supply to us humans. Don't believe me? Then let me remind you, the kamikaze mission is written into the bee's DNA. Remember that stinger that kills them when they use it? That's because they see the big picture.

And now bees have demonstrated another form of attack: swarming hospitals and cutting off our emergency services. On Monday, 7,000 bees swarmed a hospital in Little Rock, AK forcing the hospital to shut down its ER while it cleared them out. Read The State's summary.

This is a sneaky tactic., one may we be completely defenseless against. So, beware of killing bees. That may be exactly what they want.

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