ESPN Town Hall meeting

[Alfonso Soriano]

This is brutal to watch.

Bob Ley is yelling at the SF fans to be quiet.

Dusty Baker is acting stupid.

Classic ESPN.

[JimSorgi]

Dusty Baker is acting stupid.

Umm... I don't think Dusty is acting.

[TruffleShuffle]

let me guess, everyone is going to watch this and bitch about how bad espn is

[inari]

I don't watch ESPN anymore. What is this exactly?

[Alfonso Soriano]

A bunch of idiots arguing about Barry Bonds.

Buster Olney is the only one that actually may know something in this panel.

[jyoung55]

That one guy who thinks everyone is guilty is ridiculous... why must the extreme viewpoints get the most airtime?

[OleMissCub]

Was that Ellis Burks who yelled at the crowd: "you don't care if he's a cheat, so long as he's YOUR cheat!"

[Alfonso Soriano]

Was that Ellis Burks who yelled at the crowd: "you don't care if he's a cheat, so long as he's YOUR cheat!"

No Ellis Burke, Kirk Ruetuer, and Dusty Baker and on Bonds' side.

[Alfonso Soriano]

Lance Williams called the white BALCO members "Honkies"

[gerby23]

Was that Ellis Burks who yelled at the crowd: "you don't care if he's a cheat, so long as he's YOUR cheat!"

Burwell of StL P-D

[Soul]

LOL, what the hell is going on over there?

[Abe Frohman]

That was a COMPLETE joke.

[jaydee]

barry bonds cheated. the peeps in SF who care more about the cheat breaking Hank's HR record than winning can delude themselves all they want (which btw, Arod will be breaking Bonds' record in the next 10 years anyway).

[ConstableRabbit]

I actually don't think Dusty sounded that bad. He had a point. He's really not a babysitter or anything. I'm sure it was uncomfortable if anything all-around for him managing Bonds for various reasons

[Electron Blue]

I actually don't think Dusty sounded that bad. He had a point. He's really not a babysitter or anything. I'm sure it was uncomfortable if anything all-around for him managing Bonds for various reasons

 

i agree that that's the way it is in sports. but i don't care -- it's not the way it should be. if one of your players is cheating, endangering his health, hurting The Game's integrity, and becoming a media slideshow/distraction, you do something about it, dammit. To say that he's not "a babysitter" is a condescending BS cop-out.

 

You're the boss, as a manager. The team/league has rules and reputations to be upheld. In the clubhouse and on the field, YOU are the authority. Bonds' ego (or anyone else's for the matter) is no reason not to hold him to the game's standard. Do these managers, Baker in particular, really think that they are earning millions of dollars to decide what order the hitters follow, and when to steal a base? Manage the team, and have a little integrity in doing so, please.

[ConstableRabbit]

I actually don't think Dusty sounded that bad. He had a point. He's really not a babysitter or anything. I'm sure it was uncomfortable if anything all-around for him managing Bonds for various reasons

 

i agree that that's the way it is in sports. but i don't care -- it's not the way it should be. if one of your players is cheating, endangering his health, hurting The Game's integrity, and becoming a media slideshow/distraction, you do something about it, dammit. To say that he's not "a babysitter" is a condescending BS cop-out.

 

You're the boss, as a manager. The team/league has rules and reputations to be upheld. In the clubhouse and on the field, YOU are the authority. Bonds' ego (or anyone else's for the matter) is no reason not to hold him to the game's standard. Do these managers, Baker in particular, really think that they are earning millions of dollars to decide what order the hitters follow, and when to steal a base? Manage the team, and have a little integrity in doing so, please.

 

Oh I completely agree. I just think it's a heck of a lot easier for you and I to say that now, not under the overwhelming pressure to win, manage a clubhouse, keep your job, etc.

 

When I said "babysitter" I was thinking more along the lines of what Dusty alluded to. We don't know where Barry took steroids (or TECHNICALLY if he took them at all) -- especially when Dusty was with SF. And lets say it wasn't in the clubhouse -- Barry's useage was restricted to his home. Dusty sees Barry getting bigger:

"Hey Barry, you're looking big"

"[silence]"

"What are you taking? Anything? I wish I could've built muscle like that when I was playin'"

"Nothing. Just some supplements, conditioning and working out hard"

 

Now what is Dusty supposed to say? How much can he press the issue? Should he have pre-emptively told someone in the Giants organization? The GM? The media? What if he's wrong? Does he end up losing his job?

 

It's a much different situation than a high school or college player-coach relationship or even a seasoned manager in the bigs with a rookie.

I'm not saying we should let him off the hook, but there's plenty of blame to go around and Dusty doesn't shoulder even close to most of it. It's much more difficult than you or I could imagine.

[Abe Frohman]

I just thought it was classic how they did this thing in SF, and it was made out to be a "racial" issue. I always thought this was a "steroids" issue, and I really believe that if it were Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, or Cal Ripken who were about to break Hank Aaron's record - and they were under Federal investigation for steroid use - I think the same thing would be happening. Regardless of race.

 

The "Barry! Barry!" chants were awesome, too. They threw a lot of objectivity into that "Town Hall Meeting."

 

ESPN is total garbage.

[3Dog]

If Bryan Burwell was a panelist, you can best believe it would turn into a racial thing. His whole career has been tilting at windmills.