Obsidian Potency 3.0
How the public *really* feels about Bonds.
posted Monday, 7 May 2007
Jayson Stark has a terrific editorial about how the Barry Bonds home-run chase is being viewed by sports fans around the country. It's a question that most of the media felt had already been answered. After all, when Bonds passed Babe Ruth, Fox Sports actually had a front-page graphic of Ruth shaking his head in disgust. On Fark, someone submitted Bonds' Ruth-passing home run as a headline with an asterisk.
There was only one problem: nobody had bothered to ask the fans themselves.
Now someone has. And the results may be surprising to those who follow baseball. 52% of fans are rooting against Bonds surpassing Hank Aaron. Of course, that means almost half of baseball fans WANT to see Bonds break Aaron's record. Yet you'd never know that if you've been following these stories for the past two years.
73% of all baseball fans think Bonds used steroids. Yet, 58% of those same fans want Bonds in the Hall of Fame. This is particularly fascinating given the media blitz of stories about how Bonds has disgraced and destroyed the game's integrity (despite the fact that the powers-that-be of the MLB are the true culprits).
Perhaps baseball fans are a lot more savvy than anybody in the media gave them credit for being.
The numbers are even more interesting when divided by race: 85% of black fans think Bonds belongs in the Hall, vs. 53% of white fans. 74% of black actually want to see Bonds break the record. Read that last sentence again.
As for Bonds' treatment in the media, this is what Stark has to say: "We're not so sure they're right in attributing the alleged mistreatment of this particular historical figure to racially charged motives. But for nearly all white fans who think Bonds has been treated unfairly to say race has nothing to do with it is stunning. We say to those fans: You're kidding yourselves if that's what you truly think."
Bud Selig might want to re-think his decision to not acknolwedge Bonds if he breaks the record. In fact, this info should lead everyone in baseball management and in the media to re-think this issue in general.
There was only one problem: nobody had bothered to ask the fans themselves.
Now someone has. And the results may be surprising to those who follow baseball. 52% of fans are rooting against Bonds surpassing Hank Aaron. Of course, that means almost half of baseball fans WANT to see Bonds break Aaron's record. Yet you'd never know that if you've been following these stories for the past two years.
73% of all baseball fans think Bonds used steroids. Yet, 58% of those same fans want Bonds in the Hall of Fame. This is particularly fascinating given the media blitz of stories about how Bonds has disgraced and destroyed the game's integrity (despite the fact that the powers-that-be of the MLB are the true culprits).
Perhaps baseball fans are a lot more savvy than anybody in the media gave them credit for being.
The numbers are even more interesting when divided by race: 85% of black fans think Bonds belongs in the Hall, vs. 53% of white fans. 74% of black actually want to see Bonds break the record. Read that last sentence again.
As for Bonds' treatment in the media, this is what Stark has to say: "We're not so sure they're right in attributing the alleged mistreatment of this particular historical figure to racially charged motives. But for nearly all white fans who think Bonds has been treated unfairly to say race has nothing to do with it is stunning. We say to those fans: You're kidding yourselves if that's what you truly think."
Bud Selig might want to re-think his decision to not acknolwedge Bonds if he breaks the record. In fact, this info should lead everyone in baseball management and in the media to re-think this issue in general.
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