July 28, 2007
Ohh, Snap! Costas Makes Bonds Look Silly
Notes to self for when we become famous: memorize the phrase "no comment." Utilize it frequently. Take the high road. Don't respond to critics in the media.
Monsters & Critics brought our attention to the latest on the "brains vs. brawn" verbal tiff between Barry Bonds, who's just about to break one of baseballs' most precious records, and Bob Costas, veteran sports journalist and all-around smart cookie.
Barry, who in recent years has been angry when people make comments about his size/stature, went ahead and made a comment about Costas' size/stature, calling him a "midget man" and saying he doesn't know anything about baseball (hmm, writing top-selling books about the game doesn't count?).
Costas' response:
As anyone can plainly see, I'm 5-6 1/2 and a strapping 150, and unlike some people, I came by all of it naturally"
More snappy verbiage from Costas, which was garnered from AP reports, is quoted in the M&C piece. We especially love how Costas finished his thoughts in a classy, de-escalating manner, though:
[Bonds is] under tremendous scrutiny and some pressure. It's no big deal
Barry -- you're about to achieve something amazing. Just shut up and do it.
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Costas buys into the single trait thing. It is like referring to singers/songwriters Rod Stewart, Freddie Mercury, and Elton John as "Nose, Teeth, and Hair."
I'm proud of Barry Bonds, and no one can deny the man has talents to hit that many home runs in his career.
Just like Howard Dean will probably be forever remembered for that scream in Iowa instead of bringing a lot of regular folks into the Democratic Party and bailing out the sinking ship of the DNC, it will probably be the one thing folks remember about Barry because of the media coverage - I can't blame him for being a little bitter about the media defining that memory. I'd be pretty pissed off too.
Having talent doesn't excuse cheating.
Doesn't every baseball fan hate Bob Costas and Tim McCarver for acting like unassailable high priests of baseball? (Baseball of course was better when they grew up, never mind the leagues were segregated).
About to achieve something amazing? Only if lying and cheating your way into the record book is amazing. I guess he is in an amazing state of denial.
RinconHillSF doesn't know Costas too well. If anything, he weighs too heavy on seeing too many angles and shades of gray in subjects to be consistently compelling. Where you get that he prescribes to "the single trait thing" is beyond me.
Proud of Barry? He was a player of many talents; the problem isn't in that steroids help him hit homers, it's that it converts many of his warning track flies into homers.
As for his being bitter about the media: Come on, RinconHillSF. He was a bitter man way before now. Heck, he got into a verbal screaming match with then-Pirates manager Jim Leyland, quite possibly the most mild-mannered person in the world. He ticked off Joe Buck, Fox announcer and long-time Cardinals announcer Jack Buck's son, to no end by saying, "So?" And of course he slammed Costas, because, importantly, Bonds is bigger than him.
RinconHillSF doesn't know Costas too well. If anything, he weighs too heavy on seeing too many angles and shades of gray in subjects to be consistently compelling. Where you get that he prescribes to "the single trait thing" is beyond me.
Proud of Barry? He was a player of many talents; the problem isn't in that steroids help him hit homers, it's that it converts many of his warning track flies into homers.
As for his being bitter about the media: Come on, RinconHillSF. He was a bitter man way before now. Heck, he got into a verbal screaming match with then-Pirates manager Jim Leyland, quite possibly the most mild-mannered person in the world. He ticked off Joe Buck, Fox announcer and long-time Cardinals announcer Jack Buck's son, to no end by saying, "So?" And of course he slammed Costas, because, importantly, Bonds is bigger than him. (On the other hand, great comebacks by Costas -- biting, but classy.)
There was one time I saw Bonds being cordial. And that was when Jennie Finch pitched to him on "This Week in Baseball." He found every excuse to "tutor" her on his batting "style," including "hand-over-hand" techniques. You figure out the ulterior motive for the niceness; all I can say is, after all the lifelong surliness, this must have been a hard trick to pull off for the extended period of time it took to shoot the segment. (And his wife must not have been pleased either.)
Ah Barry. I'm not going to miss ya.