Tell Griffey to stop whining

[footballbaseballtalk]

what is his point in saying all this about baseball hating on bonds cuz he was black!? uhh maybe its becuase bonds is a cheater

http://footballbaseballtalk.com/is-ken-griffey-just-whining/baseball/

[Captain Cold Nose]

what is his point in saying all this about baseball hating on bonds cuz he was black!? uhh maybe its becuase bonds is a cheater
http://footballbaseballtalk.com/is-k...ning/baseball/

If all he said was what he was quoted on in that blog, I would hardly call that whining or hating. A lot of players were caught or under suspicion and got 1/1000th the vitriol that Bonds received. Even Clemens isn't really close. To equate what Griffey said to a racist tirade is ridiculous.

[footballbaseballtalk]

naa it wasnt all quoted there but heres from yahoo sports "“And who’s the one person people read about and saw on TV last year?” Griffey asked. “Who’s the one person, if you’re a kid, you saw front and center on everything?”

Barry Bonds.

“Exactly,” Griffey said, “and it makes it tough, because that’s somebody they look at and ask, ‘Do I want to go through that?’ Whether it’s right or wrong, (kids think) ‘They’re going to talk that way about me.’ Do they talk that bad about basketball players? Football players? All last year, he was beaten up.

To me hes inferring that baseball fans only booed bonds because he was black..not because hes one of the least likeable immoral players out there.

[Captain Cold Nose]

naa it wasnt all quoted there but heres from yahoo sports "“And who’s the one person people read about and saw on TV last year?” Griffey asked. “Who’s the one person, if you’re a kid, you saw front and center on everything?”

Barry Bonds.

“Exactly,” Griffey said, “and it makes it tough, because that’s somebody they look at and ask, ‘Do I want to go through that?’ Whether it’s right or wrong, (kids think) ‘They’re going to talk that way about me.’ Do they talk that bad about basketball players? Football players? All last year, he was beaten up.

To me hes inferring that baseball fans only booed bonds because he was black..not because hes one of the least likeable immoral players out there.

But he's right, isn't he? Bonds was absolutely skewered last year.

I don't see that he's inferring it was because Bonds is black, and this is hardly the place to get into race, but people do tend to gravitate toward their "own kind" out of pride. Puerto Ricans follow Puerto Ricans, Jews cheer for Jews, Australians root for Australians, etc. Not exclusively, of course, but there is that personal tendency across the board. If an aspiring young black player sees what's happening to the most prominent black player, it very well could turn them off due to cultural affinity.

Now, Griffey is speaking out because, he, too, is a prominent black player, almost as prominent as Bonds. Is he right? There's some semblance of truth there but only some. Griffey is not a sociologist and really shouldn't be speaking on what motivates people to do things.

[Bothrops Atrox]

If major league fans were racist (on the whole) then I would think that you would see patterns of dislike and hatred towards black players. Why would so many rasist fans and media love Tony Gwynn, and stick their lips on the behinds of Ken Griffey jr, overrating him a tad along the way? I can also think of white guys like John Rocker and post-steroids Roger Clemens who were villified alomost as much as Bonds.

The average fan is not rasist, but the average fan does hate jerks. Bonds was one of the most booed and disliked players years before the idea of steroids ever entered anybody's mind. I remember back at Bush in the early 90's, the mild-mannored and friendly fans booing the heck out of Bonds, louder than anybody else-save Strawberry.

Captain is right in his conclusion that people with similarities do gravitate towards similar people. There is nothing wrong with Steve Nash being some little white boy in Canada's favorite player, or some black kid who hated golf, who now is a golf groupy because of Tiger Woods. However, most people do not dislike or boo, or shout obsenities at people because they are a different color, but they might if they are a huge, unpleasant, jerk.