I could NOT remember my password to get into this blog this morning, and I panicked for a second...

Anyway, one of the saddest things in sports is watching a player who used to be great, slowly fall back down to earth. And that very thing is happening to one of my favorite baseball players, Barry Bonds. Despite the fact that he hit his 724th home run last night, Barry is struggling big time. His knees have severely limited his mobility and his ability to stay in proper shape; his formerly beautiful swing, is no longer fluid, since he can't really shift those knees to get his usual power. When you see Barry at the plate, 80% of the time he just flailing away at bad pitches hoping he can make some kind of contact. And when he is in left field, things get even worse. Outfielders are ideally supposed to be cat quick, and have the ability to cover a great deal of ground. Barry just sits out there hoping that a ball doesn't come his way or too far out of his reach. And even if he is able to recapture his youth and catch a ball, he is forced to come out the game due to his shaky knee. And on top of all of this, Barry doesn't seem to be having fun at all. He walks around with a scowl, which is understandable due to all of the scrutiny he's been under the past few years.

This is a far cry from the Barry the world saw a few years back when he was hitting home runs at an alarming rate, and setting all kinds of records. Regardless of whether he did steroids or not, Barry was and still is a Hall of Fame player, and part of his greatness was his focus. He was able to block out the media's opinion of him and produce. He was extremely selective at the plate, and he rarely struck out because of this. His batting average was in the .360 range, he was stealing 30-40 bases, and averaging between 30-40 home runs(until the steroids kicked in a few years later and he hit 73). Even journalists who couldn't stand him were forced to recognize his greatness. Now it is all crashing down on him. He's faced with tax evasion, infidelity(along with every athlete), steroid accusations, and rumors that his own team won't resign him because he's become an extreme liability. I'm one of the few people who feel sorry for him. He can't even do what most crazy people do, and start a blog, because he's basically under a gag order to not speak on any of his problems. It is truly a sad state of affairs...And I won't even mention that he's rocking the Larry Fishburne (no facial hair), which is always a sign of bad things to come. No man who CAN wear a mustache and goatee needs to be without one..especially a black man. This adds to a man's mystique..without it, you're nothing.

You know, I would really like to do at least one blog entry under the influence of wine or liquor, just to see what kind of greatness it would inspire. Rappers always talk about how they flow better while under the influence; Marvin Gaye wrote some damn good music while high, and I'm quite sure Ernest Hemingway was more than tipsy when some of his work was produced. Why shouldn't I be able to tap into that too...I think I'll try it one day soon.