Racism blamed for Barry Bonds' problems: Tiger Woods must be the next target

I have been a huge baseball fan ever since I can remember. I not only loved going to Braves’ games as a kid, I loved learning about the ghosts of baseball’s past. It intrigued me to hear stories about Babe Ruth calling his shot; I thought it was facinating that Mickey Mantle was so drunk when he played that he could never even remember what pitch he liked to hit, yet he still managed to produce the way he did. And while I am not as involved with the sport as I used to be, this is a big week in baseball for anyone who has ever been remotely interested in America’s pastime, as Barry Bonds is about to pass the Bambino on baseball’s all-time home run list. To the dismay of many, Major League Baseball has decided not to celebrate Bonds’ passing of Ruth, mainly because it is uncommon in this country to celebrate second-place achievements.

As Bonds has inched closer to this record, there have been many writers, players, and fans who have declared that Bonds is a victim of racism. Others have insinuated that managers are actually conspiring against Bonds to keep him from reaching Ruth and Aaron.

Using this logic, the leaders of golf (a gentlemen’s game) have some work to do for the next five years. As Tiger Woods approaches golf’s version of Babe Ruth in Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus on the all-time major wins list, Tim Finchem, Billy Payne, and the British media have a plan to keep Woods from succeeding simply because he is not white. This plan most likely consists of, but is not limited to the following:

1) Granting Fuzzy Zoeller an exemption to each of the majors because of his historic contributions to the game, and putting him directly in front of Woods’ group. The genuis of plan will be in allowing Zoeller to wear metal spikes and inconspicuously stomp around each hole prior to exiting the green.
2) Causing Steve Williams to have a “freak accident” in one of is race cars (most likely resulting from “brake failure"), and Tiger reuniting with Fluff, until Fluff is arrested for posession of marjuana, leaving Tiger to lug his own bag.
3) Banning Tiger from future Masters, explaining that, “Interracial marriages are not conducive to the traditions of our tournament.”

And if all of this fails, they’ll just accuse him of using steriods.

Racism certainly exists today, and it is a serious problem not only in this country, but all over the world. However, certain situations in which racism is automatically blamed are counter-productive, as they give less validity to the cases in which injustice actually occurs.

Colin Cowherd, host of ‘The Herd’ on ESPN, addressed this topic yesterday, and gave perfect examples of why racism is not what is hurting Bonds right now. What is actually hurting Bonds is the fact that he is not likeable and he does basically nothing to change his persona.

If Tiger Woods’ chase is actually sabotaged, then people can stand on their roof tops and cry racism; don’t hold your breath though- Tiger will break the record without the help of performance-enhancing drugs (and without being a jerk), and he won’t put himself in the same position that Bonds is dealing with now. Thankfully, there won’t be ANYTHING for which people could blame racism, and we’ll officially crown Tiger the greatest player, white or black, of all time.