Barry Bonds Needs to Go Back to the Playground When I was young, I collected Baseball cards. I remember unwrapping a pack of cards hoping to get one of my favorite players. I still have my Barry Bonds rookie year card. Over the years the card has remained in mint condition, just how it was when I opened the pack. Barry Bonds however has changed significantly since my baseball card collecting days. Bonds appearance has been altered dramatically from the picture Creating or supporting a child's dream of playing major league sports now a days is ultimately like saying, "If your really talented and you sacrifice yourself to stay with this, you could one day become a drugged up sports machine." What ever happened to using sports to get kids away from drug filled environments? When sports stars respond by saying, "Well, I'm not a role model," it's weak. You play a sport for a living . YOUR JOB IS TO PLAY!? Doctors don't get to play medicine. Lawyers don't get to play with the law (okay, bad examples.) But the point I'm making is that, of course you're a role model for kids. Everyday you wake up and get ready to play and so do they. When I'm on the Field with the kids I coach I know that the techniques and skills I teach have bigger lessons attached. Passing is about sharing. Defense is about awareness. Teamwork is about community. As most of the children I coach aren't going to be the next Barry Bonds, it's better they first learn about themselves and their community. Last week one of my kids was badmouthing a teammates performance during a practice. After I pulled him out of the game I explained how in life it's about challenging yourself and not putting your goals on someone else. And if your trying your hardest you are the best. Maybe no one ever did that for Barry. Major League Baseball isn't prepared to upset their bottom line to chastise Barry Bonds. In big time sports the bottom line is entertainment at any cost, not its ancient traditions of good and healthy competition. If Americans spent more time playing a sport and less time watching them, not only would we drop a few pounds, we would also have a more realistic expectation of an athlete's performance. I say Let Barry Bonds be Barry Bonds problem, there is nothing wrong with baseball that a neighborhood game can't fix.
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on the card. I'm not talking haircut and sideburn length different. I'm talking about the gigantic frame Bonds has acquired over years of diet exercise and now, as recently revealed, mass amounts of steroids. The present day Barry Bonds looks like he swallowed the old Barry Bonds whole. As a person who works full time as a sports coach for children 3 to 12, I feel a bit apprehensive about leading youth down a road that may, they hope, lead to major league sports. 
