Doing the right thing—a novel concept (May 2011)

Recently, the news has been cluttered with accusations of doping against Lance Armstrong (again), the potential end of the world and some guy named Osama (or is it Usama?) bin Laden dying. Barry Bonds is also back in the news; but this time, for something way more awesome and refreshing than usual. Barry Bonds, as you well know, broke the single season Home Run record in 2001 then continued on to break the all-time Home Run record. Millions of fans and writers have criticized Bonds for less than convincing claims that he never used Performance-Enhancing Drugs.

Yet, that all is irrelevant right now. Earlier this season, Giants fan Bryan Stow had just attended a baseball game at Dodger Stadium with friends when he was attacked from behind and sent into a coma (in which he remains). A father of two, Bryan and his family have had the biggest possible wrench thrown into their lives. Plenty of people have reacted to this story by pouring in support; the Dodgers agreed to add extra security and law enforcement both outside and inside their stadium.

But the biggest news comes in the form of one Barry Bonds. Still beloved in the San Francisco area, it recently came out that he volunteered to not only make a contribution, but to pay for the college education of Stow’s 12-year old daughter and 8-year old son. I was blown away. By the time those two reach college, tuition rates could easily be around $150,000 for four years! So maybe $300,000 is nothing to Barry Bonds, but no one would have criticized him if he had just chipped in $10,000 or even nothing at all.

It is unfortunate that Barry Bonds’ career has been marred by allegations of steroid use; he could have easily been one of the best hitters of all time without them. But when we examine our distaste for athletes who cheat, it’s important to remember to separate their lives as professional athletes from who they are as people. This act of generosity is inspirational; so rarely do we showcase athletes who do the right thing that it seems they can only do wrong. Barry Bonds shows that it is possible to go above and beyond the norm no matter how much his public image has been damaged. A tip of the hat to you, sir.