What is up, peeps?! It is the middle of the week meaning its an unseasonably cold Wednesday! Time for some videogame news! As you may have heard, Sony dropped the price of the PlayStation 3 down $100 to $499 just in time for the fall rush and ahead of the Christmas rush. Now as one that called the forced price drop (I said September in an earlier post last year) I am not impressed. Now had they made this drop right when the Wii started selling like gangbusters (January, Feburary) this would have had more of an impact. Rather than the desperation of now (they are well behind the Wii and the X-Box 360 is ahead and will gain on the Wii after the FFXIII, MGS4 and Devil May Cry 4 non-exclusives become official) it would have been seen as a “oh no you didn’t!” move. Like in boxing when a lesser challenger gets in a good shot in the jaw and then is whooped to high heaven by the upset champ. Instead this move reeks of “we have to do SOMETHING!”
Now onto something else. I am one of many people that did not watch the MLB All-Star Game last night (I’m sure I was watching like…CSPAN or something) featuring odds are the last time I would see Barry Bonds in an All-Star game. Now I was a huge baseball fan from about 1984 until…1998 when the Braves lost their third World Series and I just gave up. However, I have become irritated with this whole Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record business. Fans, purists, pundits, players, owners and historians are complaining about how Bonds “cheated” to get this many home runs. Well, although nothing has been officially proven (although where there is smoke there is fire) about Barry using any illegal substances, people are all over this. First off, as for the race issue. All I will say is that no one was saying shit when Mark McGwire broke the single season mark the first time. Race may not be a factor for some, but I am just saying. That man looks more like he was using enhancers (which he has actually admitted to) than Barry Bonds does.
Secondly, people want to blame Barry for using steroids or growth hormones. Well, you know what? He is a grown man; if he was using illegal substances (At the time, I cannot stress this enough) then he should be vilified and his records should have a mark next to them or something I guess. The simple fact is that if the fans, owners and yes even other players want to blame someone…
Blame yourselves.
The fans sat back and watched while mediocre players hit 50 home runs, a number that is outlandish at best. The players sat back as their teammates got bigger and bigger, obviously not under there own physical prowess. Owners sat back and let these players use enhancements to uneven the playing field, all while watching attendance records shatter and TV revenues soar. There are about 4 years of baseball (This is a guess, I will say from 1996-2000 but it may be more) that are unaccounted for in terms of the rampant use of performance enhancers. Fans loved the action, players loved the winning and owners loved the money. No one ever took to task the players that were in some cases OBVIOUSLY cheating. I remember looking at Big Mac, Sammy Sosa, Ken Camineti (who has passed away), Ryan Klesko, Gary Sheffield and others and seeing their numbers and how much they exploded…as did their bodies. People saw this and did and said NOTHING. I just stopped being a fan of the game. By fans, players and owners remaining silent you may have just tarnished the game.
You know, I have always been a huge wrestling fan and I remember the steroid scandal in the early and mid-90’s. After a while, I as a fan (and I am happy to say many others) got sick of The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Rick Rude (who has since passed), Warlord and other just obviously enhanced physiques. It was slowing down the action (I will admit, Hogan vs. Warrior at Wrestlemania VI had its drama, albeit plodding) and really just getting old. Not only that, it caused a drop in popularity in the (then) WWF that started the Monday Night Wars, the pushing of smaller superstars (Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, Steve Austin) and a change in wrestling. Enhanced bodies were out, actual entertainment was in. THIS IS WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN BASEBALL. As soon as the game became a home run derby every afternoon, fans should have demanded a change. You know what? We didn’t. We Just like the commercial said, chicks dig the long ball.
This was a joke, but it was very telling. Baseball lost the aspect of it being a sport of strategy. It was just a show of power. Yes it was entertaining, but in the long run what do you have? A multitude of players annihilating the record books and we don’t know if they were using their skill or the pill (or the needle) to get there. It is very sad if you are a fan. So the next time you complain about Barry Bonds “cheating” remember this: you had a chance to stop it by not watching. The NBA is cleaning up its image due to people tired of the stupidity, same with the NFL. You can not like Barry Bonds for being a prick (Which is my main issue with him. Then again, Ty Cobb was a notorious racist that reportedly stabbed a black man for holding an elevator door for him but people love that cock sucker) but if you hate him for cheating…maybe you should see whether you were all for the long ball 10 years ago. If you were; thems the breaks.
That was REALLY bugging me. Well, I will be back on Friday for the Top 20 Video Countdown and I may also see Harry Potter tonight (definitely will go tomorrow if I don’t go today). Until next time, stay up.
Chachi Out.
