Does Barry Bonds deserve the record?

Lets just start this by saying that Barry Bonds in many ways is a jerk, especially to the media who often deserve the jerk treatment. As we've seen many times before the media does not conduct themselves in a fair and reasonable manor when it comes to jerks. And in the case of sports the public is often willing to buy into anything the media says in a negative manor so long as it's about a member of another team.

So now that we've got past the people that would like to see Barry fail lets look at this thing from the perspective it should. Steroids were not illegal in major league baseball until the last 3 or 4 years so no matter what you want to think every home run he hit up until that point is not debatable as far as the record goes. Since that time he has not tested positive for steroids, so unless he hasn't been tested during that period we have to assume he hasn't done steroids in recent years.

We also have to ask the question what defines a steroid and why is that cheating? After all eating food or drinking Gatorade enhances an athletes performance, and clearly that is no cheating. Heck some players don't ever drink beer should we consider that cheating? I think realistically we can say steroids are illegal in sports for the same reason Cocaine is, because it is unhealthy the performance enhancing aspect does not come into play at all.

In baseball they will put an Asterisk next to any Home run record for any reason. Babe Ruth is the greatest Home run hitter ever and anyone else is a sham. And lets face it Babe Ruth was by far the best player of his era, he also could pitch at an elite level.

If and when Bonds hit's #756 he will be the deserving record holder, and unless within a few weeks of achieving that record he tests positive there should be no debate. Much like Ruth Barry Bonds is a great all around player, and should be considered in the class of Ruth, Ted Williams and Cy Young as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

It couldn't happen to a nicer jerk.