Barry Bonds will get booed tonight, but Guillermo Mota will get a pass. Fair? Probably not in the literal sense, but understandable. Mota will likely get a pass because he’s a Met. However, he also admitted guilt—sure it was after he was caught, but it beats lying—and apologized.
Bonds has done neither. Also, Mota isn’t approaching the highest-profile record in sports, either.
Sure, in the letter of the law it is hypocritical, but Mota served his time and warrants the chance to start over.
11 Comments
John,
I hope you are feeling better. I agree that us Mets will give him a pass. The number reason is that, as you stated, he admitted to what he had done and apoligized for it. The second reason is that we are biased Mets fans and he had a great season for us last year. The third reason is Scott Schoeneweis.
I don’t think Mota will get a total pass. I expect some enthusiasm but less than if he were coming back from an injury. Put it this way—I think Alou and Valentin will get more applause when they come back and rightfully so.
If I were there, I’d probably greet him with mild applause. The man did his time. Welcome back and keep your nose clean kid. Really clean. Squeaky clean. I don’t want to hear so much as them finding Flintstones chewables in your locker.
I predict polite applause when/if he comes out of the bullpen, maybe with a smattering of boos. After that, it depends on how he does. Cheers for lights out Joe-Smithlike performance, jeers/grumbles for ugly Schoenweis-like stuff.
John….glad you are feeling better….sounded like you were down hard!
Hypocrisy reigns supreme in sports on all fronts….for example, no one boos a home town pitcher for hitting a batter, but they boo the opposing team’s pitcher for the same thing…..
This is really in the same vein…..plus, Mota handled it the right way when he was caught…he accepted responsibility and apologized; he didn’t try to blame all of baseball for his mistakes.
Or how about the people that have no emotion to either?
I don’t care about Bonds and his “controversy” and I don’t care that Mota took steroids.
I’m going to the game today and if the Mets win I wouldn’t mind seeing a Bonds homerun, I wouldn’t mind seeing the best player of our generation and possibly history doing what he does best and witnessing history.
I’m just indifferent towards the whole steroids thing, I don’t care and it doesn’t bother me.
i think its every bit worth mentioning that bonds had to go to the mlb winter meetings to BEG for a contract.
i beg to wonder what exactly is the extra load bonds is carrying on his fat head and his mechanically inefficent body since his rookie year.
cant wait to see what bonds will look will look like when he gets inducted into hall of fame…remember the commercial…steroids breaks bodies..especially parts of men…i guess bond’s wife cant be satisfied
pardon my thoughts…although words aren’t as bad as what bonds has done and how he treats people who dont pay his bills
I am tired of so many saying Met fans will be hypocritical for supporting Mota. There is no hypocrisy in giving a man a second chance after paying for his crime. That is what our society should do. Its those who get away with their crime and pay no price that deserve no support. If we cheered Giambi and booed Bonds we’d be hypocrits, because they are the same. Mota is in a different group than Bonds and Giambi.
Yes, Mota is in a different group than Bonds and Giambi because he got caught red-handed. So he had no choice but to admit it and apologize. Giambi and Bonds never failed a MLB drug test. (Yes we know they juiced because of Balco but still they never failed a MLB steroids test)
Now if Mota had come out BEFORE he got caught and admitted to it and apologized, then it might make a difference. But not after the fact. It’s really meaningless when he had no choice but to apologize in the first place.
Mota is still a cheater to me and no better than Bonds. If I were at Shea tonight I’d boo him, just as I would boo Bonds.
Hmmmmm…..interesting. According to SNY, the crowd was negative, a lot of booing.
So much for conventional wisdom.
Wonder what that loudmouth Mad Dog will have to say tomorrow?
Sorry, forgot to put the context….according to the SNY guys, the fans booed Mota too.
I missed the game. (I had the feeling they weren’t going to touch Zito so I switched channels.) But I’m heartened to hear that many of my fellow Mets fans are not hypocrites and booed Mota too. He’s a cheat as much as Bonds is.
To JB (RE: Mad Dog)
Not much … you wouldn’t be surprised would you?