Yankees must never forget Barry Bonds, the needle, and the damage done

Players Possessed

Men and women such as Gehrig accomplished all these things and more. And they did so by reaching deep into their characters, deep into their souls, and finding something extra, something that even the extraordinary do not possess.

When they needed it most, they found a spark, a spark of human greatness, that ignited them and fueled their drives to glory.

Like a signal flame, this divine light draws us to it, and we are left to stand inspired by its warming glow. The players are lifted onto the shoulders of teammates, while we are lifted up by the exhibition of will and determination.

And Barry Bonds tried to reduce all of that to a needle he sticks in his ass.

He thinks to find the ability to fight off fatigue in a bottle; better living through chemistry. And that’s just fine with Jay Jaffe. In his recent piece in Sports Illustrated, Jaffe argues that we all need to accept the fact of Bond’s home runs and forget how he got them. Time has healed all of Mr. Jaffe’s wounds.

But time has neither healed my wounds nor made Yankees fans more forgetful. And Jay Jaffe’s arguments, though well reasoned and well proscribed to a page, are not convincing.