Barry Bonds
DVD Chronicles Career of Living Baseball
Legend
Unrated DVD Extras: Five bonus featurettes with extended
interviews and highlights. DVD Review by Kam
Williams Good (2 stars) Sometime this summer, San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds will
undoubtedly break baseball’s most revered record, namely, Hank Aaron’s
mark of 755 home runs for a career. However, there’s virtually no hoopla
surround his assault on history, primarily because of the suspicion that
the only reason he has been able to hit so many homers was because he
was on an illegal substance that had turned him into an age-defying
superhuman. Even the commissioner of the sport hasn’t committed to be in
attendance on the day that Bonds hits number 756. and it doesn't help
that Barry has always had a bad relationship with the press, which has
long labeled the slugger as surly, given that he has rarely granted
interviews, and is given to walking out on a press conference at the
slightest suggestion of anything controversial. Nonetheless, ESPN couldn't really ignore Barry in compiling its
Sports Century Greatest Athletes Series, so they’ve released this bio-pic
despite the absence of recognition of his achievements outside of the
Bay Area, besides boos during road games. The DVD includes self-serving
comments by its subject, plus accolades from his late father, Bobby; his
godfather, Willy Mays; Bob Costas, Peter Gammons and numerous other
sports journalist, mostly from San Francisco. Barry whines a lot about not being able to take the abuse anymore,
which definitely did not engender any feelings of empathy in this
viewer. "You wanted me to jump off the bridge, I’ve finally jumped," he
cracks in the wake of the waves of criticism leveled at him after he
admitted rubbing a cream on his arm he claims he didn't know contained
anabolic steroids. Is Barry Bonds the greatest home run hitter ever, or a cheater who
was helped by performance enhancing drugs? This balanced documentary
doesn't endeavor to answer that question, leaving it to the viewer to
draw the obvious conclusion that he just might be both.
SportsCentury
Greatest Athletes: Barry Bonds
Click to order via Amazon
Running time: 43 minutes
Studio: ESPN Home Entertainment