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Schilling backhands Bonds

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Schilling, in his weekly appearance on sports radio WEEI's "Dennis and Callahan" show, was asked if baseball fans should hold their noses while watching Barry Bonds's pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time Major League home run record.

"Oh yeah. I would think so. I mean, he admitted that he used steroids," said Schilling. "I mean, there's no gray area. He admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes, and cheating on the game, so I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The commissioner [Bud Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It's sad.

[...]

Schilling was asked if he would give Bonds a pitch to hit if the home run record were on the line when the San Francisco Giants come to Fenway in June.

"Not on purpose," said Schilling. "Hell no. I don't want to be Al Downing." Downing, who won 20 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1971, is best known for giving up the record-breaking 715th home run hit by Hank Aaron on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta.

I like how Schilling is a straight forward kind of guy. And he's exactly right here. It's going to be a sad day when Bonds breaks the home run record. Some fans are going to cheer, but most of us are just going to sigh and eat some more Doritos. We are fortunate to see one of the most cherished records in all of sport broken, but it's all going to be tainted and won't matter.