Bonds on Lying

Submitted by Travis Carter on Tue, 04/18/2006 - 7:07pm.

As I sit on my bed tonight flipping through the channels, I come across the bloated face of the biggest liar on the planet right now, Barry Bonds. ESPN’s new show, "Bonds on Bonds," gives a weekly look into Barry Bond’s life with exclusive interviews with Bonds, reporters, players, and coaches. Now don’t get me wrong, the show is very good in the sense that it gets great coverage and puts together really recent footage (like from this past weekend). But if Barry Bonds PR people aren’t geniuses, then I don’t know who is. After all, Bonds gets full editorial control of the project.

You got Barry crying, you got Barry laughing with the wife and kids, you got Barry praying and pointing to the sky. Give me a break. For a minute I almost felt sorry for the guy, and then I came back to my senses. And despite EPSN defending its actions by saying that an independent production company is doing the show, the network's credibility must be questioned here. They are supposed to cover news, not spew PR. And now there is suspicion that the gushing over Bonds on the show is going to break into ESPN's actual sport's coverage.

If you haven’t realized by now, my opinion is that Barry Bonds was/is a steroid and or Human Growth Hormone user. And the media has done its job by being all over the subject; with opinions going back and forth supporting both sides. But what ESPN has done is made a well-produced show, but which is very obviously a public relations tool under the surface. And that’s not even attempting to be objective.

Dan Smith @ Tue, 04/18/2006 - 8:31pm

What about events like the X-Games, the Great Outdoor Games, and the Bassmasters series, all of which get tons of coverage across ESPN outlets, and are wholly owned by ESPN?

Christine Caro @ Tue, 04/18/2006 - 10:03pm

So I'm not exactly ESPN savvy, but aren't those shows a little bit different? I've never seen the Barry Bonds show, but from Travis' (albeit biased) description it seems like a shameless plug to draw attention away from the controversy he has found himself in for awhile now. Things like X-Games, although owned by ESPN, are also a chance for these atheletes to compete in their respected sports and be able to compete with their friends and fellow atheletes while helping to raise awareness and interest in their sport. You could consider it a plug because ESPN does own those different enterprises, I feel like they're on a different level than Barry Bonds' new show.

Dan Smith @ Wed, 04/19/2006 - 3:55pm

The point I was making is more that these events all have "competing" events that get absolutely zero coverage on ESPN because of its ownership holdings. When's the last time you saw a SportsCenter piece on the FLW fishing tour, or the Gravity Games?

Moreover, when's the last time you saw any of the ESPN-owned events come under scrutiny, or end with anything other than "This has been the greatest X-Games/GOG/Bassmasters ever!"

If the point is that "They are supposed to cover news, not spew PR" then there's a lot of places at ESPN to throw that blame.

Full disclosure: As a Marlins fan, I am genetically predisposed to just hoping baseball still exists every morning when I wake up.

Adam Raymond @ Wed, 04/19/2006 - 12:48am

The whole lot of ESPN is obsessed with Bonds. I was watching the Dodgers/Gnats..errrr Giants game the other night and they could not stop talking about him. Another player would do something and Joe Morgan, perhaps the biggest Bonds homer, would be all, "You know, when Barry does that..." Yes he's in the news, but ESPN just can’t shut up about Bonds. They had to call the show Bonds on Bonds because he was the only person left who ESPN hadn't had talk about him.

Full Disclosure: As a Dodgers fan, I am genetically predisposed to hate Barry.

Andrew Nusca @ Wed, 04/19/2006 - 9:36am

You raise a good question about media sponsorship. After all, how responsible is a paper for it's advertisements? I guarantee ESPN took some cash for the show if it was done by 'an outside company,' but ultimately, if it shows up on their network, they're responsible - just like newspaper ads.

Full disclosure: As a Philadelphia fan, I am genetically predisposed to hate everyone.

Zack Barangan @ Wed, 04/19/2006 - 2:41pm

Surprising as it may seem, I think Barry's got the right to do this. He's been attacked from all sides for years now (sometimes deservedly, sometimes not) and he hasn't really gotten the chance to go up to bat for himself. (Yeah, I said it). Even though I do believe that Bonds is a juicer and a generally detestable person, he should have the chance to say his peace. It's a chance that any of us would take if it were given to us.

Besides, ESPN has never exactly been a stalwart model for objectivity anyway.

Full Disclosure: As a Yankees fan, I am genetically predisposed to hate everyone else--until Steinbrenner signs them.

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A group blog exploring our media world. Produced by the Digital Journalism: Blogging course at New York University, Spring 2007.

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