What's behind the Hate Barry Brigade?

Sportswriters have made tearing Bonds apart a spectator sport unto itself. So-called "fans" boo and curse the San Francisco Giants left fielder with a frightening intensity, and in San Diego, a large syringe was thrown in his direction.

The declared reason for all this fury is that Bonds' detractors think he is a "cheater" who has used steroids even though he has never tested positive. They also claim Bonds to be an unlovable jerk.

This article can't hope to counter the rank hypocrisy surrounding performance-enhancing drugs in baseball or the bizarre character assassinations Bonds has been subjected to. Yet there is another motor of the Hate Barry Brigade: racism.

Barry Bonds is a proud, surly, articulate African American athlete who loves to stick it to a media that seems to relish tearing him to pieces. His detractors are loath to acknowledge the toxic factor of race, but, as the saying goes, you don't have to believe in gravity to fall out of an airplane.

First and foremost, there are the death threats. USA Today reported recently that Bonds is being deluged with letters that threaten his life, many with overtones about as subtle as a burning cross.

Then, there's the way the media is covering this. Bonds isn't the first athlete to sneer at a reporter. In fact, Mark McGwire was a notoriously surly personality. When it comes to Bonds, the press has called for everything but a big scarlet "S" on his chest, all of which has the appearance of a hellacious double standard.

When a prominent ESPN talk show host says, "If (Bonds) did it, hang him," the perception is that this is little more than a railroad job of a prominent and outspoken African American superstar.

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