Cribbage*

I was locked in a dead heat with my opponent. We stared each other down, and each turn of the crib offered a chance for a lead change. I had come back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit, but a few good hands loaded with nines and sixes, face cards and fives had allowed me to come roaring back. One the final hand, my opponent went ahead by four, and I knew for certain I had eight. As I tallied the score for my hand, my opponent watched quietly. Her promise to whoop me had failed to materialize. I was the victor.

And the she said, “Maybe if you had given me those points before, it would have been different.”

The blood rushed to my face and I screeched, “Mom, that’s not true!”

Yes, my mother and I had a grudge match over the cribbage board and she accused me of cheating. The problem was that neither of us has played in some time, so there were a few scoring rituals we couldn’t quite remember. We went with what we thought we could recall and kept it uniform for both of our turns, but seeing as how she’s the origin of my distaste for losing, she used the scoring snafu as a way to undermine my glory.

I railed against her. I had won fair and square. There was no way I could put my head on the pillow and have her believe I had cheated my way to a win. Like a battering ram, I defended my position and pushed away the asterisk that floated like a storm cloud above my head. I had fought back as the underdog and now I was fighting for the credit I deserved.

Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron’s home run record on Saturday night. 755 home runs is an impressive number. It’s the most hallowed record in sports. It’s an achievement mere mortals couldn’t hope to accomplish, and yet two men have. One was pure; the other we’re not so sure.

Bonds should be proud of his feat, but what I want to know is why he’s not fighting harder to defend himself. If he didn’t cheat, if he didn’t take steroids, why is he not defending himself until he’s hoarse? Why would he allow the naysayers to detract from what he has supposedly earned outright? If I were in his shoes, one critic would be enough for me to speak out. Why isn’t Barry?

Maybe he believes he doesn’t have to defend himself, that he should just go about doing what he’s doing and to hell with the rest of us. Maybe he’s a unique person who doesn’t care what other people think of him, but the problem is that he works in a profession where 50,000 watch him on any given night and care what he does, so he should be cognizant of what the fans think.

I don’t believe Barry Bonds is worthy of 755 or 756, but he might make me a believer if he fought back against the asterisk.