Well, that's not quite true. He's not all that angry, to be honest. He does, however, refuse to take it anymore.
Okay, okay. I'm still exaggerating. He actually seems fairly resigned to his fate, if truth be told. Jesus, what is it with you guys? Can't just let me have my attention grabber?
Anyhow, what Larry Bigbie is doing is talking to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, about the steroids, the investigation into the steroids, the fallout from the investigation into the steroids, and what he's realized from the fallout from the investigation into the steroids.
It's a fantastic interview; I hope you'll all head
over and check it out. At the very least, it should make an interesting
addendum to recent reading here at the Rundown.
More than that, though, you really get to see a bit of the human side
of the steroid issue, which is something I think we sorely miss out on
sometimes. We look at the record book, and the salaries, and all of
those other things, and heap condemnation on these players without
stopping to put ourselves in their shoes, if only for a moment.
And
that's what I got out of it. Bigbie isn't concerned with his place in
baseball history; he's much more concerned with the relationships he's
damaged with people he used to consider friends. He's hoping to play
again in Japan, but is also looking forward to family life and some
sort of normal career. Of all the things in the interview that stood
out to me, the one that really brings it all home, so to speak, is when
Bigbie talks about trying to finish his degree online. How many of us
know someone doing that exact same thing? How many of us are doing it
ourselves? It's strange, but reading Bigbie say that makes me a little
sad, to be honest, and I don't know why exactly.
Just
a guy, trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his
life. Not a devil, not a saint. Just a dude, a little better off than
most, but still just a dude for all that.
Good luck, Larry. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for.
