To the extent the achievement has been downplayed, it is because of who Bonds is–in legitimate ways (he, in all likelihood, achieved the record by doing what is widely understood as cheating) and illegitimate ways (the race issues), and neutral ways (Bonds is, by all accounts, a jerk–and even this did not stop the myth machine in 2002).

At some level, I think all the talk of asterisks (Li’s post mentions Shula’s stupidity about the Patriots) is pushback on this instant myth-making. To preserve history, there must be something tainted about the new record, so let’s do something to maintain the old record.