Well, Forget About Playing As Barry Bonds in 2004
 

Any of you old-school gamers remember how in the late 80's and early 90's you couldn't play as Michael Jordan in the EA games, so you had a genric #23 instead, well those good old days are back.
Baseball's favorite sourpuss, Barry Bonds has given fans yet another reason to hate his guts. He's opted out of the MLBPA agreement, meaning that he's no longer licenced by the Major League Baseball Player's Association. This means no more Bonds Giants jerseys, no more trading cards and also no inclusion on MLB rosters in video games. Not that it won't still be fun to play as the Giants since everyone just gears up for JT Snow's at bats. I'm sure the Home Run Derby feature won't be affected as long as I can still be Garry Sheffield. :rolleyes:

Anyways, Here's the link.

Thats ****in bullshit.

Wow, as a Giants fan... That sucks.

Pretty typical of Bonds. An ass.

Go Dodgers!

maybe they will leave him out of the Hall of Fame ;)

Once he gets caught with his steroids it's going to be different left fielder anyways, I don't see the big deal.

I won't miss him.

Now I have to throw at a generic player's head. :(

Why does this make him an ass? He opted out of the MLBPA licensing agreement, which is his right. He isn't the first guy to do it, and he certainly won't be the last. If a game maker wants to have Bonds in their baseball game next year, they are free to negotiate with him.

FYI: JT Snow is a free agent, as the Giants declined to pick up his option. So Giants fans probably won't have to play with Snow.

So we get "Giants RF" instead? lol, why do these athletes do this? LaVar Arrington is "a Redskins Linebacker" in Madden and ESPN as well. Don't they want the recognition? I'd love to see myself in a game if I was an athlete.

Michael Jordan did this for YEARS.

But he'll gladly whore himself out to sell underpants, batteries and MCI World phone service (ouch!).

Yeah, but the reason that he did it was so that he could whore himself out on that crappy Jordan vs. Bird game.

Don't forget Michael Jordan in Chaos in the Windy City :rolleyes:

http://turemu.kolayweb.com/snes/mjordan.gif

Don't forget HOT DOGS! HOT DOGS AND UNDERPANTS! SWEET!

Somehow I think I'll manage to go on living. :)

If I am not mistaken though wasn't it Jordan's contract with Nike that prevented him from appearing in the basketball games?

That is lame for his fans who would like to see his likeness in the games.


Oh well, it is a business and business decisions are mostly driven by $$$. It is too bad for gamers/fans.

No, you're mistaken. It was his non-participation in the NBAPA that caused it. Shaq was like that, too for his first couple years in Orlando. That was due to a contractual thing where he could only be in his own video game -- the memorable Shaq-Fu. :rolleyes:
Not being in the Player's association means that the athelete is essentally a marketing free agent able to negotiate with whomever he likes. In theory, Bonds could negotiate an exclusive deal with one publisher (like, say, EA Sports does with Tiger Woods and used to have with Jordan). I'm not sure if the developers' deals with the Player's Association precludes side deals, however.

Weren't there a couple of years back in the early 90's when every "superstar" in the NBA had their own development deal with a game company. I seem to remember one of the NBA Live's that was missing Jordan, Barkley, David Robinson, etc...

Oh yeah. Barkley's "Shut Up and Jam". Man, those are not the days I want to revisit.