san francisco giants
08/08/2007
Barry Bonds Hits Home Run 756*
Well, we got that over with. Last night, Barry Bonds smacked his 756th dinger over the fence, breaking Hammerin' Hank's record.
There were no boycotts (Bud Selig decided to show up, Hank Aaron sent in a respectful videotaped message), there weren't any boo-birds (he jacked it out at San Fran's AT&T park, which in recent years has functioned as a giant enabler for his gargantuan, rationalizing ego).
But still, something didn't feel right. This is the kind of record that's supposed to give even the most casual baseball fan chills. It didn't. If there wasn't the stink of steroids trailing Bonds wherever he went, whole families would have stayed up late, every night, to see if Barry was gonna do it. They didn't.
In the end most people probably reacted much like I did -- they just shrugged at one of the most hallowed records in all of sports being broken by an big-headed (steroids do that), obnoxious, stunningly-talented cheater.
08/05/2007
Barry Bonds Hits 755
Early Saturday evening in San Diego, Barry Bonds finally -- finally -- hit homerun #755, tying him with homerun king Hank Aaron for baseball's all-time record in career long-bombs. Behold: the video images of that event.
The solo shot smacked against the Padres in the 2nd inning culminates with Bonds rounding the bases and embracing his son Nikolai, the San Francisco Giants' bat-boy, at home-plate.
As the video clearly shows, people, no matter how much they dislike Bonds, clearly respect the achievement of #755. Still not without controversy, of course. While, the cheers overwhelmingly drowned out the jeers, a befuddled Major League Baseball commissioner, Bud Selig (for whom Bonds has been a raging headache), clearly didn't know how to react.
