Sports Redux: The Home Run Chase

ESPN has never met a story it couldn't drive into the ground. Remember Terrell Owens' "suicide attempt" last fall? Unfortunately, with the Red Sox off, we need something sporty to talk about, so enter the Worldwide Leader's hyping of Barry Bonds' chase of the home run record. Jayson Stark, probably the best non-Gammons baseball writer out there, is flummoxed that not as many people are against Bonds as everyone seems to think.

We know people have mixed emotions about things. We all knew, at least deep in our hearts, that something fishy was going on when Roger Maris' record was topped by three guys in five years. But it was such a great story. The McGwire/Sosa race of 1998 saved baseball, according to conventional wisdom. Then we saw Mark McGwire, and his flop sweat in front of Congress, and the slap in his face from Hall of Fame voters. He's now persona non grata in the halls of the game. Then we saw Sammy Sosa, chased out of the sport for a year, now clinging on with the Rangers.

Yet Bonds plays on. He gets unconditional love from the Bay Area, lavish attention from the media, and will very soon pass Hank Aaron. When Aaron was approaching Babe Ruth's record, there was controversy, and there were a lot of people who openly despised the fact that Aaron, a black man, could topple the game's most cherished record. In 1974, the people rooting against Aaron were jerks. In 2007, the people rooting against Barry are doing so because he's a jerk. That's the perception; whether or not it's the reality is the big question of the day. We just hope that when Barry does hit #756, ESPN cameras are there to record the drama.

For what it's worth, David Ortiz hopes the Fenway fans greet Barry courteously when the Giants come to town next month. Yeah, good luck with that, Papi.

In other "aging stars that no one likes" news, Roger Clemens' light schedule with the Yankees (he chooses which road trips he'll make, for instance) doesn't sit well with former teammate and former Red Sox David Wells. "I personally think it would disrespect the team and your teammates," said Big Sexy about the arrangements. "The Yankees have changed," he added. And we couldn't be happier.

And then there were four in the NHL; the Sharks had their torches snuffed out by Detroit, who goes on to play the no-longer-mighty Ducks in the Western Finals. In the NBA, Utah beat the Cinderella Warriors in Game One, and the Pistons put a whupping on Chicago to take a 2-0 series lead.

Barry Bonds image from Wikipedia.