Bonds, Barry Bonds

Sometimes the media leads, sometimes it follows. It looks somewhat determined to lead in the Barry Bonds case.

You probably know about ESPN's coverage. Barry has been the lead story on SportsCenter quite often this season as he chases down Babe Ruth in career home runs. His at-bats are now shown live. This raises some ethical questions, considering that ESPN is a partner with Bonds in a reality show of sorts. (I should mention that ESPN the magazine had a fine article on the problem with a baseball record become meaningless before our eyes.)

I just visited MSNBC through a link. There, with a list of all of the other sporting categories like NBA and NHL, is Barry Bonds. Yes, he has a home page, and a poll. In fairness, the commentary on the page seems pretty well-balanced. Can't say I read it, though.

It's a story, but an odd one. The steroids angle puts Bonds' accomplishments in question, of course, and it has dampened public enthusiasm greatly. I haven't heard of many people who are paying much attention to him. Granted, a career record is different than a seasonal mark, which has the added element of a specific time frame, but mostly this has been greeted with yawns.

Two positives from all of this:

1. It doesn't look like Bonds is going to catch Hank Aaron, since Bonds' body looks pretty broken down.

2. I'm in favor of anything that reminds us how great Aaron was.