Times have changed..

[dr_nebula]

Last night, San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds hits number 756 to break Hank Aaron's career home run record.

*YAWN* Er, yeah I guess he did.

This is an amazingly tepid response to the breaking of one sport's greatest records. Fifty years ago, this would be the MAIN news story, far overshadowing everything else barring a major war. But today it

Comments

[sirinek]

This will pass.... A-Rod is going to beat Bonds in a few years. He's 10 years younger and already has 500 homers.

[dr_nebula]

Yeah, I sure hope so. That bastard (Bonds) doesn't deserve to hold the record long.

[grayhawkfh]

The only sport I'm not seeing having problems surviving is Football.

Hockey: I really enjoy it, but it's really more of a niche-market sport for the northern half of the country. Without more wide-spread support, I don't know if it will survive too much longer.

Basketball: They signed their own death warrant when they subscribed to the culture of the superstar player over the culture of the team. Yeah, you could do that with Michael Jordan, but really, an athlete of that caliber doesn't come around often enough to make it work.

Baseball: Yeah. Enough said.

I'd remind you, Doc, that although the jackasses get all the press, there are still those professional athletes out there who try to do some good.

It's just that "doing good" doesn't sell newspapers. :-/

[dr_nebula]

Yeah, I hear you. The 'good' players are often over shadowed by the antics of the arrogant/self serving "professionals" who are more interested in making a name for themselves than the sport they play.

BTW, I'm a huge hockey fan - and for the most part that sport has escaped this sort of crap. But compared to the others - it's barely a 'major sport'. I think it will survive - but as a secondary or 'niche' sport as time rolls on.

[mere_bystander]

Buffalo?!? *sigh*
and here I was thinking you were alright...

(just kidding! I'm a Flyers fan, but I'm not into hockey like I am football)

[dr_nebula]

Hey - you have a couple of 'our' best players - including one you "stole".

*g*

What the hell, I might even start liking the Flyers now..

[mere_bystander]

Well, baseball lost me years ago... (the strikes and such turned me sour on the sport)
As for Bond's record, I had to hear about it no less than 4 times on my local morning news program this morning... By the 3rd time, I was screaming, "Who cares?!?" at the set! I'm just disgusted with the whole thing...

[padiwack]

Give me College Baseball anyole day.

Hank Aaron's record still holds (in my book anyway!)

[crwilley]

Y'know, in my lifetime - which we've established isn't nearly as long as the good doctor's - major league baseball players had to have off-season jobs to support their families. I remember an announcer joking about professional bonding between a first baseman and a guy who'd just hit a single, because they both worked off-season as gravediggers.

The first million-dollar contract for a pro baseball player was big news, not much more than 20 years ago.

Now big-leaguers in most sports make more money than they know what to do with, and families are priced out of the stands. And has the lure of (or reality of) the big money contributed to the jackassery and steroid abuse? You definitely can't say it's helped the situation any.

Hockey is likely to be the first "big league" sport to have to seriously look at cutting salaries, because they're bleeding audience - but I think hockey players are mostly not paid on the same scale as the other sports, either.