Variety is, as the saying goes, the spice of life. With that in mind, in lieu of the traditional one-major-idea column most often seen in these pages, I now pose three questions, vaguely related in that they rolled through my head as I tracked the sports world this weekend. The cynical readers will surely say, \He's just copping out of writing anything full-length."" I prefer to think of it as a special feature, something for the readers with short attention spans.
Bonds, who became only the third member of the 700-home run club Friday, is on an inexorable drive to become the greatest home run hitter of all time, with only Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron standing in his way. So why did it feel like what should have been a momentous occasion was greeted with a collective shrug from most of the country? Has his generally frosty relationship with the media impeded his feats from being properly broadcast? Is it the whispers of the steroid use?
Maybe everyone is waiting for him to hit No. 756 to pass Hammerin' Hank to truly celebrate his achievements. But I doubt it. In reality, it is more likely Bonds will always be viewed with suspicion. While it wouldn't shock me if Bonds is or was taking steroids, I prefer to believe his astonishing transformation from a svelte base-stealer into amazing power hitter is in fact the result of an extraordinary weightlifting regimen and some combination of legal nutritional supplements. I have to believe that, because if the alternative were true, it would harm baseball irreparably. Say what you will about Pete Rose, but at least he is tarnished for off-the-field actions. Imagine the consequences if the world's greatest home run hitter turned out to be a phony.
The Ryder Cup is a golf tournament that pits the best players from Europe against the best players from the United States. Naturally, the United States lost this past weekend. But it hardly seems fair--an entire continent against one country? Couldn't we at least get Canada on our side or something? As for why we lost, I can't actually tell you because I don't really care. So let's arbitrarily assign blame--given that we were facing Europe, the loss probably has something to do with the metric system. And the steering wheels being on the right side of the golf carts couldn't have helped--completely threw Tiger off his game, I'd say.
Normally a loss to lowly Chicago would be inexcusable for a die-hard Green Bay fan such as myself. But they do finally have a coach in Lovie Smith who made it a priority to beat the Packers and seems to know what he is doing, unlike previous coaches Dave Wannstedt and Dick Jauron, who excelled at killing off one of the great rivalries in all of sports through years of serious sucking. Since Sunday's game potentially signals the rebirth of a new round of classic Packers-Bears games, some part of me is actually glad the Bears won Sunday. Perhaps it was meant to be.
Thank goodness that ""part of me that is glad"" is more of a metaphysical or psychological part. Because if it was say, an arm or a leg, I would probably have to amputate. Man, I hate the Bears.
mtworringer@wisc.edu.
