Baseball / Bonds-ron

As Barry Bonds approaches Babe Ruth on the lifetime homerun list, he’s getting a heckuva lot of ambivalent coverage: Veterans express ambivalence and skepticism (SI), even San Franciscans souring on the event (AP via ESPN), but baseball has seen worse, though not by much (ESPN). I figured I’d do some first-hand investigation this afternoon, so I rode down to AT&T Park during lunch. When Bonds came up to bat, there was the requisite “Bar-ry, Bar-ry,” but even this seemed pretty half-hearted, like everyone felt that they kinda had to chant along. Cynical comments rippled through the crowd. It seems weird to say this, but maybe you don’t have to like Bonds as a person to feel drawn to his achievement. Or, how about this: Maybe there’s a whole different kind of enjoyment that one derives from watching villains break records? Whatever it was, it was definitely not 2001 all over again, when a Bonds at-bat sent palpable electicity through the crowd. In 2006, it’s more akin to watching Enron execs lie their asses off in court.