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Somehow, Barry's Success Just
Didn't Get the Hype
By Mack Williams
SeeingBlack.com Sports Columnist
Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs this season. I thought I'd share
that with you, just in case you didn't notice. A little over
three years ago, Roger Maris' single-season home run record
was 61, a record that stood for 37 years before being topped
by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
The record that Maris broke, Babe Ruth's 60, had stood for
34 years. But this year, Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs. To a
certain extent, in the midst of keeping abreast of the bombs
dropping on Afghanistan, keeping abreast of Bonds became something
we understandably failed to do, or no longer cared to do.
Perhaps we somewhat knew what was going on with him, but sort
of forgot about it. For instance, among those things thrown
into the "sea of forgetfulness" after the horrific events of
September 11th is the fact that the United Nations World Conference
Against Racism had just concluded in Durban, South Africa. That
conference had nothing to do with Barry Bonds breaking records
on the baseball field, but it addressed the shameful record
held by Western nations, such as ours, of robbing the African
continent of millions of people, and billions in natural resources.
All this was done, of course, with no subsequent apology or
compensation ever offered on either side of the Atlantic.
The Bush administration elected not to fully participate because
it felt that various nations were "ganging up" on Israel...or
at least that was the official stance. A skeptical person might
call that a smokescreen, saying that with participation and
discussion we could have brought nations with differing opinions
to some kind of consensus.
But by walking, out we eliminated any such possibility. Such a
skeptic might think that the main reason we did not participate
was to escape discussion about slavery and reparations. Then came
September 11th, and after being victimized as we were, we want and
need a wide-ranging coalition of nations to unite against international
terrorism—including, ironically enough, some of the same nations
that we essentially "dissed" by walking away from something they
considered of importance in Durban. But in light of the magnitude
of what happened on September 11th, that whole race discussion virtually
vanished into thin air—much in the same way that Bonds' pursuit
of the home run record lost significance. In our current environment,
the whole concept of the importance of sports is often questioned.
While Bonds headed towards 73 homers, as the conclusion of
the season, part of his thunder was stolen by the attention
given to the impending retirements of one of the greatest hitters
of all time, Tony Gwynn, and all-time Ironman Cal Ripken, Jr.
Then another sports news story got in the way, that being the
desire of a former minor league baseball player by the name
of Jordan to return to the NBA.
Whether due to apathy, war, Gwynn and Ripken, or Michael Jordan—not
to mention the fact that a few in the media don't exactly care too
much for him—many of us didn't focus in on the awesome accomplishments
of Barry Bonds (or, for that matter, Sammy Sosa—who hit over
60 homers for the third time in the past four seasons and drove
in an incredible 160 runs). Not that I think he's all that worried
about it... but sooner or later, he'll get his due.
Mack Williams is the author of Sporting Life: Essays on Sport
and Life, which can be obtained through
www.mwproductions.net.
--October 19, 2001
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2001-05 Seeing Black, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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