Random thoughts from a cluttered mind...
BASEBALL
Barry Bonds is now very close to passing Henry Aaron’s career home run record of 754. And we still don’t see much support from Commissioner Bud Selig and his office, nor do we see much in the form of corporate endorsement and sponsorship. Also, outside of the city of San Francisco, there is a strong amount of apathy on the part of most baseball fans. This lack of interest is driven either because of the attitude and personality that Bonds carries, or because of fan animosity towards his possible connection with steroids and enhancements, which he has always denied. When Henry, or Hank Aaron, as some like to call him, was closing in on passing Babe Ruth’s record of 714 back in the 70’s, there was a certain group of fans who didn’t want him doing that either. The circumstances were a little different, though, as race was the main issue. Aaron has chosen not to endorse Bonds or even show up when he does indeed beat Hank’s record. I find that interesting as well. Whether Barry feels betrayed or not, he hasn’t done much to publicize his mantra, as his name is ready to go into the history books.
NASCAR
This weekend it’s the Firecracker 400 down in Daytona, which is what I will always call it. I don’t give a crap about whoever sponsors the thing. For all intents, this race signals the halfway point of the season for the boys. We see Jeff Gordon (surprise) at the top of the heap, even though he was docked some points because his car didn’t own up to the specs NASCAR had established a week ago. And there is plenty more that will happen in these next few months with racing, including drivers, owners, sponsors, numbers, etc. We shall see how it all evolves.
FOOTBALL
Last week the NFL shut down their League over in Europe. It started out fifteen years ago as the World League of American Football and finished as NFL Europa. By one estimate, NFL franchises lost a combined $16 million this past season alone. I’m guessing the NFL was frustrated over a lack of interest and growth throughout Europe. When it started, the League had teams in many European countries, including England and Scotland. But there was a lack of player recognition, and the fans knew the players weren’t top quality. While the NFL had a tough time attaining status, the NBA and MLB have done well. The NBA has interest all over the world, with 83 players on NBA rosters from outside the U.S. Same with MLB, with 246 players playing professionally from foreign countries. I’m guessing it might have to do with the fact people are playing basketball and baseball around the world, but not football. Soccer is still the king! The last World Bowl had a record crowd of 48,125. Average attendance for the season was over 20,000 a game. But now it’ll be fini’, as they say.
WRESTLER UPDATE
What a shocker! We now hear that Chris Benoit, the WWE wrestler who killed his wife and son, then committed suicide, ‘excessively’ bought injectible steroids, according to court papers. We also saw Dr. Phil Astin (not TV’s Dr. Phil) arrested by local authorities for improperly supplying drugs to patients. It seems Dr. Astin supplied a 10-month supply of steroids to Benoit every three to four weeks! I’ll just take a wild guess and say that this real-life CSI-Law & Order show is gonna’ get juicier as we go along.
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
