Bonds hits two meaningless homeruns...

[Bored 0]

I'm sorry is Barry Bonds hitting two meaningless homeruns in a losing effort to the f'n Mets a real news story? I know yes he hit #650 but it still ain't #756 so it don't mean shit right now. I just don't see the point of ESPN using it as the top story every where last night and today.

 

Of course I'm biased because I've never liked Bonds and I'm also becoming increasingly annoyed with ESPN in general but I figured I'd throw the question out there.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Well...baseball's the only thing going right now (fuck preseason football)...so it's mainly what they're reporting. And Bonds is the big guy now, so you might as well lead off with him.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I have about 3 different angles that I want to attack this first post from...all of them employing a simple thing called logic...but they are all jumbled together right now.

[Bored 0]

I have about 3 different angles that I want to attack this first post from...all of them employing a simple thing called logic...but they are all jumbled together right now.

Logic? You mean the logic of "dang Jethro he sure hit the ball far!"

 

I think logic is actually talking about games that mean something right now rather arbitrary homeruns some guy hits. Did Bonds break a record last night? Nope. Does Giants/Mets series hold any real significance in the pennant race? Nope. Did the Giants even win? Nope...although ESPN failed to mention that last night.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

1. People want to see it. Therefore covering it is logical.

 

2. When's the last time you saw someone hit 650 home runs? I don't recall that being a common occurance and as Baseball is a game that lives in it's statistics...someone putting up these kinds of numbers should be covered like this as it's great publicity for the sport.

 

3. Major League Baseball will NEVER EVER be sold on "look how good that game was" and outside of the Yankees it will never be sold on "Look how much that team wins". It is, has been, and will always be sold on it's stars. Look at that Dontrelle Willis, or Albert Pujols or Ichiro or the best of them all...Barry Bonds.

 

Baseball fans are going to watch a baseball game either way. In order to bring in the fringe people you need to play up your stars and their achievements.

 

It's all very logical.

[Bored 0]

1. I don't...wow never seen Bonds hit a homerun before. Also I some how doubt how much people REALLY want to see Bonds as he is still to this day not exactly the most loved player in the world.

 

2. When was the last time anyone saw someone hit 648? 647? 646? What's the difference between 650 and those besides being a nice round number?

 

3. ESPN, specifically SportsCenter, is there to report sports not promote an individual sport or at least that's how it (or was) supposed to be.

 

4. I don't give a shit about fringe fans. I want people at the games who actually know what the hell is going on and can name more than two players in the game. Again ESPN's job isn't to bring in fringe fans for baseball. That's MLB's job and they do an incredibly shitty job of promoting their sport themselves. They don't even have a national ad campaign besides those youth league commercials.

 

5. I hold a number of biases on the subject and don't expect many, if any, people to agree but maybe I felt like starting a debate.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Well...I'm not going to debate this since my points are meant to encompass a wide range of people (all of whom are important to baseball's well being)

 

And your points are all just about you.

[Guest El Satanico]

3. ESPN, specifically SportsCenter, is there to report sports not promote an individual sport or at least that's how it (or was) supposed to be.

So you're pissed that MLB is dominating Sportscenter?

 

What exactly do you expect them to do? Baseball is the only major US sport currently in season. Should they ignore MLB to do more or longer reports on the meaningless NFL preseason?

 

Every major US sport except hockey gets a period where they dominate ESPN's coverage.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I think Bored is saying coverage of the actual games should be the focus of the highlights and not Barry Bonds basically meangingless homeruns he hit.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Just imagine how bad its gonna be for the next 2 years. Every Homer he hits will be covered extensively.

 

Suposedly, on his current HR/YR pace, he should hit #756 (provided he plays and doesn't get hurt) in July/August of 2005.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Did you know that Barry Bonds is Willie Mays' godson.

[SteakGrowsOnUecker 0]

No Bonds home run is meaningless. You're watching history being made because he's going to hit 800 home runs. Simple as that. If you like him or not that doesn't change the fact that he's one of the top 5 players ever.

 

Bask in his greatness and enjoy.

[Bored 0]

I think Bored is saying coverage of the actual games should be the focus of the highlights and not Barry Bonds basically meangingless homeruns he hit.

We have a winner.

[Bored 0]

No Bonds home run is meaningless. You're watching history being made because he's going to hit 800 home runs. Simple as that. If you like him or not that doesn't change the fact that he's one of the top 5 players ever.

 

Bask in his greatness and enjoy.

History? If he blows out his knee tommorrow its all caput. Nagging injuries could kill the run or maybe he finally hits the wall. Also why should I bask in his greatness if I've never liked the guy? I think its so hypocritical of the media who ripped Bonds most of his career to now endlessly kiss his ass even though he still shits all over them.

 

No one is denying Bonds place in history but I say wake me up when he hits #756.

[Red Baron 0]

c'mon

 

ESPN Sportcentre...off season baseball will get aired more time than Hockey, Golf (unless tiger is in it), auto racing, and soccer combined.

[SteakGrowsOnUecker 0]

Obviously if Bonds blows out his knee theres no chance at him getting the record. But he's still doing remarkable things that I'd much rather see on Sportscenter than the next girl that Kobe is raping.

[Rendclaw 0]

not to mention the LAST man to be in this position, my personal baseball hero Hank Aaron, was getting nothing but racial bias and death threats.

 

This is the way baseball and other sports are to be covered. ESPN has been notorious for going out of their way to cover historic events (McGwire's 70th Home Run, Bonds' 73rd to name a couple of the more recent ones), and those vents are going to lead off Sportscenter. Its been the way they've been doing things for years. Why bitch about it now?

[nl5xsk1 0]

c'mon

 

ESPN Sportcentre...off season baseball will get aired more time than Hockey, Golf (unless tiger is in it), auto racing, and soccer combined.

Actually, golf and racing get a fair amount of coverage on ESPN.

 

Soccer doesn't get much love in the States because Americans have made their statement about that sport ("we don't care").

 

But I sadly have to agree about hockey. Gets next to no coverage, gets next to no attention, is the forgotten major sport. And as a hockey fan, it's the reason why I no longer watch SportsCenter.

[Red Baron 0]

when i mean racing, i mean F1 Cart and Indy, not NASCAR (thanks to Speed Channel making Nascar on 12 hours a day pratically).

 

Unless Tiger is in, Golf doesn't get much coverage on sportcentre

[Dr. Tom 0]

I don't know about some of you, but I haven't seen someone hit 650 HR in my lifetime. That's an important milestone, simply because milestones tend to be nice round numbers like that (3000 hits, 300 wins, etc.). I'd much rather see "meaningless" highlights of Bonds hitting two homers than see "highlights" of a truly meaningless Detroit-Tampa Bay game.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Since baseball and Sportscenter like round numbers, I have one for them: 0 ... which is my interest in Bonds' homerun totals until he passes Mays, then Ruth, then Aaron, then Josh Gibson. And by then, Sportscenter will have me so sick of it all, there's a good chance that my interest will remain that nice, round number.

 

Give me a break, games that have playoff implications outweigh a relatively meaningless home run.

[Dr. Tom 0]

Give me a break, games that have playoff implications outweigh a relatively meaningless home run. 

... which is why I'd rather watch a home run than clips from a Detroit-Tampa Bay game. Unless someone's holding the standings upside-down, a game between those two teams means precisely jack shit.

[Mik 0]

I don't know about some of you, but I haven't seen someone hit 650 HR in my lifetime. That's an important milestone, simply because milestones tend to be nice round numbers like that (3000 hits, 300 wins, etc.). I'd much rather see "meaningless" highlights of Bonds hitting two homers than see "highlights" of a truly meaningless Detroit-Tampa Bay game.

My sentiments exactly. I can see how you can not like Bonds, because he has been an egotistical prick his entire career, but to not care about what he is doing is absurd. He is the BEST ballplayer I have ever had the priviledge to see, and the best player in my lifetime (I'm 21, fyi).

 

Just step back and think of the numbers he is putting up. He broke Ruth's slugging percentage season record, which was essentially unbeatable. He erased McGwire's record, in the most dramatic of fashions. I remember homeruns 68-73 like it was yesterday, because ESPN would constantly cut in on them and each one was magical. I remember one (I think 70) against the Astros where he got walked intentionally on 4 pitches EVERY at bat, and in the 8th inning of a meaningless game, they threw to him just ONCE in the game and he hit it out. Just unreal. And if you ever played baseball, you have no choice but to respect what he is doing, no matter what kind of a person he is.

 

And to make this relevant to the arguement, I think 650 is an important number. As pointed out by others, it's a nice round number, and it should be celebrated. As should 661, 700, 715, 756, and 800. They are all important.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Give me a break, games that have playoff implications outweigh a relatively meaningless home run. 

... which is why I'd rather watch a home run than clips from a Detroit-Tampa Bay game. Unless someone's holding the standings upside-down, a game between those two teams means precisely jack shit.

Didn't the A's play the Red Sox? Aren't they in a little bit of a wild-card battle? I'll admit that I didn't watch enough Sportscenter to know when they showed the highlights of this game compared to the Bonds homers (or the Detroit-Tampa game you keep referencing, for that matter) but as the first post said that they used the Bonds homers as the lead story, I'm presuming that they either opened with it, or at least focused a ton of attention on it.

[Dr. Tom 0]

My point was (and is) that Bonds is doing something many people have never seen in their lifetimes, me included (I'm 29). I'd rather see highlights of that than a baseball game that doesn't mean anything. The pennant races shouldn't be bumped aside unless he really hits an important number (660 and 661 being next on the list), but more pedestrian highlights can wait their turn behind the best player of his generation.

[SteakGrowsOnUecker 0]

Sportscenter is an HOUR long. If you can't tune into it for more then the first 30 seconds of the show then thats your problem. They give all of the playoff races fair coverage. If you watched the Sportscenter behind the scences a few weeks ago they showed that when something signficant like the Bill Mueller grandslams from both sides of the plate happen they're going to give it big coverage because thats what the viewers want.

 

They're are plenty of sports shows that cover the playoff races more indepthly. Watch Baseball Tonight. They can go more indepth then sportscenter because they don't have to waste time with showing highlights to whatever WNBA bore-a-thon was on.

 

Its your loss if you don't really care about Barry Bonds and his homeruns. I care and I'll continue to care if he hits 900 homeruns.

 

The reason why they don't care about F1 is because the same 5 guys win every race.

[Rendclaw 0]

He has a point about F1. Its basically a three team race.