Gone for a while

If you click the photo, you'll see that I was in the stands Friday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco to see Barry Bonds hit No. 754. Actually, seeing Barry was down the list of reasons I was there, behind seeing my sister, the close proximity to L.A., and the fact my friend Jason had tickets. Nonetheless, it was a pretty exciting game, complete with 22 runs of scoring, an Omar Vizquel web gem, a wonderful moment for Mark Sweeney and the spectacle of 43,000 fans lustily booing their dud of a pitcher, Barry Zito. But I can't deny there was something tremendously exciting about witnessing Bonds' homer -- the reaction was not as volcanic as Yankee Stadium on a good night (of course, it seats 56,000), but the giddy buzz was one that, combined with its scenic, state-of-the-art ballpark, makes the home of the last-place Giants the envy of Major League Baseball. (And yes, I'm saying that if Kansas City had Bonds, we'd be just as stoked about it, and our town would be subjected to the same kind of primitive ethnography that's going on right now with San Francisco.) I know folks in journalism like to get worked up over the travesty of a first-rate jerk like Bonds breaking the humble Hammer's record. All I can say is, I'm glad I don't work in sports.

I'll be out for the next week or so. In the meantime, be sure to click the ad at the right and sign up to Watch the Pilots with me August 23.