Big props to Barry Bonds for tying Mark McGuires 70 home runs in one season mark. With 5 games left he will likely get one more to break the record. I did not think he was going to get it as pitchers were just not challenging him and pitching anything to him that remotely looked like a strike but last night he saw one and he is so dialed in that he sent it. 70 homers no Andro, Barry is a beast.

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"Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them"
Martin Luther King Jr.

"You cannot separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom" -Malcom X

"If a college educated, semi-succesfull black man can still be thought of as a ****** for any reason, it is a pretty clear indication that in order not to be thought of as a ****** one would have to totally assimilate and conform to the ideas and mindset of those who would think of you as a ****** not to be thought of as one anymore. I would rather die." Freedom

I heard he used to have baseball cards of himself taped to his wrists when he played. Egomaniac or not, he is a talented player and it would be nice to have a baseball record broken in this difficult year in America. I wonder if he has ever been tested for performance enhancing drugs himself though.

Collector hopes to cash in on Bonds

By Tom Weir, USA TODAY

The man who paid $3 million for Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from 1998 admits Barry Bonds' pursuit of that record has made him "the example of what not to do."

But Todd McFarlane still will be a very interested observer, and possibly a bidder, if Bonds sets a record and that ball goes to auction.

"I'll be on the fringes. I'll be in the shadows," says the Canadian-born McFarlane, 40, who made his fortune in comic books and owns a minority interest in the NHL Edmonton Oilers.

"I'd be surprised if it would go for even a million bucks," says McFarlane, suggesting collectors might be more circumspect, given the nation's mood following the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. "Who's going to want to spend a million in this kind of climate?"

McFarlane faced some criticism after his winning bid of $2.7 million in 1999, which totaled just over $3 million after auction commissions.

Some thought the ball should go to the Hall of Fame. But McFarlane's image has recovered since paying to put No. 70 and nine other McGwire and Sammy Sosa home run balls from 1998 on display for free on a national tour the last 3 years. McFarlane paid a total of $400,000 for those balls: McGwire's Nos. 1, 63, 64, 67, 68 and 69, and Sosa's Nos. 33, 61 and 66.

He also let the exhibit be used as a fundraising vehicle to fight Lou Gehrig's disease. McFarlane says 2 million people have seen the exhibit, where they can have pictures taken with what he calls "the big ball."

If Bonds passes McGwire, McFarlane may loan No. 70 to the Hall of Fame or explore a continued exhibit that includes Bonds' record-setter.

McFarlane was rooting against Bonds but changed his outlook after the terrorist attacks.

"As a Canadian living in your great country, I think that to have a young American man like Barry Bonds show what he can accomplish by focusing himself on a task might be the right thing right now," says McFarlane, who lives in the Phoenix area.

McFarlane once drew Spider-Man for Marvel Comics. He later created the superhero that led to the 1997 movie Spawn. Of his mighty but flawed character, McFarlane says, "Spawn's intent was never to save the world. His intent was just to live his life. He's just in a position where he can't ignore the world."

That description could fit Bonds, who may yet provide McFarlane with a silver lining. McFarlane Toys already produces action figures of NFL and NHL players and expects to get rights for Major League Baseball soon.

"If Bonds breaks the record, maybe I'll sell 3 million of him," McFarlane says. "I'll still get my pound of flesh out of him."

I like Barry Bonds alot...he is a good baseball player but he is one of the few athletes left that kids can look up to. I hope he breaks the record and with 5 games left I am sure he will!

Well, he officially blew the record away last night. In grand style too - 72 Home runs so far http://discussanything.com/Ubb/biggrin.gif I think the Giants still have 1 more game(?) to go also. Wouldn't it be something if he tacked on 1 or 2 more? http://discussanything.com/Ubb/cool.gif

Either way, great job Barry http://discussanything.com/Ubb/smile.gif For what it's worth, nobody much wanted to pitch to McGuire when he broke the record either. He led the league in walks that year. No pitcher wants to have it in the books that he was responsible for letting the record fall.


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Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquest of it

"There is no weapon deadlier than the will" Bruce Lee

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