Romes & Malones Idle Today Citing Lack of Sports News

Romes & Malones were absent from the airways during their normal afternoon slot today on 88.9m FM WNYO.

In other news, Alex Rodiguez agreed to an outline of a new 10-year deal with the Yankees and Barry Bonds was indicted.

What Will Become of 756?

Fashion designer Marc Ecko has started a website asking you to vote on what he should do with Barry Bonds' 756th HR ball. Ecko paid $752,467 for the ball, and is giving us the option of enshrining it in the Hall of Fame, planting an asterisk on it, or blasting it off into space. Vote below:

Bonds Breaks The Record*

Well, there it is. Home run number 756*. Bonds lifted a 3-2 pitch off of Washington's Mike Bacsik to "break" Henry Aaron's all-time home run record. Or did he?

Controversy will continue to surround Bonds on this fabled quest for what Bud Selig has called "the hardest record in professional sports" (I vehemently disagree, but will leave that to another post). Has he really broken the record? I personally say no. To me, Hank Aaron still owns the all-time home run record and Roger Maris as the single season home run king. There are many who will disagree with me, of course, namely Cardinals and Giants fans. But when we examine the plethora of evidence in front of us, I doubt how we will come to any other conclusion once Bonds finally does retire.

A sign held up during this home run chase has struck home with me. It said, "Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer." Come to think of it, so did Aaron. So did Maris. But Bonds? No. A guy doesn't go from a size 7 hat size to a size 8 this late in your career (even Alex Rodriguez hasn't done that), your show size doesn't magically grow, you don't go from looking like a stick to a bouncer. Not this late in your career, not this fast.

Unfortunately, we all know that this record will stay Bond's until he retires, and for a time after that. Hopefully, though, after all the hoopla and celebrations, San Francisco fans will wake up and realize they've been conned. Hopefully baseball will wake up and realize they've been conned. And hopefully Aaron and Maris get their records back.

Until then, a nice, fat asterisk will have to do.

P.S. It should also be duly noted that right after Bonds hit his 756th*, Yahoo! Sports had it as their main story with an asterisk next to the number 756. Minutes later, the asterisk was removed.

Ben Amey

Pat Morgan on Bonds

Since Barry Bonds is one home run away from overtaking Hank Aaron, I figure this is the best time to give my take on it. I am someone who is tired of hearing about Bonds and everything that he is doing. ESPN's Pedro Gomez reports Bonds was seen eating a sandwich around 3:35 p.m., but the contents of the meal are unclear at this time. You know what I mean. That's what ESPN has become, but that is a post for another day. Bonds, before everyone believes he started steroids, was a clear cut hall-of-famer. Without the 'roids he would have easily reached 500, perhaps 600 home runs. Put that with his 500+ stolen bases he would be a first-ballot lock.

Is it fair that he should be the posterboy for the steroid era? Probably not, but he did cheat and he deserves all the public scrutiny he has received. Bonds is the one going for the record, no one cares about Jason Grimsley or Guillermo Mota. Only Rafael Palmeiro and Jason Giambi, to an extent, have diverted the attention from Bonds. Again, it is not fair Bonds gets most of the spotlight for the steroid scandal, but remember he cheated the game first. So, I do not feel bad for him, AT ALL. It's too bad the most cherished record in all of sports will be broken by a cheater. Those who say he hasn't been proven guilty need to look at the facts (and the picture below).

Numerous reports have come out about his use. His trainer won't testify and has been in and out of jail for that. His head is about the size of a globe now, and this is a guy who was a stick when he came on the scene. If I were Bud Selig, I'd try as hard as I could to get him to talk with George Mitchell, who is running the steroid investigation, but that's if this entire investigation is going to actually amount to something. It's been going on two years and nothing has come from it. Plus the players' union for baseball is perhaps the strongest union in the world. They'd never allow Selig to do anything like that, unless Bonds slips like Giambi did. That is as likely as Jaleel White finding some kind of main stream work again.

Sadly, the MLB players' union thinks they are above the law. Look at the Tour de France. They just removed their overall leader during the event because he took and illegal blood transfusion. I would love to see Barry Bonds break the homerun record in Los Angeles this week. Wow! That chorus of booes would be so fitting.

Pat Morgan