Oh my GOD!!

did anyone see how far Bonds jacked the 2 out pitch from Percival in the top of the ninth in Game 2??

forget the balls being juiced...Bonds is!

very few follow baseball downhere, but it made the 6 o'clock TV news on a couple of stations!

I wish Bonds would just retire and go away. I have to mute the games because all I hear is "Bonds Bonds Bonds Bonds" the whole game. On ESPN after Game 2, they talked about the Giants for like 5 minutes and then it was like "oh, by the way, the Angels won." It would be really nice if the announcers would realize that there are players involved other than Barry Bonds.

ah, but few can do what Bonds does.
he is absolutely amazing on the stage

and he is that Giants team
without him...they are nothing.
the Giants are not a team...they are Barry Bonds
now the Angels...there is a team

In reply to:

---

and he is that Giants team
without him...they are nothing.

---

So does that mean that he manages to get himself intentionally walked all the time, and STILL manages to knock himself in? I guess the other 8 hitters have nothing to do with that, do they? I guess he's responsible for every single run the Giants have scored, right? Does he pitch from left field too, or do they have a pitcher, and 7 other players (Besides Bonds) on the field?

I shouldn't have said that. I realize we're all supposed to bow down and kiss Barry's feet and erect gold statues in his honor at every given opportunity, but I'm afraid I'd vomit if I did.

I do agree that he's a good hitter. Left fielder, not so much. But I'm sorry, one man does not make a team.

hmmm...would it help if I told you I was a Dodgers fan?

cardinal rule of the faith...we HATE the SF Giants.

trust me, I'm rooting against them.

jeez...where did all that come from?
I just wanted to say that I thought that he is an amazing hitter.
Do I like the man...nope.
doesn't mean I don't respect him though.

and come on...let's be real.
the Giants don't get anywhere without him.

the hitters on that Giants team do suck
look at their numbers and their averages
that Giant pitching ain't all that great either.

but then again...that's why we have baseball parity
except for the Yankees.
most teams are pretty even
a few really good players and the rest are mediocre.

I'm going to agree with both of you. Bonds is the best hitter in baseball, simply put. He has developed himself not only into a power ball hitter but a magnificent hitter all-round. Without him, the Giants are at the bottom of their division...heck, they barely made the playoffs with him, that should go pretty far in giving an illustration of the quality of his teammates.

However, I do agree that the announcers tend to fixate on him a bit too much. His teammates haven't done a bad job, especially in some pretty clutch situations. They are average players but it is a team game and that should be emphasized. This is not the NBA.

In reply to:

---

but it is a team game and that should be emphasized.

---

Exactly!! I just hate it when people act like one man makes a team. Yes, the Giants are a better team with him than they would be without him. Yes, he his a phenomenal hitter (pardon me while I go vomit now lol).

People (especially announcers) tend to act like he can hit any pitch thrown at him out of the park, and has robotic arms that can stretch out and catch any ball hit to the outfield.

I tend to like players that play like they're part of a team, instead of like they ARE the team. I tend to like players that talk to the press on a regular basis. I tend to like players that interact with their fans, and don't act like the fans owe them something for being in their presence.

I'm sorry if you thought I was attacking you personally. I was attacking Bonds thru you! lol

then explain the Lakers to me.

they are two people...Shaq and Kobe
hell, me and two of my friends could play on that team and we'd win

LA...I will refrain from my usual cynical answer (which would include explaining how the Lakers regularly play with 8 men on the court, 3 in white and black shirts) and go with the more technical answer.

In basketball, you only have 5 men on the court at any one time...and all 5 are eligible to play the entire game on both offense and defense. It is likely that each of these 5 players will be involved somehow in every single play, both offensively and defensively, and this is especially the case with a high profile player like Jordan, Shaq, et. al. Obviously in baseball this is not the case. Barry Bonds has no control over the performance of his 8 other team members, he is only responsible for his 3-5 at-bats per game and his fielding. I think it's safe to say that the average NBA player has a extraordinarily high impact on his team's success, while the average baseball player only plays a small part in a team game.

I think it's safe to say that Barry Bonds has more impact on his team than any other single player in baseball, maybe ever. Yet I would argue that he has only about as much impact on the Giants' success as, say, an above average NBA 6th man.

As for the Lakers recruiting you and two friends...I'll go even further. They could play with you and your two grandmas and still win...

The Lakers could probably play with a couple of little kids and still win! lol I haven't kept up with basketball the last several years, I lost almost all interest in it.

To totally contradict everything I've said in my other posts on this thread, I used to be Michael Jordan's biggest fan. Do you guys remember that year he tried to play baseball (emphasis on tried)? I was going into my junior year in high school that summer, and my parents said if his team came anywhere near us, we'd go. Well, he went to Memphis, which is about 8 hours from me, so we went. I'd read all these stories about how wonderful he treated his fans, so I went down there fully expecting to meet him and possibly get an autograph, like I do at minor league games here at home. After both games I went to, I (along with several other fans) went to wait outside the lockerroom. Pretty soon both nights, a security guard came out and said that Jordan demanded that we all leave and he wasn't coming out until we were all gone. I told the guard to go back in there and tell Jordan that I didn't want his (blank) autograph, that I wanted autographs of players that would actually make their way to the majors one day!

jazz, jazz...so sorry your team sucks...

and the team that I love...well...they are the three time NBA Champions!!

I like my team regardless of their win percentage...that's the measure of a true fan.

As for you Chippy, you should be ashamed of yourself bagging on Barry Bonds when you were a Michael Jordan fan...how can you live with yourself?

I USED to be an MJ fan! Not now, not after that trip to Memphis, not after the way we were treated. I AM ashamed of myself. Ashamed that I ever was a fan of his.

In reply to:

---

I like my team regardless of their win percentage...that's the measure of a true fan.

---

I couldn't agree more! If you ride out the bad years, it'll pay off eventually. It happened to me. I was a Braves fan back in the 80's when it took them 3 years to win 100 games. Of course now I get accused of jumping on the bandwagon, but I know the truth! Granted, it's a lot more fun to watch them now that they're winning, but I feel good knowing I loved them when they were terrible

I agree that is the true measure of a fan.

I've been an LA person all my life.
LA Kings, LA Lakers, LA Dodgers.
except for pro football.
since my entire family is a fan of the great Niners...so am I.
besides it worked out cause eventually LA lost both football teams.

really suffering with the Dodgers right now.
the other three are easy to root for though, I have to admit
they just flat out win all the time.

So what were your impressions of the World Series? I thought it was a good one. The most enjoyable aspect of this series was its up-and-down nature...it seemed like a yo-yo in terms of the teams' fortunes. Also, the predictable players had great series...i.e. Bonds, Kent, Glaus, Erstad. I'm a Yankees fan, mind you...so this may seem odd...but I believe it was the most enjoyable series since 1996. The last several years have been boring, especially the 'subway series'. (Last year's was okay, but I really can't stand watching Randy Johnson.)

I think this year's series had a little bit of everything.

Personally, I really enjoyed this World Series. I'm a huge fan of good pitching, but I love to watch high scoring games. Most games in this Series were high scoring close ones, so that was a definite plus for me! Maybe part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because I really didn't care. The Giants have several players I like, with one notable exception of course! lol But at the same time, I have nothing against the Angels.

Jazz, why don't you like Randy Johnson? Or should I not ask?

Good question. I tend not to like players that have some sort of unfair advantage physically. I think Johnson is good not because he's a special pitcher, but rather because he is 6'10". I tend to root for the underdog! (This explains also why I don't like Shaq O'Neil...)