David Kronke: Baseball in Bond(s')age

Pretty interesting article on Barry Bonds in the new ESPN: The Magazine, written by Chuck Klosterman, who’s better known for his rock writing for Spin. It’s a what-does-it-all-mean piece that decides that ultimately, it means nothing. Perhaps not a brilliant conclusion, but he does place Bonds squarely in the cultural chaos of the moment, uncorks a couple of terrific turns of phrase that should immediately become part of the American vernacular – “an achievement of disenchantment� (referring to Bonds’ impending 715th home run) and “the Era of Predictable Disillusionment� (referring to today, in all aspects of its grisly glory) and (attention, Bob Strauss) manages to take a gratuitous swipe at “Crash’s� Oscar triumph.

In summary: Klosterman says Bonds’ 715th will render baseball’s hallowed statistics meaningless, and Bonds doesn’t care, and because Bonds doesn’t care, soon the rest of us won’t, either. But, given Bonds’ abysmal start this season (hitting .158 with zero homers) and that little meltdown he had on his reality-TV show, perhaps Babe Ruth’s second-place standing in the record books is safe.