Just? How can the word "just" be derogatory? Well, it's all about context. A greasy-haired, cookie cutter, pretty boy sportscaster had the nerve to say that Barry Bonds was on pace to hit "just 68 homeruns". The sportscaster wasn't even being sarcastic. Just 68 homeruns. Hey, Bonds would only be the second man in the history of Major League Baseball to accomplish the feat, but 68 isn't 70, and Bonds is not McGwire.
Give me a break. Just 68 homeruns. How ridiculous does it sound? Imagine yourself in high school math class, and your teacher smirks at you as he/she hands you back a test, and then coldly says in a disappointed voice that you only got 99%; that's just plain goofy.
How cynical can the world of sports journalism get? Bonds is only the fifth man ever to hit 60 dingers in a season, and he still has a few weeks to add to his impressive total.
It's like Jekyll and Hyde. When Bonds hits a bomb, he's showered with praise, but when he goes one game without hitting a homerun, most sportscasters are quick to say that he won't get 70, as if 68 homeruns would be a disappointment. Apparently, some sportscasters see their glasses of prune juice as being half empty...
Who cares if Bonds doesn't hit 70 taters? He doesn't. All he wants is to make the playoffs so he can chase after the one team prize that has eluded him in his illustrious career, a World Series title.
McGwire's homerun record is an awesome individual accomplishment, but you can't compare Big Mac's season of '98 to Bonds' season in '01. For starters, McGwire's team wasn't in a playoff race, which meant that no pitchers would dare pitch around him when he was chasing history. And chase history he did. For the final month of the '98 season it was all about McGwire. He was free to swing from his ass (pardon my French), and it was either a long homerun or a vicious strikeout for a man who wasn't trying to help his team win as much as he was trying to crush Roger Maris's single-season homerun record.
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