It seems lately it's almost always the shoe on the other foot, so I figure might as well post this: A human rights group silenced because they are were bashing Hezbollah. Go figure.

So Barry Bonds hit number 756. I didn't watch it go out, I didn't even find out til a couple hours ago. I used to be a Bonds fan, when he was with Pittsburgh. I even liked him for San Fran, and for some reason didn't believe he took steroids until it became clear that he did. Of course, everybody else did too. I still contend that Bonds is a way better player than Griffey, or A-Rod, or anybody else. What he did on steroids was superhuman, but nobody else could do it. Even without roids , he should have won four MVPs, 90-93. (Pendleton did not deserve it in 1991). I wanted him and the Giants to win the World Series against the Angels, cuz I hated the Angels and was so impressed with Barry. But now I'm numb.

This probably says more about my sports fan-ness than about my views on Barry. See, I'm not really a big fan anymore. I used to be a huge baseball fan. I watched Ken Burns documentary 4 times, all 18 hours of it. Hell, I wrote a book about baseball when I was 13 years old. I was an Expos fan then. I big one. I was also a fan of the game. I knew all the players, I knew all the stats. I knew the history.

I guess I haven't forgotten the history. But I don't keep up any more. It was a gradual process. After the Expos lost Pedro after the 1997 season, the life was sucked out of me as a fan. I tried to keep up, but couldn't really. I was still a fan, I rooted for Vlad and when I went to Harvard I became a Red Sox fan, of sorts. I still loved Pedro, so it was easy. I saw Red Sox-Yankees games in Yankee Stadium in 2003, an ALCS game at Fenway in 2003, and game one of the World Series in 2004. I went to the riot near Fenway after the Sox won the World Series. It was fun.

But I wasn't a real fan. A real fan appreciate the long regular season more than the spectacle of October. Or October was made more special because of that long season. But I wasn't there anymore. Didn't have that frame of mind. Maybe I was obsessing about girls or thinking about school or politics or Israel or I don't know what.

And that's how I am now. I know Baseball better than I do the other sports. But not so much. I know hockey and basketball because I played them. I follow tennis because my mother does. I know football because everyone knows a bit. I enjoy college sports because of the enthusiasm. I can get by in any sports conversation, especially with old timers about Baseball history. I love boxing now, it's easy to follow, exciting, and I appreciate the drama and spectacle, and you don't have to keep up with it every day or even every week. I read Bill Simmons columns and I enjoy them and appreciate them. But it's just not the same.

I wonder if I'll be a bigger fan when I have kids. Sports are conducive to father-son relationships, hopefully to father-daughter ones as well. The movie Frequency is a good example. I cry when I see it, I cry when I see Field of Dreams. Those sports moments touch me more than real ones, it seems.

I think it's time to post something interesting again. I'm not sure how much I have to say. I really like Max Brenner chocolate. Also, I like A-1 steak sauce.