It's getting closer...

It's looking like Barry Bonds is on the cusp of becoming the all-time home run king. I'm sure that parade planners and firework suppliers are gearing up for the event that should highlight the polar opposites of the baseball world; the Bonds haters and the Bonds lovers.

Yesterday afternoon, after resting his aching legs for the past three games, Bonds came up huge at Wrigley Field by going 3-for-3 with two jacks. Too bad the sad-sack Giants didn't win the game. Looks like he just needed that little bit of downtime to break out of his -nearly personal worst- 0-for-21 streak at the plate. I guess you could make a case that the Giants should sit him more often.

When (not if, when) he hits number 755 and then 756, many will clamour for an asterisk, but many will also cheer on the new king. I, for one, will be cheering, but not too much. I really don't care if Bonds did use performance enhancing drugs. I'm sure a lot of people did the majors. Since a large number of players were knocking so many home runs in the juiced-ball era, how come there are so few that even reach the 500 home run plateau?

Most fans don't like Barry Bonds for anything out of a laundry list of reasons, some very good reasons too, but hell, he's still a damn good player in my eyes.

The sad tale of Daunte

This is not to be confused with (and it really shouldn't) Dante's Divine Comedy, a mighty fine work. One could say that the Daunte this post relates to had some great work early on in his career and it wouldn't be hard to question it. But since losing his muse, Daunte's career has gone nowhere but down.

If you didn't realize this is about Daunte Culpepper by now, you're most likely not much of an NFL fan. Well, Culpepper's story took another turn for the worse now that he's been released by the Miami Dolphins. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering that Culpepper lost his starting job last year to Joey Harrington and Cleo Lemon later down the line. The Dolphins also chose to bring in serviceable-vet Trent Green from Kansas City in the offseason.

What a spectacular fall from grace Culpepper has had, from being, arguably, one of the best QBs in the game to the piece of rubble he now is. Ever since Randy Moss fled Minnesota Daunte has been tanking it. It's easy to say that maybe a new start will help him, but come on; he just tried that in Miami. Looks like he's destined to be a "whatever happened to?" some time down the line.

Bad Newz for Vick

Michael Vick's dog-fighting saga is coming to a head and it doesn't look good for the Falcons starting quarterback. Vick and three others are charged with competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting the enterprise across state lines. Apparently his dog fighting operation was named Bad Newz Kennels.

The indictment alleges that Vick and his co-defendants began their little syndicate back in 2001 and forced the dogs to fight to, at least, near-death. To make matters worse, losing dogs were sometimes killed by electrocution, drowning, hanging or gunshots.

If any of this turns out to be true and with the current standards that commissioner Roger Goddell is imposing around the league, Vick will not be playing for a very long time. But it might not even be related to a league-mandated suspension. If found guilty, Vick could serve up to six years in jail as well as pay a $350,000 fine. While the fine would mean next to nothing to the millionaire, six years in jail would be a huge blow.

Atlanta's decision to trade away their ready-to-start back up Matt Schaub is looking more and more foolish by the day. For once, the Texans win.

Official hold out day!

Interesting results from contract hold outs yesterday, which was the deadline for teams to reach long-term contracts with players that the put the franchise tag on. So, it looks like both the Chicago Bears' Lance Briggs and the New England Patriots' Asante Samuel will either be playing for their qualifying offers, traded, or sitting out for as long as they want. Both players have told their respective teams that they will sit out until week ten (I have no idea why that specific week, probably some bonus kicks in then) but with these player's talents, I would lean towards the trade route; similar to Deion Branch last season.

One franchised player did manage to settle with his team before the 4 p.m. deadline. As a result, The Detroit Lions' Cory Redding is now the highest paid DT in the league. The deal is reportedly worth $49 million over seven seasons with $16 million of that being guaranteed, including $13 million in signing and roster bonuses. Honestly, I've never even heard of him. That alone should tell you that the either the Lions are getting ripped off (likely) or the rest of DTs in the NFL are getting ripped (very unlikely).

(Upon further review, Redding had 48 tackles, eight sacks and seven forced fumbles last season. I still don't believe that should make him the highest paid of his position).

With Madden less than a month away and some NFL tickets already bought and paid for, I'm really starting to kick myself into NFL gear.

The 10k club

The Philadelphia Phillies joined the most exlusive club in sports last night, for better or worse. With the 10-2 thumping the St. Louis Cardinals gave them, the Phillies became the first professional sports team ever to lose 10,000 games. It took decades of commitment and the fans were put through some winning seasons which slowed down the process, but it finally happened.

This is also a club that won’t be crowded any time soon. Going over the rest of the MLB as well as other North American professional sports, the next closest team is the Atlanta Braves franchise at 9,681 losses. The Cubs are more than 200 behind that as well. The closest in the American League are the Baltimore Orioles 8,629 while, if you go into different sports, the Golden State Warriors are closest, but are only at 8,563. Hockey’s Chicago Blackhawks only have 2,415 losses and Football’s sad-sack Arizona Cardinals have a measly 649 to lead their league. While baseball teams do have a decided advantage by playing roughly double the amount of games as both hockey and basketball, not to mention a whopping ten times more games per season than NFL teams, I look forward to seeing other, extremely crappy teams reach that pinnacle. Of course, unless I live another 93 more years and the Warriors seriously tank it and lose every game for that period of time.

Congratulations Philadelphia, you're home to the biggest losers in sports history.