Big Mac (Hold the Cheese)
Perhaps I've been remiss in not discussing Mark McGwire breaking baseball's single-season home run record yesterday. I haven't been into "the chase" as much as the rest of the baseball world, partly because people have been saying for a year or more that the record will probably be broken in this expansion year, and that Mark "I stole Popeye's forearms" McGwire would be the one to do it.
What I am glad of is that he's not going to just barely squeak out home run #62 on the last day of the season, but that the record is basically being blown away. Moreover, I'm really happy to see Sammy Sosa up there with him, since no one really predicted Sosa to be a factor, and he's a perfectly charming and fun individual to see on the news every few days. It'd have been even cooler if it had been Sosa who had broken the record.
It's also cool to see that probably four different Major Leaguers will end the season with 50 or more home runs: McGwire, Sosa, Ken Griffey, and Greg Vaughn. Before 1995 only 11 men had hit that many in a single season, and since 1995 we've added Albert Belle, McGwire, Brady Anderson, Griffey, Sosa, and probably Vaughn. And notice that none of these guys play for Colorado!
It's also neat to see the mainstream media picking up on this chase like they rarely pick up on any other sporting event. Heck, the fact that Roger Maris' widow was in the hospital was on NPR's top stories summary this morning. Baseball is still perhaps a little more the national pastime than any other sport - even football.
Of course, an even bigger question in my mind is whether the Red Sox are completely collapsing or whether they can stave off the Blue Jays in order to make the playoffs. C'mon guys, you're almost there!
The ride home was fun, as always, though. I'm thinking that with the cold coming on maybe I should try some medium-length rides each weekend day from now on to cram as much exercise in as I can before winter sets in. I don't want to kill myself, but I'm sure I can figure something out.
It's really a pity that Marvel has let many of their collections lapse out of print, as their prices are skyrocketing. Yesterday I picked up a copy of the Captain America book yesterday for cover price - about half its current market rate - and its jacket and one corner of its cover are pretty dinged up. I can suffer the dings to save $35, but it is annoying. (Of course, it's annoying that the store I bought it from didn't take better care of it! Maybe I'll get a dustjacket cover for it to protect it a little better.)
And, klutz that I am, I spilled some water on the Green Lantern book I bought. I only wrinkled a couple of the pages, and it's not really a very good set of stories, either, but I felt pretty stupid. I rarely spill anything in my apartment, so I felt doubly stupid. Sigh.
Well, at least it's not like my whole collection was ruined in a flood, as I sometimes read about in the Comics Buyer's Guide. That's something.
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