Some sports images are better off being left unseeen

There’s not much television doesn’t show the sports fan this time of year. Spend one weekend on the couch and you can feel the tension of baseball pennant races, savor the majesty of college football and enjoy the brilliance of the NFL.

Of all the images, though, here’s a few from recent days that are better left unseen:

— Barry Bonds moving uncomfortably closer to the Babe. Three home runs in his first six games back, including one Tuesday night at Washington, after missing most of the year left Bonds just eight homers shy of tying Babe Ruth’s career total of 714. From there, it’s only 42 more to break Henry Aaron’s all-time record of 755.

Now here’s the interesting part. Bonds, who had his best years with muscles rippling out of his head, says he’s going to come back nearly 30 pounds lighter next year. Bonds insists he’s merely trying to lighten the load on his fragile knee, but skeptics might think that’s a cover story for the inevitable slim-down in a time of stricter steroid testing.

“You guys keep bringing back old crap,” Bonds said. “Just turn the page, move on.”

— The inside of the Superdome. The stench is unbelievable, and there’s rotting garbage and human waste everywhere. That’s still no reason for New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson to give Saints fans yet another thing to worry about in their lives — the fact their team will likely move elsewhere.

— Pete Rose explaining once again that he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame despite the fact he gambled on games. Rose didn’t help himself by making his case last week in the interview from Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the world.

— Golfers wrapping themselves this week in the flag for the Presidents Cup. The Ryder Cup is one thing, offering players who generally don’t say anything more than “You’re away” to each other a chance to bond together for country and flag. But this event, featuring Americans against “foreign” players like Florida resident Vijay Singh seems as contrived as golf’s silly season events.

Don’t tell that to David Toms, though, who checked out of a hospital where he should be undergoing heart surgery to play for the U.S. team. Maybe they’ll reward him by playing to a finish instead of quitting and declaring it a draw like they did two years ago in South Africa.

— A boxer fighting for his life after the biggest fight of his life. Leavander Johnson got $150,000 to defend his lightweight title Saturday night against Jesus Chavez, and nearly died. Before the call goes out once again to ban boxing, though, consider this: There has been one more death in the NFL in the last month than in the ring.

— The San Diego Padres — or any team in the National League Worst — spraying champagne on each other to celebrate the division title. Unfortunately, this will happen sometime in the next week or so, giving trivia freaks a new answer to the question: What was the worst team to ever make the baseball playoffs?

— Billionaire owners leaping around in luxury boxes like a computer geek who just wasted the last evil zombie in Doom 3. Daniel Snyder looked as goofy celebrating two last minute gifts from the Cowboy defense as his Washington Redskins looked pathetic for the first 56 minutes of the game Monday night. You would think the Skins had just won the Super Bowl. Instead, they merely improved their record against the Cowboys since Snyder took over to 2-11.

Washington, which has made the playoffs only once since Snyder bought the team, is now a very fortunate 2-0. More important, Snyder’s club continues to be the NFL’s biggest moneymaker, with Forbes magazine valuing the team at a record $1.264 billion.

— Tiger Woods telling us over and over again on national television that he has no time to enjoy rainy days in his life. Woods is surely overexposed as a TV pitchman by now, but if he’s looking for ideas for his next commercial maybe he could show viewers what he really does in his spare time. As part of his preparation last week for the Presidents Cup, he and buddy Charles Barkley were at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas where they were spotted heading toward the private — and very high-stakes — blackjack pit.

— Someone dunking at the WNBA finals. Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen and, besides, if a tree fell in the forest … .

— Rafael Palmeiro or Sammy Sosa returning to the Baltimore Orioles this year or any other. Both are out “rehabbing” injuries, but who can blame the Orioles for not wanting them back? One lied to Congress and baseball fans everywhere, while the other seemed to begin mysteriously shrinking just about the same time baseball got serious about testing for steroids. Here’s the only stat you need: Sosa averaged 48 home runs a year the last 10 years; this year he has 14.

Amid all that, there was one image worth seeing — the phones being picked up by more than 30 current and former NFL players Monday night when the league held a telethon to aid victims of hurricane Katrina.

Bash the NFL if you want for forcing the Saints to play a “home” game at the Meadowlands and for allowing Benson to twist New Orleans fans in the wind. But for one night at least the league stepped up to raise some money that really counts.

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at [email protected]