The man who has followed Barry Bonds relentlessly for the past three or four years -- to sufficient ridicule -- was asked for his prediction about the likelihood Bonds will get the 22 home runs he needs to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record. Other noted ESPN scholars have weighed in with various dates and, as Baseball Musings notes, the consensus date is 8/30/07. That date is skewed, and guess why: Gomez doesn't think Bonds will break the record this year.
It's true! Gomez's official answer is "Not in '07." He is joined in his lack of faith by Jim Caple, who, for some weird reason, doesn't think Bonds will break the record ever ("Won't do it'). Caple is apparently planning on some sort of freak occurrence (an earthquake, perhaps?), to prevent Bonds' slow crawl toward this record. Maybe Caple is just engaging in some wishful thinking; nothing wrong with that, I guess.
But who are we doubt to Gomez? After all, he had personal contact with Bonds practically every day for years. Does he know something we don't? Then again, he did miss that whole BALCO thing ...
Care to guess a date, anyone?
