The Gravy train rolls on

When people think of Barry Bonds, certain things come to mind. The way he turned his back on the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993 perhaps. Maybe his teams' lack of success in the post-season would come up. One thing that can't be denied by any means is the man's consistency.

In his 15th year in the majors, his career averages speak for themselves. According to ESPN.com, Bonds averages 38 home runs, 107 RBI's, 120 runs scored, all while maintaining a .289 batting average per 162 games. Players would salivate over the possibility of having that for a single year, yet the man has kept that up for almost a decade and a half.

For the previous three seasons (1998-2000), he's slightly better, averaging 2 more homers and batting 4 percentage points higher. All this as the aging process wears on his 36-year-old body.

This year is proving to be more of the same. As of May 21, the Giants slugger has clubbed 23 home runs already, the fastest player in history to reach that mark. In fact, Bonds has hit 23 homers three games faster than Mark McGwire did in historic 1998 when he ended the season with 70. The Giants' slugger is on such a tear, if he were to keep up this pace through the rest of the regular season (nearly impossible) this is what his season numbers would be: .303, 85 home runs, 125 runs scored, a whopping .901 slugging percentage, and 158 runs batted in. These are most definitely dream numbers, but it does show that McGwire's mark of 70 homers in a season could be in serious jeopardy if Bonds stays healthy. The projected 125 runs scored is actually 4 runs less than he scored last season.

Age and injuries are wearing on the man. That is evident in his rapid decline in basestealing. The once perennial 30-30 man has seen his totals decrease every year since 1996 when he stole 40 bases. That's 14 more than 1999 and 2000 combined.

But what the man has done is truly remarkable. He is the model of consistency in an era where superstar players come and go with the changing winds. The modern era is littered with names of players who were supposed to be future Hall of Famers, only to have them be discarded in vain due to injury, attitude, or the almighty dollar. Players like Bobby Bonilla, and Jay Buhner come to mind as players who were once at the top of their profession but for one reason or another have fallen on hard times. Bonds is showing the type of player he is and will be until he decides his time in the sun is over. As long as he keeps hitting the ball like this, he can play as long as he wants.

The NFL owners approved divisional realignment for the 2002 season on Monday. The only problem I have with the whole thing is the new AFC East and AFC North. Here's how they shape up:

AFC EAST: Buffalo, Miami, New England, New York Jets

AFC NORTH: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh

You can't get much more North than New England. The Bill and Jets are right there too. And who came up with idea of putting Baltimore and Cincinnati in the North? I understand they wanted to keep the Bills- Dolphins rivalry intact, but do they really need to be in the same division to do this? All they did was regroup things to make the playoffs more interesting. No one solved any geographic issues like there was with Arizona in the NFC East and Carolina and New Orleans in the NFC West. I understand the history behind some of these rivalries, but they will always be there. Geographic confrontations will create multiple rivalries and the league can only benefit from that. We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.

Will anybody beat the Lakers in this post-season? Probably, but if and when it happens, it doesn't figure to derail them from another ring. Last night's display in San Antonio showed just how much this team has matured during its uphill climb of a title defense. Overcoming a 14-point deficit against any opponent in a conference final is impressive, let alone against a team with the likes of David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Duncan did torch the Lakers for 40 points, but it wasn't enough as the rest of the Spurs failed to show up. Take out Duncan's performance and the Spurs shot an anemic 27% from the floor (12- for-45) and an uncharacteristic 25% from the three-point line (4-for-16). If the Spurs had any hope of overcoming the Lakers in this series, it rimmed out faster than a Terry Porter three-pointer.