The last good story

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Chris Jackson

Our President is in deep doo-doo, Russia is on the brink of collapse, North Korea is firing missiles at Japan and so on. There isn't a positive, uplifting story anywhere.

But upon closer inspection of the news, I found a story with a lot of good to it.

Up until recently, it had been relegated to the sports section, but in the past few days it has made the front page. Sports stories don't do that a lot, but this one has.

In case you haven't crawled out of your cave lately, Mark McGwire has been chasing down the single-season record for home runs.

He caught Roger Maris Monday afternoon with his 61st blast of the year, much to the joy of the 50,000 people in Busch Stadium and the millions more watching the game on ESPN.

As I write this column Tuesday morning, he may very well break the record before this newspaper goes to press.

But whether he does or not really doesn't matter. Mark McGwire has done something that I haven't seen anyone do in a long time.

He's given people hope. He's given them something to look forward to, to root for.

How many other players can inspire fans in other stadiums to give him a standing ovation while watching his game on the jumbo-tron?

Sure, in the grand scheme of things, baseball is just a game and won't change any of the world's problems, but in this current climate of despair, it's a refreshing change of pace.

It's good news, the kind that should be cherished and applauded.

People still need heroes, and with our elected leaders more concerned with themselves than the rest of us, it's nice to see a nice guy finish first.

McGwire isn't perfect. Someone could probably dissect him and find dozens of flaws. But everyone has those flaws. It's what makes us human. It's what makes him human.

A person can believe that McGwire could live next door, that he would be willing to talk to the common man, or to sign an autograph for a little kid while walking down the street.

There was something about how he came out of the dugout yesterday and saluted the Maris family, pointing to the sky above and then to his heart, that shows the respect the man has for the late Yankee great whose record he had matched.

There was something about how McGwire lifted up his 10-year-old son after hitting the home run, and later said that his son didn't say anything to him, but that the father could see all he needed to in his son's eyes.

There was something about how Sammy Sosa, the man who has been chasing McGwire all year, came up to him later in the game and embraced him and congratulated him. That's a show of sportsmanship that is all too often lacking in today's game.

McGwire is what sports are all about. They are about entertainment, an escape from the drudgery of everyday life. They are about inspiring us all to do something greater, to be someone greater.

So thank you, Mark, for giving us all something to look forward to and someone to look up to. We needed you in this time of despair. May your record stand forever.

Chris Jackson is a junior majoring in journalism who always gives a standing ovation whenever Big Mac hits one out. He can be reached via e-mail at Chris.Jackson@wildcat.arizona.edu.