October feeling different this year

April and October are our two favorite sports months of the year.
April means a college basketball champion being crowned, the beginning of the Major League Baseball season (when the words first place and Pittsburgh Pirates can legitimately be used in the same sentence) and the start of the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup Playoffs.
October has even more going for it: The National Football League season is a month old, college football hits midstride in its journey to New Year's Day, high school football approaches crunch time as playoff pressure grows, the NHL reopens and baseball celebrates its postseason.
This October is different. The fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. is still being felt across the country, as it should be.
The games go on, and they are a pleasant diversion from the reality of whatever military response looms.
But it doesn't feel the same.
Who cares? Take Barry Bonds' pursuit of Mark McGwire's record of 70 homers in the regular season. We know a lot of baseball fans care about every pitch Bonds faces. More could not care less.
It's impossible to measure how much less interest there is in Major League Baseball since the destruction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers three weeks ago.
So it's hard to say just how much more fans might have followed Bonds and his pursuit.
This much is certain: Unlike when McGwire and Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa won us over with charm as they broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old record in 1998, Bonds appears to be performing in isolation. The homers are flying out but few are watching with anticipation.
Part of the Bonds problem is because most of his games are played in the Pacific time zone, long after most Easterners have gone to bed.
The other factor is Bonds' personality, or lack thereof. One of the most talented all-around player of his generation, Bonds doesn't care if you like him or not. His satisfaction comes on payday when the Giants give a check with lots of zeroes and commas on it.
Bonds is happy not being a media favorite and not answering questions about the home-run chase.
To his credit, Bonds has been saying all the right things team players are supposed to say about a pennant race (winning is the only thing, postseason success is all I crave, blah blah blah).
But unless the Giants win their remaining five games, baseball's postseason will begin Tuesday minus Bonds.
Most fans could not care less.
Coca Cola Cal: Have you seen Cal Ripken's fabulous Coca-Cola commercial? The Baltimore Orioles' retiring superstar stands on the empty Camden Yards field reminiscing over his long career. Then his daughter asks him if he's ready to leave.
Can you imagine any corporation creating a feel-good commercial for Bonds?
Now that the Indians have clinched the American League Central Division title, this week's games feel like spring training redux.
That's strange in that the Indians could still overtake the AL East champion New York Yankees for second-best division winning record and home-field advantage in next week's playoffs.
But the Indians appear content to settle for third among the division winners, rest up their stars and get ready for a road trip to Seattle to face the Mariners in the best-of-five series.
Cleveland's strategy makes some sense: The Yankees have a magic number of three (New York wins and Cleveland losses) to clinch an opening date with the wild-card Oakland Athletics. New York would have to lose just about every remaining game for Cleveland to have a chance to overtake the Yankees.
Still, it feels funny that no one seems concerned about the benefits of making just one roundtrip cross-country journey if the series goes to five games.
It just doesn't feel quite the same.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.