Cupid's arrow has struck. Problem is, the arrow hit only one person.

Barry Bonds.

When Bonds set the single-season home run record with 73 last season, no one really got excited. Not the fans, not the other teams, not even his own teammates.

Check that. Especially not his own teammates.

So why all the hoopla when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa battled to break the record set by Roger Maris but not for Bonds.

Okay, the mark of 70 was already established by McGwire. And Bonds wasn't battling anyone. He was on a solo mission.

Hold it right there. The key word here is solo.

Bonds has flown solo all his career. When he won his first MVP award in Pittsburgh, he went off on his own workouts the next spring training. That didn't sit well with the old-school thinking of coach Bill Virdon, a small but wiry man in his 60s.

Virdon was running sprints with the players when he said something to Bonds about being a prima dona as they passed. Bonds told the "old man" what he could do. Despite his age, Virdon promptly turned and proceeded to "take Bonds out behind the woodshed."

When Bonds got the chance to leave Pittsburgh, he headed for San Francisco and a contract of $8 million plus a year at the time. So strapped for cash -- probably because he was in love with his own needs -- Bonds lobbied with the courts to lessen his child support payments.

(Hey, how come I didn't get a Father's Day gift this year?)

McGwire and Sosa are players with great class and a love for the fans as well as the game. They give something back to society. If Sosa makes a run at the record this season, you can bet the outpour of support will be en masse, especially from his teammates.

And that raises another question. Which teammate rooms with Bonds on the road? Answer: No one.

Bonds has his own suite. In fact, he has two. One for him and one for his clothes. But there's no truth to the rumor one closet is set aside just for his ear rings.

Bonds doesn't play cards with his teammates. He has his own trainer, a reclining massage chair, a big-screen TV that only he can view, and he rides a bus to the stadium that includes the broadcasters, trainers, and suck-up manager.

Bonds doesn't even eat the same clubhouse food as his teammates. There is a table of food for the players, and then Bonds has his own nutritionist bring in a separate spread for his personal consumption.

He even has his own public relations writer.

Two years ago Jeff Kent was in a battle with Bonds for the MVP award. Bonds had one of his gophers call the commissioner's office to see if Barry had won. His concern was to either get out of town if Kent won or hang around and talk to the media if he won.

Bonds had to wait until the season was over. Kent won and Bonds skipped town without so much as a congratulatory note shoved in his teammate's locker.

"(Bonds) doesn't answer questions. He palms everybody off on us, so we have to do his talking for him. But you get used to it," Kent said last season about his teammate.

"Barry does a lot of questionable things. But you get used to it. Sometimes it rubs the younger guys the wrong way, and sometimes it rubs the veterans the wrong way. You just hope he shows up for the game and performs. I've learned not to worry about it or think about it or analyze it. I was raised to be a team guy, and I am, but Barry's Barry. It took me two years to learn to live with it, but I learned."

Or did he.

Last week's scuffle between Bonds and Kent wasn't just because of Bonds attitude of "There is an 'I' in the word team" philosophy. Bonds fails to run out ground balls or fly balls. When he hit his 500th career home run the only person out of the dugout to congratulate him was the team's bat girl.

"On the field, we're fine," said Kent, "but off the field, I don't care about Barry and Barry doesn't care about me. [Pause.] Or anybody else."

Now Bonds is approaching 600 career home runs. The players may be ordered out of the dugout to congratulate him when he achieves the milestone.

But if you see any arrows headed in Bonds' direction, they won't be from Cupid.

Jim Walker is sports editor of The Ironton Tribune. Jim Walker/The Ironton Tribune