Bonds Pre-empts Novell's Big Night

When Novell invited a dozen VARs to Wednesday night's San Francisco Giants game, the vendor was hoping that the prospect of Barry Bonds making history would be the sort of deal-sweetener that nicely lubricates the standard luxury box meet-and-greet.

Unfortunately, Bonds had other ideas.

Bonds smashed his 756th career home run Tuesday night, breaking Hank Aaron's longstanding Major League record. In the process, the controversial slugger ended months of anticipation surrounding the chase, giving the remainder of the listless Giants' season less of the atmosphere of a party and more the feeling of cleaning up after one.

It's highly unlikely that Bonds will even play tonight. Following his record-tying game last week, he took the next game off. But if the chance to see history has evaporated, VARs invited to Novell's luxury box say they still plan to have fun.

"It would have been really great to see history made. [Bonds] may not play tonight. We can only hope," said Sekou Page, CEO of 25X7, a system integrator and consulting firm headquartered in San Jose, Calif.

"But I wasn't going necessarily just to see that. It's more just to get out and see the game. It's more of a networking thing. We don't currently work with Novell, but we're going to see what they have to offer."

Kedar Rajadnya said it was a disappointment that the home run chase ended a night early.

"Yeah, it is. Are you kidding me? Why did he have to do it yesterday? But it'll still be a pretty good event," said the vice president of business development at Genstor, another San Jose-based VAR.

With the home run chase and last month's All-Star Game festivities, San Francisco's AT&T Park has been a huge generator of corporate goodwill this season, and high-tech vendors in nearby Silicon Valley have cashed in as much as anyone. Now it's over and all that's left is a struggling ballclub that's old, unspectacular and 13-and-a-half games out of first place.

One imagines that Novell and other big vendors can't wait for football season.