It sucks that the holier-than-thou crowd is going to have its day. It really does. There is no player I have enjoyed watching more than Barry Bonds and I don’t feel betrayed in any way by his admission. I do feel awfully sad though. Those that have, unsighted, mercilessly ripped Bonds for everything short of kicking the Philly Phanatic in the shin are going to always be able to claim they were right. I bet Rick Reilly is writing as we speak, happy as a pig in shit.

And man I hope Barry happens to stumble across this passage by John Perricone over at Only Baseball Matters. Sums up just about everything I am feeling right now. Keep it clean, full disclosure and then kick ass anyhow.

“What I can do is offer a suggestion to him and his management team. Take the Pepsi Challenge. Make this season a BS free season, nothing behind closed doors, everything open and subject to review and comment. All supplements, protein shakes, everything. Let reporters come to your workouts, let them see what you eat, rub on, whatever. Show it all, to everyone. And then go out and win your fifth MVP in a row, pass Ruth, pass Aaron. Play 140 games at 41 years old, win your third batting title, hell, hit .400! Show us that it’s still you, that it’s been you and your talent all along.
It will, of course, do nothing to silence all of your detractors; who will always have the satisfaction of knowing that they were right, in the end; that Bonds is a cheat. But for your fans, for those of us who have defended you blindly, defended your right to be innocent before proven guilty, who have defended you as a superstar who has never been pulled over for a DUI, or busted for doing blow, or beaten your wife, or been drunk at an awards show. Defended you as a star who did his job and went home, for those of us who will never hear the end of it, do it for us. Give us something to hang our hats on. What have you gotto lose?”

John J. Perricone, the pro-Bonds crowd’s poet laureate.

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