I was a bit disappointed to read today that Giants slugger Barry Bonds may not finish the rest of the season:

“I’m tired of my kids crying. You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did,” Bonds told reporters Tuesday, shortly after returning to training camp. “You finally brought me and my family down. … So now go pick a different person.”

Bonds is on the brink of shattering both Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron’s home run records. The fact is, the media is not responsible for the hooplah surrounding Bonds, despite what he says. Stop hiding behind your kids, stop blaming the media. Admit what you did in the past, and move forward and prove you can hit home runs without steroids. This is the time to do it. Do it with a knee injury, and allow yourself to be a great athlete who was always an athlete, one who simply made some mistakes in the past. Don’t play the babe in the woods. Don’t find scapegoats. Don’t be the guy who took a lot of steroids and was a great player as a result.

Barry, you were in line to become the greatest baseball player of an entire generation, if not all time. Why would you let media coverage of steroid abuse in baseball allow you to cancel the most important season of your career if you have nothing to hide?

Personally, I would welcome media scrutiny if I stood accused of something I had not commited. I would use media coverage as my vehicle for proclaiming the truth. Unfortunately, the truth about Bonds is not so flattering. Baseball has taken an impotent stance on resolving the issue from the inside, and even a panel of congressmen firing questions at former sluggers about drug use ultimately didn’t produce much results.