Baseball, despite everything you read and hear about Bonds, is not played for all-time or single-season records, it is played for championships. Yet I haven't heard anyone suggest that the A's return their 1989 World Championship trophy because Canseco admittedly and McGwire allegedly were dopers (Ms. Walsh, that would give your Giants their elusive World Championship; make this a crusade).

More to the point, if all the games involving Canseco, Ken Caminiti and Rafael Palmeiro for sure, and Bonds, McGwire, Jason Giambi, Sammy Sosa, and a legion of other suspects were played under false pretenses, false enough that they need "investigation", where do I line up to get my refund?

Last year, I attended the game where Rafael Palmeiro got his 3000th hit at Safeco Field in Seattle. Both the Mariners and Orioles sucked that season, yet there was a larger than usual crowd out there, in case he was going to make the mark. We now know that Major League Baseball knew at the time Palmeiro got that hit that he had flunked his drug test. Yet they trotted him out there, let the tickets get sold, let him smack his hit and stand there and interrupt the game (at an opposing team's stadium) and get mobbed by his teammates and all that crap, knowing it was just as false as a three dollar bill. I have the moment on video. Think it's worth anything now?

The owners are not just complicit in all this; they take no responsibility and pocket the cash.

The words of hate I hear towards Barry Bonds -- by otherwise mature and intelligent people -- are astonishing. No human being who hasn't murdered anyone in cold blood deserves this kind of venom.

And now, the Mitchell investigation erupts in unison with two other things:

a) The retirement of most of the 90's power hitters.

b) Bonds' run at Ruth and Aaron.

The man is left holding the bag. He's remarkably unpopular, he's black, he's still in the batter's box, and his talent puts him in a position where his accomplishments mean something beyond winning and losing a ball game. They have cultural overtones. In some ways -- and I apologize if this comparison is over the top -- it reminds me of Jesse Owens beating a field of white sprinters in front of Der Fuhrer.

True, Henry Aaron took the real heat back in the 70's for surpassing Ruth, but he was a man that most white males who grew up during the depression could at least respect. He was a man's man. He just shut up and did his job.

But Barry has a different chip on his shoulder, one that very few people can relate to. His father was a well known professional athlete who made a lot of money and accomplished more than most who played the game of baseball. And yet he was perceived as a failure because he didn't live up to the hype...hype generated BY THE SPORTING PRESS. Not once in his career did Bobby Bonds take the public stage and proclaim he was the next Willie Mays. This was crap foisted upon him BY THE SPORTING PRESS. It's what contributed to the ruination of his life as a professional athlete.

Gee, do you think Barry Bonds might have a problem with THE SPORTING PRESS?

There was no honeymoon period in Bond's career. He came out of the gate hating the idiots who asked the stupid question and tapped out the ignorant drivel that so many millions believed. And they responded by nailing him to the wall at each and every turn. Ted Williams and Steve Carlton, both notoriously rude players to the press, got a free ride in comparison.

The comment that has been made a thousand times seems obvious, but it bears repeating: If steroids lead to enhanced performance on the baseball diamond, then why aren't the bull pens and batting cages filled with Mr. Universes? And why are the best players from the pre-steroid era still the best players during the juice-era? And why aren't players presumably not juiced held in higher regard in today's climate? Why aren't we bowing at Ken Griffey Jr.'s feet while we shovel the dirt for Bary Bond's symbolic grave?

Why? Because "getting Bonds" is the prime motivation for all of this. It's simple...if Barry was retired, there would be no investigation.

The term "steroid era" has become the dark-cloud catchphrase of our time, with the asterisk being a hate-filled symbolic image. How convenient that we have something to finally blot out the era in baseball that was really tainted...the one that ended in 1947.

I'd written myself several months ago that my status as a Barry Bonds fan helped me to understand just why so many people don't want to see anything wrong with President Bush even when the evidence is clear. With each revelation out of Balco, the evidence got more damning, but I found that I just enjoyed rooting for Barry to break more records.

I still find it odd that people still treat Gaylord Perry as something of a baseball folk hero, but want to punish Barry Bonds for breaking rules that didn't exist at the time or clearly were tolerated by his sport.

Even now, I tell myself that the guy did it just because he was such an intense competitor.

As another female/feminist/SF Barry fan I was glad to see so many of my conflicted feelings put into words. I've tried not to defend Barry since the book came out, cause let's face it..he looks pretty damn guilty. But I really want to scream at all the Barry haters about how this has been going on a long time, and how could anyone not notice that McGwire had bigger forearms than Popeye? We baseball fans are all to blame- most especially Selig, and Magowan.

I just finished watching the Giants opener and still found myself rooting for Barry. He has given me tons of enjoyment over the years and nobody can take that away.

Here's to another great baseball season!

Katie Pickett