His interest is in helping his fellow owners wring as much money out of MLB as possible. Period. Anything else is a nuisance to him. The only reason he's dithering over steroids is because he isn't sure yet what will cost more money: acknowledging the problem or ignoring it.

last week I heard it reported repeatedly that Bonds never admitted using steroids. this is false. He admitted using before the Balco grand jury. therefore there is no question that he had seroids in his system, which is the equivalent of a failed doping test. He has not admitted to knowingly using steroids, but i fail to see why that is relevant, since almost everyone who gets caught says they didn't know they were using, and why that would cause virtually the entire media to misreport this fact last week.

Having said that, everything King says here is spot on. Bonds cheated, but so did a lot of other guys and Selig let it happen. There is a lot of guilt to go around here.

He's not really a commissioner; he's a CEO whose job it is to maximize revenue. Complaining that he doesn't care about the integrity (or the future or the history) of the game of baseball is entirely beside the point, as it's not in his job description to care about these things. That's a shame, as baseball is the only sport I really care about. But there you go.

I smell a presidential reference. I'll pick up what you put down. Bud Selig is the same as a presidential candidate. They know what they think, but they have to keep it to themselves. They are forced to walk in lockstep with public opinion polls. Forced, by us mind you, to not rock the boat (remember Howard Dean?). I can’t blame Bud at all. You’ve painted two scenarios and, unfortunately, I would probably waffle just like Bud. You bet your ass he would be front and center if a natural product like Ken Griffey Jr. were breaking the record.

Oddly enough, the best take I’ve seen on this topic is Bill O’Reilly’s article in papers today. “There’s no question that Bonds used chemical enhancements to pump up his body and his batting statistics. Thus, there should be no celebration marking the occasion of Bonds passing Hank Aaron for hitting the most home runs in major-league history. The league should give Bonds the ball, let him take a bow – and that’s it.”

I think that’s a pretty good idea.

More O’Reilly, “the country really has to decide what the true national pastime really is: baseball or cheating.”

Sadly, we can’t decide for ourselves, so Bud’s planners can’t really feel the pulse of the fans.

Waffle away Bud, follow your heart, errr.. P.R. people.

I’ll tell you what will happen. Bud will be at Barry’s home games around record time, absent at away games. The booing should be catastrophic.

"The league should give Bonds the ball, let him take a bow – and that’s it."

Are they going to send some goons out to comfiscate it from the fan who catches it?

agreed 100%. Also, Selig also still is suffering from being Don Fehr's bitch at the bargaining table. Let's not let the players' union off the hook here while we're at it. Obviously, the collective will to address this problem in the face of the obvious box-office appeal it produced (hey ESPN/ Fox/Gannett, are you going to refund the ad revenue from the Sosa/McGwire chase?)

Try and do something about moronic baseball announcers.

I've heard this nonsense a couple of times in games I've watched over the last few days and I've been hearing it my whole life.

Example 1---Runner on second, two out. Pitcher picks off runner. Next batter singles......Announcer says the bad baserunning cost the team a run.

Example 2---Home team begins the 9th inning trailing 6-5. Visitors score a run in the top of the ninth to make it 7-5...... Someone hits a solo homer in the bottom of the 9th and the final is 7-6. Announcers say without that 7th run, the solo homer ties it and we would be in extra innings.

You cannot arbitrarily change one item in the game and pretend like everything after it would remain the same. It's PREPOSTEROUS.

And all announcers do it. Over and over and over and over.

runner on second, two outs, gets picked off. inning is over. you must be watching baseball on acid.

No King, the answers are:

Definitely Yes.

Of course not.

Not as many as the apologists like to pretend, and

Anyone win 30 games a year lately? Or even 25?

I love this debate, it cracks me up. You know, I go into the drugstore, and I buy "the vitamin" and "the soap" and "the juice" and "the aspiriin". There's no way I would look at the ingredients, or even the brand name. Yep. Just give me whatever ya got. Hey, if I end up showering with Comet cleanser, I just didn't know what was in the can. I mean, it's a cleaning product, right? Says so on the label.

These guys train religiously, in specific ways, to build up specific muscle groups to achieve specific effects (more quickness, lower body strength, whatever). They go to high-end performance centers run by high-end trainers. They have nutritionists. They train practically all year round. They watch their diets, carefully. They probably know more about their bodies and human health than anyone other than your doctor.

You're going to tell me that Bonds used "the cream" and "the clear" without knowing what it was? Or do you mean he just didn't ask so he could maintain plausible deniability? WTF? Is he Nixon or something? Just wink, okay, we don't want to get it on tape.

My friends, I've got some WMD in Iraq I want to sell you.

Absolutely frickin' hilarious. Tomorrow I will brush my teeth with Ajax. Unintentionally, of course.