The Return Of Barry Bonds

Baroid Turns Old Before Our Eyes

So, Barry Bonds is back. Roaming leftfield again for the Giants. The savior who will rescue a team admitedly embarrassed to call itself a contender.

What is Baroid Bonds going to do to help the Giants? He hasn't seen live pitching for nearly one year. He hasn't run the bases in a competitive game for the same amount of time, but more importantly, he hasn't played baseball without being juiced for, maybe, six years.

The very idea that Bonds will emerge from the Giants' dugout, like a felonious Roy Hobbs and single-handedly raise the collective team to the division lead is a fairy tale. For those types of stories, you'll have to rent the fantasies that are contained in the Giants' 2001 and 2002 highlight films. The chapter about the once svelte superstar whose strength and eyesight amazingly improves as he grows older could only be enjoyed by the Brothers Grimm.

Is there a point to having Bonds return with only three weeks left? Is it because the Giants management continues to be completely deluded in the fact that this team is not a contender and hasn't been one since April?

San Francisco is seven games behind the barely .500 San Diego Padres, whom they play starting tonight. The problem is, they've been seven games out for a month and a half with no movement and now Bonds is going to help?

The next three weeks will go far in casting the fate of Bonds' legacy. Most likely he reinjures himself or plays sparingly because of doubts on his health. Interestingly, this might also be a dress rehearsal for an American League team. He had become laughable in the outfield before his injuries, can you imagine now? Or, this could just be the petulant and cocky Bonds sticking his head out of the ground as the BALCO storm has passed saying:

You didn't catch me!

Bonds is now what he should be. His career arc has now being corrected. If he had'nt stepped into the realm of performance-enhancing drugs, this is where his body would be at 41. Aching, artrithic, flabby and ready for a nap.

So, starting tonight, the questions will invariably be asked: Does he look slimmer? Can he score on a single from second? How will the fans react? That one is easy in San Francisco--they'll cheer and fawn over him and continue to be complicit in the rise of baseball's most reviled character.

Bonds wasn't caught by the rule of law, but the court of public opinion has him nabbed.