Bonds' shadow

Major League Baseball is here again. In a few months, some of the cellar dwellers will once again resign themselves to finishing 30 games out of first place, but for now, every team is filled with hope. Even the Brewers and Tigers have gotten off to great starts (which may change by the time this makes print). But this season, the main story is Barry Bonds. Everything else falls under his unnaturally large shadow.\nUnless you've spent the past decade screaming with your fingers plugged firmly in your ears, you might know a little bit about Bonds. He currently has 708 career HR's, placing him third on the all-time list. He only needs six more to tie Babe Ruth, and 41 more to tie Hank Aaron for the record of 755.\nThis by itself is pretty interesting, but it's not the reason most people care. Bonds is also implicated in an illegal steroid-use scandal.\nThe case against him was originally guilt by association. His trainer for several years, Greg Anderson, was indicted in 2003 for supplying athletes with steroids, and people wondered if Bonds was one such athlete. The fact that his body had recently become huge instead of what was once a skinny frame was a pretty strong suggestion.\nThen came "Game of Shadows." Last month Sports Illustrated published an excerpt from this book in which two San Francisco Chronicle reporters indicate that Bonds used an aggressive regimen of steroids and other performance enhancers. They also speculate that his motives were fueled by a jealousy of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and the massive attention they received when they broke Roger Maris' single season home run record in 1998.\nBaseball's fans and league officials were slow to recognize the steroids problem and do something about it, but that has finally changed. After pressure from Congress, Commissioner Bud Selig instituted an extremely harsh policy implementing random steroid testing and long suspensions for violators. And fans finally seem to be outraged (one threw a syringe onto the field when Bonds came up to bat.)\nCount me among the outraged, but something doesn't feel quite right. Bonds might be a monster, but we had a hand in creating him. By "we" I refer to fans, such as myself, who went crazy for the home run explosion of the late '90s, including McGwire's and Sosa's historic seasons in which they both broke Maris' record. It was easy for MLB to turn a blind eye to mounting suspicions when fans were willingly giving enthusiasm, attendance, and dollars for the display of power. Of course the guy who used the needle bears more responsibility than fans, but we at least need to acknowledge our role. Only then can we help return to game to the way it ought to be.\nBonds may well break the all-time record, and that's too bad. But I take solace in believing that we won't have to wait too long for a player, like Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez, to break the record cleanly. And the day one of them breaks Bonds' records will be a day to rejoice.