Demagogue

A column by Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal sums up my feelings about baseball player Barry Bonds and his Hamletesque musings about retiring soon:

Barry Bonds once said, "I don't really believe half the (stuff) I say," so it's difficult to assess how serious he is about retiring after this season. And it's especially more difficult now that even Bonds is questioning his retirement talk.

But if Bonds is sincere — if the physical pain and media criticism and steroid accusations are all too much for him — then he should do himself a favor, and Major League Baseball a favor, too.
Quit right now.

If Bonds' right knee is still causing him significant discomfort, if he "can't even run that much anymore," as he told USA Today's Bob Nightengale, then he isn't going to be of much use to the Giants this season.

And if Bonds is fed up with the media and all their silly questions about substances that he used and the federal government alleges to be steroids, then the solution is very simple.

Get out.

Of course, if Bonds retired, he couldn't collect the $18 million he is guaranteed in the final year of his contract ...

Bonds said, "I've never cared about records, anyway," which is a hoot, considering what he said about passing Ruth at the 2003 All-Star break:

". . . the only number I care about is Babe Ruth's. Because as a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it. And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth is everything, right? I got his slugging percentage and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more."

... When Bonds talks, his quotes can be as biting as Eminem lyrics. Just don't expect much in the way of coherent thought.

Last September, Bonds said he wanted to lose 30 pounds. Now he says his inability to train prevented him from losing the weight, a reasonable explanation. His unreasonable postscript: "I'm just not a skinny person, dude. I'm not. I never will be."

Well, Barry, you once were . . . or maybe you're the only person in America who hasn't checked out the "Before" pictures from your days in a Pirates uniform.