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In the 5 days that have passed since Barry Bonds broke Babe Ruth's home run record for sole possession of second place on the all-time list I have done a lot of thinking. Consider this the reasons for the lack of posts. Sure, I could tell you about the fact that Coco made his return, that we put Mike Timlin and Wily Mo Peña on the DL, and the David Pauley was lucky he didn't give up more runs than he did in his first start, but Bonds' home run trumps all of that.

Let me start by saying that I don't like Barry Bonds.

I've done the reading and I've done the research. I've listened to Barry's asinine interviews and seen all the highlight comparisions to Ruth. Over the winter I found myself hating Bonds for no reason other than the fact that he was about to break a sacred record with sarilegious substances, found myself hoping he would get drilled in the knee or just decide to retire. He was volatile, emotional with fans and media alike, and the decline in his skills pointed to utter selfishness in the continuance of his play. What was there to like about him?

Nothing. But then again, there was really nothing for me to hate, either.

I had never spoken with Barry, I wasn't a Dodger or Yankee fan. Sure, the Ruth record is sacred, but things change. Can you imagine what the talk must have been like when Aaron challenged and then sprinted past The Babe? Yes, steroids were against the laws of the nation, and yes, I believe he used them. You can't read the literature and believe he didn't.

The thing is, Barry wasn't alone. This whole scandal has turned into a witch hunt, an attempt to unseat a man at the very top of the game of baseball. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa shattered Maris' record, and no one so much as batted an eye... until Barry and the Babe. Palmeiro broke 3,000 hits, but he was expelled from the game because of he turned on his teammates in an attempt to deflect blame. As a friend of mine said recently, "You can't put racing fuel into a Pinto and turn it into a hot rod." You've got to have the parts to begin with.

What Barry did was amoral, not immoral. We can say he's wrong, but according to whom? Purists? The Hall of Fame is filled with cheaters, drinkers, racists and men of similar ilk. Steroids, in the grand scheme of things, are probably not the worst thing to happen to the game. Add to that the fact that it has been speculated that a large percentage of pitchers used steroids themselves, and you have a playing field that begins to level out.

Barry was Hall-bound before he juiced, and in my opinion, as much as I may not like him as a person, he is on his way to Cooperstown even now. The game is changing and will continue to change. As fans we can either try and understand the full, multi-dimensional presence and impact of these changes, or we can stand tiptoed on our soapboxes and lament how the game "used to be."

Barry isn't the problem, he's the result.