The Clear, The Cream and The Ugly

San Francisco Giant outfielder Barry Bonds has a blog. It's a diary of his daily life, boring and insipid from the sound of it:

• I watched the game, then took in the fireworks with my daughter and wife.



• I started the day off with a nice big breakfast.



• Keith, my chef, and I played a few games of chess.

Unsurprisingly, Bonds posts plenty about current medical woes:

• I'm starting to ice my knee now. The antibiotics still have me feeling a little tired, but overall things are fine. I'm also starting to walk with one crutch today. Dr. Ting has been coming over everyday to monitor me and look at my knee. According to him, I'm healing nicely.



• Rested a little, then I did some range of motion with my right leg. Afterwards we placed an ice pack on it.



• My fans can see that the Giants organization, Dr. Ting and I are clearly focused on my health first. My antibiotic treatment is coming along great and my symptoms are going away. Like any prescription, you have to take it for the length of time the doctor prescribes for you.

Though not a doctor, I'm confident Bonds will be on the DL long enough to flush-out any trace of steroids so he can return to baseball, albeit without his previous home run prowess.

After first admitting, then denying, steroid use, Bonds' still claims to love the game and the Giants: "sitting at home and seeing my team play is a tough one. All I want is to be on the field with my teammates and play the game that I grew up loving." Seems like only yesterday Bonds and then-Giant Jeff Kent auditioned for the pro wrestling circuit, a spat which drove Kent to Houston (and ultimately to Giants nemesis LA Dodgers). Now that's teamwork.

Bonds' recovery and return would be bad for baseball:

now that Bonds has acknowledged using a cream -- though he testified he didn't know it was a steroid -- there will be more questions about his late-career success, his records, his legacy. He is the best player in an era in which there have been steroid whispers about many stars.

I hope Bonds stays away. If he does return, only tough love will make MLB's attitude to steroids "the clear": Rip the number 25 off Bonds' back--and replace it with an asterisk.

(via reader Paul Powell)