Afternoon Baseball

We shouldn't be surprised. All that testimony, all the searching, it was bound to come out eventually. The SF Chronicle has always been able to get the reporting that no one else could -- even grand-jury records that were supposedly confidential.
The tricep tear in 1999? Makes sense. The jealousy of McGwire and Sosa? Makes sense. Mark off point by point the case against Bonds, and it all makes sense. But the concrete proof has always been lacking. Maybe that is still the case. And we forget that Bonds is the consumate professional on the field, as well as a player whose knowledge of the game -- and of his own capabilities -- surpasses most that have ever played.
But there is no doubt that Barry Bonds and steroids are as much a story as ever. A story that can't, shouldn't, and hopefully won't be ignored.
On the parody end,
The Onion has a brief, fairly funny article. Sports Pickle reports Bonds' regret that his personal website was scooped by SI. They also have a blast from the past on Bonds' uniform number being replaced with an asterisk.

The implications for baseball are even greater than they are for Bonds if all this is true. It'll reveal itself even in obscure things, such as why Derrek Lee's 2005 was so dominant. (Scroll to the part where it lists the players since 1980 who have led a league in batting, slugging, OPS, OPS+ and runs, and take out Bonds.)

Bonds will still have his defenders -- as he should, particularly until all this gets sorted out. But there's no reason to not continue hammering away at this case or trying to dig up facts. The media, especially at the Chronicle, has done a job that those on the news side of operations should be trying to emulate.
Bonds, for his part, should just focus on getting healthy and playing (i.e. ESPN reality show = stupid). That's the only way he'll be able to win back the hearts and minds of men.