Barry Bonds

Getting off to a good start is important in almost every facet of life.

In baseball, starting off the season on the right foot can set a team up for a nice run deep into the season.

The ability to collect a surplus of wins in April does wonders for losing streaks that a team may experience further down the long road that is the Major League Baseball season.

Like any team in the MLB, the San Francisco Giants have had their own ups and downs during the first month of baseball.

Dear Passionate Baseball Fans,

Okay. I'm going to say this point blank: Barry Bonds is the biggest cheater there ever was.

There you go.

Let's rewind.

Early in his career, Bonds was great. The skinny guy was ripping homers and stealing bases like crazy. He was one of the greatest in the game.

But has he came to San Francisco, he bulked up. As said in the book Game of Shadows, it prompted the question: "What the hell have you been doing?"

Steroids.

Drugs. Performance-enhancing drugs. That's what.

Listed below, are the points and counterpoints about if we should be as outraged about amphetamines as steroids:

Point: Yes, amphetamines are cheating just like steroids.

Counterpoint: No, steroids enhance performance while amphetamines enable performance. One makes you better while the other gets you on the field to play baseball.

P: Amphetamines do more than just get you on the field.

I am an "Old School" guy, and proud of it most of the time. In fact, I go so far back, I can recall when rainbows were still in black and white, and televisions were run by gas.

When it comes to selecting All-Anything teams, I always catch it from some (usually young) brainiac who tells me that I can't compare Pete Rose to Ty Cobb or Chase Utley to Nap LaJoie.

Then I am presented with comparisons beginning with lower case letters followed by all caps:  wRC, wOBA, tRA, etc., ad nauseam.

When you think of someone with bad vision you tend not to think of baseball players who hit .330 with 25 home runs. 

Pablo Sandoval may have not had terrible vision, the Panda is getting some brand new Oakleys to help him "see" the ball better. 

I know what you're thinking. 

A guy who hit .330 is getting glasses so he can see the ball better? Cue the Tim The Toolman Taylor soundbite please. 

Apparently Sandoval has been wearing his new specs when he was playing in the Venezuelan league this past off season and the numbers speak for themselves. 

The Associated Press has reported that Liz Watson, the estranged wife of former Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds, has filed for divorce.

Major League Baseball's reigning home run king has hung up his bat, glove, and creams. Although the MLB recognizes him as the record holder, I don't. Roger Maris still holds that record. Until someone off the juice breaks it, that's the "real" king. Sorry A-Rod, I wish it was different. It would have been you...

The agent for Barry Bonds —seen here in his current uniform and looking over his shoulder at the wreckage left in his wake—conceded today the playing days of the steroid-tainted slugger are over.

It would appear the fact every team has rebuffed the attempts of Jeff Borris to land Bonds on a Major League roster for the last two years has finally served to open his eyes and allow for reading the message not written, but chiseled, into the wall.

Baseball has no appetite for Barry Lamar Bonds.

Remember 1997? Spice Girls. Titanic. The Simpsons (back when it was still good). And Ken Griffey Jr.

Ok, so maybe Griffey wasn’t a pop culture icon like Baby Spice, Leo, or Homer J(ay), but he was the unquestioned king of baseball.

He hit home runs. He made great plays. He smiled. He had fun playing. We had fun watching.

Griffey was the type of superstar professional sports yearn for. Yes, he was a little cocky with his home run strut, but what star athlete isn’t?

Griffey had a presence.

Here's a little tidbit from the What Might Have Been Files, taken from a Glenn Dickey column in the San Francisco Chronicle of July 4, 1988. The headline: "Picture Giants With Bonds And Incaviglia":