Bonds, steroids and the home run record

I want Barry Lamar Bonds to break Henry Louis Aaron's home run record.

And I want us all to take a long hard look in the mirror when he does.

Bonds is not the villain here, although MLB wants him to be. What he is is a symptom of the willingness of MLB, fans, managers and the media to turn a blind eye to the growing use of steroids in the 1990s. We are the villains, you, me, all of us. We ignored the growing evidence of steroid use in the quest for thrills and home runs. We welcomed Maguire and Sosa into our hearts in 1998. We loved and cherished every moment of their epic (yes, still epic) duel. Like a spouse who doesn't want to believe he or she is being cheated on, we chose to look the other way and pretend that God was in heaven and all was well on Earth.

But now the ugly truth is out in the open and those of us who are culpable have no desire to point the finger at ourselves. We feel cheated, even though we were cheating ourselves. We'd rather make Bonds, someone almost universally disliked, the scapegoat. Especially if he is about to break one of baseball's most cherished records. Perhaps if we shout loud enough, we will drown out the voices in our heads.

Isn't it strange that Bonds, who has yet to fail a drug test, is condemned while someone like Shawn Merriman (yes, he is an NFL player but the example still stands), who actually tested positive for steroids, is welcomed back into the fold with open arms? Stranger still, is the refusal to acknowledge that pitchers could well have been taking steroids too. Besides, if taking steroids is such a travesty, shouldn't one positive test end a career?

So when Bonds passes Aaron sometimes in the summer of 2007, I will celebrate. I will celebrate because this is what we wanted all those years ago, when we made our Faustian bargain. I will celebrate because maybe, just maybe, Bonds eclipsing Aaron will force us to take stock of what really happened. And then, maybe, we can all begin to move on.