Going, going, gone goodbye...

The 2006 baseball season is here and we've already got ourselves a hearty scandal. Barry Bonds, the sulky superstar who broke Mark McGwire's single season home run record in 2001, is the focus of a new book alleging that lots and lots of questionable phramaceuticals went into big Barry's body beginning in 1998, with some interesting side effects:

NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Beginning in 1998 with injections in his buttocks of Winstrol, a powerful steroid, Barry Bonds took a wide array of performance-enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated as the years went on, according to Game of Shadows, a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the forefront of reporting on the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.

Do we have a "going, going gone goodbye" scenario, or will this devolve to racial namecalling with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton attempting to defend the use of steroids on Hannity and Colmes? Hard to tell, but one thing is certain--Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa best call their lawyers and get their statements prepared, cause its gonna be another spring of hounding for them, too. If they did what Bonds did, they deserve it.

As to Barry, he's still innocent and technically doesn't have to answer the allegations. He could pull a McGwire and refuse to answer, but the difference is he's still playing, still in the public eye and is coming up on two all-time records that many people hold dear.

Speaking for myself, if he refuses to address this I might become physically ill the days he breaks the Ruth and Aaron records. Another vomitous thought--we could have a scenario where several home run record holders don't make the Hall of Fame if action is taken later.

Bombshell stories like this one usually cause someone to remark, "the s--t has hit the fan". Rarely do you find a more literal meaning.