756*

To me, this is a sad day for baseball...not because it's Barry Bonds who's broken one of the game's most revered records. No, we knew that was going to happen eventually and Bonds is unquestionably a Hall-of-Famer. To me, the reason this is a sad day is because baseball and its fans are either grossly over-celebrating this achievement, or grossly under-celebrating it, and we may never know which is the case.

One of two things happened here. Either Barry Bonds did use illegal performance-enhancing drugs to enjoy freakish success in his late 30s and 40s and broke records he otherwise wouldn't have come close to breaking, or he didn't do anything wrong other than enjoying unprecedented late-career potency thanks to a rigorous workout regimen and a health-conscious diet. It's sad we don't have an answer to that yet.

Bonds insisted his record is "taint-free," again last night during a post-game press conference. I appreciate that, but with all due respect to Bonds, I'd like to hear high ranking baseball officials corroborate his story. And considering the fact that Bud Selig didn't even want his picture taken with Bonds, I wouldn't expect that any time soon. It's sad that every single story or discussion in the days and weeks to come will include the words "suspicion," "allegations," "knowingly," "cheat," "taint," "leaked grand jury testimony" and "steroids." It's sad because the game deserves better, and so does Bonds if he's actually clean.

It's sad that some people might try to turn this into a racial issue, which it simply is not. I bet you'll be able to find more Barry Bonds fans right now than Mark McGwire or Rafael Palmeiro fans, and probably more Hank Aaron fans than the other three combined.

And it's sad that some people are not celebrating this once-in-a-lifetime achievement with the same zeal as, say, Ripken's 2131, or McGwire's 62nd back before this whole mess started. That's not to say that I blame them, it's just sad that there's any doubt.