Barry Bonds Just Won't Leave Us Alone

The Barry Bonds Big-Top Denial Circus made another stop on Thursday; and let me just say at the outset, that's entertainment. In case you heard it on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann yesterday and are confused, let me translate: Barry says he never took steroids, and if the Hall of Fame accepts his record-breaking home run ball that has an asterisk printed on it, he will not attend his own induction ceremony. At least I'm pretty sure that's what he said.

In interview situations, Bonds speaks like Cosmo Kramer enters a room. Be sure to duck as non-sequiters fly everywhere. He will also lapse into the third person without warning, and contradict himself more than once. There will also be jokes that only he finds funny. Oh, and this time he's interviewed by Jim Gray! Fun for the entire family. The highlight from Mr. Bonds:

"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

Bonds also said "I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never." So does that mean he doesn't expect to get voted in? Or, if voted in, he won't go into the building? Or perhaps he doesn't want to be included in the voting? Even Gray seemed confused, following each Bonds answer with: "So Barry, are you saying that ..."

Countdown to an armed Barry raiding a Vegas motel room to retrieve his stolen memorabilia: about three years.

Bonds Would Boycott Hall Of Fame Over Asterisk [MSNBC]