ESPN Bonds Chroniclers About To Be Released Into The Wild

We would say our long national nightmare is almost over, but we have a feeling the nightmare was only in our heads all along.

It appears that next week's airing of "Bonds On Bonds" will, in fact, be the final installment. The producers insist that they've told all the story they need to tell — they were contracted to do 10 hours of programming, but they'll be stopping at 5 1/2 — and that it has nothing to do with the show's ratings, which were actually worse than "Quite Frankly"'s.

It's not just that, either: It looks like ESPN's Pedro Gomez will be allowed to rejoin humanity once Bonds hits his next homer too. (We fully expect him to sign off his last report with "Good night, and good luck.") This story has been going on for so long, that the inevitable "Hey, Barry's not so bad!" stories are coming back around. It's like a school dance that has to stay running until 11 p.m., even though all the kids left at 9:30. But the parents and teachers still have to stay.

With one homer, it can all end, and we can all go back to our lives. And it looks like Bonds is sitting out today. Sheesh.

Bonds On Bonds Going Off The Air [MLB.com] More Agony Than Ectasy In Bonds Chase [San Jose Mercury News] Chasing Barry [MediaBistro]