I'll admit from the start I liked it, thought it was a novel idea to perhaps even ####e up the long and arduous baseball season. Now however it needs to end, because other than a few geographical rivalries which bring in big box office numbers, there's really no point to it anymore.

It is only May and some teams in both the American and National League are already done with each other for the rest of the year. How crazy is that? Or that fact that some divisional rivals won't play until late July, long after they've already played multiple teams from the other league. Additionally I also believe that the schedules of teams playing within the same division should be hacked from 18-19 games down to 13-15 games.

Even those big rivalries have been over saturated with the Yankees-Mets, Dodgers-Angels, White Sox-Cubs, A's-Giants playing against one another six times. Heck that's only one less game than those teams play against some opponents in their own league!

On a few other notes of why this idea has lost its spark: 1.) The games are on virtually everywhere all the time, one can simply order MLB Extra Innings and watch any team, any player any time. That is also another reason why the popularity and viewership of the All-Star game has dropped over the last decade or so. 2.) With free agency players switch teams and leagues and cities practically all the time. 3.) For every good rivalry there's always a Houston-Minnesota series.

Maybe it doesn't have to be completely abolished but it would heap a great deal to mix it up a bit.

The so-called "Mitchell Report" is about to explode, just like Barry Bonds' head presumably will when he rolls out of bed one day and lets out a big sneeze.  But how will you feel, how will you rationalize everything when it comes out that your favorite player or your favorite team was aided by steroids?  Or on the flipside your team was beaten in an important game and screwed over by a steroid user?  In any event some will care, some will be shocked, some will disappointed, some will rationalize and make excuses and others will say oh wow and oh well and simply move on and keep watching  the sport.

My take, the media cares about this story way more than the fans do and the attendance figures over the last four years which keep rising prove it as such.  Fans were much more upset with baseball after the 1994-95 strike than they have been with this steroid epidemic.  That having been said, fans are still very protective when it comes to the integrity of records ala, Hank Aaron and Roger Maris.

I believe that this stems from the fact that like a poorly officiated game in which your team gets screwed over, you're still resigned to the fact that you can't get it back.  Sure you can put your own black mark on it and the league can apologize and admit it messed up, but what happened, happened and unless there's an immediate correction then why care about it if the league doesn't care to do anything, because really you the fan can't do anything, except not show up and really when has that ever happened except for post-strike circa 1994-95?

Some fans when their favorite player comes up or an important star on their team is listed will simply say they don't care.  Now part of that stems from an attitude that says well yeah it's wrong but everybody is tainted at this point or has been at some point and it's far too ambigious to know for sure how much of an effect or advantage this has given to certain teams and players.  Additionally those same fans must realize that not caring all-together means you're cool with Barry Bonds as the all-time HR king or say for instance of speculation's sake, Roger Clemens as the best pitcher of this generation.

On one side you'll have Yankees fans screaming at Red Sox fans about what was injected by trainers into Curt Schilling's leg that allowed to let him pitch in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS and just how did David Ortiz go from platoon player in Minnesota to overnight Fenway sensation?  Then you'll certainly have Red Sox fans countering back at Yankees fans about Jason Giambi's two HR's in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and Roger Clemens who shut them down in Game 3 of the ALCS in 2003 as well.  How might another nation besides this one and the one in Boston, Mass. react in Japan if and when Hideki Matsui's name crops up.  You'll have Mets and Giants fans wondering if back in 1998 if they and not Sammy Sosa's Cubs should've made the playoffs as the NL Wild Card, or those agruments become quickly irrelevant when suddenly it surfaces that Barry Bonds and Mike Piazza were also implicated.

If nothing else fans finally know what's going on, even if they don't know all of what's going on.  They know it and it stinks, like a poorly umpired game where their team gets hosed and they're left with nothing but empty apologies like we're sorry you didn't like our calls and the fans gripe but proceed to move on.  Gee it's no wonder baseball doesn't want to implement instant replay, they might get caught with their pants down.  Too late for that! 

The whole thing was phony.  Sadly, Barry Bonds hitting 756 wasn't even the worst of it.  From ESPN, to ballplayers past and present, to fans, every single one of them completely wussed out.  They all played nice, while Barry played them for fools.

I for one cannot believe with all of the concerted effort to try and rid the sport of this disaster that this event came off as cleanly as when we were all naive enough to believe what Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were doing back in 1998 was legit.  The nerve of those who called upon the game to be sanitized to come out and support Bonds was almost as disgraceful as those who stood by and heaped praise as if it were 1998.

From now on I don't want to hear ESPN or anyone else who participated in this charade bashing or crucifying MLB for steroid problems or policies in the future, they have forefeited that right.  Nor do I want to hear from Hank Aaron or Frank Robinson on this issue, after F. Robby came out complaining about losing his 4th spot on the all-time homer list to tainted sluggers and showed up for Bonds and Hammerin' Hank for months said he wanted nothing to do with this, donates his face time on the scoreboard video thus giving credibility to Bonds and praise to the achievement.

Then players of the present or recent past have nothing negative to say.  Not even just nothing to say but nothing negative and everything positive.  It is absurd, it is ridiculous it is quite comical and utterly sad.  

As the headline on the front of the NY Post read today about Barry Bonds, "Big ####" indeed.