There are two facts to consider here. If Barry Bonds really has been juiced all this time — what are his options? To keep doing it until he gets caught? To suddenly stop and turn back into your average 40-year old ballplayer and never get to pass Hank Aaron’s record?
Or is a third one more appealing? To ‘have’ to retire due to the bad knee, or the ‘malicious’ media coverage. To pass up the chance at Aaron’s record (and, oh by the way, to pass up ever having to be tested for steroids again) and go out in a blaze of martyrdom?
Some of Bonds’ other remarks in Scottsdale suggested as much. “You wanted me to jump off the bridge,” he said to no one in particular, “and I finally jumped. You wanted to bring me down and you have brought me and my family down. You have finally done it, all of you. So now, go pick on a different person. I am done.”
There is one other option here, a little less melodramatic, but even more conspiratorial. It should be noted that under the new steroid-testing program, a player on baseball’s disabled list — say, a guy rehabilitating a knee injury — is not required to be tested for the drug use. If, say, a particular player had been using steroids all these years and needed to let the steroids clear out of his system, the absolute best place for him to be right now — would be on a pair of crutches.