No Barry?

In an impromptu press conference called for whatever reason, a crutch weilding Barry Bonds told the assembled media that he might not play until the mid-point of the season. Or maybe not play for the entire season. Or maybe not play ever. As in never, ever, ever, again. Looks like we picked a bad time to stop sniffing glue.

The reasons for the Barrisimo’s announcement is his knees. Since last season, he’s had two knee operations, which is hard enough on anyone, let alone someone whose 40 years old. And then there’s what we euphemistically like to call "everything else." You know it’s going to be a long year when your alleged ex-mistress is called to testify before the Grand Jury. Says Barry: "You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did. You finally brought me and my family down. ... So now go pick a different person."

Before everyone gets too panicked and does something crazy, like call an emergency session of congress, remember that Barry himself said not to believe everything he says to the press. And if we had to go through two knee surgeries back-to-back like that, we’d be pretty grumpy too. Then there's the fact that the Man himself (Peter Gammons) writes that the Giants still look pretty formidable even without Barry. Of course, he wrote that when it was looking like Barry was going to be out for a month, not for a lot of months.

As to who will replace Barry if he indeed goes down? Well, as for right now, all we can say is Vote Pedro.