And so, with today being the last home game of the season, this will be the last chance for Barry and his fans to bask in each other's adulations. But over here at SFist HQ (located in some South of Market sweat shop conveniently located close enough to Tres Agave to be easily be bribed with margaritas by Brock whenever he wants us to post), there will be no adulation from us. We will be giving no tribute.

While the reaction online seems to be sort of tearful and the Chron and the Giants are throwing down big tributes (even a limerick contest) in regards to Barry Lamar, we have to say good-bye and good riddance. Which isn't to say we didn't thrill at his home runs or cheer for the man or even root for him, we just mean were pretty much over him and we've made our peace with it.

It's like our relationship with "Buffy." We loved, loved "Buffy." But the fifth season was wildly uneven and the sixth season was more interesting than entertaining. The seventh season, however, was a complete and total mess, like everyone involved in the show spent half the season looking around for other jobs rather than work on the show. By the time the show ended, we were kind of sad and we still kind of miss having it on Tuesday nights, but we were okay with it ending when it did. It just wasn't good anymore. And that's how we feel about Barry, it's been fun and we'll kind of miss him but the last few years have kind of gotten us to the point where we're okay with it all ending. Unlike "Buffy", however, we don’t have any Barry Bonds action figures.

Yeah, we've been all over the map and then back over that when it comes to his Barryness. We also have to admit that some of this isn't his fault. The Giants have been everywhere from mediocre to God-awful these past four years and since we haven't been as into the team as we were before, we haven't as been into the players. The cold, hard truth is the Giants are just getting rid of somebody who was a component of a bad team. And in a way, he's the reason for their descent into bad-dom as the modus operandi of the franchise has been to build around him.

But there's also an awful lot of stuff that was his fault. If there is anything that should prove just what kind of Barry is, deep-down, and just how much he cares about his fans, his teams, his reputation, his everything, just look at what happened last night. It's been reported that Bochy wanted to use him as a pinch-hitter last night in the ninth, you know-- excite the home fans, possibly win the game, give Barry another chance to bask in the adulation-- but he had already gotten into his dress clothes and couldn't play. Which just shows that in reality, he doesn't care about his team; he doesn't care about management; and he doesn't care about you (us), the fans. And right there is the Barry Bonds Experience in a nutshell: we may care about him, but he just doesn't care about you. Or anyone for that matter. Just him. All of that stuff he’s said and will say about the fans, the city, and the team is just one more in a long line of B.S. the Barry has hurled into the world. Tonight’s extravaganza will be based on a lie.

And that's why we bid him au revior. All those negative vibes that comes with him just finally got to us. We got tired of defending him, not just to others, but also to ourselves. We know that if he played for any other team, we'd hate him with a passion. But he plays for our team, so we can't, and so we’ve make excuses and rationalizations and lived in the land of denial. After years of living there, we begged out. Yes, he still has a lot of defenders out there (KNBR this morning was really lively this morning) but at this point, the relationship is entirely on the dysfunctional, Dr. Phil side of things. In terms of relationships, we are Britney and K-Fed and who is Britney and who is K Fed we have no idea. No wait, that's not very appealing. How's about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton? Or Jeremy Piven and whomever he happens to be dating at that time?

You get the point.

So there we have it. Good-bye, Barry. Don't let the bullpen door hit you on the way out.