From a marketing standpoint, it's great for baseball. Barry gives the games legitimacy they might not have gotten if say, the biggest guy on the U.S.A team is Mark Grudzielanek. It'll also make it less likely that some poor, starving third-world country, will beat the U.S. We hate when that happens. But, of course, in all things Barry, the big question is what's in it for us, Giants fans, and what's in it for him. For that's where things get interesting.

For us Giants fans what this will mean is that every time Barry bats, we'll all have to hold our breath hoping he doesn't destroy his knees. The good news is that he'll DH, which means less wear and tear, and he'll also be facing real live pitching, good pitching, instead of some kid right out of Double A ball. That could mean sharper Barry.

But why would Barry be doing such a thing? After all, nobody quite associates Barry with self-sacrificing for the good of well, anyone. Which is probably reason #1 why he's doing it. Nothing like a little wrapping yourself around the flag to bring the good P.R. Also, it'll mean that the ultra-competitive, ultra-serious, ultra-training camp hating Bonds will be able to use the World Cup as his automatic "Get Out of Training Camp Free" card.

And then there's the fact that the World Cup will have super-serious drug policies, policies right out of the World Anti-Doping Agency. If he passes the piss test and continues on hitting homers every time he's not intentionally walked, how could anyone say his home run barrage is entirely because of better living through chemistry and not his God given talent?

Either way, U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!