Don't Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out

ESPN.com - MLB - Bonds: Im not playing baseball anymore after this

Barry Bonds is preparing to enter spring training for his 21st -- and, he says, final -- Major League Baseball season. The Giants slugger, who is 47 home runs shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record, told USA Today on Sunday he plans to retire after this season -- with or without the home run record.

"I'm not playing baseball anymore after this," Bonds told the paper in a telephone interview from his California home. "The game [isn't] fun anymore. I'm tired of all of the crap going on. I want to play this year out, hopefully win, and once the season is over, go home and be with my family. Maybe then everybody can just forget about me."

Don't let the cheerful disposition fool you, Barry Bonds is a notoriously bad guy in sports. I remember reading an article in the National Enquirer years ago (so you know it must be true!) about how when Bing Crosby died, his youngest son Lindsay was playing tennis when he was informed of his father's death, whom he had had a very poor relationship with to say the least. According to the article he stopped playing and stood there for a second then continued on with the game without saying a word. As a baseball fan, that's basically my reaction to hearing of Barry Bonds's retirement plans...but without the pause.