Barry Bonds will never have a candy bar named after him. Too many people hate him. Too bad that most hate him without knowing who he is.

The ignorance of the majority of the haters was clarified for me last week when The Collegian published a Daryl Cagle cartoon.

I recoiled in horror at my first glimpse of the caricature. Not because the cartoon in question showed Barry Bonds hitting an asterisk out of the park, but because he was hitting it from the right side of the plate. He is left-handed.

That single cartoon epitomizes most observers' position on Bonds: They simply don't know enough about the guy to build a credible opinion.

Here is Barry Bonds: He was destined to be the best ballplayer of his era. His father was an All-Star for the Giants in the early 1970s. His godfather, Willie Mays, is arguably one of best players to ever swing a bat.

In his youth, they pressured him to be the best. How could greatness elude him?

He has won the NLMVP seven times, four times more than the next closest player. He became the second man to enter in the 40/40 club (forty home runs and forty stolen bases.) Undeniably, he has the best eye of any player ever (he holds the top three single season walks records). I could go on about his accomplishments, but because of the controversy, no one would listen. Before he started making baseballs land in McCovey Cove by the hundreds, he could have been considered one of the best ballplayers of all time. Now, it is impossible to imagine him as anything other than one of the very few elite. No one can argue that.

Simply put, Barry Bonds is the best ballplayer that most of us will ever see. That is Barry Bonds: The Player.

Barry Bonds, the controversy, however, is another animal all together.

According to his leaked grand jury testimony, the issue of whether he used what is thought to be "the clear" and "the cream" is hardly an issue. He described two substances that he used, known to him as flaxseed oil and a cream for his arthritis.

According to investigators, they resemble "the clear" and "the cream," two steroids manufactured by Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO). Apparently, he trusted his trainer.
Let's assume the worst possible: He used them. So what? While unlawful, it was not against the rules of the game (we all know that sports triumph government).

If steroids were that rampant in baseball, we have to assume that everyone was using them -- the pitchers Bonds faced, the batters he competed against, etc. Barry faced competition that was adjusted to his "unnatural" level.

Additionally, steroids don't hit home runs, magnificence does. I would venture that not just any sauce-head can go yard at will. If not for Barry's glorious swing, his intimidating presence in the batter's box and his peregrine falcon eye (far better than a lowly eagle's), he would have never had the chance for HR glory.

The real problem lies in the fact that the media hates him. As a whole, they have never given him a chance, take Cagle. Barry adores his privacy and refrains from giving the media too much to play with.

As a result, we never get to hear the whole story. And, there is more.

He isn't all bad. Once, in the summer of 1994, a young boy basked in the glory of the left field stands at old Candlestick Park in San Francisco. He held a banner for Barry Bonds. Barry waved.

The next spring, that same boy sent Barry Bonds a baseball card to sign. Two weeks later, he got it back, signed by Barry Bonds (or his agent). That boy still sings praises for a man many have written off as a cheat and a man who betrayed his sport.

Besides, it is almost inevitable that Alex Rodriguez will break the record in the next decade. Then Barry can have his glory, but the controversy will likely subside if someone other than Barry holds the most hallowed record in American sports.

No asterisk needed.

While candy bars are all nice and sweet, money makes today's world go round. So, I propose we name a bond after him, and call it "The Barry." Naturally, it would be high risk, but could have the best pay out ever.