Well, it's finally happened.

Barry Lamar Bonds has (temporarily*) become the All-Time home run king, surpassing Hammerin' Hank Aaron last night with his 756th career home run - a fifth inning blast off Washington Nationals' pitcher Mike Bacsik -- remember that name, it will be the answer to trivia questions for years to come.

Personally, I am not a Bonds fan. I think he cheated his way to the top and to top it off, the guy is the rudest jerk I have ever heard of. He may be the home run king, but when it comes to dealing with fans and the media, the guy is a world-class bum.

Greg Cote, who writes for the Miami Herald, wrote a piece today that echoes my feelings on Bonds, his pursuit of the home run record, and what will come out of all of this hub-bub.

To quote the meat of Cote's article:

Yes, yes: Bonds has never tested positive for steroids!

It is the last vestige of his apologists, but it doesn't make all of the damning circumstantial evidence go away.

It doesn't make Bonds innocent.

Doesn't refute all the documentation in the painstakingly detailed book, Game of Shadows.

Doesn't make go away the reported government testimony from steroid dealers implicating Bonds.

Doesn't erase the fact his personal trainer is in jail for refusing to testify against him.

Doesn't make less likely the federal perjury indictment.

The record may not be dirty to 100 percent assuredness, yet, but it is tainted beyond all reasonable doubts, and even some of the Giants fans cheering had to know it in their minds, where common sense lives, or in their hearts, where the conscience is.

What we know is enough to make us sad.

Enough to make us consider today as quite the opposite of whatever a national holiday is.

(* I say temporarily because Alex Rodriguez, who only recently turned 32 years old, has over 500 home runs in his career and is most likely the candidate to make a run and surpass whatever number of home runs Bonds finishes his career with.)