The Sports World Should Stop Mincing Words

The crime has already been committed -- not just by Bonds, but by hundreds of others. The best thing Selig can do is say, "Yup, I blew it too, but I'm not going to act as if nothing happened." Instead, he goes around saying he just doesn't know what his schedule will be like when the day comes. He might have to re-arrange his sock drawer. Maybe he can pull the old Bowie Kuhn line: I've already committed to a Cleveland Indians fan club meeting. That was Kuhn's excuse for ducking Aaron in 1974 -- the second most impeachable offense committed by a leader that year.

Selig's going to be there and he's going to talk about how much respect he has for Bonds in broad and non-committal terms. It will be a sham and an embarrassment. Which, come to think of it, fits in perfectly with the rest of this sorry tale.

On the subject of shams, let's shift for a moment to Alex Rodriguez -- anointed by Bonds (and -- and his own agent, Scott Boras) as the next home run king during the All-Star break. A-Rod may be having the perfect year. He's on pace right now to easily eclipse 50 home runs and 140 RBI and, best of all for him, there's a good chance the Yankees won't make the playoffs. Thus, he can finish the season saying, "I earned my $27 million," without having to subject himself to another potential playoff humiliation.

Everyone knows A-Rod can opt out of the last three years of his contract at season's end. Everyone also knows A-Rod will opt out and look for a five or six year $30 million-a-year contract. All of which is fine. If baseball's economy is such that someone will pay him that kind of money, he's entitled to go after it.

That doesn't mean he's right to go after it. The smartest thing A-Rod could do right now is go out on a financial limb and decide to work the next three years for that piddling $81 million. Announce that he wants to retire a Yankee and he's willing to give the team a hometown discount by playing out his contract and is willing to take his chances on the team coming to him with a new deal at some point.

He would completely change his image in five minutes. He would win over the fans, who are ready to boo him the first time he strikes out in October. And he'd probably end up doing okay financially.

That isn't going to happen of course. Boras clients always get every last penny out there and A-Rod is like 99.9999 percent of athletes in that he wants every last penny. Opting out doesn't make him a bad guy; it just makes him one who isn't as smart as he -- and his agent -- think he is.

Last week, when the Yankees offered to renegotiate now, Boras turned the offer down flat. A-Rod, he said, didn't like to be distracted by negotiations during the season.

Really? Is A-Rod sitting in on the negotiations. Does he not pay Boras a considerable sum to come to him and say, "you should sign this," if/when he gets the deal A-Rod tells him he wants?

Please. There's not an offer the Yankees can make now that A-Rod/Boras will take. They want to try the open market. Which is just fine. If only they would just speak English and say that.

That's not about to happen. That's not the world we live in. This is the world we live in: Three years ago, Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, one of the good, smart guys in jock-world, decided he had to change offensive coordinators after six years. He had fought a year earlier to keep Matt Cavanaugh's job and the 2004 season hadn't gone well. Cavanaugh knew he was gone long before the season ended.

On the day after the finale, Billick went to see Cavanaugh -- who was already packing his office. He wanted to announce that Cavanaugh had resigned. Cavanaugh couldn't stand the idea that anyone might think he had quit. He wanted Billick to say he'd been fired -- and there were no hard feelings, because there weren't. The two men spent 30 minutes debating what to call Cavanaugh's firing.

They finally settled on a "mutual decision."

In other words, Cavanaugh and Billick mutually agreed that Cavanaugh would clear out his office and leave even though Billick wouldn't fire him and Cavanaugh wouldn't resign.

Or something like that.