Ben Gross: Did you read Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly’s piece in Sports Illustrated about how to celebrate Barry Bonds breaking the record?

Andrew Hansen: Yeah, about what to do when Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s career home run record? Some of the suggestions were funny and, sure, a lot of people hate him, but I think it was a bit extreme.

BG: Oh, it was totally extreme, but it hit the nail on the head. No one wants Bonds to break this record, bar those in the bay.

AH: No one does want the record to be broken and people will still call Aaron their home run king. But I know what I’m going to do when Bonds breaks the record. Sit in my chair and watch the highlights.

BG: SAY WHAT!!!

AH: Plenty of people are saying it’s a race issue and even more people say he’s a steroid user. While it may be true, these are only allegations. There’s a saying here in America: innocent until proven guilty. I think that’s still in effect, right?

BG: It sure is, so here’s article A. In 1997, when Bonds was 33 years old, he hit 40 home runs. However suddenly when he was 37 in 2001 he hit 73 home runs, 24 more than his previous career high. How do you explain that?

AH: I don’t explain it. I’m no judge or jury. What I know is that Bonds hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. Sure, there is a mountain of evidence against him, but until he’s convicted, I’m going to watch him hit dingers.

BG: Then move me to France! Viva la guilty until proven innocent.

AH: When it’s all said and done, might it be found out that he was on steroids? Sure. But until that moment happens, I’ll enjoy it. We all sure enjoyed it when two other alleged juicers were swinging away in the summer of 1998. It’s just that those two weren’t, for lack of better wording, unpleasant beings.

BG: Which makes this event even worse. We got swept in the moment in ‘98, but at least it was with good guys. Now our eyes are open, and we see that the biggest jerk of all time is going to steal the home run crown from a man of great character.

AH: That is true. Everything I’ve read on Hammerin’ Hank has said that he was a player for the people. Bonds, on the other hand, is a player for himself. That, atop the steroid allegations, really make it a hard pill to swallow.

BG: That’s why I’ve created a petition on-line to have all pitchers stop pitching to Bonds. I really don’t want to swallow that horse-size pill.

AH: It’s definitely easy to see how people don’t like him. Or why they call him a cheater. Or why they don’t want him to be the home run king. It’s just that he is breaking records which we can’t ignore or say aren’t as good as others. When 756 comes, we can’t simply just put an asterisk next to it because we think he took steroids. It’s a record, if not THE record.

BG: And what size hat will that record belong to?

AH: Umm…how about all of them?

BG: We may not have proof of he took this or that, but it’s definitely not because of the water from the bay. I won’t disagree that we all like dingers, but there’s something we like more than that…those who play the game right. Guys like Cal Ripken Jr, Rickey Henderson, and Jackie Robinson hold more than just records – they had character and played the game the way it should be. Fine, give Bonds THE record, but he’ll never be in the class with those guys.

AH: I don’t think he wants to be. He just wants to have the record. I think I speak for the nation when I say that I wanted Ken Griffey, Jr. to be my home run king. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. But for all of the Bonds haters, at least there’s hope in A-Rod.