Stark on Bonds

Stark's gonna get kicked out of the Cool Kids Club if he keeps this up...

You wouldn't think this guy would need one more newspaper story linking him to another delicacy from the pharmacy to help him figure out he's the biggest target in sports.

But the New York Daily News reminded him of that anyway Thursday, by reporting Bonds had failed an amphetamines test last season.

We don't know exactly how many other players failed one of those tests last year. But let's put it this way: Barry Bonds wasn't the only one.

Just the only one who, by some astonishing coincidence, had the news of his positive test leaked to a reporter.

Clearly, there were enough players screwing up and testing positive last year that one baseball man said Thursday: "This wouldn't be a big deal -- if it were anyone else in the game."

But it isn't anyone else in the game. It's the one player in the game that the people who run this sport wish would just disappear from the game.

So it doesn't seem to matter what rules, regulations or federal laws exist that ban the leaking of positive drug tests, grand-jury testimony or even private phone conversations.

If leaking any of that might embarrass Bonds or -- even better -- convict him one more time in the court of public opinion, someone in baseball or law enforcement finds a way to get it out there. Funny how that works, isn't it?

"I know one thing," said a baseball executive who has had his share of dealings with Bonds. "A lot of people want to bring this guy down."