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Barry Bonds lives in his own world. In the San Francisco Giants' clubhouse, Bonds has his own wing, where he has his own leather chair, his own TV set and his own group of assistants.

With his icy glare and a capacity to torment sportswriters, the space he occupies can be as unwelcoming as the Texas Tech lockerroom during a Bobby Knight tirade.

Last Saturday afternoon Giants rightfielder Dustan Mohr, whose shaved head and thick goatee give him a Stone Cold Steve Austin look, stood at the opposite side of the clubhouse, a throng of reporters surrounding him. It was a good day in the Giants clubhouse -- music blared on the speakers, players howled at college football highlights on the clubhouse TV screens and the Giants had picked up half a game on the Cubs in the wild card race. After ripping a clutch game-tying double in the eighth inning, Mohr was the man of the day and the media was all over him. Suddenly, heads starting spinning around -- toward Bonds and his leather chair -- and word spread quickly: Barry is talking. By God, Barry is talking. 

Like insane shoppers barging into a mall the morning after Thanksgiving, reporters stampeded across the room, leaving Mohr in mid sentence. "Go! Go! Go!" a Giants player yelped, delighted at the scene. A crowd of reporters jockeyed for position, huddling in closely around Bonds, hanging on his every word and every pause, as if the mumbled words leaving his mouth are the words coming out of a transistor radio announcing the end of World War II.

No player in baseball is bigger than Bonds. On the verge of his 700th career home run, Bonds is in the fourth of what arguably is the greatest four-year run of any player in history. Although his 39 homers this year are well short of the 73 he slugged in 2001, this might be his most impressive season yet: Bonds is hitting a PS2-like .371 and has his second NL batting title in three years all but locked up, even though pitchers are pitching around him like no other player in history. Bonds' 194 walks (100 intentional) is an alltime record. So, too, is his .824 slugging percentage, his .610 on-base percentage, and his otherworldly 1.434 OPS. Most impressive of all: Bonds has showed no signs that he's slowing down.

10 Questions for Giants All-Star catcher A.J. Pierzynski

1. Bush or Kerry?

Bush. I was one of those absentee voters in Florida last time around. So I'd better be sure to send my vote in again. Bush, definitely.

2. What do you miss most about Minnesota?

Noodles. Great restaurant in Minneapolis. Great. Miss that a lot.

3. Worst dressed Twin?

Easy -- [Corey] Koskie.

4. Yeah, he dresses like he's homeless.

That's what they say about me too.

5. Favorite sports team?

Florida Gators football.

6. Best road city?

Chicago.

7. Favorite NFL team?

Bucs. Could be ugly, but we'll see. They need to figure out the QB situation, not sure if [Brad] Johnson's the guy. I think they'll win about eight games.

8. You into fantasy football?

No, but I go to our draft to heckle guys on their picks.

9. Most fun current player to watch?

Ichiro

10. Three DVDs you can watch over and over again?

Scarface, Old School, Meet the Parents.

10a. Best reality shows?

Real World is always good. Temptation Island, that was great. Fifth Wheel. ElimiDate. I like that one a lot.

A Brave take

Here's a Braves player's take on a projected NL playoff field. "I don't really consider the Cardinals to be that much better than everyone else," he said. "You look at their record and that may indicate otherwise, but I'll tell you what, I like our chances against them, but the Cubs scare me to death. That pitching is scary, if they can get into the playoffs." Is there any reason to think that this team is better than the Braves teams of the past? "Yes, because of the lineup. Of course, we need our starters to keep doing what they're doing, and there's no reason they can't. But you look at our lineup last year, and yeah we scored a ton of runs, but all we could rely on was the three-run home run. And how many three-run home runs do you see in the playoffs? Look at this team now, and how much more versatile this lineup is. We've got a lot more speed and can manufacture a lot more runs. I like this offense better."

Fantasy baseball tip of the week

Give it up. It's over. Buy a novel.

Top 5 most memorable U.S. Open runs since 1990

Sat in the cheap seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open last night (Small soda, hot dog, pretzel: $13) to see top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne get smoked by virtual unknown Nadia Petrova. Also got to see Maria Sharapova and Martina Navratilova duel in mix doubles (by my count, there were three "I love you Maria!" shout outs and one "Will you marry me, Maria?"). During changeovers, my tennis watching pal Thomas and I brainstormed a list of the Top Five Most Memorable U.S. Open Runs Since 1990.

1. Jimmy Connors, 1991
 Most tennis fans point to the Aaron Krickstein match, but give me Jimbo's Derek Lowe-esque fist pumping at 1 a.m. against Paul Haarhuis.

2. Pete Sampras, 2002
 Jordan-esque finale to career -- without the Washington Wizards epilogue to ruin it.

3. Todd Martin, 1999
 I just remember thinking: no man with that many gray hairs should be playing in a Grand Slam final.

4. Stefan Edberg, 1992
 The Smooth Swede plays in an absurd three-straight five-set matches, then beats Sampras in the final.

5. Monica Seles, 1995
 Second tournament post-Hamburg stabbing, and she improbably advances to the final.

Cornhusker watch

Lots and lots of vitriol from Nebraska fans after my column on Big Red football a few weeks back. Good to see that Husker Nation is strong. If you're drawing any conclusions from last Saturday's game against Western Illinois, you're a fool (I think my high school team in Maryland had Western Illinois on their schedule a few years back), though that first half by Joe Dailey seriously had me ready to start up a Dailey-for-Heisman bandwagon. (Dailey's two quick picks in the second half shut that down fast.) This week: Huskers 33, Southern Miss 10.

Top 5 reality shows

Good call by Pierzynski on ElimiDate -- a heck of a way to kill 30 minutes -- but here's the real top five reality shows:

1. Apprentice

2. Survivor: Australia

3. American Idol 3 (If only for giving us William Hung)

4. (I know I'm mostly alone on this one, but...) MTV's Boiling Points

5. Punk'd

Have to admit, that new ABC show Wife Swap looks disturbingly promising. Until next time ...