• Pete McEntegart: The 10 Spot -- Wed., Dec. 8 • Truth & Rumors: Nuggets may make run at Kidd • Chris Mannix: No heroes in BALCO mess • John Rolfe: Baseball's always had cheaters • Mark Bechtel: Idiot of the week award • More Blogs: Chen | Scheft | Ballard | Whitaker Click here for Today's Sign of the Apocalypse, Game to Watch, Leading Off gallery and much more!

SOMEWHERE OVER THE GREAT LAKES -- Whoever dreamed up the notion at JetBlue to install DirecTV into the backs of airline seats should qualify for a grand award. I can't say the same for the folks at ESPN, whose analysts continually absolve athletes whenever there is an incident with fans.

But onto more pressing matters...

I watched the Victor Conte interview on 20/20 on Friday. Of course ABC over-hyped the show, so you knew no matter what Conte said it would be disappointing. I had a couple of reactions to his comments, but these thoughts are made under the assumption that Conte was telling the truth, which is a pretty large leap of faith.

Conte is a bum. Conte claims that for years he supplied some of the world's foremost athletes with performance-enhancing drugs and now he has the audacity to sit and throw every athlete he ever "assisted" under the metaphorical bus. These were the actions of a man who realized that he very likely might go down for the BALCO scandal and figured he'd take a few of his buddies down with him to cushion the fall. He ratted out Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, and he did it in such ingenuous way that you would think he was a messenger from on high sent to root out evil in sports. Remember that he created the problem. He supplied the drugs, he created the schedule and he got them hooked. There's nothing honorable about selling out your friends. There's nothing honorable about Victor Conte.

The larger issue, though, involves the ramifications of the steroid scandal. What should be done about the gaudy numbers put up by athletes such as Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi? As for suspensions, it's difficult to put a number on a punishment because there really is no precedent. But what Bonds and Giambi did compromised the integrity of the game, the same thing Pete Rose did when he bet on baseball.

If baseball can't figure out an appropriate punishment for Bonds while he's active, perhaps they can do something when retires. Rose's transgressions cost him a shot at the Hall of Fame -- Bonds' should too. Bonds was a Hall of Fame-caliber player before using the cream and the clear. His natural talent is something very few players can match. But he cheated; he took something that made him a better player, which in turn affected the outcome of major league games. How many game-winning home runs has Bonds hit? How much of an effect did steroids have on those home runs? His spectacular postseason in 2002 propelled the Giants to the World Series -- would they have gotten there if Bonds wasn't juiced?

Barry Bonds made a decision to take something that made him an artificially better player. For that he must pay a bigger price.

Quick hits

• Don't be fooled by the early-season success of the Washington Wizards and Seattle SuperSonics. Both teams rely heavily on jump shooters, a philosophy that never works in the playoffs. In addition, Washington has yet to make the trip out West, which has become a perennial graveyard for Eastern Conference teams.

• Nomar Garciaparra signs a one-year deal? I know Nomar has a lot of faith in his abilities, but that's a huge risk for a slap-hitting shortstop on the wrong side of 30.

• I'm about halfway to California, just passing over Iowa. Done with this blog, I'll now retire to watch a true athlete, Dodge ball aficionado White Goodman, on my six-inch monitor before arriving on the left coast to interview one of the best players on the best team in LA. Of course I'm talking about Bobby Simmons and the streaking Los Angeles Clippers. Wow, can't believe I really said that.

See you next week.