Working out early last week, Barry Bonds appeared to be on the way to recovery until he underwent a second knee surgery on March 17. AP

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Who knows what goes on in Barry Bonds' head? Who wants to guess what kind of demons he wrestles with, what kind of pain he's in, what kind of games he's playing?

He has federal investigators on his tail, he has an ex-girlfriend telling a grand jury everything. He has everybody looking at him as if he's some kind of freak, calling him a cheater and doubting his greatness. He has an entire team to carry on his broad back, and those San Francisco Giants are heavy.

And, to top it all off, his knee is killing him. Really killing him.

In his whole career, Bonds never has been an easy sort to figure out. Now, after throwing his whole future into the air Tuesday morning during a four-minute meeting with reporters, the questions multiply.

Is he serious, or just seriously bummed?

Is he out for a few weeks, or out for good?

What are these games he's playing?

"You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did," Bonds told reporters at Scottsdale Stadium . "You finally brought me and my family down. Now go pick a different person."

Bonds had surgery on his right knee late last week -- his second on the knee in six weeks -- and he almost certainly won't be ready for Opening Day, the first in his amazing career he'll miss. He faces some long days, probably weeks, of rehabilitation. He faces years, maybe longer, of sore knees.

Sitting outside on a beautiful morning in Arizona, talking with the hated media, Bonds sounded like he didn't want to face it at all.

Just 11 home runs short of Babe Ruth's once-hallowed mark of 714, and just 52 short of the all-time leader in homers, the incomparable Hank Aaron, Bonds sounded like he was ready to write off half of this season and possibly the whole thing. He sounded like, maybe, he was ready to call it a career.