Sad reality to latest Bonds news: no more heroes

	BOOK EXCERPT Bonds revealed in the pages of the Game of Shadows SI EXTRA Now Bonds could wind up next to Rose in baseball purgatory BONDS EXPOSED Game of Shadows details Bonds' longtime steroid use THE DOCUMENTATION Compelling evidence of Bonds' use of performance enhancers UNCOVERING THE TRUTH Sports Illustrated's history of revelation THE QUOTES Barry Bonds in his own words on whether he used steroids PHOTO GALLERY The growing legend of Bonds, from 1983 to the present VIDEO Tom Verducci examines the impact of these revelations on Bonds and baseball  VIDEO Verducci interviews the book's co-authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams  MORE COVERAGE For more on Bonds' grand jury testimony, go to the San Francisco Chronicle. Readers' reactions | National headlines Buy Game of Shadows

Even before the latest revelations it was hard to believe that there was anyone out there who still considered Barry Bonds a hero, but somewhere those stubborn, starry-eyed fans surely did exist. Maybe they were lovers of the game who could look past the steroid issue and focus only on the soaring arc of Bonds' home runs. Perhaps they were adults who clung to the fact that Bonds had never failed a steroid test, despite the fact that until roughly a year ago he had never been forced to take one.

But even that romantic minority must be a little more jaded today. Even their shoulders have to sag under the weight of the damning evidence that San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams presented in their book, Game of Shadows, which is excerpted in the current issue of Sports Illustrated. The notion that Bonds might have, against all odds, been telling the truth when he insisted he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs is officially dead and buried, along with the antiquated notion of the sports hero.

One by one, the athletes we are most drawn to, the ones most able to make us marvel at their ability, also make us cringe at their lack of character. Instead of smiling when we see our kids wearing some athlete's jersey, say a silent prayer that the player won't wind up on tomorrow's police blotter or fail a drug test. Even Bonds, who we knew was no angel, disappoints us further now that the nature of his dishonesty has been laid out in such detail. Anyone who defended him in the past has to feel betrayed today.

But he is not the only one to let us down. It started, it seems, with O.J., followed by Pete Rose and Ray Lewis and Kobe Bryant. Kirby Puckett's obituaries this week were marred by the necessary mention of his messy personal life, including allegations of domestic violence. Even the icons who have avoided legal scrapes have had their reputations tarnished. There was a time when we thought Michael Jordan was too good to be true, and then, after finding out that he was a high stakes gambler and a not-so-faithful husband, we discovered we were right.

Giving our allegiance, our affection, to a sports star is a riskier proposition than ever. Is there anyone safe to root for? Is there an athlete out there who won't make us eventually feel like a fool for holding him in high esteem? How long before scandal finds LeBron James? When will Tom Brady fall off the pedestal and land in the muck?

You don't have to be as jaded as a sportswriter to begin believing that they all have something to hide. That's the effect of all this scandal -- it makes us think there's a skeleton in every locker room stall. Every suspicion is plausible -- the whispers about Lance Armstrong and performance-enhancing drugs, for example. They have far less factual basis than the cloud that hangs over Bonds, but it's hard to dismiss them because we know that any misdeed is possible.

Throw some of the blame on the media if you must. There are those who say that no one's life could stand up to the kind of scrutiny that our celebrities, in and out of sports, face. Predictably, there have already been complaints that the Bonds book was unnecessary, that it just rehashes old information. But griping about the media is partly a defense mechanism. We don't like to be faced with the truth, that the players we treated as heroes might not be heroes at all, so we blame the messengers.

It's better than thinking about what saps we were to cheer even a little bit for Bonds these last eight years, to give him the slightest benefit of the doubt on the steroid question because he pleaded innocence even though his rapidly ballooning physique screamed guilty. The next athlete who finds himself in a scandal -- and there will be a next one -- will also find us a little more cynical, thanks to Bonds and the athletes who burned us before him. We'll be a little bit smarter, but a little bit sadder, too.