Can we please just elect Barry Bonds to the Baseball Hall of Fame already?

Some of us have lives. We have already squandered too many precious brain cells debating Bonds’ HOF qualifications, bad habits and personality defects.

Quick update: Bonds was rejected for 10 years by HOF voters, who are baseball writers. By rejecting Bonds yet voting in David Ortiz last time, the voters were telling Bonds that it’s not about steroids, but “We’re just not that into you.”

Now Bonds gets another swing, with a 16-person committee of former ballplayers, executives and veteran journalists. He will need 12 votes for enshrinement. The committee members have not yet been announced, but it figures to be a tough crowd. For one thing, former great players tend to have contempt for steroid suspects. For another thing, Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters weren’t the only people Bonds rubbed the wrong way. He also was not wildly popular among teammates or other players.

And if you think this isn’t a personality contest, you didn’t pay attention to the most recent vote.

So this is shaping up to be another case of Lucy holding the ball for Charlie Brown’s kick attempt.

Another whiff for Bonds would mean we all go back into the endless loop of debate, because Bonds likely would get another swing three years down the road, when a new committee would vote on Barry & The Rejects.

Just vote Bonds in. No more tedious debating. If Barry gets in and God then destroys the Hall with a massive lightning bolt, I will admit I was wrong.

Other deep thoughts & cheap shots

• The World Cup without beer is like soccer without a ball.

• FIFA announced that Qatar’s last-minute banning of beer sales at stadiums will not affect the sale of Bud Zero, Budweiser’s fun-free beverage. Of course it won’t. Sales of Bud Zero will still be zero, bud.

• Marijuana is also forbidden in Qatar. So World Cup fans can get Bud Zero, but zero bud.

• You can drink at Qatar’s soccer stadiums … if you are a member of Qatar’s ruling family or a ranking FIFA official (a.k.a. “bribee”) sitting in a luxury box. Isn’t that
so
soccer, the sport of the people?

• Seriously, Qatar’s Budgate is the last straw. The World Cup system is corrupt and broken. It’s time for the U.S. and other like-minded countries to tell FIFA to kiss our red card and form our own international soccer federation.

• I’m not smart enough to know what the solution is to the
Golden State Warriors
’ current dysfunction, but I don’t think the answer is more smiles. As the Warriors were losing to the Suns on Wednesday, TV cameras caught
Stephen Curry,
Klay Thompson
and
Andrew Wiggins
on the bench. “I’m looking at the body language of the Golden State Warriors,” said color commentator Mark Jackson, “and it’s not the same swag that we’ve become accustomed to seeing. It’s a concerning look.” Apparently the fellas have lost their capacity to find entertainment value in an eighth straight road loss.