In the end, it’s been much ado about nothing.

Barry Bonds came to Milwaukee this weekend, needing just a pair of home runs to tie Hank Aaron’s all-time mark. Instead of being crowned Home Run King, Bonds has gone 0-for-6 with three walks (one intentional) through the first two games of the series, and isn’t expected to play in the finale this afternoon.

Milwaukee fans voiced their displeasure with Bonds every time his name was mentioned .There were many justifiable reasons for it, but obviously, the on-going drama regarding Bonds and steroids and BALCO and grand juries were at the forefront of people’s minds.

And as odd as it may sound, the steroids mess shouldn’t be the big deal anymore.

If he used performance-enhancing drugs, the truth will come out eventually. Despite the fact that possession of steroids without a prescription is a felony (a fact confirmed by a number of the members of Milwaukee Police Department that kept Miller Park safe over the weekend), baseball -- which formally banned steroids in the early 1990s -- had no testing plan in place until just a few years ago.  In due time, Bonds will be exposed as a cheat or as somebody wrongly accused. Either way, these things have a way of working themselves out.

What really makes Bonds a disgrace to the game is his attitude. He is the anti-Hank Aaron, who battled racism and somehow managed to set an example for players and fans alike. Bonds’ complete and total disregard for anybody but himself becomes more and more evident every day.

His on-going with feud with the media is beyond annoying. Reporters are great scapegoats for Bonds, who ironically also knows how to use the media to his advantage. His too-easily-forgotten spring training tirade on ESPN a few years ago is a perfect example.

He’ll instruct the Giants PR staff to inform the hordes of waiting reporters that he’s not speaking on a particular day, and then sit smugly in his chair and watch reporters do their jobs. That, too, is fine. To be fair, speaking with reporters isn’t written into his contract.

In the end, it’s the effort he puts forth -- or lack thereof -- on the field that makes him a villain. Take Friday night for example; Bonds popped up to second baseman Rickie Weeks. Instead of legging it out, Bonds took a couple of half-hearted steps out of the batter’s box and watched Weeks record the out.

What kind of example does that set? Charles Barkley was right when he said it’s not his job to be a role model, but that statement only pertains to what happens outside of the ballpark or an arena. Between the lines, ballplayers are role models. Children who are still learning the finer points of the game are watching and seeing the alleged best player in the game half-ass it when they are being taught to run hard to first, because you never know what might happen.

Let’s not forget about the stare-downs Bonds gives pitchers who don’t groove him a pitch. He’ll talk a ball outside and look as if he is offended that his opponent is actually trying to win the game for his own team, as opposed to helping Bonds etch his name into the history books.

There is always an explanation, too. Of course, a better term would be an excuse. No matter what Bonds does, it’s always a reaction to what somebody else does to him. The man is always innocent. That is, of course, if you can actually get him to talk.

“You’ll write what you want to write” is one of Bonds’ favorite expressions. Everybody is out to get him; the media, the government, and Commissioner Bud Selig are all out to get him.

Whether you like it or not, Barry Bonds is going to eventually break Aaron’s record. It is a fact as inevitable as death. But until there’s legal evidence proving that he did, in fact, have some artificial help over these last few seasons, the best we can do is speculate.

In the meantime, the evidence we do have shows that Bonds is guilty only of being a bad example and sometimes, that’s about as bad as it gets.