As fast as Barry Bonds can change a game, with one fluid whip of the bat, that's how fast he can change this whole "bad guy" persona. All it would take is a smile or two, a happy cliché about "taking it one day at a time" ... in short, a little effort. Words cannot describe how easy this would be. Think slam dunk. On a Fischer-Price hoop.

Don't expect it anytime soon. And don't expect me to attack him for it.

If (or when) Bonds decides to lighten up and share himself with the world, it will not only be out of character, it will be "managed." You know what I mean. Seen a Tiger Woods press conference lately? He smiles, answers everyone's questions and says nothing. That's "managed." Did you see when Alex Rodriguez went back to Seattle for the first time? Stood in front of the press, smiled and said that Ichiro "might hit .400." Forget that Ichiro never hit .400 in Japan. That's a "managed" answer. Who needs that garbage?

It would be easy for Bonds to follow the path of Tiger and A-Rod, and he'd probably become way more popular overnight. But personally, I'd rather he just keep doing what he's been doing for the last 15 years. That is, hit home runs and be a prima donna. Make reporters jump through hoops to get 15 minutes of his time. Hit a ball 500 feet off Curt Schilling and tell the press, as he recently told me, "Even if I could explain how I did things like that, you still wouldn't understand, because it's not something you can do."

I have no problem with that type of response, because it's honest. Really. I'd have a bigger problem if he suddenly started staying around late into the night after games talking about how the pitch looked coming in, and how the ball felt coming off the bat, and what it was like watching it sail that far. Call me a cynic, but if Barry Bonds started doing that at age 36, I'd cry "phony."

So, I have no interest in reading now that Barry is "misunderstood" or that he's been "misrepresented." For the record, I had a very pleasant 15-minute interview with him last week and he was very cooperative with our photo people during his cover shoot. But I'm not going to claim that I know him now, after 15 pleasant minutes. Because I don't.

Put me on the list of people who wants to see Barry eclipse Mark McGwire's record 70, as well as on the list of people who want him to remain true to himself -- to the person he's been for the past decade and a half. In other words, I don't really want to hear what he has to say ... not a word of it. After watching him do something so hard -- and hitting 26 home runs by May 29 is pretty hard -- why would we want to see him do something so simple?

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.