These are words that, it seems, many people yearn to hear from Barry Bonds. But the San Francisco Giants slugger, despite being enveloped by billowing clouds of suspicion for nearly 4 years, reportedly denied to a grand jury that he knowingly used steroids and repeatedly has refused to address the issue publicly.
So in a delicious bit of irony, about an hour after Mota spoke, Bonds appeared in the Giants dugout on the opposite side of the field for his mandatory once-a-series media availability.
Let's just say that any similarities between the conversations were coincidental and superficial.
Bonds, by the letter of his $15.8 million contract, might have to talk. But he doesn't have to say anything. The tone was set at the beginning when Bonds brandished a small tape recorder, pointedly telling the inquisitors crowded around him that he was keeping his own record of the proceedings.
Since Bonds has 746 career homers, only 10 away from surpassing Hank Aaron's all-time record, the first question concerned his pursuit of one of baseball's most hallowed milestones.
"I don't really talk about me. If you want to talk about [the team], fine," he replied.
Did he look forward to playing on New York's big stage?
"I just enjoy playing baseball. I don't care where it is."
And so it went, back and forth, Bonds batting the questions back like a tennis pro returning a volley.
What did he think of the boos that roll out of the stands every time he comes to the plate?
"It's like a concert."
Inevitably, the subject turned to commissioner Bud Selig's unwillingness to commit to being in attendance when Bonds eventually passes Aaron.
"I don't have any comment on Bud. He's his own man. Just as I'm my own man."
But the subject clearly nettled him.
"Can we help educate kids about the sport?" he asked plaintively. "Or are we going to keep talking about the same thing over and over?"
