Matthew McConaughey, Philosopher-King.

The part-time actor and full-time knucklehead offers humanity his opinion on Barry Bonds and provides ammunition to those who believe Hollyweird should be quarantined in this e-mail to the Austin American-Statesman:

"Why root for Bonds"

If Barry Bonds did take steroids or not, even if you think he did or didn't, you gotta root for him because, whatever is true, or whatever you believe, he's clean now. Fact and perception.

So every home run he hits, like the mammoth 452-footer he hit in Philadelphia May 7, is a hit, a home run — for Barry, for baseball. It's a clean pursuit of the record, by maybe the greatest home run hitter ever to play the game.

Whether we admit it or not, we want that. We need it.

We believe in the game of baseball, and although it's somehow easier to root against and boo Mr. Bonds, deep down, we really love to see him succeed.

Look at the fans in Philly as the ball left Bonds' bat. Booing turned to oohing as the ball flew so strongly and longly upward and outward into the depths of the third deck. They stood to witness, and their jeers turned to cheers, as the man, Barry Bonds, who played for the other team, put a mammoth and unanimous steroid-free run on the board.

Maybe the other 712 were the same. Ironically, in a nation whose judicial system says we are all "innocent until proven guilty," we like to think of him as a guilty man who just hit an innocent home run, but that's another story for human nature and socio-psychology.

Whatever. He hit it, and when he hits it that far, we are reminded that the cynics who say he has now "lost" his power are just wrong. Steroids or not, that shot didn't need an extra "roid-assisted 6 feet" to get out of the ballpark. So we all know, and are reminded, 'roids or not, this man has more than the ability, but the talent, to be the greatest home run hitter in baseball history, and I think he is.

So, believe what you want, guilty or not, what the future tells or not, we should, and do, all root for Barry Bonds to break every record in baseball's home run history.

It's even more than what we love about the game; it's what we love about success. We, America, still love to see success. Keep it up. It's why we are who we are.

Just keep livin',

Matthew McConaughey

First, I don't want any of you to assume he was drunk when he wrote this just because his surname is Irish. That's profiling. And in the words of Ron White, "That's wrong."

Second, I do not feel qualified to comment on Mr. McConaughey's missive because I cannot figure out what in the world he was trying to say.

BTW, Henry Aaron will always be my home run king.