Barry Bonds was in court Friday, and so begins a can’t-miss, rip-roaring showdown.

U.S. v. Bonds ought to be quite a spectacle, too.

But first comes Apologists v. Realists, to fill the empty hours between Friday’s arraignment and a) the trial of the century, or b) the plea bargain of the year.

You’ll recognize Apologists v. Realists as a spin-off of the debate that accompanied Bonds’ pursuit of Henry Aaron’s career home run record last summer. On one side: those insisting Bonds perpetrated a fraud by cheating his way to the top. On the other: those insisting Bonds didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs, or that everybody did, or that performance-enhancing drugs don’t help you hit a baseball, or that Bonds was being unfairly singled out for criticism.

There was enough bombast to send a hot air balloon to the moon, but no clear winner in the debate. Unless you count Bonds, who got what he wanted, where and how he wanted it.

Now the talk turns to more concrete matters. Bonds is facing hard time, and the full weight of the United States judicial system is working to make sure he receives it.

Same basic argument, however: Why him, why now and who cares? And in this corner: Wake up and small the flaxseed oil.

In fairness, the apologists’ position has merit – presuming it is presented in a vacuum. Other athletes did use performance-enhancing drugs, including some pitchers Bonds faced on his way up the home run chart. No drug alone will turn your Uncle Myron into a home run-hitting machine. And it sure seems as if the feds have invested an inordinate amount of time and money in their investigation of Bonds.

It makes terrific fodder for a civics class lecture, where Thomas Jefferson’s handwriting is the absolute law of the land. Meanwhile, back in the real world: The evidence we’ve seen – anecdotal, in news accounts and in the book “Game of Shadows” – leaves virtually no doubt that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs. And if he used, he used. Most of us gave up on the “but other kids were doing it, too” defense in middle school.

Uncle Myron? He’s a lost cause, athletically. But if you have elite skills, performance-enhancing drugs can make you better. It’s why Olympic and football athletes have been using them for decades. It’s also why they’re called performance-enhancing drugs, and not whatever-dude pills.

Has Bonds been singled out? You bet. Not for steroid use, but for lying about it. Athletes have been almost incidental to the BALCO investigation since it began more than five years ago. BALCO was a tax case, and athletes were a means to an end. This is why all athletes who testified before the BALCO grand jury were granted immunity.

All the feds wanted was the truth.

Bonds wouldn’t give it to them. He denied knowingly using steroids or human growth hormone. According to leaked excerpts of his testimony, he was defiant. It was a power play on his part. He was sticking his chin out.

Now, sticking one’s chin out isn’t to be confused with a federal crime, but it’s a great way to make enemies. BALCO was a high-profile investigation. Bonds had the highest profile of any athlete interviewed by the grand jury. The general perception was that Bonds, rather than availing himself of immunity, told the feds to go pound sand. (The legal term is “perjury.”)