"The defense rested Wednesday. The rest of us won't. We are on edge. We are potentially on track for a most awkward confluence of events come Friday afternoon.

Closing arguments in the Barry Bonds perjury trial will take place Thursday morning. The jury then will begin deliberations, no later than Friday morning at the federal courthouse near San Francisco City Hall.

So brace yourself. If a verdict is reached rapidly enough, the jury's decision could be announced "... that's right, during the Giants' home opener that afternoon.

Even if the jury isn't finished by Friday, the verdict almost surely will arrive early next week as the Giants host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series.

Question: If the verdict is not guilty on all charges and Bonds wants to celebrate by making the short trip to AT&T Park for some baseball viewing, what happens?

Do the Giants save a seat for Bonds in the front row? Do they flash the not-guilty verdict on the scoreboard, encourage applause and unveil a video tribute to flaxseed oil? Does the team encourage or ignore the inevitable crowd reaction, which will no doubt consist of applause and cheering?

Even more problematic: What if Bonds is found guilty of perjury and still wants to show up at a Giants home game a few hours later?

Don't forget the larger picture, as well. Would a guilty verdict -- particularly in a case involving steroids -- induce Major League Baseball to suspend Bonds from official baseball activities because of his behavior? Would he be shunned for future events where great players are often honored, such as the All-Star game?

When the Giants and MLB were contacted Wednesday about these possibilities, neither entity offered any real answers. Patrick Courtney, the chief spokesman for MLB, said only: "I can't comment during the ongoing trial."

The Giants issued a similar no comment through Staci Slaughter, the team's senior vice president for communications. Fair enough. We're not there yet. This is new territory. But with Roger Clemens facing the same sort of perjury charges this summer, MLB and its teams need a policy soon."