Barry Bonds to Michael Vick: See, this is how you get indicted!

Posted on November 15th, 2007. Written by Emmett Jones.

If you didn’t see this coming, well, know right now that I am questioning your fanhood.  A federal grand jury indicted Barry Bonds today on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, as he was charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.

As is usual with the federal government, things went very slowly, with the grand jury taking almost four years to finally indict someone who people have accused of taking steroids since about 2001 (the year he hit 73 home runs).  Now, I know for a fact that the government doesn’t attempt to indict anyone unless they have a very strong case against them, but many people were surprised that this indictment occurred now.  When reached for comment Bonds’ attorney John Burris stated,

 ”I’m surprised, but there’s been an effort to get Barry for a long time. I’m curious what evidence they have now they didn’t have before.”

As for their old evidence?  ESPN is reporting that evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids.  There is also the leaked grand jury testimony from 2003, in which Bonds stated he had used “the cream” and “the clear” although he also testified that the drugs were not used knowingly (he didn’t know that he was using illegal drugs at the time).

What’s their new evidence? Well, as I write this post, a federal judge has released Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson from jail.  Anderson had previously refused to talk about any of his clients (basically why he was in jail in the first place), and yet now he’s out of jail.  A better question though? what if the new evidence isn’t from Greg Anderson?  Why would the government wait this long for the indictment?  The conspiracy theorist in me says that some people wanted to give him a chance to break the home run record first.

So, what’s next?  Expect to hear a lot of Bonds on every news outlet for the next couple of weeks.  Also, expect to hear the race issue brought up.  It is definitely the “elephant in the room” in this case (Mark McGuire and Jason Giambi have used steroids as well, and they never seemed to be under the same scrutiny.  On the other hand, neither of those players have the MLB home run record).

What does the future hold for Bonds?  Well, I’m not a betting man, but I think this indictment effectively ended Bonds’ career.  Bonds is 43, he’s no good in the field…oh yeah, that whole indictment thing too.  There isn’t really a Oakland Raiders of major league baseball, and we have yet to hear from Bud Selig (in theory he could suspend Bonds).

So, that whole baseball with an asterisk…not really that big a deal, is it?
Somewhere, Michael Vick is upset that his 15 minutes of infamy are truly over.

Bonds’ is due in court on December 7th.

ESPN:  Barry Bonds indicted on perjury, obstruction charges

ESPN:  Bonds’ Indictment 

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Sports Business Digest – Defining this sports age in one word…Cheaters

Sports Business Digest – Barry Bonds’ Home Run, Mark Ecko, and Choose Your Own Adventure Books 

3 Responses »

1. 

   Calvin Freeman

   November 19, 2007 • 6:34 pm

   BBarry Bonds
2. 

   Calvin Freeman

   November 19, 2007 • 6:37 pm

   what in the hell is wrong with the usa and it laws against black men in sports go after the othe baseball players like you going against Barry.

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