Today’s indictment of Barry Bonds marks a monumental moment in history. It took four years, but the feds have finally gathered enough evidence to charge Bonds with 4 counts of perjury and 1 count of obstruction of justice related to lying about knowingly using illegal performance-enhancers.
Part of the verbiage in the indictment:
“During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes.”
Nobody is surprised. This indictment has loomed over the sport ever since the first round of leaked grand jury testimony back in 2004. Even the MLB started their own investigation into Bonds known as the Mitchell investigation (though they seemingly denied it wasn’t just a Bonds witch hunt).
Last we checked on Bonds he was breaking Hank Aaron’s all-time home run mark, and promising fans he would be ready to play next season. Now teams are unlikely to get within shouting distance of the man, so the chances he signs with a team right now are extremely low. His arraignment will take place on December 7 in San Francisco and chances are his trial will take place in the spring as baseball season begins.
Right now, these are just charges so we’ll let them play out as they may. Reports are that Bonds failed a performance-enhancing drug test and the presence of a witness who will testify against Bonds (speculation — Greg Anderson?) helped lead to the final motions to indict the MLB all-time home run leader.
Let’s speculate further — If Bonds is eventually convicted, what are the chances George W. Bush steps in, calls the charges “excessive,” and commutes his jail time?
Just in case you were wondering what our fearless leader thinks about this compared with Scooter Libby’s, don’t hold your breath waiting. Revealing a C.I.A. agent’s identity and threatening national security is one thing but lying about taking drugs to enhance your performance in a series of games? That’s just completely and absolutely unacceptable and cannot be tolerated in this great nation! Ha!
Tony Fratto, a White House spokesperson, had the following message to relay from good ol’ W. –
“The President is very disappointed to hear this. As this case is now in the criminal justice system, we will refrain from any further specific comments about it. But clearly this is a sad day for baseball.”
It is indeed a sad day for baseball. The MLB has to figure out now how they will treat the records of their “tainted” athletes. Should they add asterisks or remove all tainted records altogether? They can’t mark just Bonds’ records and not get the rest of the positive-testing athletes also, right?
The trial will take its place. People will overreact. Bonds will be smug. Baseball will act dumb. The sun will rise and fall. All in all, hypocrisy on earth — especially in this country — will continue as expected.
UPDATE: Greg Anderson was released from prison, but not for deciding to testify against Bonds. The feds found out they didn’t need Anderson to indict Bonds. Anderson’s lawyer plans on suing.
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