Barry Bonds trial starts
Steroids are drugs used to improve endurance and overall athletic performance and help increase muscle mass. The use of steroids is not recent, it has been a part of many sports since the centuries but in today’s world where players are under a lot of pressure
to perform, the use of steroids or other performance enhancing drug has visibly increased.
Baseball players have to make sure they have enough strength in them to hit powerfully and enough endurance throughout the game to run the bases. This is probably what makes them give in to the use of performance enhancing drugs. One of the most well recognised
case of steroids in the world of Major League Baseball is that of Barry Bonds.
A panel of 12 people will sit down and derive whether Bonds is lying about taking drugs or not. Bonds is basically a former MLB player who used to play for the San Francisco Giants and the reason he is in court is because he has been charged with multiple
counts of lying to a grand jury that he never consciously took any performance enhancing drugs.
The jurors were numbered and for privacy and safety reason it has been told by the US District Judge Susan Illston, that this is how it will remain till the final verdict passes. The selection of jurors in itself was quite a grueling task. There were a huge
number of potential jurors, but they were dismissed based on the kind of answers they gave on a 19-page questionnaire that everyone was required to fill out.
Some of the questions included asked the potential juror whether they had gone to Giants game within the passage of last five years or whether they were familiar on the Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball. Some of the jurors were dismissed since they had
already formed opinions on the case, one of them was excused because of a family tragedy and two of them voted themselves out because of the hardships the jury would probably have to face.
The 36 that were qualified enough underwent 70 minutes of intense questioning by Illston. This was followed by another hour of interrogation by defense lawyers and prosecutors. After a break, the names of the 12 selected were announced, and two were chosen
as alternates. Two of the jurors are African-American women since this is a special case where race may become an issue and the rest of the 10 are Caucasian.
During all this Bonds has been keeping a low profile, staying at the Giants’ clubhouse. Jeff Novitzky was also present in court as he is the person who got Bonds in this situation in the first place. Novitzky has followed athletes for eight years over dug
allegation with ferocious intensity. Bonds is perhaps the biggest star to be trailed due to his efforts.
As a player, Bonds has earned a total of $192.8 million over the passage of his career while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants. No matter what the income of this trial maybe, Bonds should still be recognised for his contributions
to the world of baseball and as the man who performed like no other when he stepped on the field. He is a tremendous baseball player and his service to the sport must not be overlooked.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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