The tragic case of Barry Bonds
The first week of the Barry bonds trial has finished. The once great Barry Bonds was insulted and dragged through dirt, and then tossed in it again and again. The details of his personal life and personal health were talked about, not only to the judge but
the whole sporting world and the millions of fans out there.
Over the passage of his career, Bonds has managed an impressive 762 home-runs and once hit 73 home-runs in a single season. Both these feats have set Major League records. Whether these records were due to his own strength or the steroids pumping in and
doing their work that really is not why he is court. The most important fact about the Barry Bonds trial is that he is not being trialed for using performance-enhancing-drugs as much as he is being trialed for perjury. The problem is that Bonds is being accused
of lying to a Grand Jury about using steroids unknowingly.
No one knows whether Bonds will make it out of this guilty or not, but his name has been tainted even before the judgment. Within the first week, Bonds has been reduced from a legendary MLB player to a selfish and violent man. At the end, when all of this
is over and Bonds walks out of the court room for the final time, an innocent man or not, in many ways he still has a lot to explain.
His case is almost identical to that of former track star Marion Jones who used banned substances at first and then lied about it. After rigorous grilling, she pleaded guilty about lying to a federal investigator about the use of banned substances. About
the incident she says, “Making these false statements to federal agents was an incredibly stupid thing for me to do.” She had to spend 6 months with the four walls of a prison cell for it.
It is not easy for the die-hard fans of Bonds to see him sitting in a courtroom in dressed up suits. This is not how they pictured their hero to be. Bonds was a baseball player who was supposed to stay on the field and rule it like he once used to. Now he
seems misplaced and out of his element.
Many people have complained and protested against the use of hard working tax payers to fight Barry Bonds, claiming that the US has many more important issues at hand to tackle. Issues like health care funding, educational services and development, which
are much more important than a retired sports star who abused drugs. All that is above may be true but if a person can come in court and lie about steroids without having to face any consequences, then tons of other people could come in and theoretically lie
about murders, rapes or embezzlements and face no punishment.
So where do you draw the line? Should action against a rich athlete or any other person be dropped just because their bank accounts can support them? What Bonds should have done is admit to steroid use, apologise and move on years ago, like Jason Giambi,
Alex Rodriguez and other have done.
It will be interesting to see what the court decides on the fate of Barry Bonds. Whatever the result, it is truly sad that performance enhancing drugs has created a mess in Major League Baseball and a much needed clean-up effort will most probably be required.
Baseball owes it to the fans, as without them, MLB could very easily lose popularity and slip in credibility.
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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