Bonds Junk
It has been a few days since the news broke. The initial emotion of it has waned and we are left with just the truth: that the home run king has been charged with lying under oath about knowingly cheating baseball by taking performance-enhancing drugs.
In the few days since the story broke, we have heard mostly the same reaction -- that the government finally charged him with what was so obvious. Still, we heard other reactions. We've heard that Charles Barkley, among others, called it a witch hunt and claims race played a role (after all, where are the charges against Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi?).
Hmm.
Barry Bonds did not get indicted on charges of taking steroids. He was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury. It was the same grand jury that heard Jason Giambi tell the truth about his steroid use. And, last I checked, Mark McGwire did not appear before the BALCO grand jury. He did not perjure himself in front of the Senate either. He just didn't answer the questions. That is not a crime.
Barry Bonds brought this on himself.
In 1998, the turning point in Bonds' career, Barry Bonds was among the top three players in baseball. He was, without a doubt, one of the greatest to have ever played the game. For him, that was not enough. So he chose to take the wrong path -- the path so many other athletes take. It is the easy path. It is also the wrong path.
Bonds has lived in a vacuum all his life. He had been protected by being the child of a celebrity athlete, not having had to face the obstacles normal child-athletes must face every day. His abilities allowed him to be sheltered from reality. He's never had to do the everyday things that you and I must do just to make it through the week. He's always been the best. He's always had everything he ever wanted. He's Paris Hilton in a baseball uniform.
And when others grabbed the spotlight from him, he reacted -- wrongly. What was worse, was that he assumed -- wrongly again -- that the real world couldn't penetrate the wall his celebrity had created. So he lied. He lied to the grand jury and continued on, vandalizing baseball's most cherished records.
But Barry Bonds isn't different from anyone else. Perjuring yourself is a crime. Did race play a role in that? Only that Barry Bonds supporters can say it does.
Why it took so long is a mystery to me. I wish the federal prosecuters could have indicted him before he stripped baseball of its most prized record. But, in the end, it doesn't really matter.
His career is over. So is the impenetrable safety bubble in which he lived.
There is an old saying about dues: we pay now or we pay later, but we all pay. It's a truth. It's reality.
Welcome to the real world, Mr. Bonds.
In the few days since the story broke, we have heard mostly the same reaction -- that the government finally charged him with what was so obvious. Still, we heard other reactions. We've heard that Charles Barkley, among others, called it a witch hunt and claims race played a role (after all, where are the charges against Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi?).
Hmm.
Barry Bonds did not get indicted on charges of taking steroids. He was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury. It was the same grand jury that heard Jason Giambi tell the truth about his steroid use. And, last I checked, Mark McGwire did not appear before the BALCO grand jury. He did not perjure himself in front of the Senate either. He just didn't answer the questions. That is not a crime.
Barry Bonds brought this on himself.
In 1998, the turning point in Bonds' career, Barry Bonds was among the top three players in baseball. He was, without a doubt, one of the greatest to have ever played the game. For him, that was not enough. So he chose to take the wrong path -- the path so many other athletes take. It is the easy path. It is also the wrong path.
Bonds has lived in a vacuum all his life. He had been protected by being the child of a celebrity athlete, not having had to face the obstacles normal child-athletes must face every day. His abilities allowed him to be sheltered from reality. He's never had to do the everyday things that you and I must do just to make it through the week. He's always been the best. He's always had everything he ever wanted. He's Paris Hilton in a baseball uniform.
And when others grabbed the spotlight from him, he reacted -- wrongly. What was worse, was that he assumed -- wrongly again -- that the real world couldn't penetrate the wall his celebrity had created. So he lied. He lied to the grand jury and continued on, vandalizing baseball's most cherished records.
But Barry Bonds isn't different from anyone else. Perjuring yourself is a crime. Did race play a role in that? Only that Barry Bonds supporters can say it does.
Why it took so long is a mystery to me. I wish the federal prosecuters could have indicted him before he stripped baseball of its most prized record. But, in the end, it doesn't really matter.
His career is over. So is the impenetrable safety bubble in which he lived.
There is an old saying about dues: we pay now or we pay later, but we all pay. It's a truth. It's reality.
Welcome to the real world, Mr. Bonds.
posted by E-Luv at 12:50 PM
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