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Thursday, November 15, 2007

They Finally Caught Barry Bonds

Let this be a lesson to everyone: It doesn't matter who you are, do not mess or lie to the government because eventually they will hunt you down. I've watched the Barry Bonds story develop over the years, always expecting it to finally die down at some point. I wanted this story to die down, not because I dislike Bonds (which I do by the way), but because I'm sick and tired of hearing about him anymore. Well, this case didn't die down. However, I've changed my opinion about this story. I find it rather comical how the government pursued this one man to the point where they were absolutely determined to indict him. In addition, I am more interested in the outcome of this story. Will the greatest home run king, who just came off his record breaking season, go to jail?

Bonds finished the year with 762 homers, seven more than Aaron, and is currently a free agent. In 2001, he set the season record with 73 home runs. The indictment culminated a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes.

Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds has repeatedly denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. He has never been identified by Major League Baseball as testing positive, though we all can figure out through one theory or another that he is positive.

Bonds was charged with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. He was cited for lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer and longtime friend, Greg Anderson. Bonds also was charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids. Therefore, this is not a baseball issue on whether he took his steroids or not. The grand jury could care less about that. This is an issue of lying under oath. I'm curious (and we'll never find out the answer to this) to know if Bonds would have told the truth from the beginning, being who he is, would they have taken it easy on him in the same way they did to Jason Giambi?

If convicted on all five counts, baseball's home run king could go to prison for up to 30 years.

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