November 15, 2007
Bonds Indicted
By
Amanda
Posted at 6:10 pm
Looks like even the federal government wants in on the Barry Bonds free-agent bonanza:
SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 15) – Barry Bonds, baseball’s home run king, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could face prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.
The indictment, culminating a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes, charged Bonds with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Read the whole story on AOL Sports. Poor Bonds. What’s next? Branding his record-breaking baseballs with asterisks?
Good. I hope they boot his…asterisk out of MLB.
Thus shall the avalanche of negative publicity resulting from baseball’s sticking its head in the sand with respect to Better Living Through Chemistry be continued.
It’s not like Bonds is penniless and can’t afford a team of high-priced lawyers to defend him. This is going to result in a lengthy court battle and figures to produce a media circus (think O.J. Simpson) – and MLB has only itself to blame for the collective black eye it is about to receive.
Anabolic steroids have been classified as Schedule III controlled substances since November 29, 1990. It took fifteen more years before baseball opened its eyes. Even then, it took a kick in the asterisk (thank you BF) from Congress to get MLB to even begin to address the issue, and now the criminal justice system is also becoming involved.
Perhaps this will teach the guardians of this great game a lesson about dealing with issues before they grow into unmanageable monstrosities. I’m not holding my breath, though.
HMZ
Considering that they’re just now beginning to look at the idea of instant replay, MLB certainly hasn’t set any precedents of acting on the no-brainer-type issues.