Barry Bonds indicted in steroid case

04:24 PM CST on Thursday, November 15, 2007
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, the culmination of a four-year federal investigation into whether he lied under oath to a grand jury looking into steroid use by elite athletes.

The indictment came three months after the 43-year-old Bonds passed Hank Aaron to become baseball's career home run leader. Bonds parted ways with the San Francisco Giants after the season.

While Bonds was chasing Aaron, a grand jury was working behind closed doors to put the finishing touches on the long-rumored indictment.




BIG SURPRISE......

Why couldn't it have come 4 months earlier?

Is Mark McGuire next? He's been staying out of the spotlight for the most part. This will probably bring him back into the picture as well.

I don't think McGuire ever lied to a grand jury.

So McGuire has stayed under the radar legally for now. I think there will be fallout for more than just Bonds. Truly sad.

One wonders if Barry had to post bond?

I'm guessing that this is coming around now because the Mitchell report will be coming out soon, and allegedly it will be implicating many more.

McGwire never lied to a grand jury, I think the only thing that he has is his "testimony" before the Congressional committee where he dodged the questioning. He's never admitted it and never denied it, and we also need to keep in mind that he played in an era where steroid testing was not in place in baseball, and the usage of performance-enhancing stimulants was not only allowed, but in many instances condoned by baseball. Remember McGwire's defense of his usage of Androstein-dione, which at the time was a legal substance in baseball but banned by the Olympics and most every other major sports league in the US.

I just wonder what good this will all do ... Bonds has been dodging the feds for a long time, heck his buddy Greg Anderson has been in jail for months in contempt of court for failure to rat out Bonds to a grand jury. I would imagine that many of the players in the Mitchell report don't play anymore and were retired from baseball before the steroids testing started.

It's all really a big shell game by Selig to clear his name. Even now, baseball has announced that they will be expanding steroid testing, and giving the teams and players forewarning BEFORE showing up to test. What's the point? Masking agents are so readily available and so quick acting, why even test? Baseball really has no clue.

So Brian how do we look at the past 15 years in the major leagues where a spike in home runs, okay more than a spike, seems to coincide with the apparent use of steroids?

And thanks for educating me a bit more on McGwire's situation.

Meanwhile in a related story . . .

A-Rod, Yankees agree to terms of $275M deal

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/11/15/2007-11-15_arod_ya nkees_agree_to_terms_of_275m_deal-1.html

I'm sorry, what was that? A quarter of a BILLION dollars? Surely there's some trickle down coming to me for all those times I helped out with my daughter's cal ripken little league teams, hmm?

Somehow I don't see you calling her in from practice while holding a pink Hello Kitty syringe and telling her it's time for her "magic shot"

I think that you secretly dearly love the busted duct-taped T-ball stand collecting dust in your garage...and what about all those pizza or ice-cream parties after the games? The trophies? I doubt you'd trade any of those for a few (million) bucks.

Let me answer for Skep Mrs. M

"Try Me"

Hahahaha! Now give that "facetious bone" back to Skep!

"So Brian how do we look at the past 15 years in the major leagues where a spike in home runs, okay more than a spike, seems to coincide with the apparent use of steroids?"

With skepticism, of course. It can be best defined by a commercial (I forget what it was for) about 10 years ago by Atlanta Braves pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine ... where they are walking around talking about their pitching prowess, and one of them pipes up with, "Yeah, but chicks dig the long ball."

Ball players, no matter what sport, will do whatever it takes as a rule, by any means, to get a competitive edge. The money out there is so ridiculous that everyone wants it. Most other sports leagues/associations (the NFL, the IOC, to a lesser extent the NBA) long ago outlawed many performance-enhancing drugs ...

My theory is this: Even before the 1994 work stoppage in baseball, the sport had been in decline. TV revenues were down, attendance was stagnant, there was really no marquee player that was the face of the sport, no Michael Jordan if you will ... and it had been for a long time. Add in the fact that these players want so badly some of the money in those exploding contracts, and the juice came flying. It was left unchecked by baseball for a LONG time, never tested for, never regulated, it was swept under the rug.

The last 15-20 years pose a problem for the stats and history of the game, since the game itself is more stats-heavy than any other sport in America. How do we know who WAS and who WASN'T on steroids? There is now no way to know ... so how do we deal with this in regards to career achievement awards, like the Hall of Fame? Do we put an asterisk by ALL of their names from this era because we just don't know? Are there players who wouldn't have made the Hall of Fame, or put up numbers that make people look at them for eligibility, that would NOT have if they didn't juice? (Barry Bonds never needed to hit the syringe, his place in Cooperstown had long before been cemented).

That's a great question, Chris, and one I am not sure of. How DO we judge those of the past 20 years? How do we know who did it fair and square and who didn't? While I am quite sure personally of two present players who have come about it honestly (Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez), how do I know FOR SURE?

In the next 18 months the next target of the feds will be WWE, The McMahon family, and there preformers. Although they will conclude for wrestling is about on the same level as MLB. The big exception with the feds being that prescription drug abuse is to blame for the death rate ratio in pro wrestling versus other pro sports and or entertainment.

mrs m, yep, I do have some priceless momentos, and lots of memories -- the kind billions can't buy. I think I'll be able to live without a trickle down fringe benefit!

I'm not sure what all they can do with WWE Shyguy ... it's not an organized sport, but "sports entertainment". It's not like the WWE is in it for credibility, or the sanctity of the sport itself.

Or hockey either.

from wrestlingobserver.com today.
--The House Energy and Commerce Committee, headed by Representative Billy Rush, will hold hearings on performance enhancing drugs in sports when it comes back from the winter recess. The wrestling hearings will be part of more hearings that will cover baseball and other sports, but the two main sports will be baseball and pro wrestling. Vince needs to "thank" Barry Bonds for this one because that indictment spurred Rush on, who had in the past been concerned, but not concerned enough to call hearings, on wrestling.

Why don't they just have a steroid league and a "clean" league? That would solve everything!

I'd watch the "clean" league since they'd still have "sacks". Hopefully like White Goodman in "Dodgeball"

"Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it."

Sound's like a gym Herb would go to! HAAAaa

Dont laugh at your own jokes, its sad.

It was more of just a Ha than a HaHa. I normally try not to but on this one just felt the need to.

I laughed, as in Hahahahahahahahaha!

Like HerrB and Nixon, Mc74 is not known for any sense of humor or funny bone...

Ha ha ha ha ha!!

I never said it was not funny. All I said was not to laugh at his own jokes.

Take a moment to breathe before you start to type.

Ok then, Mc74, how about showing us Mrs. M is wrong in her observation and tell us a good joke or say something really clever.

Down boy, you are on the attack. What part of "I never said it was not funny. All I said was not to laugh at his own jokes." is saying Merkin is wrong?

"Down boy, you are on the attack."

Uh, no, even if I was a doberman, it would not be quite funny at all.


I know what you're saying, but I just wanted to give you an opportunity to separate yourself from the troll and Nixon.

So, how about it?

Mc74....
Too many of your own chemicals scrambled your brain???