San Francisco Giants Slugger Barry Bonds Charged Thursday With Perjury, Obstructing Justice
Nov. 15, 2007—
Baseball superstar Barry Bonds was charged Thursday with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs.
The indictment, unsealed Thursday by federal prosecutors in San Francisco, is the culmination of a four-year federal probe into whether he lied under oath to a grand jury investigating steroid use by elite athletes.
...
The indictment charges Bonds with lying when he said that he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer Greg Anderson. He also denied taking steroids at anytime in 2001 when he was pursuing the single season home-run record.
"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment reads.
He is also charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids.
In other news OJ is going to trial. Lets hope Barry doesn't pull the race card on this.
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That was disapointing ..Should we show this Federation how to build a ship so we may have worthy foes? Typhonis 1
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As a Brit, I'm just amazed that this didn't happen years ago.
"what huge and loathsome abnormality was the Sphinx originally carven to represent? Accursed is the sight, be it in dream or not, that revealed to me the supreme horror - the Unknown God of the Dead, which licks its colossal chops in the unsuspected abyss, fed hideous morsels by soulless absurdities that should not exist" - Harry Houdini "Under the Pyramids"
"The goal of science is to substitute facts for appearances and demonstrations for impressions" - John Ruskin, "Stones of Venice"
Yep. And here's a bit more from the story on ESPN's site (which is sure to be updated throughout the evening):
Bonds is by far the highest-profile figure caught up in the wide-ranging government steroids investigation launched in 2002 with the raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative -- now infamously known as BALCO -- the Burlingame-based supplements lab at the center of a large steroids distribution ring.
Allegations of steroid use long have dogged Bonds, the son of an ex-Major Leaguer who broke into baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 as a lithe, base-stealing outfielder. By the late 1990s he'd grown to more than 240 pounds, with his head, in particular, becoming noticeably bigger.
Bonds' physical growth was accompanied by a remarkable power surge. During the 2001 season he broke Mark McGwire's single-season home run crown, and by 2007, he'd passed Aaron's career mark of 755 homers.
Speculation of his impending indictment had mounted for more than a year. In July 2006, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, who led the investigation, took the unusual step of going public with the probe by announcing he was handing it off to a new grand jury when the previous panel's 18-month term expired. Prosecutors are typically secretive about grand jury proceedings.
At the center of the investigation is Bonds' childhood friend and personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who spent most of the past year in a federal detention center for refusing to testify to the grand jury investigating Bonds' alleged perjury.
According to testimony obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Bonds testified in 2003 that he took two substances given to him by Anderson -- which he called "the cream" and "the clear" -- to soothe aches and pains and help him better recover from injuries.
The substances fit the description of steroids peddled by BALCO founder Victor Conte. But when questioned under oath by investigators, Bonds famously said he believed Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and an arthritic balm.
Investigators and the public had their doubts.
Aiming to prove Bonds a liar, prosecutors tried to compel Anderson to testify. When he refused, they jailed him for contempt.
I'm one of the ones who called for the * to be branded on the ball that broke Hank Aaron's record, so yeah, I want him indicted and convicted.
Cause if he's convicted, he's kicked outta the Hall of Fame
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LadyTevar wrote:I'm one of the ones who called for the * to be branded on the ball that broke Hank Aaron's record, so yeah, I want him indicted and convicted.
Cause if he's convicted, he's kicked outta the Hall of Fame
That's not entirely accurate. He wouldn't be kicked out, but he wouldn't be voted in. At least not for a couple of decades until we really know the scope of steroid use in MLB. Then he will get voted in.
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it. Blank Yellow (NSFW)
havokeff wrote:
That's not entirely accurate. He wouldn't be kicked out, but he wouldn't be voted in. At least not for a couple of decades until we really know the scope of steroid use in MLB. Then he will get voted in.
Is it possible that there can be a ban, like with Pete Rose? IIRC, he's banned from the hall.
havokeff wrote:
That's not entirely accurate. He wouldn't be kicked out, but he wouldn't be voted in. At least not for a couple of decades until we really know the scope of steroid use in MLB. Then he will get voted in.
Is it possible that there can be a ban, like with Pete Rose? IIRC, he's banned from the hall.
He's been banned from baseball, which effectively means that he can't be elected to the Hall. The same thing could easily happen to Bonds, and I wouldn't be broken up about it.
73% of all statistics are made up, including this one.
Would it be horrible of me to dance an Irish style jig in celebration?
Really, this guy is a total douchebag, on mulitple levels, and I hope he gets everything coming to him.
The Gentleman from Texas abstains. Discourteously.
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The Spartan wrote:Would it be horrible of me to dance an Irish style jig in celebration?[/qoute]No, but don't post it on YouTube either.
Really, this guy is a total douchebag, on mulitple levels, and I hope he gets everything coming to him.
Agreed and to quote Keith Olbermann: "last year, he got the record, this year, he might have a record."
I don't remember all the details but apparently someone snitched on him, a personal trainer that was put in jail or something. Olbermann's segment on Bonds mentioned something like this but I wasn't paying very close attention.
Good riddance if his *record is stripped and he banned from the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ah, that's great news. Couldn't happen to a more deserving asshole. Pittsburgh sends its love, Barry, you dick.
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Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, in today's column, said that the government would have an uphill case proving perjury charges and that Bonds just might skate on charges associated with steroid use, but that even if he escapes legally his career is now essentially over. No Major League team is going to want to pick him up from free agency given how uncertain his availability is now combined with the fact that the man's name is poison. He's made a hobby of incurring fan hatred, so he's got no base of popularity on which to mount any sort of comeback (unlike Martha Stewart, the example he gave for comparison). And his reputation also makes it unlikely he'll ever be voted into the Hall of Fame even if he doesn't draw a lifetime ban from the "commissioner". The only sign of Bonds in the HoF will be his n.756 homerun ball with an asterisk branded into it by the fan who caught it.
Barry's fucked either way. And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
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Yes. If they get him on both charges, he could spend up to 30 years in prison.
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Damn right, Barry. Years of shameless cheating, and you're finally getting your comeuppance. Serves you right, you dishonest bastard.
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You guys do realize that there are like 20-30 other MLBers that have been busted for steroids in the last few years. The NFL has guys going on and coming of suspension for steroids every other week. Cyclists. Tennis players. Soccer players. Steroids are in every form of athletic ENTERTAINMENT.
Why is this such a big deal.
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it. Blank Yellow (NSFW)
havokeff wrote:You guys do realize that there are like 20-30 other MLBers that have been busted for steroids in the last few years. The NFL has guys going on and coming of suspension for steroids every other week. Cyclists. Tennis players. Soccer players. Steroids are in every form of athletic ENTERTAINMENT.
Why is this such a big deal.
Because he swore to tell the truth to the U.S. Congress, and then lied to them. That's pretty serious stuff.
And he's an asshole, so no one feels sorry for him.
73% of all statistics are made up, including this one.
havokeff wrote:You guys do realize that there are like 20-30 other MLBers that have been busted for steroids in the last few years. The NFL has guys going on and coming of suspension for steroids every other week. Cyclists. Tennis players. Soccer players. Steroids are in every form of athletic ENTERTAINMENT.
Why is this such a big deal.
Because he swore to tell the truth to the U.S. Congress, and then lied to them. That's pretty serious stuff.
And he's an asshole, so no one feels sorry for him.
Being an asshole aside. Why was he even being questioned by CONGRESS. Don't they have better things to worry about than which baseball player is hitting to many homeruns? This just seems like one more distraction from what really matters.
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it. Blank Yellow (NSFW)
havokeff wrote:Being an asshole aside. Why was he even being questioned by CONGRESS. Don't they have better things to worry about than which baseball player is hitting to many homeruns? This just seems like one more distraction from what really matters.
(Emphasis mine)
Well, that's an excellent question. I think that it was just a bunch of politicians making hay by taking MLB -- an organization that brings in billions of dollars and enjoyed antitrust protection for decades (and still might, for all I know) -- to task for their nonexistent steroid policy. Few things are as all-American as baseball, and since the everyman can relate to it, votes are there to be had by being the guy (or guys) to "fix" it.
End of the day, though, the reason why he was hauled before Congress is irrelevant: he was there, he was under oath, and he made the decision to lie. If we let perjurers off, then the whole system falls apart.
73% of all statistics are made up, including this one.
