Bonds Indicted

[Ishido]

Barry Bonds was indicted on federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

Just saw this on ESPN, any comments?

[Alleya]

Will his head be able to fit through the courtroom doors?

[Akiyama]

Will his head be able to fit through the courtroom doors?

LOL


My thoughts though is.. why now? Why after four years do they just now have the evidence? I'm not sure I'm buying into all this.. it's definitely surprising.

[ozz]

they had to let him break the record and the season to finish so nobody burned detroit down

[aurik]

Will his head be able to fit through the courtroom doors?

LOL


My thoughts though is.. why now? Why after four years do they just now have the evidence? I'm not sure I'm buying into all this.. it's definitely surprising.

It's not always immediately clear when someone is lying under oath.

[blister1]

Steroids or not, the guy was still a dangerous bat, kinda glad he isn't signing with a team in the AL 8)

[Akiyama]

Will his head be able to fit through the courtroom doors?

LOL


My thoughts though is.. why now? Why after four years do they just now have the evidence? I'm not sure I'm buying into all this.. it's definitely surprising.

It's not always immediately clear when someone is lying under oath.

Yeah. Thing is.. you don't just wait four years after feeling that someone lied under oath to bring it back without having any new evidence to bring the case up again. Right? I'm sure they found something. I'm in no way defending Bonds by any stretch of the means, it just has me curious. Thursday at 4:30ish central time is just a surprising time to hear it.. I was caught off guard.

[Intense]

Next time they should totally wait until the next business day, so its more believable.

[Akiyama]

Next time they should totally wait until the next business day, so its more believable.

>.> I didn't mean it that way. It's just.. I was sitting here waiting for my few lols from PTI and saw this on the bottom of the screen while watching the end of Around the Horn. Like I said, it was just sudden and seemed so random. I guess I expect a lot of this stuff on a Monday because Mondays generally suck, lol.

[Selamis]

This needed to happen when he was just one or more away from breaking the record, they waited too long damnit. At least now there should be redemption for all us that had to listen to the Bonds supporters (why?) say "He's never been found guilty or charged with anything, blah blah blah."

Victooooooooooooooooooooooory!

[Intense]

Next time they should totally wait until the next business day, so its more believable.

>.> I didn't mean it that way. It's just.. I was sitting here waiting for my few lols from PTI and saw this on the bottom of the screen while watching the end of Around the Horn. Like I said, it was just sudden and seemed so random. I guess I expect a lot of this stuff on a Monday because Mondays generally suck, lol.

Yeah, Im just bein a jerk. :]

[Akiyama]

Next time they should totally wait until the next business day, so its more believable.

>.> I didn't mean it that way. It's just.. I was sitting here waiting for my few lols from PTI and saw this on the bottom of the screen while watching the end of Around the Horn. Like I said, it was just sudden and seemed so random. I guess I expect a lot of this stuff on a Monday because Mondays generally suck, lol.

Yeah, Im just bein a jerk. :]

ohi how r u
?

[Vedder]

I just wish they did it before he broke the record.

[Tyche]

Will his head be able to fit through the courtroom doors?

LOL


My thoughts though is.. why now? Why after four years do they just now have the evidence? I'm not sure I'm buying into all this.. it's definitely surprising.

It's not always immediately clear when someone is lying under oath.

Yeah. Thing is.. you don't just wait four years after feeling that someone lied under oath to bring it back without having any new evidence to bring the case up again. Right? I'm sure they found something. I'm in no way defending Bonds by any stretch of the means, it just has me curious. Thursday at 4:30ish central time is just a surprising time to hear it.. I was caught off guard.

New evidence = Greg Anthony...who was released from prison today. What a cowinkydink!

[Intense]

Next time they should totally wait until the next business day, so its more believable.

>.> I didn't mean it that way. It's just.. I was sitting here waiting for my few lols from PTI and saw this on the bottom of the screen while watching the end of Around the Horn. Like I said, it was just sudden and seemed so random. I guess I expect a lot of this stuff on a Monday because Mondays generally suck, lol.

Yeah, Im just bein a jerk. :]

ohi how r u
?

am good

[Akiyama]

Yeah. Greg Anderson's release. What a surprise. it's amazing that on the same day Bonds gets indicted, A. Rod gets signed by the Yankees after the opt-out. Lulz. (Gonna lol if he's on the list of roid users.)

[Venture]

He's prolly gonna get convicted. American justice system just itching to finally put a renowned African-American pro player behind bars, after missing OJ. Batting .500, at least.

/racecard

[Quicklet]

He's prolly gonna get convicted. American justice system just itching to finally put a renowned African-American pro player behind bars, after missing OJ. Batting .500, at least.

/racecard

The problem is that he may have easily been taking The Clear like Marion Jones, so it's not like you can produce a test to show that he lied (I'm assuming that these charges are Balco related and not for tax evasion or whatever else he was being investigated for). They have SO many people who are connected to Balco who have either admitted to or been implicated in steroid use, it probably just took this long to make sure they had the necessary testimony lined up to make a solid case for it. But really, if you look at the circumstances, the odds that he did use steroids (while has has been trying to act like everybody is vilifying him for other reasons) are overwhelming.

Might he become a scapegoat for the wider issue of steroid use during that era? Maybe. Does he deserve what's coming to him (if it does)? Sure does. You make a deal with the devil to get what you want, you better accept the consequences in the end.

BTW, looks like OJ's gonna be getting another shot at going to jail, so the justice system as a chance to bat 1.000 after all! :D

[Charla]

He's prolly gonna get convicted. American justice system just itching to finally put a renowned African-American pro player behind bars, after missing OJ. Batting .500, at least.

/racecard

Michael Vick wasn't "renowned" enough I guess?

[evilbau]

He's prolly gonna get convicted. American justice system just itching to finally put a renowned African-American pro player behind bars, after missing OJ. Batting .500, at least.

/racecard

The problem is that he may have easily been taking The Clear like Marion Jones, so it's not like you can produce a test to show that he lied (I'm assuming that these charges are Balco related and not for tax evasion or whatever else he was being investigated for). They have SO many people who are connected to Balco who have either admitted to or been implicated in steroid use, it probably just took this long to make sure they had the necessary testimony lined up to make a solid case for it. But really, if you look at the circumstances, the odds that he did use steroids (while has has been trying to act like everybody is vilifying him for other reasons) are overwhelming.

Might he become a scapegoat for the wider issue of steroid use during that era? Maybe. Does he deserve what's coming to him (if it does)? Sure does. You make a deal with the devil to get what you want, you better accept the consequences in the end.

BTW, looks like OJ's gonna be getting another shot at going to jail, so the justice system as a chance to bat 1.000 after all! :D

Well since the charges are perjury and obstruction of justice, I don't see how those issues are relevant if you trust the justice system. It all boils down to this:

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.

and in his testimony before a grand jury he testified that he "did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs."

So of course the issues are:
1) Is the evidence (positive tests) credible? - Since the indictment's are based on it, I would guess they are pretty solid.
2) Did he know about it? - Gut feeling is yes but this is what the trial is going to be about; can the prosecution prove this?
3) Did he obstruct justice? - If they can prove he knew about it, they will bring up his earlier testimony and this one will be a no brainer.

People talking about the ancillary issues are taking into account any political reasons for indicting him, which will certainly affect the pressure on the prosecutors to win and how the media will cover it, but does not really have anything to do with the merits of the case. There wouldn't be much of a discussion if people realized this so feel free to ignore me.