The Mon Calamari philosopher...

Another blow against the forces of goodness and virtue…

It would be interesting to fast forward a century into the future and see what kind of perspective there would be on the whole Barry Bonds saga.

The thing is, we go back to the whole BALCO situation, the grand jury, athletes being called to testify and the goal seems fairly clear--the purging of those manufacturing and distributing performance-enhancing substances to athletes.

Pretty straightforward.

Now, to nail these guys, you need folks to spill the beans on them and the only ones capable of doing that are the very athletes that have used what was provided--they being the best source of information. To state the obvious, these ones would be reluctant to divulge what they know for fear of legal entanglements and hits to their reputations and legacies.

Viewing the larger picture, it is prudent to offer the athletes two things in exchange for their cooperation: immunity from prosecution and the confidentiality the grand jury supposedly provides.

To maximize the amount of information that can be extracted from these witnesses data is provided beforehand about what the government has in the way of evidence in order to (1) let them know that lying is pretty pointless and perjury would be an exercise in futility so it’s best to be up front as possible and (2) it helps refresh the memory of those testifying since specific information is needed (who, what, where, when and why) and generalities are what is often remembered while exact details might be a bit hazy and when you’re looking for testimony that will hold up in court it’s important for that evidence to be verifiable.

Again, pretty straightforward.

With the BALCO investigation, witnesses were given time before meeting with the grand jury to go over the aforementioned evidence for the purposes outlined above: this was given to Marion Jones, Benito Santiago, Jason Giambi etc.

When it came Barry Bonds turn to testify these rules were inexplicably changed--no information would be provided beforehand and he’d have to face the grand jury without being able to refresh his memory as to specifics.

This would seem counterproductive since BALCO was the intended target and Bonds’ testimony would certainly be valuable but they decided to undermine their own goals and getting accurate answers to the questions that were to be posed.

Why?

The funny thing is, BALCO is out of business and those running it were successfully prosecuted so it would seem that all-in-all one would not out of line in saying that it was a rousing success. Still, something odd happened--some athletes gave less than truthful testimony; certainly wrong and nobody is stating otherwise yet these athletes were treated more harshly that the ones guilty of something that is viewed as a great scourge in society.

Even odder, is that it’s beginning to become clear that while BALCO may have been the target, it was not the only one. Right now, the perceived success of the whole BALCO investigation seemingly hinges on putting one man behind bars and it is not Victor Conte or any of the chemists but rather the one time left fielder of the San Francisco Giants.

Barry Bonds.

The government (or whoever was the driving force behind this operation) changed the normal rules and protocols of a grand jury in such a manner that it would potentially undermine the success of nabbing the “ace of spades” in this particular deck.

Why such a counterproductive strategy?

It’s only counterproductive if BALCO was the only target. We all know what Admiral Ackbar would opine about this situation.

As time goes on it is appearing that someone in authority has a personal vendetta against Bonds.

I’m not saying that Bonds didn’t commit perjury or didn’t ingest anabolic steroids but it does seem that an awful lot of time and energy (not to mention taxpayer dollars) is being expended to get one man that isn’t a threat to national security.

It’s not like we’re dealing with a high ranking member of Al Qaeda--just an arrogant prima donna athlete that happens to be pretty obnoxious to people he considers beneath him (which includes pretty much everyone). Other than being the holder of several records, there is nothing exceptional about him and those that match his personality are about as common as skanky music videos by bubblegum pop stars whose music is no longer selling.

Of course, the media--a prime victim of Mr. Congeniality in Bizarro World--has faithfully painted him as something worse than history’s greatest monster to make it seem that the government is doing the work of God even though they have been shown to be clumsy, inept and making up for a lack of skill with an overabundance of zeal.

One needs look no further than the reaction Bonds’ engenders in many. Here is a sample of feedback from just one article:

Bonds is a junkie. Him, and his group of junkies, that actually run the spectrum of color, ruined baseball.

Ruined baseball? I checked Google news and it appears the game’s demise has been greatly exaggerated.

Barry Bonds is an embarassment to the game. Talented or not, he has always been an egocentric, me-first, classless, self-attention-seeking pansy. Not to mention, his inflated head and neck looks like the rear end of a rhinoceros. Ugly stuff.

He has no business being in any big league stadium ever again. He doesn't deserve it.

Unlike the humble, genteel, self effacing, accomodating and deferential Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Jim Rice, Curt Schilling types right? He’s nothing like the sainted Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cap Anson Rogers Hornsby et al. Yup, major leaguers have been boy scouts--the whole lot of ’em; faithful to their spouses, kind to fans and media, drink milk and nothing but and open every sentence with “Aw shucks, t‘weren’t nuthin’…” until Bonds came along and embarrassed the sport.

Bonds is an embarrassing bafoon.His God given talent has been wasted on personal greed.Baseball will be much better off without him.

Personal greed? Better off? The fact that people think like this speaks volumes about the objectivity and integrity of the media. Of course we needn't bother with inconvenient facts about the game's current popularity--right?

He almost always comes across as arrogant and self-serving, and I just don't see him as a team player. What baseball team wants a player like that...no matter how good he thinks he is? I see players every day carry themselves with confidence and pride, but also with humility and dedication to the success and image of their team. I wish Barry Bonds would have exemplified these characteristics more throughout his career...maybe he would still be playing the game we all love so much.

Um … wow. Believe it or not there used to be a body of opinion similar to this regarding Ted Williams, Roger Maris, Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson. I’m guessing this person views “Field of Dreams” as a documentary. It’s a shame this individual couldn’t spend a little time in a major league clubhouse--listening to the popping sounds of their balloons would be interesting to witness.

a player brings more than his bat to a team. Even if some team picked him up, you can't say right off that he would help them win. He will get some hits, he will get some home runs, but he will also bring his attitude and baggage to the clubhouse and that will influence the balance and cohesion of the team...and unfortunately, I believe that influence will have a negative affect on the team's success.

I wonder if this person realizes that Bonds played on seven post season teams. One would think that the Giants would have won four World Series (1997, 2000, 2002-03) had they replaced Bonds with Juan Pierre…a great guy in the clubhouse and a true team player.

Im just happy hes not coming back...Thats why America is in the sad shape it is...we go by numbers and results instead of honor and integrity. How many world series rings does he have? How many kids do you want looking/acting like him? How many parents want him as thier role model? The answer is NONE.

It appears that we’ve been kicked out of paradise twice: once from the Garden of Eden, the second time in 1985 when Bonds made his major league debut. By the way, Bonds has as many rings as Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. Edgar Martinez, Jeff Bagwell, Vladimir Guerrero, Mike Piazza, Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina…

I suppose they had/have whatever championship destroying affliction that Bonds possesses.

bonds is the biggest disgrace to baseball ever hes been lying for yrs have we all forgotten the year he took off to supposedly heal his knees don't u think its was to clean out his system cuz he know they were going to start testing the next year and all this stuff about him being the greatest what a laff if what mantle did on one leg and no drugs doesnt put him way ahead of this cheating bag of dung its not about color or race which happens to be screamed every time a black man is accused of something its about honesty and integrity and bonds has shown little or none of each keep him out of baseball and the hall of fame

Well, I guess the Black Sox, Pete Rose, Hal Chase, Cap Anson and many others will be relieved to know that--I guess those that enforced the colour line for 60 years are off the hook as well. Of course he has proof that Bonds’ knees were healthy and that he was just avoiding testing since clearly he is an orthopedic surgeon with access to all BLB’s health records.

I mean, this is a small sampling of the hysteria the press has caused the average person to feel regarding Bonds. You can find similar sentiments all over the web of this and worse so we shouldn’t be surprised if some in power might share similar views and abuse that power to bring down one they have been taught is opposed to mom, apple pie, milk and helping little old ladies across the street. After all, they get their information about Bonds from the same sources as the above do so it shouldn’t surprise us that some might have similar sentiments.

Somehow, I think in the year 2109 people will look back at the government, the media and common sentiment regarding a single professional baseball player as evidence of how far society has come since the dark days of the beginning of the millennium.

Best Regards

John