OT: Barry Bonds indicted

[BadMoFo]

A federal grand jury indicts Barry Bonds on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, AP and CNN affiliate KTVU report.

 

[Solaris]

Wow...took long enough.

 

[BadMoFo]

Cheater!!!

 

[BadMoFo]

Bonds Indicted By BALCO Federal Grand Jury

POSTED: 10:08 am PST November 15, 2007
UPDATED: 2:05 pm PST November 15, 2007


SAN FRANCISCO -- Major League Baseball's all-time home run king Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday on perjury and obstruction justice charges, according to KTVU reporter Rita Williams.

The five-count indictment -- four counts of perjury and one of obstruciton of justice -- capped one of the longest federal grand jury investigations in Northern California history -- a proceeding that introduced the sports world to the acronym BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) and led to the downfall of American track and field world and Olympic champions Marion Jones, Kelli White and Tim Montgomery.

It touched the NFL with several current and former players called to testify including former All-Pro linebacker Bill Romanowski.

It also sparked the ongoing debate surrounding Major League Baseball and its problems with athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. It's a debate that has gone to such lengths that the home run ball that Bonds ripped out of AT&T Park to break Hank Aaron's all-time record was headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame tattooed with an asterisk.

The charges against Bonds stem from his Dec.4, 2003 grand jury testimony when he allegedly testified that he did not knowingly take performance enhancing drugs.

Bonds trainer and friend Greg Anderson was convicted in the BALCO case on grand jury charges, served time in jail and returned to prison when he refused to testify again against Bonds. He remains in jail.

But others have allegedly testified to the grand jury that Bonds had admitted to using steroids produced by BALCO including the slugger's former mistress Kimberly Bell and a former childhood friend Stevie Hoskins.

The tax charges stem from cash Bonds allegedly collected -- and did not report to the Internal Revenue Service -- from memorabilia shows.

Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record with his 756th home run on Aug. 7 -- an event not without plenty additional drama brought on by the federal drug probe.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig grudgingly attended the games leading up to Bonds historic homer and Aaron did not travel to AT&T Park to witness the feat in person.

The large banners commemorating the record still hang from the light posts on either side of the main center-field scoreboard at AT&T Park.

Bonds ripped 762 homers in his 22 major league season and has recently talked about continuing his career else, possibly in nearby Oakland where the American League's designated hitter rule would allow him to bat but not play in the field where his aging body has robbed him of speed and quickness.

 

[Holy Diver]

Bonds is a complete prick. He trashes teammates, underperforms in the postseason, and lies to the sport and its fans.

Steroids Schmeroids, Bonds was an A-hole before his shoe busted two sizes bigger, or the hat size he had been issued since becoming a pro needed more width from......'hitting the gym'. He is a ball of horrible karma, and there is no running from that.

The Juice has made the man even more crazy. This should be a very fun next few months/years of his life. NOt for him, but for those like me, who wish this man nothing but bad times.

Good luck Barry!

you deserve everything coming your way!

 

[maverick4]

Wait so what is his penalty, what does he face?

I still think the guy is one of the top 5 best ever, he had ridiculous stats even before he started using steroids in the late 90's.

 

[scout]

Wait so what is his penalty, what does he face?

I still think the guy is one of the top 5 best ever, he had ridiculous stats even before he started using steroids in the late 90's.

You might want to check those stats.

 

[Mogamedogz]

Lot of grand standing if you ask me. I think it's garbage to blame the whole steroid era on one guy.

If anyone is going to take the fall, it should be Selig (who turned a blind eye to it).

 

[Spirit of '76]

I guess Bonds won't have to waste any time writing his HOF speech.

Wonder what the Barry Bonds Apologist Club will have to say about this.

 

[reflexblue]

Its about time!

 

[Mogamedogz]

I wonder when they are going to indict "The Rocket"

 

[patsacolachick]

Yeah he's an ass but he is not a mass murderer, child molester, or anything else equally horrid. I have a hard time stomaching the idea our government has spent untold millions and four years of time chasing a guy who essentially decided to ruin his body in pursuit of a dumb record. And yes I get the whole "he lied!" thing, but this is an enormous waste of our tax dollars, IMO.

 

[420jim]

I guess Bonds won't have to waste any time writing his HOF speech.

Wonder what the Barry Bonds Apologist Club will have to say about this.

I'm not a Bonds apologist, I'm a baseball basher. Bonds did nothing wrong, Baseball and sports writers and fans all cheered when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa both were chasing the homerun record. TV broadcasts cut into programming to showcase both.

Baseball writers never complained about steroids, what they did was ignore the situation, and cheered along with their fans. Baseball totally ignored the problem, in fact through their inaction, they basically told all of us it was OK. Baseball, in fact, did not have a rule against steroids until Congress started to investigate. The players union refused to accept steroid testing at the last CBA talks and only agreed to it when the owners agreed not to suspend players who tested positive.

Bonds and others only did what Baseball encouraged, and now they are getting persecuted for it. Baseball created this monster and now is trying to blame the same monster for the mess that they created

 

[OtisCampbell]

Yeah he's an ass but he is not a mass murderer, child molester, or anything else equally horrid. I have a hard time stomaching the idea our government has spent untold millions and four years of time chasing a guy who essentially decided to ruin his body in pursuit of a dumb record. And yes I get the whole "he lied!" thing, but this is an enormous waste of our tax dollars, IMO.

I second this

 

[DynastyDriven]

 

[alamo]

I wonder when they are going to indict "The Rocket"

Given it took the Feds 3 years to indict Bonds, even with all the public evidence and accusations, they should have enough on Roger about the time he retires.

In 2025.

 

[Gumby]

Lot of grand standing if you ask me. I think it's garbage to blame the whole steroid era on one guy.

If anyone is going to take the fall, it should be Selig (who turned a blind eye to it).

Ok, everyone who believed Sosa and McGwire were clean AT THE TIME they were having their HR derby raise their hands........


I thought so: we have an audience of one: Bud Selig.


Everyone knew the sport was dirty with steroids and the League.... JUST DIDN"T CARE. It was all about "Chicks DIG the LONG BALL" and 'recovery from the baseball strike'.

They wanted tv revenue and they were willing to sacrifice the bodies of their players and the sanctity of the records books in order to get it.

Dont get all hypocritical on me now and say we need to prosecute Barry Bonds because you don't like him and we want to make an example.

We as PATS Fans who saw what was done to BB & the PATS over "spygate" this year should be the LAST ONES to be jumping on this bandwagon.

 

[420jim]

I wonder when they are going to indict "The Rocket"

they're not, he's a media darling. Baseball and everyone else are going to pretend that its all god given talent.

Its also why he takes a couple of months off in the begining of the season, to clean out the system

 

[NEPat]

Bonds and others only did what Baseball encouraged, and now they are getting persecuted for it. Baseball created this monster and now is trying to blame the same monster for the mess that they created

Well in this situation Bonds is getting prosecuted for lying to a federal grand jury. That's a pretty big deal.

I wish this whole thing would just go away. Now it's going to be on Sportscenter with that idiot Pedro Gomez reporting on this case 24/7.

 

[Tommysgirl]

Yeah he's an ass but he is not a mass murderer, child molester, or anything else equally horrid. I have a hard time stomaching the idea our government has spent untold millions and four years of time chasing a guy who essentially decided to ruin his body in pursuit of a dumb record. And yes I get the whole "he lied!" thing, but this is an enormous waste of our tax dollars, IMO.

I couldn't agree with you more. I can't believe the feds are in on this. Aren't there some more pressing issues in our country? I think I may be able to come up with I don't know 1,000?