Really, Is Anyone Surprised?
Barry Bonds Indicted on 4 Counts of Perjury, 1 of Obstructing Justice
So, Barry Bonds lied to a Federal grand jury in 2003 when he said he wasn't knowingly using steroids? No. Really. Color me shocked.
Only not, of course.
ESPN covers this in much better detail than I could, and of course there are whole books discussing the Barry Bonds steroid investigation. But in a nutshell: Steroid questions about Bonds go all the way back to the late 1990s, specifically 1998, when Bonds showed up for Giants training camp weighing 240 lbs. and looking, as one teammate described, like "The Incredible Hulk". Bonds attributed his changed body appearance to starting his pre-season workout sooner than usual and adding more weight training to his regimen, but it soon became obvious there was something more going on, particularly when the once fleet-footed and lithely muscled Bonds became a slow-moving power-slugging machine. When the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) athletic supplement company was found to be merely a front for designer steroid manufacturing, all of BALCO's clients instantly became suspected steroid pushers and users, and one of the most prominent names on that list was Greg Anderson, a San Francisco-area athletic coach and strength trainer whose client list included a number of San Francisco and Oakland athletes...
...including Barry Bonds, who denied and denied and denied repeatedly, in front of cameras, under oath, etc., that he had ever knowingly taken steroids, that he had ever used steroids, etc. Bonds testified in 2003 to a grand jury that he did not knowingly allow Anderson to inject him with steroids, that he did not knowingly accept steroids from Anderson, that he did not knowingly use any steroid product (Bonds claimed that he was told by Anderson that the designer steroid named "The Clear" that Anderson was known to supply to his client base was "flaxseed oil"). It is believed that this testimony forms the basis of the charges filed today.
As much as I'd like to believe that Bonds didn't know he was using steroids at the time, it's highly unlikely that he didn't know. Considering that Marion Jones, another athlete whose achievements came under suspicion due to her association with coach/athletic trainer and BALCO client Trevor Graham, finally came forward this year after over seven years of speculation to confirm that she had indeed used steroids in conjunction with training for the 2000 Summer Olympics (where she won 5 medals, a feat never achieved by a female athlete in a single Olympiad before), it was inevitable that Barry Bonds would finally be called out.
When Bonds testified before the Federal grand jury investigating BALCO in 2003, he was promised immunity from Federal prosecution for steroid use (most steroids are Schedule III controlled substances, and the possession and use of such without a doctor's prescription is a Federal crime punishable by up to 7 years in prison) in exchange for truthful testimony. Let's say that again: He was promised immunity from prosecution, from penalty, from seven years in jail, and all he had to do was tell the truth about receiving steroids from Greg Anderson. Instead, Bonds gave answers such as "He could know other 'BB's" (when presented with a dosing calendar from Greg Anderson with the initials "BB" on several dates), "I never took anything" supplied by Anderson prior to 2003 (despite being shown dosing calendars and other documents dating back to 2001) and even denied he'd ever tested positive for steroids (when shown documents detailing a positive test result from MLB for a "Barry B").
He was promised immunity from prosecution for illegal steroid possession and use, and all he had to do was tell the truth. And he still lied under oath.
Innocent until proven guilty, my ass. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Bonds was a major 'roid abuser for years. He wasn't the only one, but that doesn't matter. He lied under oath when asked direct questions like "Did you knowingly use steroids" and "Did you ever fail a drug test administered for steroids". Simple "Yes" or "No" questions, the government's got circumstantial evidence to prompt you in case you give the wrong answer the first time, and he deliberately gave the wrong answers repeatedly.
Hope you had fun playing baseball, Barry, 'cause your career is over. Your reputation is shot. And you're looking at a prison term whose lengths for such crimes as this are measured in years, not months or days.
So, Barry Bonds lied to a Federal grand jury in 2003 when he said he wasn't knowingly using steroids? No. Really. Color me shocked.
Only not, of course.
ESPN covers this in much better detail than I could, and of course there are whole books discussing the Barry Bonds steroid investigation. But in a nutshell: Steroid questions about Bonds go all the way back to the late 1990s, specifically 1998, when Bonds showed up for Giants training camp weighing 240 lbs. and looking, as one teammate described, like "The Incredible Hulk". Bonds attributed his changed body appearance to starting his pre-season workout sooner than usual and adding more weight training to his regimen, but it soon became obvious there was something more going on, particularly when the once fleet-footed and lithely muscled Bonds became a slow-moving power-slugging machine. When the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) athletic supplement company was found to be merely a front for designer steroid manufacturing, all of BALCO's clients instantly became suspected steroid pushers and users, and one of the most prominent names on that list was Greg Anderson, a San Francisco-area athletic coach and strength trainer whose client list included a number of San Francisco and Oakland athletes...
...including Barry Bonds, who denied and denied and denied repeatedly, in front of cameras, under oath, etc., that he had ever knowingly taken steroids, that he had ever used steroids, etc. Bonds testified in 2003 to a grand jury that he did not knowingly allow Anderson to inject him with steroids, that he did not knowingly accept steroids from Anderson, that he did not knowingly use any steroid product (Bonds claimed that he was told by Anderson that the designer steroid named "The Clear" that Anderson was known to supply to his client base was "flaxseed oil"). It is believed that this testimony forms the basis of the charges filed today.
As much as I'd like to believe that Bonds didn't know he was using steroids at the time, it's highly unlikely that he didn't know. Considering that Marion Jones, another athlete whose achievements came under suspicion due to her association with coach/athletic trainer and BALCO client Trevor Graham, finally came forward this year after over seven years of speculation to confirm that she had indeed used steroids in conjunction with training for the 2000 Summer Olympics (where she won 5 medals, a feat never achieved by a female athlete in a single Olympiad before), it was inevitable that Barry Bonds would finally be called out.
When Bonds testified before the Federal grand jury investigating BALCO in 2003, he was promised immunity from Federal prosecution for steroid use (most steroids are Schedule III controlled substances, and the possession and use of such without a doctor's prescription is a Federal crime punishable by up to 7 years in prison) in exchange for truthful testimony. Let's say that again: He was promised immunity from prosecution, from penalty, from seven years in jail, and all he had to do was tell the truth about receiving steroids from Greg Anderson. Instead, Bonds gave answers such as "He could know other 'BB's" (when presented with a dosing calendar from Greg Anderson with the initials "BB" on several dates), "I never took anything" supplied by Anderson prior to 2003 (despite being shown dosing calendars and other documents dating back to 2001) and even denied he'd ever tested positive for steroids (when shown documents detailing a positive test result from MLB for a "Barry B").
He was promised immunity from prosecution for illegal steroid possession and use, and all he had to do was tell the truth. And he still lied under oath.
Innocent until proven guilty, my ass. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Bonds was a major 'roid abuser for years. He wasn't the only one, but that doesn't matter. He lied under oath when asked direct questions like "Did you knowingly use steroids" and "Did you ever fail a drug test administered for steroids". Simple "Yes" or "No" questions, the government's got circumstantial evidence to prompt you in case you give the wrong answer the first time, and he deliberately gave the wrong answers repeatedly.
Hope you had fun playing baseball, Barry, 'cause your career is over. Your reputation is shot. And you're looking at a prison term whose lengths for such crimes as this are measured in years, not months or days.