Bonds indicted on perjury charges
Barry Bonds, who passed legend Hank Aaron on the all-time home-run tally this year and has undergone some of the harshest treatments from fans in the history of sports, due to the suspicion that he was linked to steroids, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday. The grand jury in San Francisco returned a five count indictment against Bonds, which includes four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice and accuses him of lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids, according to CNN. These charges come after roughly four years of speculation and refusals by Bonds to admit that he had taken steroids. The perjury convictions carry possible prison terms of up to five years, while obstruction of justice can bring a 10-year sentence. This certainly will end the major league star's career, as the limited number of teams that were willing to sign him and all his baggage have surely vanished amidst these convictions. It truly is a sad story, as before the whole issue of steroids in baseball began, Bonds was a legitimate talent, but he was a different player. The sleek, base-stealing centerfielder transformed over the years, notably since 2001, as his weight and muscle mass mysteriously got larger and larger. People can ridicule him all they want, but it is hard to deny the reasoning in him taking steroids. He saw Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa revitalize the game in 1997, a season in which it is highly assumed that they were both using performance-enhancing drugs, and Bonds wasn't getting any love. Think about it? You are better than everyone in your profession until all your peers are cheating; which helps them give better performances; wouldn't you be a little ticked off? Well, certainly everyone would be, and Bonds decided to prove that he was still better, as he took steroids and escalated his status past all his peers that he was outperforming prior to the usage, not to mention receiving double his salary because of it. A lot of people would have gone this route, as much as people will deny it, and a good perspective on the matter is written about at this blog, called Media Appetite, authored by a familiar writer.