Legal problems and medical problems seem to be prevalent in the world of sports recently. But when things are going bad for others I like to say to myself, “Hey, I’m fine.”
Barry Bonds And The Feds. Despite all of the steroids stuff, I have always said that Bonds' real troubles would come from the federal government. Bonds has always been a jerk to the fans, the press, and even his father. Bonds doesn’t care what people think of him. He thought he’d never face any real problems as a result of using steroids. However, Bonds’ steroid use didn’t occur in a vacuum, it occurred in the real world where his suppliers got busted and their scam was unveiled to the public during the Balco Labs investigation.
Now the word is out that the feds are pursuing Bonds for perjury as a result of his Balco grand jury testimony. If Bonds is going to hang his hat on the “I didn’t know what I was taking, therefore I couldn’t have committed perjury” defense, he’s going to have a whole lot of trouble. And here’s the main reason.
If Bonds’ claim is that he was given steroids — over a substantial period of time — without his knowledge, why hasn’t he pressed charges against the responsible parties? If Bonds was dosed with a variety of drugs without giving the okay, why didn’t he alert the authorities?
The statements coming from Bonds’ lawyer are pretty limp, which is a bad sign for Barry. Here’s what lawyer Michael Raines said. “The trap is perjury. You offer immunity and get him in there and then you ask (him) questions and you get (him) on lying to federal officers. That’s the trap.”
Now I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that if you don’t lie, there’s no trap. If Bonds is paying for this kind of legal advice perhaps he can get a refund, because this is the most embarrassing claim that I have ever heard.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Do you get the feeling that the more you see Roger Cossack on SportsCenter, the worse things are for athletes off the field?
2 - sal m
i think that the fact that espn even needs a regular legal analyst shows you just how bad things have gotten.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well I saw him first during the Kobe Bryant pre-trial hearings, and now he's doing double duty with Durham and San Francisco in the judicial eye.
But when you think about it, every facet of the news has members getting in trouble with the law. I don't know if the E! Channel has their own legal expert but they need one worse than ESPN.