Witch hunts, smoking guns and other nonsense
Ben Godar
It’s hard to know where to stand on this steroid investigation. Is this righting a wrong or opening an old wound? Is the Commissioner’s Office asserting its authority or flailing helplessly? I’m not sure what the right answers are, but I do know some of the wrong ones – and I keep hearing them.
Here are a few things about Barry Bonds and steroids that I never want to hear again:
Witch hunt: On several occasions, I’ve heard all the scrutiny around Barry Bonds referred to as a "witch hunt." A witch hunt is when someone faces accusations without evidence. Barry Bonds is swimming in a sea of evidence. There have been suspicions leveled at many players, but none of them saw their personal trainer go to prison for distributing steroids or admitted to a grand jury that they used steroids, knowingly or otherwise.
Racially motivated: A particularly disgusting subset of the witch hunt crowd suggests that race is an issue. That’s only true if by race you mean "volumes of damning evidence." These folks often suggest that a cracker like Mark McGwire wasn’t subjected to such scrutiny. That’s funny, because I seem to remember when Big Mac refused to answer questions in front of Congress he was NAILED TO THE CROSS. But regardless of what happened with McGwire, Bonds is not being singled out because he's black. He's being singled out because his personal trainer is a convicted steroid dealer.
Smoking Gun: Every time someone lays out the volumes of evidence against Bonds, some self-appointed legal scholar will observe "there’s no smoking gun." There may be no videotape of Bonds putting a needle in his ass, but that hardly makes this a he said/she said situation. Even in a criminal court, the standard for guilt is only an absence of reasonable doubt. If you look at the sources behind Game of Shadows, it’s hard to harbor any doubts that could be termed as "reasonable." The fact that Barry Bonds used steroids is beyond rational dispute.
If anyone's ever to make sense of this situation, we at least should begin by dismissing these foolish ideas.
It’s hard to know where to stand on this steroid investigation. Is this righting a wrong or opening an old wound? Is the Commissioner’s Office asserting its authority or flailing helplessly? I’m not sure what the right answers are, but I do know some of the wrong ones – and I keep hearing them.
Here are a few things about Barry Bonds and steroids that I never want to hear again:
Witch hunt: On several occasions, I’ve heard all the scrutiny around Barry Bonds referred to as a "witch hunt." A witch hunt is when someone faces accusations without evidence. Barry Bonds is swimming in a sea of evidence. There have been suspicions leveled at many players, but none of them saw their personal trainer go to prison for distributing steroids or admitted to a grand jury that they used steroids, knowingly or otherwise.
Racially motivated: A particularly disgusting subset of the witch hunt crowd suggests that race is an issue. That’s only true if by race you mean "volumes of damning evidence." These folks often suggest that a cracker like Mark McGwire wasn’t subjected to such scrutiny. That’s funny, because I seem to remember when Big Mac refused to answer questions in front of Congress he was NAILED TO THE CROSS. But regardless of what happened with McGwire, Bonds is not being singled out because he's black. He's being singled out because his personal trainer is a convicted steroid dealer.
Smoking Gun: Every time someone lays out the volumes of evidence against Bonds, some self-appointed legal scholar will observe "there’s no smoking gun." There may be no videotape of Bonds putting a needle in his ass, but that hardly makes this a he said/she said situation. Even in a criminal court, the standard for guilt is only an absence of reasonable doubt. If you look at the sources behind Game of Shadows, it’s hard to harbor any doubts that could be termed as "reasonable." The fact that Barry Bonds used steroids is beyond rational dispute.
If anyone's ever to make sense of this situation, we at least should begin by dismissing these foolish ideas.
posted by Ben Godar at 9:10 AM
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