So baseball superstar Barry Bonds was indicted for perjury yesterday. For those that haven’t followed the story, Bonds has been suspected of taking steroids for some time. A couple of years ago, he was called before a Grand Jury to testify and said that he had never knowingly used performance enhancing drugs. So 18 months ago, the Feds started investigating Bonds for perjuring himself before a Grand Jury. Now whether or not Bonds took steroids isn’t a major concern of mine. I do think that the pervasiveness of performance enhancing drugs in sports is a dangerous thing and a bad example for the youth who look up to these athletes. But to a large extent, Barry Bonds is just a figurehead in the fight against steroids. And steroids aren’t really the point of this post.
I was listening to ESPN radio last night on the way home and of course they were discussing Bonds’ indictment. Former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent was on and was talking about the seriousness of perjury. He said if people come in to testify and lie under oath our entire justice system breaks down. The entire system is based on truthfulness and honesty. We cannot tolerate those who will lie and distort the results of justice. To me, the example of lying under oath is far worse than the example of taking steroids. It doesn’t matter what you’re lying about, whether it’s steroids or sex. Oh wait, that sounds familiar…
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