Barry Bonds revisited

After all of that, 8 years worth of federal prosecutors spending untold millions of tax-payer dollars trying to nail a guy for something that wasn't even illegal in the first place, at the time of the alleged offenses, the best they could do was come away with some minor obstruction of justice conviction. Did they succeed in ruining his reputation in the court of public opinion? Absolutely, but they don't care. And let's not forget, Bonds may never make it into the Hall of Fame because of the steroids allegations, but the jury, after supposedly hearing all the evidence, concluded he didn't do it.

For those that may think yours truly is sticking up for Bonds -- I'm not. Other than appreciating him as a tremendous baseball talent for many years (and even the most skeptical amongst you would have to admit that before steroids even came on the scene, Bonds was a phenomenal player), he was just another guy making millions of dollars for playing baseball very well -- especially hitting one.

And in the end, what did all this hoopla amount to? A sentence of 30 days of house arrest and about a week of community service. Probation? That's been a joke for people with means for a long time.

At that, consider even the 30 days of house arrest. Bonds reportedly lives in a 15,000 square foot home. Do you have any idea how big that is? Think Jed Clampett's place in Beverly Hills, cee-ment pond and all -- then add a couple additions onto the house, and you're getting warmer. Staying cooped up in there for a month is punishment?  Where do I sign up?

But it gets even better -- or worse -- depending on how one looks at it. Bonds and his attorneys are appealing even THAT sentence. Legal experts predict it will take approximately a year and a half for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, to rule on the matter. In the meanwhile, everything is on hold, except more taxpayer dollars, while the feds scramble around trying to salvage a little face trying to uphold a cup of water victory in a tsunami to begin with.

It only seems logical to me that, despite one's tenacity and will to win, if they've taken a beating every time they've faced a certain opponent, for 8 years and counting -- they might just want to think about putting somebody else on their schedule. It's not like these were mandatory games to be played, such as certain rivalries in sports.

Like the man said -- There's a time to hold-em and a time to fold-em. Thing is, when one's playing with other peoples' money, with an unlimited budget, and never having to worry about being held responsible for poor play, one could conceivably sit at the table for a very long time, while losing a fortune in the process.

On the same note, there comes a time to walk away when the game is done.

It's over. Like it or not, it's Barry Bonds 1. Feds 0. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether the latter is stubborn enough to waste a few more million taxpayer dollars over the next year and a half to accomplish exactly --  what? Making a guy stay in a mansion for a month? If they wanted to be totally barbaric about the whole matter, maybe they could even ask the appellate court to ban pizza deliveries. Of course, such an action might be tantamount to a violation of Bonds' 8th Amendment rights, involving cruel and unusual punishment. That would likely be appealed yet again to a higher court. Perhaps the prosecutors would plea bargain it down to pepperoni only, no double cheese, and claim another victory. Too bad for the taxpayers, cha-ching, but a win is a win. This is getting ridiculous.

They'll get around to Roger Clemens eventually. Hang on to your wallets and purses.