The witch-hunt nears its climax.

Okay, enough already.  Jemele Hill, a hit-and-miss columnist, definitely hits on the Barry Bonds issue.  She points out the obvious: the prosecution (and persecution) of Barry Bonds is a gross abuse of power and miscarriage of justice. 

She also points out the less obvious: it is, in part, racially-motivated. 

First, the non-racial stuff: Bonds is accused of perjury and obstruction of justice.  Do you know how many athletes could be charged with this?  How many baseball players have pled guilty to steroid use, or been linked to steroid use?  How many have lied to the police?  Rafael Palmeiro lied to Congress (granted, not to a judge or grand jury).  But nobody came after him.  Mark McGwire stonewalled.  Sammy Sosa pretended he couldn't speak English. 

What did Bonds do?  He said he couldn't recall certain events.  He said that he didn't knowingly take steroids -- that he simply took what his trainer gave him, no questions asked. 

So the feds spent 4 years and 6 MILLION DOLLARS of our money on this case.  Why?  To figure out whether Barry Bonds was lying or not.  Meanwhile, former (and basically disgraced) United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales basically made the same types of implausible denials under oath to Congressional committee members who grilled him.  Not about steroids -- about far more serious issues like torture (and the politicization of our nation's top law-enforcement officers).   Scooter Libby went down for this, but only because a pissed-off special prosecutor was involved.

Where's the 4-year case being built against Gonzales? 

This whole shabingus is an abuse of power that goes beyond unfair.  It is absurd.   I could think of much better people to go after -- or problems to address -- with the 6 million used on this case.  And it's not like they are charging Bonds in order to get information on BALCO.  It's already been established that Bonds allegedly got his drugs through his trainer, who got them from BALCO.  But his trainer isn't talking, and Victor Conte already has been prosecuted (or not, depending on your view). 

So basically, they are going after Bonds because he refused to aid their BALCO investigation.  Make no mistake: this isn't really about perjury.  It's about Bonds not being helpful enough. 

How often does the government spend this kind of money to bring down someone for not helping their investigation? 

It's also partly about Bonds' race.  Ah yes, the race issue.  You knew I'd go there.  I can already see the protests and denials bubbling to the surface in your head.  I have special powers like that.  Remember, I'm not saying this is all about race.  But it is a factor.  Here's a dirty little secret that those of you without dark skin might not know:

The mostly-white American media does not tolerate "uppity Negroes."

If you are a white athlete in America, it's okay for you to be arrogant.  You can shoot your mouth off; you can be disagreeable; in some cases, you can be a total ass.  More often than not, your behavior will be acknowledged but tolerated.

But if you're a black athlete, you'd better be publicly humble.  You'd better shuffle and jig.  You'd better always carry yourself in a manner that doesn't rub white people the wrong way.  Woe to you if you don't.

We see evidence of this all the time.  I'll elaborate on Jemele Hill's example.  Brett Favre, the beloved Green Bay Packers quarterback, has weathered the following throughout the course of his career:

• -Demanded that his teammate Javon Walker report to the team and not hold out for more money, despite the NFL players' informal code of never speaking or involving yourself with a teammate's contract negotiations.  Walker was vilified in Green Bay, and promptly blew out his knee two games into the season after returning to the team without a new contract;
  
  
• -Been kicked out of his house temporarily after allegedly cheating on his wife;
  
  
• -Demanded (repeatedly) that the Packers get more talent for the team, and tried to influence the team to sign specific players - these activities certainly rubbed management the wrong way;
  
  
• -Told the Packers that he didn't want to be part of a rebuilding project when the team fired their coach and started to rebuild;
  
  
• -Takes his sweet time every year announcing whether or not he will continue playing or retire, thereby holding the team's front office hostage while he makes up his mind (and actually saying at one point "What are they going to do?  Cut me?")
  
  
• -Deliberately handed his buddy Michael Strahan a record-breaking sack while playing against Strahan's team, against the wishes of many of Favre's offensive linemen teammates.

Yet when you hear the media discuss Favre, 9 times out of 10 you'd think he was some kind of gunslinging superhero.  They discuss his battle with painkiller addiction, and his wife's struggle with breast cancer, and his great performances with a sense of grandeur and awe.  Meanwhile, another prominent football player, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, had played the role of humble black athlete perfectly.  He too is a superstar quarterback.  He too has made multiple Pro Bowls and played in the Super Bowl. 

McNabb never openly lobbied the front office for certain players.  He never dared his team to cut him, or interfered in contract negotiations.  He never held his own team hostage.  But he made one comment about race, taken out of context in an interview with HBO's Real Sports, and the media jumped all over him like a pack of wolves might jump all over a fallen elk. 

Never mind the fact that he was being honest, and the fact that many black journalists agreed with him.   That didn't matter.  He'd broken the covenant.  He'd forgotten his 'place.'  He'd gotten a little too uppity.

Meanwhile, white basketball legend Larry Bird says the league needs more white superstars, and nobody bats an eye.  Former football coach Bill Parcells behaved rudely to the media over and over again, treating them like dirt, insulting the intelligence of people who asked him questions -- and even called his team's trick plays "Jap plays" on camera.  Yet he basically got a free pass. 

See the double-standard at work here?     

Not many people like Barry Bonds.  He's not a likeable guy.  He probably lied about drug use, and he pushed an ugly sports issue to the forefront in a way that not many people liked.  He is an arrogant, surly curmudgeon.  Given how much damage he has done to himself, he deserves the vast majority of the negative feelings directed his way. 

But he doesn't deserve this. 

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