The Barry Bonds trial did not start up all that long ago, though it certainly seems like it has went on forever.
It officially began on March 21 and finally saw its conclusion today.
As we all know now, Barry Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice and the three charges of perjury were all declared as a mistrial after jurors were unable to agree on a verdict.
Now that the trial is over, what did we all learn?
The answer is simple: absolutely nothing.
In fact, the entire circus just ended up being a waste of time. All the discussion about steroids, all the back and forth from fans and detractors, and everything that has built up since the original BALCO lad raid have amounted to nothing.
Yes, he was found guilty on obstruction of justice—big deal. The fact that the perjury charges ended up as a mistrial is the real story, simply because the bickering on both sides will continue.
People in support of Bonds will continue to argue for him and people against Bonds will argue against him.
At least if he was found guilty or not, perhaps there would have been a sway in opinion, since there would have been something tangible to grab.
Now, everything is back to where it started many years ago.
What bothers me is not entirely the outcome. Yes, it would have been better to have a verdict than a mistrial, but what bothers me more is how much has been invested.
This case has been in the works for years. The Congressional hearing on steroids with McGwire, Palmeiro, et al feels like a distant memory and in a way it is; that was back in 2005, and yet this trial has only taken place now, with the Clemens one still in the works.
It took the government years to convict Bonds of one count and get a mistrial in three counts, eight years to be exact if you start with the 2003 BALCO raid.
Yet it's not even the time that bothers me most, but the money. Do you know how much was spent on the Bonds trial?
I cannot find a good source on the dollar amount, but various figures I have seen range from $10 to $55 million. For the sake of my argument, I'll be nice and lowball it, saying it's $10 million.
Don't we have a deficit in the American government right now, with both sides complaining about what should be cut? There's a chunk that could have gone to something and is now gone.
The federal government used $10 million to get Bonds on obstruction of justice, which he will likely get 6-12 months of home confinement for.
Because of one count having a 11-1 vote, there is an off chance that the government could try again on that one. For everyone's sake, I hope they do not.
Why? I hope they don't because it doesn't matter.
There are real crooks out there in the world, people embezzling money, people establishing Ponzi schemes and causing far more problems than someone who took some steroids. Deal with them.
Remember that this was a trial for the government to prove whether or not someone cheated in a baseball game, plain and simple.
Everyone's made their decision on Bonds and if juries are just going to shrug and effectively tell us to move on with it, which is a way to interpret the mistrial result, then we should do just that.
Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro and the like won't get in the Hall of Fame anyway, so let's just sit back and enjoy the 2011 MLB season, complete with fewer steroids, just the way I like it.
For more on the Bonds trial, including technical matters and history, see the Yahoo article here.
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