Innocent Until Proven Guilty

With all this steroid talk, people forget one very important thing. In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty! If most people had their way, this would not apply to people whom they don't like. Most people have already judged San Francisco Giants' super star Barry Bonds guilty of steroid use.

The sad thing, is that in the case of Bonds, most people are not even getting updated properly on what's going on. Track star Tim Montgomery told a federal grand jury that Bonds got steroids from BALCO. He said that BALCO founder Victor Conte told him so. Has Montgomery ever met Bonds? Did Montgomery ever see Bonds take the juice? Does Montgomery have any proof at all to speak of? No, no and no. This is nothing but 2nd hand information from a known lier who had just been caught juicing himself. Yet, this was a HUGE story all over ESPN and every sports page in the country.

Yet, what was NOT reported as much, was what Conte said himself. BALCO is not claiming at this time that they have not sold steroids. But the founder DID have something to say about giving them to Bonds.

"I would like to let the world know I have never given anabolic steroids or any other performance enhancing drug to Barry Bonds," Conte said. "In fact I have never even had a discussion about anabolic steroids with Barry Bonds."

Why the hell have I not seen this ALL OVER ESPN's Sports Center? Why is it not in my local newspaper? Montgomery's statement was. So was every single story of bad news for Bonds. This is because the media WANTS Bonds to be guilty. This is what they have been waiting for. The media likes athletes to be afraid of them. They like players to feel that they HAVE to talk to them because if they don't, the athlete knows that the media gets to choose what the public thinks of him.

Bonds, however, has also been the one who does not care what people think of him. He doesn't even really care what his own fans think. If he does not feel like doing a interview, he won't do it. So when the media tries to blackmail him into something, he simply tells them to go play in traffic. So they would like nothing more then to see Bonds ruined. Talk about getting good revenge.

This leads them to leave out news when it does not push the slanted side of the story they want people to see. This also means that the public really does not know the whole story when making up their minds about Bonds. Many feel that all of his records should be removed. It would be very wrong to do so at this time though. You need PROOF before you do something like that. When debating this with people, after bringing that up, people usually come back with, "OK, you are right, so lets just put a * next to all of his records". Again, no! I'm sorry but you can't do that to an innocent person. And Bonds IS innocent until they can prove he isn't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending steroid use at all. I'm not even saying that Bonds has not used them. And if he did and you can prove it, then he should be banned for life and all of his records should be removed. I'm just saying, BE FAIR. Don't slant the news, that's wrong. And don't judge him guilty before having proof. I don't know that he has not used steroids, and you do not know that he HAS. There just isn't enough info out yet. And that is a fact.