Posted by John Brattain on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 3:45 pm

“Not only is there a divine–he has a twisted sense of humour!”–Rev Bem (Andromeda)

Plentiful is the advice about not dealing with certain types of people. For example: “Never fight with a pig; you’ll both get dirty and the pig likes it” and “Never argue with an idiot–he’ll drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience.”

So it goes.

The logic is simple–no matter what somebody does to you, to retaliate is to stoop to their level and such ones have the upper hand since they have gotten you onto their turf. A much older, quicker variation of this is simply to “turn the other cheek.” When you get right down to it, to respond in kind rarely makes you look like the better person and it is preferable to simply take the high road.

There is another saying about never betting your bladder against a brewery or argue with those who buy ink by the barrel. While the media loves to portray Barry Bonds as the Antichrist’s psychotic kid brother it’s good to bear in mind that the disrespect has most likely been mutual but only one side gets his story out. There is an old Hebrew proverb that states: “The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.” Well, the media is first to present their case and it is the same media that controls the response of the one ‘coming forward and questioning him’ so it’s safe to say that Bonds would be in a no-win situation in getting his side of any confrontation out.

It’s the poor, persecuted beat writer that will always look like the victim of the evil arrogant ballplayer–it was the same shtick used against Ted Williams, Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson and others.

Now, let’s assume that everything was 100% Barry Bonds fault. Well, instead of taking the high road, certain folks decided they wanted payback–they would return every bit of nastiness they felt was inflicted on them by BLB.

Bud Selig was mad at him for breaking Hank Aaron’s record and serving as a permanent reminder of his choice to eschew integrity over profits and pretend steroids didn’t exist, Jeff Novitzky (or somebody in office) was offended by him due to how he is portrayed in the press, a large segment of the fan base wanted him taken down for the same reason (as well as the long standing jealous hatred of the “spoiled, pampered, overpaid ballplayer” we’ve been reading about since the 1869 Cincinnati Redlegs). The fourth estate convinced these ones that his disrespect for the media was by extension a disrespect toward them and they took up the torch of offense deciding that every slight Bonds gave the press was by extension a dissing of each and every fan as well.

Some examples:

“…the only thing that seems to bring him joy is his contempt for the vast majority of humans. He greets the world with a sneer … Yet no great player has been more consistently unpleasant than Barry Bonds, and not only with professional snoops, but teammates, too.” — (Don’t put too much stock in Bonds’ tactful concern)

“He smiled and laughed, exuding all the charm of a mobster posing for pictures with kids. This was Barry Bonds’ good side, the one we supposedly never see. But the man who would be (home run) king has stopped snarling at the world … He’s laughing all right—at Bud Selig, Hank Aaron, the feds, the fans, you and me.”–(Nobody can stop Barry Bonds)

“It’s why most people who know Bonds wouldn’t spit on him even if he was on fire … Nobody questions his talent. It’s his failure as a human being that is at issue.”–(Bonds in the showcase game? It just doesn’t add up)

So, now everybody was on board for the war against Bonds: the commissioner, the government, the media and the fans–all determined to repay every slight ever inflicted on them.

First Selig (I’m assuming) illegally blacklists Bonds–the media faithfully provide cover fire by cranking out editorials that he is too noxious to employ at any price even though this will be a major league first for a talent of this magnitude.

Call it “the common sense revolution.” The fans fill message boards on such articles largely with cries of support matching invective for invective with the writer.

Then the government apparently sets up a perjury trap by unilaterally changing the rules of those offering testimony for Bonds and even though the drug in question is not yet classified as a steroid or. outlawed, proceed as if it were even though they know better. The questions asked by a grand jury seem ambiguous at times all pointing to an attempt to trap him in his speech.

The media cries “felon” convicting him even before his trial (assuming the government still goes through with it), the fans cheer on their support praying for the day they’ll see him led off in handcuffs and demanding that any mention of him be expunged the sport. One commenter on an article on the San Francisco Chronicle site said:

Bonds should get prison time, at least for that nasty personality. Society needs protected from big headed liars.

That’s certainly fair and reasonable isn’t it?

Now, as things start to fall apart and the case against Bonds is reduced to the validity of the chain of custody of urine samples taken at BALCO the media is curiously silent–it may be that it never sees the light of day as Judge Susan Ilston has been very critical of the prosecution’s methods and approach to the case as well as the work of Novitzky:

Red flags have already been raised on Novitzky in the recent appellate decision. Three district judges and one appellate judge concluded that his conduct violated the Fourth Amendment. Two appellate judges disagreed.

In December 2004, Ilston quashed the subpoenas served on the labs doing the testing for Major League Baseball, ruling that the government’s conduct was unreasonable and constituted harassment.

“I think the government has displayed … a callous disregard for constitutional rights,” she said in open court. “I think it’s a seizure beyond what was authorized by the search warrant, therefore it violates the Fourth Amendment.”

The dissenting Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas noted that Novitzky appeared to have intentionally deceived the court, charging that the agent’s affidavit for a search warrant “did not disclose that a grand jury subpoena had been issued for the same material and that a motion to quash the subpoena was pending in the same district.”

The controversy surrounding the searches of the labs and offices that collected the specimens and performed MLB’s drug testing at the time – Comprehensive Drug Testing (CDT) and Quest Diagnostics – has the potential to become a precedent-setting case on the privacy of medical records and the limits of unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The recent appellate decision may receive a full hearing of 11 judges in the Ninth Circuit Court, and possibly find its way to the Supreme Court. With or without further appellate proceedings, Novitzky’s conduct is likely to hang over the Bonds perjury trial. (bolding and italics mine)

It’s entirely possible that Bonds skates.

Right now, the MLBPA claim to have evidence that MLB colluded against Bonds and let’s not forget two items: (1) Don Fehr is a cautious man and never makes a move unless he is absolutely sure of his ground. He hates to be embarrassed and is known for being very exacting when performing his due diligence and (2) Bonds withdrew from the MLBPA’s licensing plan which would not sit well with Fehr–Fehr is only human and likely is less than pleased with Bonds so the evidence must be pretty compelling for him to stick his neck out in this matter.

If collusion is established then they will owe damages to Bonds and they will be tripled.

Think about this: how embarrassing will it be if Bonds is found “not guilty,” MLB is found guilty of collusion and owes Bonds a big award, Novitzky is found guilty of violating the constitution and Bonds’ rights after the media and fans have been crying “felon” and worse and when all is said and done the only penalties paid will be to Barry Lamar Bonds and those trying to get him were the law and rule breakers?

It all could have been avoided had they taken the high road and showed Bonds how to behave with class.

It also shows that Bonds is not the only villain in all this: MLB, Novitzky and the media will all be exposed as the fraud they claimed Bonds to be (although the press will likely fall back on the old rhetoric claiming Bonds “got away with it” while ignoring their own poor performance and lack of objectivity in all this and despite the arbitrator’s ruling, it wasn’t really collusion–nobody really wanted him–honest!).

Like Shylock in “Merchant of Venice” they wanted their pound of Bonds’ flesh and instead ended up on the receiving end of outrageous fortune.

I just hope some folks will come away from this realizing that Bonds may not be the nicest person in the world, but the people out to get him were no better. The bitterest pill for many to swallow is this: Barry Lamar Bonds wanted little to do with us feeling we were petty, spiteful, jealous and vindictive and guess what?

We proved him right.

As I said in an earlier post–there are no heroes here, just differing degrees of villainy. Maybe next time we’ll see the value of taking the high road.

Best Regards

John