BARRY BONDS INDICTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES: A JOURNALIST'S SACRIFICE

by The Prophet, ProphetFighting

As most of you know I'm the EC boxing/MMA correspondent. I've also been called "the future of fightsport journalism", a phrase that I will be trademarking. Above all else, however, I'm a journalist. I was enjoying a Fuente Opus X --very similar to the beautiful sticks in the photo accompanying this article--in my local cigar store when my Blackberry buzzed. It was the owner of the Epic Carnival and he sounded agitated and anxious "Dammit Jim" he blustered "a story is breaking and I'm headed out the door. You'll need to take it".

I hesitated slightly and Doug answered my unasked question: "I know you're the future of fight sport journalism (TM) and this isn't your beat but you're our only hope. Every other writer here is out doing their court ordered community service or on a drug bender. You've got to do it. The Epic Carnival is depending on you."

Great journalists are defined by crisis. Edward R. Murrow broadcasting live from Vienna as Hitler entered the city during WW II. Dan Rather broadcasting from the Galveston Seawall during Hurricane Carla. Arthur Kent, who earned the nickname "The Scud Stud" for his live reports while dodging incoming missiles in Kuwait during the first war with Iraq. This was moment to define myself as a journalist. I had no choice but to endure whatever danger and sacrifice might be necessary to get the story out now. It was "go-time".

Giving one last sigh of resignation, I placed my Fuente Opus X cigar in the ash tray knowing full well that this might be the last time I would see it lit. At least with out relighting it, which isn't a good thing to do to a premium cigar. I placed my glass of 18 year old Glenmorangie scotch next to the ash tray, as if I hoped that the $100 a bottle libation would somehow protect the cigar therein. I quickly rose to my feet with determination and urgency. A quick Google search yielded my quarry--a news story on the Barry Bonds indictment.

I had come this far, but I knew that my task wouldn't be easy. I nervously looked back toward the lounge area as my $18 a stick Dominican cigar started to extinguish itself. For a fleeting moment I contemplated returning to my cigar, relighting it with my Dupont lighter and sinking back down into the overstuffed leather chair. Those thoughts were quickly dispelled by my commitment--to my reputation as a journalist, my friends, fans and admirers and the Epic Carnival website.

The story, though jarring despite its inevitability, was simple enough...

Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.

The indictment unsealed Thursday against baseball's home run king culminated a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment read.

In August, Bonds passed Hank Aaron to become baseball's career home run leader. Late in the season, the San Francisco Giants told the seven-time National League MVP they didn't want him back next year. Full story here @ Sportsline.com

Federal indictments always take a leisurely pace, and the Barry Bonds saga will play out before our very eyes for months, if not years. It will dominate TV sports news and courtroom programs. Much as the OJ Trial became ubiquitous a decade or so ago, the Bonds Steroid Saga will become a cable news fixture until its resolution many months hence.

Yet another athlete is threatened to be taken down by the one thing that you can't overcome by sticking a needle in your vein, popping some HGH, or rubbing "the cream" and "the clear" on your body. For it its hubris, the overwhelming and obsessive pride that distorts the reality of the very world we live in while exaggerating the significance of an individual's true status and significance within it that sealed the fate of Bonds and many like him before and after.

So let's not let the chitter chatter about "indictment this" and "obstruction of justice that" obfuscate the true story on this day. Let's not allow the news media's lemming like charge toward yet another celebrity in distress distract us from what is really important:

Instead let's remember the sacrifice and resolve of a single journalist. A journalist who withstood untold hardship to bring you the story as it unfolds. For that, you should always be grateful. So on this Thanksgiving day, before you carve into your turkey or dig in to Grandma's cranberry sauce give pause and give thanks--that on this day, The Prophet was there to answer the call simply because that's just the kind of guy I am...