When it rains...

Barry Bonds - one of the best and most controversial athletes this side of Ty Cobb - is in trouble with the law... Again.

First it was the BALCO scandal and the infamous MLB senate hearings - but this time it's much more serious: this time it's on charges alleging that he as involved in money laundering, perjury and tax evasion. No longer are the charges fairly tame - these carry not just heavy fines but possible jail time for the slugger.

So what does this mean for baseballs most abrasive superstar? In what will surely be his final season, Barry seems almost destined to go down in flames. Everything he's done this year and everything he has ever done is already being overshadowed by these charges.

Yes, Barry is loved by his fans - almost all of which reside in the greater San Francesco area. As soon as you get 20 miles outside of town - Oakland, for example - Bond's is treated with hatred and loathing - he has a worse reputation that almost any other athlete I can remember: it's worse then Donald Brashear, worse then Albert Belle, worse then T.O... And these latest charges aren't going to help him improve his image any time soon.

These latest charges mostly bring up the debate about his alleged use of steroids - charges levelled in books and by investigators in the BALCO inquiry. And if - this is a huge if, though - Bonds did commit perjury in 2003, then did he use steriods? And if he did , what does that mean to you and me? What should baseball do about it?

Pete Rose was banned for conduct that was detrimental to baseball ("...Allegations that Peter Edward Rose engaged in conduct not in the best interests of baseball..."(1)) when it was found that be bet on major league games as manager of the Reds - including on his own team (but only to win, he says, and never against them)... Which doing so is one of the worst things that he could have done, since it challenges the integrity of the game: it has a direct effect on the outcome of the game (Does he refrain from betting when he knows that he can't win? Will he try as hard on those games?).

So, tell me: how is using external substances to give you an unfair advantage - to make you better suited to hit the ball then the other team (and your teammates)- any better or worse then betting on the game? By using steroids - even if they were legal at the time - you are effectively giving yourself an advantage that the other team doesn't - or at least shouldn't, anyway - have. By doing so, he's fostering in bad elements to the game - users and makers of drugs, people whose entire lifestyle is catered to people who cheat. How is that any better or any worse then letting in people who bet on baseball?

Steroids have been banned because they create an unlevel playing field - if one guy uses anabolic steroids, then you have to use animal growth hormones to compete at his level - and then he uses Human Growth Hormone so he can compete and so forth and so on. It's a vicious cycle that fosters cheating and trying to outdo your opponent, often with extremely serious risks to your - and by extension, those of your fans - health. Sure, everybody in baseball has cheated once or twice - from peeking at the catcher's signs, from doctoring the ball to corking the bat to whatever. That's one thing - it gives you an unfair advantage, yes - but it's also easily countered by the other team: they can bean you with the ball or the umpire can change the ball being used and etc. But by using steroids, you're not only putting yourself at serious health risks, but when everybody else has to do the same - just to keep it fair - you're putting their health at risk too.

Pete Rose was banned for betting on baseball - but as bad as that was, it never put the health of the players at risk. But if indeed Barry Bonds did use steroids, helping to foster in the "Steroid Era", he also helped to challenge the health of (and to shorten the careers of) many players. If he did cheat by using steroids, then he challenged the integrity of the game by he giving himself an unfair advantage at the expense of everybody else. How is that any better then betting on baseball?

Yes - Barry Bonds, if he is found guilty of steroid use, was far from being the only player to use them. But at the same time, baseball needs to make an example to show that they are serious about expelling steroids, Human Growth Hormone and all the other chemical additives that create an unfair game - and if they remove anybody, they should remove someone who would have benefited the most from them - and with more then 715 home runs, 70 home runs in a season and more, who could have benefited more then Barry from the use of them - but that's all if Barry did use them.