The media has asked just about anybody and everybody of note what they think of Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s career home run record, and Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell compared the controversy over the achievement (scroll down) to the Duke lacrosse case. From the Boston Globe:
“I watched it when they put it up on the Jumbotron,” he said. “The
thing I keep thinking about is the Duke lacrosse thing. If it hadn’t
turned out the way it did, maybe I’d feel differently. But the media
and the whole country thought those lacrosse players were guilty as
sin, and they weren’t.”The Duke players were accused of raping a young woman in their
fraternity house, charges that were later dropped, and the district
attorney was later disbarred. “When the coach resigned,” Lowell said,
“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this thing is going to be something really
deep,’ and it didn’t come close to being true. So they reinstated the
eligibility of some of those players, but their whole lives were
changed. And the seniors, they can never get that year back.“That’s why I think the best thing is, until we know more, until
there are charges or they find pictures or something, that we recognize
this as a legitimate record and hold to the belief that in this
country, you’re innocent until proven guilty.“Do I believe [performance-enhancing substances] can help someone
who is already in the big leagues do better? Yes, I believe that. But
do I put Bonds in that category? Everybody has tried to get something
on him, and yet he still hasn’t been charged with anything. They
indicted Michael Vick in 20 minutes because there was something there. But I’m also willing to reserve judgment in the Michael Vick thing.”
One big difference between Bonds and the Duke lacrosse players was that grand jury testimony by Bonds was exposed, in which he admitted using steroids (unknowingly, he claimed). Another is that Bonds took steroids, but still may not be charged for doing so. Big difference between taking a performance-enhancing drug and raping a woman.
