Indicting Barry Bonds

The Boston Globe is running an article entitled, "Federal Grand Jury Indicts Barry Bonds." The article begins, "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 article reports, "In August, the 43-year-old 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. He is currently a free agent."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask students if they have ever cheated to win in a game. Why would some people cheat to win games? Do students think its OK to cheat if it does not really hurt anybody? Why/why not? Is it possible to cheat without really hurting somebody? Consider putting cheating on trial in your classroom.
• Ask students to imagine that they knew somebody who felt really bad after losing a game. What might they say to this person to make him/her feel better? Do students think they could make this person feel better? Why/why not? Consider asking students to develop skits in which they demonstrate how they might attempt to help somebody feel better after they lost a game.
• Ask students to name their favorite sports. What do they like about these sports? Do they think it's hard to be good at these sports? Why/why not? If students could create one new rule for the sport, what rule would they create? Why? Consider inviting students to play the sport using their newly developed rules. (Note: If they play another kind of game that's obviously just as good.)
• Do students think it's important to tell the truth? Why/why not? What kinds of problems might occur if people lied a lot? Consider using a T-Chart with the class to compare the consequences of telling the truth to the consequences of lying.

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Indicted; Enhancing; Steroids; and, Perjury.
• Ask students if they think that Barry Bonds would have taken steroids to enhance his career if he could go back in time and relive his career? Why/why not? Do students think that Barry Bonds would have been a good baseball player if he had not taken steroids? Encourage them to support their opinions logically. Ask students to develop a conversation between Barry Bonds and themselves in which they ask Mr. Bonds if he would have taken steroids if he had the opportunity to go back in time.
• If Barry Bonds were to retire and agree to never play baseball again, do students think that he should still have to go before the Grand Jury? Why/why not? Do students think that the federal government has the right to outlaw lying in a court of law, perjury? Why/why not? These questions might prompt an interesting class discussion.
• Challenge students to draw lessons from this newspaper article that could be applied to their own lives. Challenge them to think of lessons that have nothing to do with truth, sports, or drugs. Ask students how they developed these lessons from the story. Students might write reflective essays in response to these questions.