A few days ago, a federal grand jury indicted baseball great Barry Bonds, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

I haven’t been following the situation very closely, but the whole thing reminds me of the ridiculous Martha Stewart persecution, where a public figure is punished for lying about something that the government could not prove to be a crime (certainly not one with victims).

Regardless of whether Bonds took steroids, or knew he took steroids, this does not warrant $1 of resources for the government to pursue. If it’s true that this is the most valuable use of federal crime-fighting resources of all available opportunities, then we should start cutting budgets dramatically, and start celebrating the end of serious crimes and threats to safety.

A lot of people seem to hate Barry Bonds, and want to minimize his accomplishments. It seems to be a common trait to want to tear down someone (or some company) that achieves dramatic success. I wish this trait was more widely recognized as a problem. We should certainly criticize actions that warrant it, but we should also praise great achievements.

Whether or not he took steroids, Barry Bonds is a great baseball player whose success on the field should be admired, and not despised.

Maybe he’s not a great role model in terms of character or personal choices (I’m not saying that this is true, I just don’t know). But, he can and should be admired as a great athlete anyway.