The Associated Press reported that upon hearing of her conviction on three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, Tammy Thomas shouted angrily at jurors, “I’ve already had one career taken away from me…Look me in the eye, you can’t do it.” Her fury was then aimed toward the prosecution as she yelled, “Look me in the eye…You like to destroy people’s lives.”
Tammy Thomas was banned from the sport of cycling in 2002 when the performance-enhancing drug Norbolethone was found in her urine sample. The amusing thing to me is that her words indicate that she views her conviction Friday, April 4th, as the latest consequence to her actions of steroid use. That is a big, yet common, misconception that exists in the minds of the public, and apparently the athletes themselves. A far more common name, Barry Lamar Bonds, will most likely be facing a scenario very similar to that which Ms. Thomas has faced very soon . You see the truth is that Thomas was not on trial because she used steroids. She was on trial because she lied to a federal grand jury investigating the dealings and relationships of the now infamous Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). Because of these lies she now faces sentencing July 18th, at which time legal experts expect her to receive six months to several years worth of jail time. You can be sure that Major League Baseball’s career home run king will be watching intently.
A common problem in today’s society is the willingness to deny, to lie, or to sweep under the rug problems that may cause inconvenience or embarrassment. How much easier would it have been for certain athletes to come clean about their steroid abuse, apologize for their lack of sound judgment, and promise to move on with their careers without making the same mistake twice? We could ask Andy Pettite, who admitted to taking human growth hormone. His admission, albeit coupled with a sappy martyr-esque excuse for his actions, earned him a sea of cheers and applause opening day at Yankee Stadium when he heard his name introduced for the first time since his public acknowledgement of HGH use.
How often do our governments, our corporate entities, schools, churches, even our families seek to disguise or dismiss the truth for fear of embarrassment or consequences that would be so much easier to bear than the price that is paid for our defiance. We all make mistakes and each of us has fallen short. If we decide not to take ownership of our actions, but instead attempt to conceal truth and deceive our peers, the implications of our dishonesty will be far more devastating than would be the wages of our original transgressions. This is a concept that Tammy Thomas unfortunately has not realized; a concept that Barry Bonds will no doubt come to be familiar with. Using performance enhancing drugs is not an offense punishable by jail time, however, knowingly lying to a federal grand jury is. It was very fitting that Tammy Thomas yelled for the convicting jury to look her in the eyes, her furious assumption being that they would not be able to do so; that they should have been ashamed of their disgraceful work and hung their heads accordingly. In reality, it was Tammy’s ability to look a grand jury in the eyes while testifying and lie, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, about taking steroids and her ties to BALCO that resulted in a guilty verdict. I hope this and future verdicts are lessons to those athletes who, when they misstep, will be confronted with the decision to accept responsibility for their actions or hide behind a disgraceful mask of denial.
