I've never really seen an athlete reviled quite in the way that people are reviling Barry Bonds right now. It's quite remarkable, and I have to say I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I'm pretty disappointed that he was juicing. But then again, everyone was juicing. Why are we singling Bonds out?

More incredibly, we are directing our hatred towards professional athlete who used steroids. Yet right now, there are tons of athletes out there who have done far worse. Let's take a prominent example: Kobe Bryant. It is conceivable that Kobe RAPED someone. If he is guilty, he should not be competing for NBA championships (thank God the Lakers were eliminated), he should be serving time in prison. Even if not guilty of rape, he admitted to adultery. Now, I don't think that people should be going around carrying signs that say "Kobe = Adulterer" to Laker games, but I do believe adultery is probably worse than steroids, morally. Now I know there is a difference, because steroids enhance your game while fidelty or infidelity does not. But all I'm saying is there are some other high profile athletes out there who are much more despicable than Bonds (of course, I believe that Bonds also is an adulterer, but this isn't as public, I guess).

Even worse are the guys who have been convicted of assault. Marty McSorley nearly killed Donald Brashear with his hockey stick. Todd Bertuzzi nearly killed Steve Moore. These guys are criminals. Jason Kidd assaulted his wife. So did Sheldon Souray of the Montreal Canadiens.

Then there are the absent fathers. Shawn Kemp fathered seven illegitimate children with seven different women. Evander Holyfield has nine.

Or what about racists like John Rocker.

The point is, there are a lot of schmucky athletes. Barry Bonds is a schmuck. But his taking steroids isn't as bad as some of the other stuff that athletes do.