Word of the Day: Penitent (July 6, 2007)
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by user Coreyisarealboy
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Yesterday, Troy Ellerman reportedly agreed to a prison sentence of 33 months after a judge previously rejected Ellerman's initial plea bargain of 24 months. Ellerman is the lawyer in the BALCO case who is being charged with leaking grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi to San Francisco Chronicle reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada, who later used the material to co-write the book Game of Shadows with fellow Chronicle reporter Lance Williams.
Prior to Thursday's report, Ellerman was fired as commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which is, undoubtedly, bound to raise some question marks, and voluntarily gave up his license to practice law in California upon being charged with the four felonies he faces in the case.
Penitent
pen·i·tent /'pen-i-tuh nt/ -adjective
1. feeling or expressing sorrow for sin or wrongdoing and disposed to atonement and amendment; repentant; contrite.
2. owning the f--k up.
(Ok, so I made the second one up, but the previous one was just dictionary jibberish anyway.)
Now, granted, the deal was likely agreed upon by Ellerman because it also meant his fine would be reduced from $250,000 to just $60,000, but the fact still remains he's going to spend nine more months at a Federal PMITA prison (an obvious Office Space reference but watch that ignite another acronym battle), and he did it voluntarily. What's worse, that much money out of your pocket or an extra nine months at one of those places? It's a tough choice, which is why I think there was at least a little bit of guilt on show.
Now, I understand that by virtue of the law, Ellerman is guilty, but in the hungry eyes of insatiable fanatics begging for the truth, Ellerman is the one person who thought the esoteric testimonies should be public knowledge.
And while Ellerman is taking one for the team, we're still awaiting some penitence from the main player in the BALCO mess, who is just five home runs shy of ruining all that is great and holy in baseball and still denies what he allegedly said in the leaked testimonies, that he had, indeed, "unknowingly" taken steroids. And sure, you might be able to get away with unknowingly doing something once. But we are not children. We do not keep shitting our pants because we do not know any better.
We will no doubt continue to await the day of atonement for Barry Bonds long after 756 reaches the seats. But it's nice to know that one person involved in the mess is willing to show some "integrity" (that one's for you Kelsdad).
