The best defense

Before the hip injury that ended his career(s), Bo Jackson played the game(s) the way we all envisioned we too would play them, if only we too were 6-foot-1, 225 pounds and one of the greatest natural athletes our country ever has produced.

During a football career that started at Auburn (where he won a Heisman) and continued in the NFL (where he made the Pro Bowl), Jackson preferred plowing through defenders, punishing them before they punished him, only to then leave them in the dust with breathtaking speed.

Likewise, in baseball, there were no weak cuts with Bo – just a lot of memorable moon shots and full-throttle dashes around the bases.

He was such an outrageous talent, no less than Dick Schaap named Jackson the greatest athlete of the 20th Century, based mostly on the fact that when he talked to the other great athletes they admitted daydreaming about being Bo, too.

So it was no surprise that when Jackson, now a businessman outside of Chicago, found himself caught up in the scandal of the day – a California newspaper accused him of using steroids – he responded the way we all envision we would if the same thing happened to us.

He immediately filed a defamation suit. Then he held a press conference full of straight talk, not Barry and Mark double talk.

"I've got nothing to hide," The Associated Press quoted Jackson as saying. "If anyone wants to check into my medical past, go get blood tests, go check up on those blood tests and see if there was any anabolic steroids in it. You're more than welcome.

"I'm not going to sit here and say, Maybe I did or maybe I didn't.' I didn't. Never did. Never had to."

Isn't that how a guy with nothing to hide would do it? Isn't that how you'd do it?

One of the most frustrating things about the entire steroid scandal era is the complete non-believability of all these accused athletes, many of whom we actually would like to believe. Jose Canseco named a whole slew of guys in his book and to a man they called him names and denied it.

But not one of them sued for defamation. Not one of them went after the accuser. Not one of them stood up like Bo Jackson.

A funny thing already has happened. The newspaper in question, the Inland Valley Daily News, has apologized for the story and retracted it. The dietician that was quoted in the story saying "Bo Jackson lost his hip because of anabolic abuse" has issued a sworn affidavit that she never said such a thing.

"We apologize to Mr. Jackson, without reservation," the paper stated.

This may still go to court. But by going on the offensive – swinging for the cheap seats like old times – it looks like Bo already has won.

Meanwhile Barry Bonds calls anyone questioning him a liar, no matter the grand jury testimony. Mark McGwire maintains his purity, but goes to Congress to say nothing. Jason Giambi, after months of lies, apologizes, for something. So many others make so many halfhearted denials.

All these big, strong, tough guys who basked in every cheer, who soaked up every bit of the hero treatment, have turned to sad, empty shadows when faced with the truth.

Give credit only to Marion Jones who has sued her accuser, BALCO's Victor Conte, showing a conviction and believability the rest of them lack.

In a court of law, how the players have reacted to the charges isn't supposed to matter because there is a presumption of innocence. But in the court of public opinion you naturally ask yourself, if someone indeed were innocent, why would they let their name be muddied without a thorough response?

In today's litigious society that means: Sue the bastards and invite an investigation.

Bo Jackson did just that, plowing ahead like that old hip were 100 percent and there were a crease off tackle.

In the process he not only made a convincing argument that his performances were honest and true and all those who worshipped him weren't duped, he showed he is still doing it just the way we'd like to think we would.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Click here to follow him on Twitter. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Updated on Tuesday, Apr 12, 2005 7:24 am, EDT

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