Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giant slugger, is under attack for allegedly taking steroids in order to win his single season home run hitting crown.

I just finished reading an article about the nuclear scientist at Purdue University who is under attack for his reported findings of cold fusion.

As you may know, cold fusion is a process through which energy can be created in a laboratory, experimentally. If the process is authentically producing energy, it may be the first step in helping us to generate abundant energy at a very low cost.

Ballplayers have been accused of taking drugs and cold fusion findings have been attacked in the past, so the current controversies are not new.

What is interesting is who you are cheering for: the scientist and Mr. Bonds, or for their detractors, the ones who say they lied?

I am hoping they're innocent. After all, wouldnt it be great to be on the threshold of cheap energy for the entire world? And if you've ever seen Bonds hit a ball out of the park, it is a breathtaking spectacle.

Plus, its a family tradition to root for the underdog in almost any contest or controversy. Maybe, its in the genes, this impulse to side with the guy who is being picked on, even if he has the misfortune to be rich or famous.

But Im sure there are folks who want them to be as wrong as they can be, to be apprehended doing sloppy science, or purposely misleading their peers and the public.

The small minded love it when the great, or those seemingly at the top of their game, take a fall.

Maybe, it makes them feel better about themselves, because theyll never discover anything new, or break a record; nothing can surprise them, and life will keep plodding along in its inexorable, and boring way.

I pity them, and celebrate the accused, for at least, trying to be more!