Will Texas steroid bust be the NFL's BALCO?

According to the Dallas Morning News, a Texas bust, and the soon-to-come trial may prove to be the NFL's BALCO. Story here.  At one link to the NFL -- former Cowboy Matt Lehr -- makes this juicy.

...Mr. Jacobs build one of the largest steroid and human growth hormone distribution rings in the country, and landed him in the middle of one of the largest trafficking investigations of its kind in the nation's history, authorities say.

Authorities suspect that Mr. Jacobs, 35, and his associates supplied steroids to NFL players, professional bodybuilders and police officers.

The trial will start soon in Texas,; with links to anti-aging clinics, and pro athletes.

Authorities also are pursuing possible links between Mr. Jacobs' network and some of the pharmacies and anti-aging clinics in New York and Florida that serviced professional baseball players and other athletes. And one of Mr. Jacobs' co-defendants admitted selling small amounts of steroids to the owner of the Houston weight-loss clinic recently linked to baseball legend Roger Clemens.

Mr. Jacobs, who had a top middleman who sold nearly $30,000 worth of steroids a month, is one of seven defendants who have pleaded guilty and await sentencing as early as next month.

"David is the kingpin," said Jason Stern, an attorney who represents bodybuilders and is a former NFL agent. "I think this case could be the NFL's BALCO."

The raw materials came from China, when Jacobs wanted better quality 'roids:

Mr. Jacobs went online and found a solution: recipes for steroids using raw Chinese powder. Mr. Jacobs soon parlayed his knowledge of Asia, gleaned during his Nokia business trips, into contacts with English-speaking middlemen to the Chinese steroid powder factories.

He says he wired money to China through Western Union, and the factories shipped him the powder in boxes. Often, they included a fake lab report claiming the powder was for legal nutritional supplements. Mr. Jacobs eventually became a supplement store owner. After tinkering with his concoctions he began selling his compounds, along with Mr. Atwood, according to court documents. Mr. Jacobs initially sold steroids within the close-knit bodybuilding community.

With links to the NFL -- Matt Lehr:

In 2006, one of his top middlemen introduced Mr. Jacobs to Matt Lehr at a Dallas nightclub. Mr. Lehr was a lineman for the Atlanta Falcons, having left the Cowboys two years prior after a falling out with then-coach Bill Parcells over Mr. Lehr's association with a Dallas topless club manager. Mr. Lehr kept a home in Denton County.

Mr. Jacobs said that it was a few months after he met Mr. Lehr that the NFL suspended the lineman for four games for flunking a drug test...

Mr. Jacobs (ex-girlfriend Amber Jarrell at right) said this week that, on the advice of his attorney, he will not name names of NFL players to whom he sold steroids. He also says he didn't name names to investigators. He didn't have to, he says, because investigators tracking his enterprise had ample documentation of who his clients were by the time he was questioned.

He said that pro football is rife with drug use.    

"If people can't see what's obvious in front of them when they watch pro football, then one should never underestimate the power of denial."

Much more on the newspaper site about this developing story down in Texas.