Victor Conte's new book on BALCO and steroids not quite ready for injection

Victor Conte's new book promises to be an 'inject and tell' thriller about his BALCO days.  Called  "BALCO: The Straight Dope on Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and What We Can Do To Save Sports"  Conte plans to expose athletes like Marion Jones and Barry Bonds, as only he can.  Soon to be a major motion picture.  However, the New York Daily News reports a glitch in the Conte  mix.

Nasty legal warfare has broken out over Victor Conte's forthcoming tell-all book about his leading role in the world's biggest steroid conspiracy.

Skyhorse Publishing originally hoped to release "BALCO: The Straight Dope on Barry Bonds, Marion JonesTony Lyons. and What We Can Do To Save Sports" in September, but Conte's book may not hit shelves until 2009, said Skyhorse president

Conte has submitted the manuscript, but the imminent presidential election and other intervening factors have led Skyhorse to reconsider the timing of the book's release.

Intervening factors like defamation suits from athletes who might be named in the book:

Among the factors is an expensive barrage of defamation litigation launched against Conte by boxer Shane Mosley, one of the athletes whose BALCO doping regimens Conte promises to describe in detail, and Mosley's threats to sue the book's publisher.

Mosley's defamation suits have been a "distraction," says Conte, who has promised to retell anecdotes proving Mosley knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and EPO. (Mosley has said he thought BALCO's products were legal.)

Sugar Shane wasn't so sweet on the legal challenge:

In Mosley's corner is the aggressive New York attorney Judd Burstein, who narrowly escaped a hefty court sanction eight years ago for what a federal judge called "Rambo lawyering."

The most recent of Burstein's actions against Conte is a motion filed Wednesday asking a U.S. District Court in California to sanction Conte's defense attorney for submitting what Burstein called an "outrageous and entirely frivolous" motion to recover $75,654 in attorney fees from a defamation suit that Burstein initiated and withdrew.

Burstein showed the Daily News an Aug. 14 e-mail from Lyons in which the publisher floated the idea of canceling Conte's publicity tour and giving Mosley two or three pages in the book to "explain his side of the story."

"This is NOT a firm offer," Lyons wrote.

Burstein rejected Lyons' overtures. He has promised to sue Skyhorse and its insurers.

And you can take all this to the bank.