Steroid Nation

Jocks breaking rocks: Athletes (boosters, trainers) behind bars

Reasononline carries a very nicely researched piece on athletes, boosters, and trainer who walk the line in a prison.  The athletes end up in jail for drug-related offenses, which recently included illegal steroids and PEDs.

 The article sets the stage with the conviction of Logan Young, the 'Bama Booster who bought players for the Crimson Tide:

Before his untimely death in 2006, Logan Young faced six months in federal prison for “conspiracy to commit racketeering” and “crossing state lines to commit racketeering,” both felonies. While those charges made Young sound like a mafioso, his real offense was violating the recruiting rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)...The conviction of Logan Young as “the first college sports booster sentenced to prison essentially for busting NCAA rules” (in the words of ESPN.com’s Mike Fish) is just one example of a disturbing trend: the federal criminalization of private rule breaking in the world of sports.

The authors look at athletes who did time for crimes which include steroid offenses:

Marion Jones:

Former Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones served six months in federal prison last year for making false statements to two grand juries about her personal use of performance-enhancing steroids. As part of a highly unusual plea agreement, unrelated check fraud charges against Jones were dropped in return for her publicly admitting her past steroid use and retiring from the sport...

Barry Bonds:

All-time Major League Baseball (MLB) home run leader Barry Bonds was scheduled to begin trial in March on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, based on his grand jury testimony in a steroid distribution case that closed in 2005 after producing just four minor convictions that netted seven months prison time combined (half as long as Bonds’ personal trainer served behind bars for criminal contempt after refusing to testify about his boss). At press time, yet another federal grand jury was hearing testimony about whether former MLB pitching great Roger Clemens committed perjury when he denied using steroids after being hauled in front of Congress in February 2008.

There are also 'derivative crimes'; as a 'derivative' in finance refers to an instrument that derives value from the underlying entity so do 'derivative crimes.  For instance money laundering, obstruction of justice, racketeering and so on.  Same with jock crimes.

In 1990 Congress added performance-enhancing steroids to its list of banned substances, largely in response to a scandal involving Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his 1988 Olympic gold medal after testing positive for anabolic steroids. Capitalizing on the public outcry, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) held hearings on doping in sports. McCain threatened to introduce legislation that would take away the autonomy of the U.S. Olympic Committee unless it adopted aggressive anti-doping policies.

The article continues with a lengthy discussion of the BALCO derivative crimes, found after the jump..

Did American sprinter Jordan Vaden ride Winny to new personal bests?

American sprinter Jordan Vaden burst on the sprinting scene last year.  He surprisingly finished 2nd at the US Outdoors with a 200M of 19.98, better than his 2007 200M at 20.42.  He also ran a 10.2 100M

However he was busted for stanozolol (Winny, Winstrol).  To Universal Sports:

The IAAF has sanctioned American sprinter Jordan Vaden, who has been suspended for two years for doping violations. Vaden, who starred collegiately at Division 2 Livingstone College, tested positive for stanozolol during an out-of-competition screening on August 19.

Vaden was a surprise runner-up in the men’s 200m at the 2006 U.S. Outdoor Championships with a monster personal-best of 19.98 seconds. He also finished fourth in the 100m in a PR 10.20. In 2007, his best performance was a sixth-place showing in the 200m (20.42) at the U.S. Outdoor Championships.

Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova implicated in doping scandal

Guilt by association?  The Austrian press implicated top Bulgarian female sprinter Ivet Lalova in doping because of links with manager Stefan Matschiner.  Matschiner supplied pro cyclist Bernhard Kohl with juice.

(Update here)

To Novinite for the story:

The Austrian media has accused Bulgarian top sprinter Ivet Lalova of close links with manager Stefan Matschiner, who has allegedly forced athletes to  take banned substances.

Lalova, Bulgaria's best athlete for 2008, explained that she stopped working with Matschiner at the end of last year when the first reports of his clients failing doping tests surfaced.

"My relationship with Stefan Matschiner is purely businesslike," Ivet said after Austrian media reported the two were seen together at a local  restaurant.

Lalova's coach Konstantin Milanov has also denied the allegations.

Apparently this is similar to the guilt by association when Lance Armstrong was linked to Italian uber-dope doctor Michele Ferrari.

Lalova has quite a following with fansites.  You can also find plenty of online pics of the photogenic athlete with a Google search.

This should improve relations between Austria and Bulgaria.

Catching up with steroid and PED stories

1.  Bike Radar reviews biological passports.

2.  Ex-Olympian ran steroids smuggling scheme...David Jenkins.  Evening News, Edinburgh.

3.  Get your steroids at a Dominican pharmacy, it's easy.  Newsday.

4.  Former 'roider in New York blames his cardiac problems on past steroids use.  Metrowest Daily News.

Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts discusses breaking the A-ROD on steroids story

SI reporter Selena Roberts, who was initially trashed by AROD, discusses her role in the story of A-Rod juice:

On controversy involving breaking the A-Rod steroids story: "I learned a lot at the Orlando Sentinel, where I had on-the-ground training many years ago covering the Magic ... Certainly there's a bit of a backlash on me personally. I'm a big girl, I can handle that sort of thing. That goes with the business we're in. ... The goal is always the same -- to get to the truth."

 If you want to listen to Roberts' entire interview, click here and wait a few seconds for the download: Download SelenaRoberts

Caffeine as a PED

The Bloody Elbow reports on caffeine as PED:

This has been making the rounds on all the good baseball blogs, and I feel it's relevant for MMA.  From the New York Times:

The performance improvement in controlled laboratory settings can be 20 to 25 percent, Dr. Tarnopolsky said. But in the real world, including all comers, the improvement may average about 5 percent, still significant if you want to get your best time or even win a race.

For years, researchers believed that you needed about 5 to 6 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. An 80-kilogram, or 176-pound man, for example, would need about 400 milligrams of caffeine, or 20 ounces of coffee.

Now, Louise M. Burke, the head of sports nutrition department of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, reports that athletes get the full caffeine effect with as little as 1 milligram of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. Instead of 20 ounces of coffee, a

176-pound man could drink 4 ounces of coffee, or about two 12-ounce cans of Coke.

Austrian triathlete champion Lisa Huetthaler on doping: "You have to lie"

Austrian triathlon champion Lisa Huetthaler came clean about her doping regime.  She named suppliers up the food chain, and as we contend behind every doper is a trainer, coach, and doctor who encourages or enables the cheating.  Here to Asia One News:

Austrian triathlete Lisa Huetthaler, who was suspended last October for doping, named names in an interview with the daily Kurier published Friday, as Austria once again faces a doping scandal.

A former European champion at under-23 level, Huetthaler, 25, revealed in the interview that she had obtained banned substances from Stefan Matschiner, the former personal manager of Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl, who was also suspended last year for doping.

She also named a doctor at a Vienna children's hospital, Andreas Zoubek, who has already come under suspicion in recent months for supplying doping substances but has always denied the charges.

Huetthaler, who had until now always rejected doping allegations, said Matschiner sold her EPO (erythropoietin) half a dozen times between 2007 and 2008, as well as testosterone. He also gave her a blood transfusion on one occasion.

'When you're really in it, you have to lie. You have to make lying systematic. It's routine. You lie so much that after a while you don't even really know anymore what's the truth,' Huetthaler said in her interview.

Her revelations come days after the arrest of Walter Mayer, a former Austrian national ski coach, on suspicion of dealing in illegal doping substances, including EPO.

Another cyclist, Christof Kerschbaum, was also arrested but later released, while a Vienna pharmacist suspected of supplying Mayer and Kerschbaum with banned substances is still in custody.

Mayer was already involved in the Austrian cross-country and biathlon doping scandal at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Huetthaler was handed a two-year suspension by the Austrian national anti-doping agency (NADA) in October after testing positive for EPO.

BTW, nice delt-bicep tie-in in the photo.  Very testosterone-like.

Tejada receives one year probation for lying to Congress about steroids

So if you lie to Congress during hearings -- repeatedly -- you receive a one year probation where you promise not to lie to Congress again for one year?  The Houston Chron goes into this:

Drayton McLane loves it when his players do community work, so he has to be thrilled Miguel Tejada has agreed to do an extra 100 hours this summer.

Nice going, Miggy. Way to represent The Good Guys.

Incidentally, who decided a $5,000 fine was any way to punish a guy making $13 million? Couldn’t the feds have ordered Tejada to pay whatever the government spent proving he’s a liar?

Anyway, about eight seconds after Tejada’s plea-bargain agreement was announced, the Astros issued a statement saying how happy they were to have this whole thing behind them.

In other words, let’s all forget that this guy is a cheat and that we got fleeced on this trade.

As for Tejada, he hasn’t exactly been forthright. He has confessed to what he got caught doing and nothing more. And there appears to be more there.

He played the contrite card when he showed up at spring training until someone asked about his use of steroids and HGH.

He bristled and said he wasn’t going to talk about it. Now that’s coming clean.

He doesn’t have to admit anything. The Mitchell Report does it for him. It’s right there on page 201 along with photo copies of checks to ex-teammate Adam Piatt for $3,100 and $3,200.

Piatt said he provided Tejada with steroids and human growth hormone, but he has no way of knowing if Tejada actually used the stuff.

We don't want a witch hunt do we?  Lying and cheating professionals should never be hunted down to answer for their peccadilloes.  The Astros don't think so:

....the Astros have handled this thing from start to finish (with) Ethics be damned.

First, they said they had no idea Tejada would be included in the Mitchell Report. This spring, McLane changed his story, admitting the team had discussed the issue and made the trade anyway.

Translation: We don’t care if a guy is a cheat as long as he helps us win games. There’s a good message for the youngsters in there somewhere.

That’s how baseball operated during the steroid era. If the ballparks were full and the home runs long, if everyone made a lot of money, then why bother with the annoying details?

College towns less affected by economic recession

Apparently with economies on steroids, college towns appear to be less affected by the recent economic downturn (?meltdown) than other American cities. We write from Iowa City, a virtual vortex of economic activity.  To the Wall Street Journal:

Morgantown, W.Va., home to West Virginia University, has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. -- just 3.9% -- and the university itself has about 260 job openings, from nurses to professors to programmers.

"We're hurting for people, especially to fill our computer and technical positions," says Margaret Phillips, vice president for human relations at WVU.

Of the six metropolitan areas with unemployment below 4% as of January, three of them are considered college towns. One is Morgantown. The other two are Logan, Utah, home of Utah State University, and Ames, Iowa, home of Iowa State University. Both have just 3.8% unemployment, based on Labor Department figures that are not seasonally adjusted.

The pattern holds true for many other big college towns, such as Gainesville, Fla., Ann Arbor, Mich., Manhattan, Kan., and Boulder, Colo. In stark contrast, the unadjusted national unemployment rate is 8.5%.

While college towns have long been considered recession-resistant, their ability to avoid the depths of the financial crisis shaking the rest of the nation is noteworthy. The ones faring the best right now are not only major education centers; they also are regional health-care hubs that draw people into the city and benefit from a stable, educated, highly skilled work force.

The big question hanging over these communities is whether their formula for success can outlast the nation's nastiest recession in at least a quarter-century. Amid investment losses and state budget woes, many college cities are starting to see their unemployment rates rise, even though they're still lower than the national average. The longer the recession drags on, the more likely college towns are to catch up with their harder-hit peers.

WADA chastizes soccer -- FIFA abd UEFA -- organizations for anti-doping stances

WADA boss John Fahey tosses out some barbs at the governing organizations of world soccer, accusing FIFA and UEFA of head butting anti-doping policies.  AFP reports:

World anti-doping chief John Fahey accused FIFA and UEFA of ignoring reality, after they rejected rules that ease out-of-competition drugs testing of individual footballers.

"One of the key principles of efficient doping control is the surprise effect and the possibility to test an athlete without advance notice on a 365 day basis," the World Anti Doping Agency President said in a statement.

"Alleging, as FIFA and UEFA do, that testing should only take place at training grounds and not during holiday periods, ignores the reality of doping in sport.

"Experience has demonstrated that athletes who cheat seize every opportunity to do so and dope when they believe they won?t be tested," he added.

FIFA rejected out of season testing:

The footballing bodies on Tuesday formally rejected the 'whereabouts' rule, arguing that team sport players should be treated differently.

UEFA chief Michel Platini and FIFA President Sepp Blatter had already signalled their opposition in recent weeks, reopening an old rift over the tougher global drive against doping in sports.

Blatter had been at loggerheads with WADA for years, mainly over the penalties for drug taking, and FIFA only came on board unified rules in May 2007 - the last Olympic-affiliated sports federation to do so.

While unsavory, out of season testig appears obvious if a sports league is serious about anti-doping.

Miguel Tajeda to receive sentence for steroid perjury today

The Houston Astros' Miguel Tejada will appear in federal court today to learn what his sentence will be for lying to a Congressional investigation into steroid use in major league baseball.  It sounds like justice will go easy on Tejada because he said he was sorry for lying about steroids.

Six weeks after pleading guilty to misleading Congressional investigators about performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, Miguel Tejada is scheduled to receive his sentencing in Washington, D.C.

Tejada traveled to the nation's capital on Thursday and is expected to receive probation, as recommended by prosecutors. U.S. attorney Jeffrey Taylor wrote in a memo last week to Federal Magistrate Judge Alan Kay that Tejada should get a reduced sentence because he has publicly apologized for his actions and has no criminal history.

Tejada, a five-time All-Star and the 2002 American League Most Valuable Player, was accused of giving false statements about his conversations with another player, former Athletics teammate Adam Piatt, about steroids and human growth hormone. Tejada also admitted he didn't reveal information to House committee investigators in August 2005 about whether or not his ex-teammate Rafael Palmeiro took steroids.

Tejada lied about is age for years; it would appear he is generally hopeless in matters of veracity.  However, he does have a fat contract.

Wisconsin ex-orthopedic surgeon 'jumps' bail with stash of weapons, ammo, and steroids

Wisconsin orthopedic surgeon (or ex-surgeon) Mark Benson allegedly ingested a cocktail of Ambien, Xanax and Oxycodone prior to smashing into a another vehicle killing a grade school assistant principle, her unborn baby, and daughter, as well as injuring two others.  Out on 1,000,000 bail, this ex-doctor apparently harbored a cache of guns and 'roids.

Benson, the former orthopedic doctor charged with driving intoxicated and killing three and injuring two in an Oconomowoc crash last April, might just have added his mother and stepfather's $500,000 to the toll of damage.

The cash they posted as bail so he could await trial in the comfort of his $1.6 million property on Lower Nashotah Lake in Summit will be forfeited if prosecutors have their way.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that when the judge sets conditions for bail - no guns and no doctor and pharmacy shopping, for example - you'd have to be an idiot to order a stash of drugs on the sly by mail and keep an arsenal of weapons in the house.

As just about anybody following this case knows, Benson landed back in jail last week on bail-jumping charges after investigators found three rifles, three handguns, eight switchblades, an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 rounds of ammunition and bottles of steroids delivered by mail order from a Florida "pharmaceuticals" company...

The man is already a pariah - accused of being high on prescription drugs, his license revoked for a third drunken driving conviction days earlier, when he smashed his Cadillac SUV into the rear of Jennifer Bukosky's car just as her traffic signal turned green.

In addition to Bukosky, 39, the crash killed her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter, Courtney, and seriously injured Courtney's friend and her brother.

The source of the drugs?  A Florida mail-order 'pharmacy'.

The package was from Glenn Stephanos at Palm Beach Pharmaceuticals in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

A year ago, Stephanos and his brother agreed to testify against others and escaped prison time for selling steroids and human growth hormone over the Internet in a nationwide distribution ring that incriminated at least 24 people in New York and Florida, including high-profile sports figures.

Draw your own conclusions.

Lance Armstrong breaks collarbone in Spanish pile-up. All those dope tests wasted?

The Philly Daily News says Lance Armstrong suffered a broken clavicle (collarbone) in a pile-up at a race in Spain yesterday.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong crashed during a pileup in the first stage of the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon cycling race in Spain and suffered a broken collarbone.

Armstrong will need surgery, leading to questions about whether he'll be able to contend for an eighth title in July.

"I'm alive!" he wrote on his Twitter feed. "Broken [right] clavicle. Hurts like hell for now. Surgery in a couple of days. Thanks for all the well wishes."

Armstrong will fly back to the United States to have surgery.

Astana team leader Johan Bruyneel said on his Twitter feed there were no complications in the break, and suggested Armstrong could be riding soon.

In London, The Times thinks Armstrong's exit might be good for pro cycling:

 Until last weekend, when the real business of Armstrong as an elite cyclist and Tour contender began, everything had gone to plan. There had been much glad-handing around the world, some showboating in a couple of lesser races in Australia and California, the now-traditional casual put-downs of anti-doping campaigners and a little sledging towards his major rival — on this occasion, his own Astana team-mate, Alberto Contador...

...For his detractors — and there are many both in Europe and in America — the prospect of the multi-millionaire packing up his train set and heading back to Texas will be a huge relief. While publicity accompanies his every move, and a key part of the raison d’etre for his comeback is his global cancer campaign, suspicion also shadows him at every turn of the pedals.

The platform of transparency and openness with which he trumpeted his return has quietly been forgotten, while Don Caitlin’s unimpeachable testing programme — that Armstrong insisted would go ahead — was poorly thought through and never got off the ground. Arm in a sling as he flies home to Texas, he will now be desperate to prevent his racing comeback following the same fate.

Pro wrestler Abismo Negro found dead in Mexican river; Blame goes to steroids

Authorities found (now) ex-pro wrestling legend Abismo Negro ("The Black Abyss") floating down a Mexican river on Sunday.  The story/explanation sounds bizarre.  To Wrestling-Edge:

Andrés Alejandro Palomeque González, better known as Abismo Negro in AAA, was found dead in a river in Mexico yesterday. The lucha wrestler was 37.

No definite cause of death has been determined as of yet, nor has foul play been ruled out.

According to a bus driver who was transporting González and other passengers to Mexico City, González became agitated, almost panicked and demanded to be let off the bus despite it being 1:30 in the morning. After leaving the bus, González found himself lost on the dark hillside, confirmed by a text message he sent to his wife. After receiving the text, his wife contacted local wrestling promoter Vicente Martinez, who organized a search party.

Yesterday morning, González was found floating face down in the river. There has been talk that he may have gotten stuck in mud and was unable to free himself. The body was removed from the river and positively identified as Gonzalez. The local coroner confirmed that the anxiety attack led to the events of his death. He also noted that anabolic steroids being taken by Gonzalez at the time could have caused his anxiety attack.

The steroids/anxiety attack explanation sounds hokey.  Indeed Gonzalez may have taken steroids (appears to go with the pro wrestling profession).  However 'anxiety attack' caused by anabolic steroids leading to confusion and death might be pushing it.

The wrestler might have suffered a heart attack or a stroke, leading to confusion.  Very common.  That confusion could have led to more panic and disorientation.  Or it all could be foul play.

Considering the general cocktail of anabolic drugs pro wrestlers ingest - AASs, HGH, insulin, thyroid hormones, it is a wonder their heart makes it past 40.  Oh yeah, it often doesn't.

Early in his career, González went under the ring name Winners, a masked male dancer, who teamed with former WCW wrestler Super Calo during the early glory days of the AAA promotion. At the TripleMania II-A show in April 1994, Winners formed a trio with Rey Misterio and Rey Misterio, Jr. The following year, he lost his mask in a feud with Calo.

González changed his appearance in 1997 and became Abismo Negro in 1997. He wrestled at the 1997 Royal Rumble in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome by taking part in a "Free-For-All" pre-show match alongside Heavy Metal and Histeria. His team lost to Octagón, Blue Demon, Jr. and Tinieblas Jr. He also made two appearances on Raw in March of that year.

In 2004, Abismo Negro appeared in TNA by taking part in the World X Cup Tournament for Team Mexico.

Austrian nordic/biathlon ski coach Walter Mayer arrested on doping charges related to 2006 Olympics

Last week Austrian authorities arrested a cyclist and a pharmacist on doping charges.  Today, a ski coach was arrested for distributing EPO to his skiers. To JAVNO:

Former Austrian national biathlon coach Walter Mayer, at the centre of a 2006 Winter Olympics doping scandal, was arrested on doping charges at the weekend, judicial officials said on Monday.

Mayer was arrested on suspicion of distributing to athletes the blood-booster EPO and related drugs which he purchased from a Vienna pharmacist, who was also arrested over the weekend, Vienna state prosecutor Gerhard Jarosch said.

Jarosch declined to say to how many athletes to whom Mayer sold the EPO and the other drugs, or what sports those athletes were active in.

Police on Friday arrested an Austrian cyclist who received EPO from the same pharmacist, Jarosch said.

Mayer's presence among the Austrian Nordics team at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, in defiance of a doping related ban, triggered drug raids by Italian police who found syringes and drugs in the Austrian base.

Mayer was banned from the Olympics until beyond 2010 after a blood doping scandal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

A-Rod crumbling

You wonder how much pharmacological substances affected A-Rod over time.  One poor decision after another appears to have his baseball career in free-fall.  The latest from a New York Madam who claims she dated A-Rod, even for free.

Former Madam Kristen Davis, best known for organizing hookers for former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer has been named as both a supplier and former lover of disgraced New York Yankee’s player Alex Rodreiguez.

According to the NY Daily News, the relationship started with the supply of hookers, then turned into something more personal. Davis is said to have found A-Rod “so charming she “dated him herself for free.” A-Rod apparently wanted more, and showered Davis “with flowers, jewelry, persistence and heated e-mails.”

The newspaper confirmed the story with Davis, who said that “all I can say is our paths have definitely crossed personally and professionally.”

Notably, A-Rod was married at the time. You can now add hookers to A-Rod’s list of vices next to steroids.

Is this guy going to make it back to baseball?

German scientists claim lab test detects gene doping

The next big trend in doping will be gene doping...the implantation of genes to develop strength, endurance, coordination, or stamina.  If this process isn't already on the steroid black market, it appears to be a major future challenge, as the technique is undetectable.  Or thought to be undetectable; a German lab says it developed a process to detect gene doping.  From Deutche World:

German researchers say they have successfully developed a test to detect instances of gene doping. As doping in the sports world becomes more sophisticated, genetic engineering is seen as the next major threat.

The test traces a special substance, known as GW1516, which artificially increases the volume of so-called endurance muscles and enzymes that gain energy from fat. 

"For the first time, a substance for gene doping has been traced through mass spectrometry," the German Sports University Cologne (DSHS) said of the procedure, which was announced this week.

Mario Thevis, a researcher who helped develop the test, said it was ready for use.

Russian cross-country skier Matveyeva upended for doping

A Russian cross-country skier, Natalia Matveyeva (far right), ran afoul of the doping authorities.  She is a cross country skier of some consequence.  To the Canadian Press:

Russian cross-country skier Natalia Matveyeva has been suspended for doping, Russian news site Allsport reported Sunday.

The 22-year-old Matveyeva reportedly tested positive for EPO during a World Cup meet in January in Whistler, B.C.

Russian sprint team coach Tatyana Revina, who called the result a mistake, said a Russian expert who works with the team would be in Montreal when the "B sample" result is revealed Monday.

"We do not use doping technology in our work and there have been no doping ingredients in the preparations we use," Allsport quoted Revina as saying.

Russian cross-country officials could not be reached for comment.

Iraqi widow sues Blackwater for killing husband; Steroids named in suit

It was reported in the past that the former Blackwater company (now Xe) used 'roided-up 'employees' in Iraq; that didn't go over too well with the civilians there, especially the ones widowed by fatal 'incidents'.  One widow has opened a lawsuit in San Diego.  To the LA Times:

Lawyers for the widow and young sons of an Iraqi man allegedly killed by a drunken employee of the former Blackwater Worldwide security firm after a Christmas Eve party in Baghdad have filed a damage suit in federal court in San Diego.

The suit alleges that the employee got lost after the 2006 party and, after confronting Raheem Khalaf Saadoon, shot him for no reason. Saadoon, 32, was a bodyguard for an Iraqi vice president...

And the 'roids:

The assistant secretary for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Bureau, with responsibility for private security firms, testified that there was no reason for the Blackwater employee not to leave Iraq after the shooting. Department documents said the employee insisted that he shot Saadoon in self-defense.

Beyond the specific incident, the lawsuit alleges that Blackwater never disciplined or fired guards who killed innocent Iraqis and that heavily armed Blackwater employees were routinely sent into Baghdad while under the influence of steroids and other "judgment-altering substances."

Saadoon's widow was promised a series of payments, but Blackwater has paid only a nominal amount, lawyers said. The Times reported in 2007 that the Iraqi government thought that $100,000 was appropriate, but Blackwater and the State Department said that $15,000 to $20,000 was adequate. Saadoon was reportedly shot three times.

French hair tests allegedly show 1 in 5 soccer players with evidence of steroids

A release from the AFLD -- the French doping control agency -- says that most of the positive tests show DHEA.  However, the hair samples hold no legal power in France.  Which makes it weird Lance Armstrong submitted to hair analysis.

Random tests on the hair of professional French football players, has revealed that there is frequent use of illegal, muscle-building steroids in the French game.

Of the footballers tested, results proved that one in five showed signs of having used banned steroids – mostly the anti-ageing hormone DHEA. Drug tests on hair samples have no legal basis in French law and are not implemented by sports governing bodies but the French anti-drugs agency believes that its "hair opinion poll" points to a submerged culture of drug-taking in football.

Pierre Bordry, the president of the Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD) said: "Here is the proof that doping is not just something that happens in cycling."

Of the 32 professional footballers playing in the French First and Second divisions who were tested, out of 138 sportsmen, seven showed clear signs of having used steroids. The 21.8 per cent "hit" rate was the highest in any sport tested.

The anti-doping agency confirmed that it has no plans to reveal the names of the players who tested positive or to pass individual results to clubs or sports bodies.

Lance Armstrong losing hair over doping tests

Lance Armstrong submitted to a French doping test yesterday, which involved a hair sample.  Lance's latest close shave resulted in hair loos.  From Cycling Weekly:

Lance Armstrong has been given a free haircut by the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) during an out-of-competition test.

The seven-times Tour de France champion was visited in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, on Tuesday for his 24th out-of-competition test since announcing his comeback from retirement last year. Inspectors requested the usual blood and urine samples, and also removed a sample of hair for analysis.

"Yet another 'surprise' anti-doping control," wrote Armstrong on his Twitter site. "This one from the French authorities. Urine, blood, and hair! Classic..."

"So I'm clear - never complaining about these tests. Def part of the job. Feel targeted? Of course. But anything to prove I'm clean. Onward."

So brave. So bold.  And such short hair: apparently he needed a haircut to cover up the sampled areas.

Although this is the first time Armstrong has had hair removed for testing, obtaining a hair sample is not unusual in the fight against doping. Hair contains residual traces of substances ingested by the body - and they are retained in hair until that portion is cut. Therefore hair can be used to test for longer-term use of banned substances. However, it's not a completely fool-proof method as bleaching hair can destroy the markers left in it by certain substances.

Armstrong was working out in France, preparing for the 2009 Tour de France.

Steroid prophet Rick Helling, hired by MLB Player's Association

The LA Times says that Rick Helling, once the prophet of steroid corruption in the MLB, will be hired by the players union.

Rick Helling's major league career was nothing remarkable. He won 20 games for the Texas Rangers in 1998, albeit with a 4.41 ERA, but mostly he showed up every fifth day and ate a lot of innings.

But Helling, a Stanford product, was active in the players' union. In the winter of 1998-99, following the season in which Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa captivated America with the race to set the single-season home-run record, Helling stood up at a union meeting and said--this according to an excerpt from Joe Torre's book, "The Yankee Years"--what prompted Time magazine to label him "The Man Who Warned Baseball About Steroids."

He told his fellow union leaders that steroid use by ballplayers had grown rampant and was corrupting the game.

"There is this problem with steroids," Helling told them. "It's happening. It's real. And it's so prevalent that guys who aren't doing it are feeling pressure to do it because they're falling behind. It's not a level playing field. We've got to figure out a way to address it.

"It's a bigger deal than people think. It's noticeable enough that it's creating an uneven playing field. What really bothers me is that it's gotten so out of hand that guys are feeling pressure to do it. It's one thing to be a cheater, to be somebody who doesn't care whether it's right or wrong. But it's another thing when other guys feel like they have to do it just to keep up. And that's what's happening. And I don't feel like this is the right way to go."

What Helling had just done was the equivalent of turning up all the lights, clicking off the music and announcing the party was over. "He was the first guy," David Cone said, "who had the guts to stand up at a union meeting and say that in front of everybody and put pressure on it."

Back in the day, Donald Fehr disputed Helling's account.  However:

The news: Fehr hired Helling as a special assistant this morning. From the union's news release...

Interesting.

Cal State Fullerton editorial on steroids in baseball

From the Daily Titan, an interesting take on the PED/steroids in baseball issue:

Today’s baseball players are cheating just as their forefather’s before them, but their means to an end have far more severe consequences.

Gone are the days of spitballs, sandpaper and Vaseline. Now there are new buzzwords such as HGH (human growth hormone), performance enhancers and “the clear.”

There is never a good reason to cheat, but at least the old-timers were doing it to win, not to inflate stats and get a few extra million in their wallets. The bigger concern remains with what the long-term effects of using steroids will be.

Not only are the best players in the world using them without any regard for themselves and their long-term health, they are also jeopardizing the youth that idolize them so much.

With owners, the media and everyone in between turning away from the problem at the beginning, the use of performance enhancing drugs has quietly become acceptable for college and high school players looking to make the leap into professional sports.

There are no guarantees in sports. The lives of millions of student-athletes shouldn’t be at stake because it has become acceptable in the professional level. There is no reason to be using any illegal substances to improve your level of play.

Yes, everyone wants to be the best and have a chance, but by allowing baseball’s promiscuity with drugs get to this point everyone is now at risk.

Major League Baseball, Bud Selig in particular, has to step in and finally put an end to this mess...

Albert Pujols, now and then...Juiced?

Newsday carries a piece on the Albert Pujols story.  Did he or didn't he (juice with steroids)?

In the meantime, Albert Pujols - considered the best player in baseball who hasn't been linked to steroids - denied ever using steroids or PEDs in an article in last week's SI.

Color me cynical, but I'm not ready to call him Mr. Clean. I'm not saying he's drugged up, not by any means, but we've been burned so many times by athletes that we are trained to scoff at their denials. Sad, but true: when someone denies, I shrug and move on.

What else is there to do?

Look at the cover of a recent Sports Illustrated.  Compare with a cover of Muscle and Fitness a few years ago.  Are people decelerating their muscle and fitness or is there another reason Pujos appears so svelte?  Dramatic change.

Houston Astros sign another alleged juicer: Ivan Rodriguez

The Houston Press reports that the Astros signed Pudge Rodriguez today...In the great Texas tradition of ignoring steroid use.

After denying interest for most of this past year, the Houston Astros yesterday inked catcher Ivan Rodriguez to a one-year $1.5 million contract that also includes $1.5 million in incentives. Reportedly, the Astros had not been interested because he didn't mix well with pitchers, but supposedly Astros ace Roy Oswalt had been pushing the team to sign Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is known as one of the game's greatest catchers, having won 13 gold gloves for defensive excellence along with seven Silver Slugger awards for his hitting power. Over the course of his 18-year career, he has got 2605 hits, 524 doubles, 295 homers, 1217 RBI, and 1253 runs. He's got a career .339 on-base percentage with a.457 slugging percentage and a career .301 batting average. He was the 1999 American League MVP, and he was the 2003 MVP of the National League Championship Series.

He split last season between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees, where he hit a disappointing .276 with 110 hits, 20 doubles, 7 homers, and 55 RBI in 115 games with only a .319 on-base percentage and a .394 slugging percentage. It was partly because of those stats, and rumors of alleged steroid use, that Rodriguez went so far into spring training without signing a contract...

As for the steroid rumors... so what? The way the team and fans have embraced Miguel Tejada shows that nobody really gives a damn about players using steroids. And Rodriguez is a far superior player to Tejada, and always has been.

Anabolic steroids and painkillers in home of Andrew "Test" Martin

We are not huge fans of the WWE, to say the least.  It took a few minutes to get up to speed when our man Sal M (Blog Critics) emailed that a pro wrestler named Andrew Martin died very young the other day.

Authorities say former professional wrestler Andrew Martin, who was known as "Test" and "The Punisher" to fans, has died at his Tampa home. He was 33.

The former World Wrestling Entertainment champion was found dead at his apartment Friday night. Police say a neighbor reported that she could see into his apartment window and that Martin appeared motionless for several hours.

The St. Petersburg Times reported -- surprise -- authorities uncovered anabolic steroids and painkillers at the deceased wrestler's house.  It is very interesting that Martin kept deep ties with the first family of the WWE, the Vince McMahon crew...even when the WWE released the wrestler as the result of a spinal wrestling injury.

As “Test”, Martin was involved in a love triangle with Stephanie McMahon (the owner Vince McMahon’s daughter) and Triple H (the wrestler who has been married to Stephanie McMahon for years) which was one of the top story lines in WWE history.

Today would have been Andrew Martin's birthday -- 34.

The professional wrestler known as "Test" or the "Punisher" planned to leave Monday to celebrate in France, Sweden and Belgium, according to his MySpace page.

But authorities found his body Friday night at about 8 o'clock. And officers have since disclosed that they discovered prescription drugs, including painkillers and steroids, in the Harbour Place apartment.

A neighbor had become suspicious after watching him lie motionless on a couch for hours and called police. It appeared Mr. Martin was in the middle of a meal when he died, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. There was a half-eaten pizza and soda nearby.

Officers do not suspect foul play. There were no signs of trauma to Mr. Martin, she said. "He was obviously very healthy, McElroy said. The mystery of his death will likely be solved by his toxicology report.

First, anytime a person passes away, it is sad; condolences to the family.  However, an informed observer will note the string of dead wrestlers, including the spectacular Chris Benoit, most with a string of steroids, HGH, painkillers, and other drugs.

Why no positive for 'boli' (primobolan) in MLB testing for A-Rod?

Newsday wonders why Alex Rodriquez who admitted to using primobolan for at least 3 years, did not test positive for the anabolic steroid?

The MLB and MLB Players Association agreed to the 'screening' test in 2003.  As we know Sports Illustrated found credible information that A-Rod was among those players who tested positive.  However, according to the Mitchell Report, no MLB player tipped the scales with primobolan.

On Feb. 17, Alex Rodriguez held a news conference at the Yankees' spring training complex in Tampa intending to set the record straight about his steroid use, which had been reported by Sports Illustrated the previous week.

Nearly a month later, many of the questions raised by the original story have been answered...

If A-Rod really was taking Primobolan from 2001 to 2003, why didn't he test positive for that specific drug during the random survey in 2003? There may be a perfectly innocent explanation. Baseball needs to provide it...

...according to a breakdown of the drugs the players tested positive for in the 2003 survey released along with the Mitchell Report, not a single player tested positive for Primobolan.

According to the breakdown that was made public, 73 players tested positive for nandrolone, a hardcore oil-based injectable steroid also known as Deca-Durabolin; 26 for stanozolol, also known as Winstrol; eight for elevated levels of testosterone; five for boldenone, also known as Equipoise; three for methandrostenolone, or Dianabol, and one for clenbuterol, technically not a steroid at all but a bronchodilator used by athletes to cut fat.

Interetesting that no player tested positive for primobolan.  Also interesting that only 8 players tested positive for 'elevated testosterone'  Do we have any information that MLB looked at T:E ratios?  Onlny 8 positive for the most popular PED?

Consider A-Rod himself: Does this cast credibility on his story... or the man responsible for the testing?

Right now, baseball does its own in-house testing, by a lab contracted to work for Major League Baseball, and all results are evaluated by one man, Dr. Bryan Smith, who of course is paid by Major League Baseball.

(Dr. Smith also is the man who signed off on 106 therapeutic exemptions for players diagnosed with ADD, allowing them to use drugs such as Ritalin, a powerful stimulant, without penalty.)

This is not to impugn the integrity of any of those entities or individuals, simply to ask how much more reliable the data coming from them would be if the testing were administered by an entity entirely independent of the people it is testing.

Dwain Chambers still hanging with Victor Conte, despite BALCO history

In the 'They never learn' category', it appears ex-BALCO client and current comeback sprinter Dwain Chambers continues use ex-BALCO boss Victor Conte as his go-to expert in performance enhancement.

You would think Chambers, now trying to work his way back into track, would refrain from association with the man who supplied him with illegal steroids and PEDs.  Apparently not the way he thinks.

Athletic's world governing body has admitted it is shocked that Dwain Chambers has reunited with controversial coach Victor Conte.

Conte spent four months in jail for his role in the Balco Laboratory scandal that rocked athletics.

Chambers tested positive for the banned substance THG in 2003 and served a two-year ban.

But the sprinter is using a hi-tech breathing device to boost his oxygen capacity under the supervision of Conte.

The IAAF said the disgraced sprinter, who won the 60 metres title in the European Indoor Championships last week, should distance himself from Conte.

"We're very surprised that he's still associating with people like Mr Conte," an IAAF statement said.

"And if he's looking forward to a career and claiming that he's doing that in all legality, it's probably wise to disassociate yourself with people with a reputation for being involved in doping in sport."

The device simulates high altitute.  And Victor Conte simulates a coach

"The Rock" -- Dwayne Johnson -- hardened up with steroids at "The U"

College football player, WWE wrestler, and now movie idol Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson told MTV he injected a little metabolic stimulation while he played football for the Miami Hurricanes.

Steroids have become a fact of life in the sports world, but rarely do those in the movie business have an intimate, first-person perspective on the dangers and allures of performance-enhancing drugs. But then, how many movie stars went from college football to professional wrestling to box office hits like "The Game Plan" and "Get Smart"?

When Dwayne Johnson talked with MTV News — in a cab — about latest Disney movie, "Race to Witch Mountain" (due out March 13), he ended up sharing not only his thoughts on 'roids, but also his personal experience using them.

"I tried it," Johnson admitted. "Me and my buddies tried it back in the day when I was 18 or 19. Didn't know what we were doing."

Johnson discusses his version of the juice:

That was around the time that Johnson was a defensive lineman for the University of Miami Hurricanes, where he was part of the 1991 National Championship team. After a short stint in the Canadian Football League, Johnson gave pro wrestling a go, and eventually became one of World Wrestling Entertainment's biggest stars. The WWE has experienced numerous steroid scandals, from the suspension of 10 wrestlers for drug-policy violations in 2007 to the suspected steroid-related deaths of stars Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit.

"It's not as prevalent today in our sports as it was 10 years ago," Johnson said. "But we have to recognize that a culture was created where it was OK to do that, and a lot of team managers, owners, players who didn't do it would turn the other cheek. We recognize that, and now we have to institute stronger penalties, which we are doing."

Johnson goes on to give the standard clause about educating children on the dangers of AASs.  Now that he has it made (like Arnold Schwarzenegger), he can wax moral.

MMA fighter Shamrock gets unlucky: tests positive for steroids

It will not be a happy St. Patrick's Day for MMA fighter Ken Shamrock.  He tested positive for a couple anabolic steroids after a recent fight.

Veteran MMA fighter Ken Shamrock has tested positive for anabolic steroids, the California State Athletic Commission said Wednesday.

Shamrock, who last competed for WarGods on Feb. 13 in Fresno, Calif., tested positive for 19-Norandrosterone, 19-Noretiocholanolone and stanozolol.

The commission said Shamrock, who has the right to appeal, had been  fined US$2,500 and suspended for a year, through  Feb. 1, 2010.

Shamrock (27-13-2) defeated Ross (The Grizzly) Clifton via submission one minute into the WarGods fight. Prior to that he had lost eight of his last 10 bouts, dating back to August 2000.

Green beer and beefy muscles for Patty's Day!

European researchers call for new standards in anabolic steroid/ testosterone testing

Everyone knows the current tests for anabolic steroids remain imperfect.  The tests either key on the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio (positive if testosterone is the doping agent) or measurements of the actual anabolic steroid itself.  Now European researchers report current metabolic/dope testing may be flawed along racial lines.

New steroid doping tests are needed for testing athletes, because current tests ignore important ethnic differences in hormone activity, researchers contend.

Testosterone and other hormones that increase testosterone levels are among the illegal performance-enhancing products most widely used in sports, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. Evidence of this kind of cheating is determine by the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio (T:E ratio) in urine. The universal threshold is set above four and confirmed by gas chromatography, a type of chemical analysis.

But the current test is inadequate, according to the authors of a new study that tested soccer players of different ethnicities after they deliberately added steroids to their urine samples. The players, ages 18 to 36, included 57 blacks, 32 Asians, 32 Hispanics and 50 whites.

The researchers used gas chromatography to analyze the urine samples and took into account a variation in a gene known to account for different test results between white and Asian men. The gene, UGT2B17, affects metabolism, including the rate at which testosterone is passed out of the body into the urine.

The gene variation was found in 81 percent of the Asian players, 22 percent of the blacks, 10 percent of the whites and 7 percent of the Hispanic players. Based on the findings, the researcher recalibrated the thresholds for each ethnic group and suggested the following T:E ratios: 3.8 for Asian men, 5.6 for black men, 5.7 for white men and 5.8 for Hispanic men.

The study was released online and was expected to be published in a future print issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Evidence of performance enhancing drugs on Clemens personal syringes?

We missed the past few days, busy with various public presentations.  Here is a Fox story out yesterday: 

Federal investigators involved in the Roger Clemens perjury probe have found performance- enhancing drugs on syringes, vials and gauze pads provided by his former trainer, The New York Times reported.

The revelations could help the case of ex-trainer Brian McNamee, who has told federal agents, baseball investigator George Mitchell and a House of Representatives committee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with steroids and the human growth hormone from 1998-2001.

Clemens has been accused of lying to Congress last year, when he said under oath that he never used steroids or H.G.H.

Clemens’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, said he wasn’t shocked by the findings.

"Duh," Hardin told the Times. "Do you really think McNamee was going to fabricate this stuff and not make sure there were substances on there? The fact is Roger never used steroids or H.G.H."

That's why you hire those high priced lawyers: to stand with you in thick-muscled and thin-skinned.  Is this H.G.H. to pump you to Notorious B.I.G.?

This really isn't news, but more keeping this story breathing.  So what was on those syringes?  Vitamin B shots?

Positive cocaine test: Lebanese skier Georges Salameh claims saboteurs snowed urine sample

Lebanese skier Georges Salameh says sinister nasty enemies sabotaged his urine sample from a ski meet last month  That blows.  The New York Daily News carries the tale.

Lebanese ski racer Georges Salameh, who provided a urine sample containing traces of cocaine during last month's Alpine skiing world championships in France, blames his positive test on the work of mysterious saboteurs.

"I have enemies in Lebanon who may have pushed people to do this," Salameh said. "I never used these drugs. I don't know what happened."

The skier claims he was intoxicated the night before the race.  As if that excuses it all:

In an interview with the Daily News Friday, Salameh repeatedly claimed he was extremely drunk at a nightclub in the early morning hours before he provided his tainted sample on Feb. 12.

Salameh said he was approached by strangers while partying at Doudoune, a nightclub in Val d'Isere, a small and vibrant ski town nestled deep in the French Alps at the head of a dramatic glacial valley.

"I was so drunk," Salameh said, "and someone came to me and said I have something for you that will help. Really, I was so f---ing drunk and I took it."

Great pre-race training.  It get better though:

Salameh could not describe the substance he was given. The president of the Lebanese ski federation, Tony Kouhri, told the Daily News on Thursday that Salameh was handed a pill.

"A man who speaks Arabic came to me and said I have something that will wake you up," Salameh said. "I have a lot of enemies. Not just me, but the federation."

Salameh was out until dawn, but just after 10 a.m. he was scheduled to start 82nd of 105 racers in a special qualification race for the giant slalom. The qualification races are for low-ranked skiers representing their countries at the world championships.

After that race, Salameh told an Austrian reporter that he didn't feel good and hadn't slept. "I drank vodka and ate fish at 5:00 a.m," Salameh told the reporter from the Austrian Press Agency. "This was probably not a good idea."

No wonder this guy participates in a race for low-ranked skiers.

CERA later: German cyclist Stefan Schumacher worldwide ban will not boost career

Top News says that German cyclist Stefan Schumacher will sit the next two years due to his purported use of CERA EPO in the 2008 Tour de France.  Schumacher disagree he doped with CERA EPO; he plans on legal action against whomever he can see.  Sounds CERA-ious.

Paris - German cyclist Stefan Schumacher was on Friday banned by the ruling body UCI for two years over doping at the 2008 Tour de France.

The UCI imposed a worldwide ban until January 20, 2011, two weeks after the French Anti-Doping Agency banned him for two years in France.

Schumacher was found using the latest generation of the blood booster EPO, known as CERA, during retests of the Tour samples after a test method for CERA was available.

Schumacher has protested his innocence and stated errors in the doping control proceedings. His lawyer said he will fight the ban before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (dpa)

The German cyclist won time trials at the Tour last year before he was sent packing.

"Hell yeah" Ex-Met Darryl Strawberry would have juiced with steroids

Former Met slugger Darryl Strawberry commented that he would have juiced, given the opportunity.  In an admission that sets the tone for ethics in sports, Strawberry's comments are found here:

Alex Rodriguez regrets that he took steroids. Darryl Strawberry wishes that he had. Or at least had the opportunity to try them. That's what the outspoken Strawberry revealed yesterday when asked if he would have chosen to inject the forbidden performance-enhancing drugs.

"Hell yeah, I would have used them," Strawberry said. "Are you kidding me? I mean, come on. We're competitive creatures and we have tremendous drive, high tolerance, all these things. I'm not saying that was the right thing to do. But if that was going on in the '80s, that probably would have been in my system, too. I wouldn't have denied it because you guys know I don't deny anything."

Strawberry also seems to have overlooked the fact that A-Rod was outed, and didn't step forward to admit he drug-cheated.  He also could have added that the use of illegal drugs is clearly problematic in the MLB.

"I love Alex and respect him, and I'm glad Alex was man enough to stand up and tell the truth about it," Strawberry said. "But I have a hard time with the union when one player out of 104 players' names comes out and it's Alex Rodriguez - on testing that was done that was supposed to be confidential.

Strawberry, arrested multiple times for various crimes, illegal drugs, impaired driving, and other vagaries, does not appear to be the poster child for clean living in sports.  Good thing the Mets are giving Strawberry exposure to their young players.

Dwain Chambers names track athletes, coaches, and contradictions in new book

The AP discusses UK sprinter Dwain Chambers's new book as more of the text is revealed.  Not surprisingly Chambers names more track athletes who used BALCO for doping including Kelli White.
British sprinter Dwain Chambers names several doping-tainted American athletes in his autobiography chronicling his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Sprinters Kelli White, Chryste Gaines and Alvin Harrison, all of whom were busted for doping and served suspensions, are all mentioned when Chambers recounts his ties with BALCO founder Victor Conte.

"He kept telling me to talk to the other athletes, talk to my coach Remi (Korchemny), Chryste Gaines and Kelli, Alvin Harrison to name a few. I told him I would," Chambers writes in the book "Race Against Me: My Story...

"In time I became fully aware of Victor's role and his purpose in recruiting the best athletes in the world," Chambers writes. "Victor was a pharmacologist with a living to make."

Chambers says he started taking THG, also known as "The Clear," and other drugs such as HGH and EPO, in 2002 after meeting Conte in the United States while training.

"As time went on, I became more and more familiar with associating certain athletes with certain drugs. ... I made Kelli White my main confidante and the attraction grew by the day," writes Chambers, who says he dated White for more than a year.

White won the 100 and 200-meter races at the 2003 world championships in Paris, but both her medals were stripped after she tested positive for modafinil

Chambers, who admitted using 300 combinations of illegal PEDs assumes a strange and paradoxiacally moral attitude toward illict drug doping:

Although Chambers says both he and White "agreed that we hated having to cheat to win," he later says he didn't know THG was on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances.

"If THG was on there I was out of America on the very next flight and Victor Conte was history!" Chambers writes, but then later in the book adds, "I printed the list off. It ran to nearly eight pages. I went over it three times and found no reference at all to THG. Victor was right: it wasn't on the banned list."

"In my own mind, I wasn't cheating."

In earlier excerpts from the book printed in the Daily Mail, Chambers says he was a "walking junkie" and took "more than 300 different concoctions" of performance-enhancing drugs that cost him $30,000 a year.

"It wasn't a problem. I was earning big money at the time," Chambers writes.

White (photo right) who to her credit confessed to all the doping, is an example of how the drugs produce an incredible physique.  Once again, consider all records in the 'steroids era' to be at risk of PED taint. 

Chambers also hits the syringe on the head in the last statement.."The money..."

Also note the irony of calling Conte a 'pharmacologist'.

Batman -- John C. Oden -- minor league pitcher traded for bats, ends up broken

John C. Odom, the minor league pitcher traded for 10 bats, ended his life in Georgia more broken than any discarded bat in the clubhouse.  Odem, apparently hit right in the trademark by the fluky bat trade story, ended up overdosed and dead in Georgia of a mixed drug overdose (NBC News).

The medical examiner said Odom’s death in Georgia on Nov. 5 at age 26 was an accidental overdose from heroin, methamphetamine, the stimulant benzylpiperazine and alcohol.

The NBC story documents his life: pitcher in the Giants system, guitarist, free spirit, broken spirit.  Once rooming with Giants pitcher Tim Linecum who commented 'It really is sad".

Odom’s death had drawn little notice by the start of spring training this year. Now, former teammates, managers and club officials keep asking a question for which there is no satisfying answer.

“I guarantee this trade thing really bothered him. That really worried me,” said Dan Shwam, who managed Odom last year on the Laredo Broncos of the United League. “I really believe, knowing his background, that this drove him back to the bottle, that it put him on the road to drugs again.”

Shwam added: “There were some demons chasing him, they’d been after him for a long time. But there’s no way to really know whether the trade did it, is there?”

At first, Odom seemed to handle it well. He gladly agreed to interviews. He kidded about the kooky deal and said it would make a better story if he reached the majors someday.

Odem witnessed trouble during his life.  He was known as a long-haired guitar-playing loose hanging flake, with talent, but troubles.  After the bat trade, troubles magnified:

On June 5 in Amarillo, the “Batman” theme played while Odom warmed up for Laredo, and he tipped his cap to the sound booth. But he was battered for eight runs in 3 1-3 innings and mercilessly taunted by the crowd. Shwam went to the mound.

“The chants, the catcalls, they were terrible. I had to get him out of there for his own good. He was falling apart, right in front of our eyes,” Shwam said.

When Shwam noticed Odom becoming more withdrawn, he called a team meeting. The message: No more talking about the trade or the bats by anyone.

Odom pitched five good innings at San Angelo on June 10 in what turned out to be his third and last start. On the bus after the game, Odom said he needed to speak with Shwam the next day.

“He came in and said, ’Skip, I’m going home. I just can’t take it. I’ve got some things to take care of. I’ve got to get my life straightened out,”’ Shwam recalled. 

And with that, Odom disappeared.

Oden joins Angel pitcher Donnie Moore -- who could not live with the indignity of giving up a pennant losing home run -- on the mortality list.  Sometimes sports, misfortune, and street drugs don't mix.

UK Sprinter Dwain Chambers lays out chilling inside look at track doping via BALCO

Carrying excerpts before the mid-March publication of Dwain Chambers new book "Race Against Me", The Daily Mail shows the chilling (and expensive) world of big time track doping.  Chambers admits to more than 300 drug cocktails from BALCO (and other sources).  To Earth Times:

London - Disgraced British sprinter Dwain Chambers admits in his forthcoming autobiography "Race Against Me" that he took a concoction of over 300 performance-enhancing drugs. In an installment published in Tuesday's Daily Mail ahead of next Monday's release, Chambers, who served a two-year ban after being found guilty of doping offences in 2003, said he had paid out 30,000 dollars a year for doping substances.

"I wasn't just on THG, EPO and HGH, but testosterone to help with sleep and reduce cholesterol," he said. "On Christmas Day (in 2002), as I sat in the bathroom with 'The Clear' (THG), I realized I had been taking drugs - more than 300 different concoctions - for 12 months.

During that time, Chambers says he passed 10 doping tests as well as winning the 100-metre gold medal at the 2002 European Championships. However, his times hadn't improved that dramatically and he was also often troubled by stomach cramps.

"When I was clean, my personal best was 9.97 seconds. A year on, after the sleepless nights, the anxiety, the pain of the cramps, the blood draws to make sure I wouldn't suffer a stroke, or worse, the inconsistent races and the disappointment of missing events, my PB (personal best) was 9.87 seconds," he wrote.

Some of the drugs: The clear (THG), testosterone, insulin, HGH . Provigil, T4, and EPO.  Dangerous...Yes.  Effective...apparently.  Chambers says his time went for a PB of 9.97 to 9.87, nice gains.  The cost, you can see above the price.

The discussions?  This discussing with Tim Montgomery about Conte and BALCO:

I  (Chambers)should have seen the danger signals when Montgomery snarled at me one day: ‘Yo, Dwain! You wit that n***** Conte? Don’t go anywhere near that c********r. Let me tell you, Chambers, he’s bad news.’

I was unnerved, but he didn’t elaborate. I didn’t know there was a huge row brewing between Montgomery and Conte. Tim had probably taken a well-educated guess that I was clean and didn’t want me dragged down. I just wish he had been more constructive, instead of hurling obscenities in the direction of Victor.

And a discussion with Conte:

Conte had convinced me that a new drug meant I could train harder and more often. He called it The Clear (THG) and The Cream.

‘Is it illegal?’ I asked.

‘It’s undetectable.’

‘Is it banned?’

‘The Clear is not on the prohibited list and neither will cause a positive test.’

‘Isn’t that cheating?

‘They’re cheating you, Dwain. You’re a talented athlete and you’re not competing on a level playing field. Most of the top sprinters are on steroids. Every time you race you’re at a disadvantage.’

Ah, rationalizations...

GBR sprinter Dwain Chambers calls himslef a 'walking junkie', more like a sprinting one

The UK's best sprinter Dwain Chamber's calls himself a 'walking junkie' in his new book, about to be published.  The Seattle Times carries the story:

British sprinter discusses his drug use in autobiography: British sprinter Dwain Chambers says in his autobiography he was a "walking junkie," with so many drugs in his luggage he feared being arrested while going through airport security in Miami.

Chambers, who from 2003 to 2005 served a ban for doping, details his drug use in the book "Race Against Me: My Story," which is to go on sale next week.

The 30-year-old Chambers wrote that in his luggage in Miami "there were enough drugs in there to kill an elephant and I didn't have a clue whether they were legal or not. I was a walking junkie. I had tubes of stuff that were known only to me as 'The Clear' and 'The Cream,' along with a few bottles of EPO and HGH, which were in ice packs, as they needed to be kept cool."

Chambers, the first athlete with connections to BALCO founder Victor Conte to test positive for the previously undetectable steroid THG, says he started using "The Clear" and other drugs after meeting Conte in 2002.

"He said I had the potential to be a gold medalist, he could make me the fastest man in the world," Chambers wrote.

Chambers could well have come up with a more sexy name for his book:  "Race Against Me: The Toxic Dump"...except that his drug regimen was likely a common prescription for world class sprinters.  Chambers certainly had to compete against other elite sprinters.  You wonder about those who beat him, what their PED regimen included.  You also wonder how many clean sprinters didn't make it because Chambers doped?

Will A-Rod's donations lead to way to increased funding for the Hooton anti-steroid effort?

This Houston Chronicle carries a story on Don Hooton's effort at educating youngsters on the dangers of steroids and PEDs.  The Taylor Hooton Foundation from Plano TX received a nice donation from Alex Rodriguez following his steroids admissions.

THe Hooton Foundation often draws the ire of bodybuilders for being anti-steroid, however the foundation's effort target youngsters.  There would be universal aggreement that adolescents should not be exposed to the drugs.

Don Hooton doesn't buy the notion that Alex Rodriguez is damaged goods in corporate America.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

The suburban Dallas father whose son's suicide was linked to steroid use started the Taylor Hooton Foundation to honor the 17-year-old's memory and try to fill what he saw as a void in educating youth on the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.

Fundraising has been modest, and the list of athletes joining Hooton's cause is short. Hooton believes both could change after he attended Rodriguez's first news conference since the New York Yankees third baseman admitted using performance enhancers from 2001-03. Rodriguez, an 11-time All-Star, used that forum two weeks ago in Florida to announce his intention to help Hooton's foundation.

Hooton is hoping Rodriguez can give his foundation access to corporate sponsors it hasn't had before. He is unfazed by derisive alternatives to Rodriguez's iconic nickname, A-Rod, or that the steroids admission meant Rodriguez lied in a nationally televised interview in 2007.

"If you ever went ... to Gamblers Anonymous and were going to take a lesson, you don't go to the guy that's never gambled," Hooton said. "If you think back to the last five or six years, who would you reach out to? Who is clean? At least we're dealing with a known quantity here. And certainly just from notoriety and visibility, we could not have found a better player, I think, to associate with..."

More on the Taylor Hooton Foundation after the jump...

Steroid-using ex-cyclist Tammy Thomas files for retrial

Steroid using cyclist Tammy Thomas filed for a retrial in her perjury case, a BALCO-related conviction of lying to a Grand Jury.  Thomas, through her lawyer -- says that IRS investigator Jeff Novitzky planned on writing a book about doping.  Man, that seems really relevant to perjury charges... (???)

Former elite cyclist Tammy Thomas has asked for a new trial because of a newly disclosed report about the government's top sports doping investigator.

Thomas was convicted last year of lying to a grand jury when she denied using steroids. On Friday, her lawyer, Ethan Balogh, told a judge the cyclist deserved a new trial.

He said prosecutors failed to turn over the complete report that cleared IRS agent Jeff Novitzky and several other agents of being responsible for $600 in money missing from the more than $60,000 seized in the September 2003 raid of the apartment of Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' personal trainer.

Balogh complained he wasn't given the part of the report discussing allegations that Novitzky planned to write a book about doping in sports.

As you all remember Thomas was convicted on a 'close shave'.  A dope tester noted that Thomas appeared to have shaving cream on her face when she was surprised at an out-of-competition testing visit.

Anti-Steroid, anti-doping crusader and IRS agent Jeff Novitzky under the spotlight

ABC News posts a story on the journey of IRS agent Jeff Novitzky, who once tried out for Lute Olson at Arizona basketball, as he crusades against steroids and  doping and some say too zealously Barry Bonds.

The story starts in a California courtroom where Novitzky participated in the BALCO trial of Victor Conte.  And it will continue in the same courtroom:

Sometime in the next few months, Jeff Novitzky will walk back into the same 10th floor courtroom, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth in the case of the United States v. Barry Lamar Bonds. He will say that Bonds lied in that same courthouse five years ago when he told the grand jury he never knowingly took steroids. And then he'll wait for the jury to decide if baseball's home run king was telling the truth.

But no matter what the jury decides -- and face it, most of us have already made up our minds about Bonds -- it is clear that the detective and his gun has replaced the scientist and his test tube. What isn't clear is whether Jeff Novitzky is part of the solution -- or if he's now the bigger part of the problem. 

Novitzky's early life was highlighted by the Olson connection:

There is nothing about Novitzky's life before Balco that suggests a man destined to direct the biggest investigation in sports history. Or one who would crave or abuse power. He grew up the son of a Bay Area hoops coach, a basketball and track star who still owns the San Mateo County high jump record of 7 feet. Coming out of high school in 1985, he tried out for Lute Olson's Arizona University basketball team. When he fell short, Novitzky returned home to play backup forward and teammate to his big brother at San Jose State.

His athletic career over, Novitzky got a degree in accounting and took a job in San Jose with the IRS's criminal division, a select group of agents who use tax laws and their guns to bust up all sorts of criminal operations.

After the jump we examine more of the extended story on Novitzky...