Steroid Nation

PM Steroids Dose Redux

1. Looks like Yahoo read our list of ex-dopers running or jumping for the USA.  (Yahoo Sports)

2.  Now they are doping babies.  (Democrat and Chronicle)

3.  Home runs are down at the All-Star break, stats say.  (USA Today)

4.  Someone, please hire poor Barry Bonds.  Please.  (CBC Sports)

5.  How to become a superhero.  (Futurismic)

6.  Getting real with Anti-doping and anti-steroids: Don Hooton.  (The Chicago Sun-Times)

7. IPL league cricket star Asif doped with nandrolone.  (Howrah)

Does Dara Torres suffer from a double standard of doping scrutiny?

Interesting column from the normally logical Gwen Knapp today.  She wonders why a 40 year-old male like Barry Bonds received a free pass when he belted a home run every time he spit, meanwhile a successful 41 year-old female swimmer -- Dara Torres --  comes under the intense scrutiny of the doping-suspicions crowd. (Torres simply delivered a baby at age ~39, then records 5% faster times in her postpartum swimming years than she did in her college competitions; maybe she cut down on that college drinking).

We are going to suffer from the fallout after we deliver our opinion, however it is obvious where this is going: a double standard of men receiving the pass and women receiving grief.  Knapp might have added in the double standard between Euro and African genes -- some say African-American athletes suffer discrimination and thus are accused of doping more often than Euro athletes.  We can't keep up with all the double standards...

A 41-year-old woman did the impossible. Dara Torres swam faster than she ever did before, making her fifth Olympic team. As a result, she faced questions about doping, suspicions she fully expected and completely deserved.

But when Barry Bonds, at age 37, suddenly went from a great hitter to a supernatural one, increasing his home run output by nearly 50 percent, the media didn't put him on the defensive about steroids. It would take a lot more than 73 home runs in a single season to make that happen.

When Lance Armstrong returned from cancer treatment and transformed himself from a cyclist who barely could get through a Tour de France into the imperial master of the event, no American reporter dared challenge the authenticity of his accomplishment.

We've come a long way since the BALCO investigation schooled us on performance-enhancing drugs. But how far have we really come? Olympians are still held to higher standards than better-known jocks, and women somehow keep paying higher prices for doping awareness than their male peers.

A great deal of water flowed under the doping bridge since Barry Bonds lit up the night with steroid-fueled home runs in 2001.  BALCO. Operation Puerto.  The Mitchell Report. The Carolina Panther Superbowl Scandal.  More Tour de France scandals involving luminaries like Floyd Landis.  Of all these various doping and steroid scandals, only several women trickled out of the predominantly male scandals: Marion Jones, Chryste Gaines,  and cyclist Tammy Thomas to name several of BALCO fame.  Jones and Thomas exacerbated part of their plights: the simple doping truth would have saved their souls and actually their careers.  (And why is BALCO-linked swimmer Amy Van Dyken less notorious than Jones or Thomas?  Gender bias?)

Point is that the sporting public is much much more aware of steroids and HGH and insulin and modafinil now than in 1998 when McGwire and Sosa set personal bests in home run totals, not in the 50 freestyle.

Performance alone rarely triggers widespread suspicion in the media, but it sufficed for accusations against Torres and, 20 years ago, Florence Griffith-Joyner. The same scrutiny does not apply to men until they have a failed test on their record, federal investigators on their tails or a member of their entourage under indictment.

Oh really? Roger Clemens comes to mind.  How many dope tests did Roger Clemens fail?  The Rocket suffered more scrutiny than anyone since Bill Clinton over the past year.  Time and time again fans referred to Clemens rather mundane pitching numbers in his last years with Boston, and the sudden revitalization of the 34 year (that's right 34, not 41) at Toronto.  No doping positives there either.  Clemens doesn't even live with an endocrinologist, although wife Debbie is expert in HGH use.

Need some other names who never failed a test, yet are mentioned in doping: Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez come under scrutiny for storybook -- but unusually dubious -- sporting achievements.  None is admitting to cooking the books (or their looks), nor are Internet pharmacy receipts found for these males, yet the steroids-scrutiny continues on.

Is there some belief in male athletic accomplishment, perhaps its confirmation of masculinity, that does not surrender as easily to the realities of doping? Or is it simply that the most prominent women tend to be Olympians, and we expect greater purity from athletes who represent our country? Whatever the reason, men get to spin their fairy tales with less resistance.

Fairly tales with less resistance?  How about Usain Bolt, a young athlete setting the world record in the 100M?  In his 3rd or 4th 100M he was under scrutiny for doping, with nothing much known about the guy.  The Y chromosome sure didn't save his butt from the hot spotlight of doping suspicion.  Every remarkable achievement in sports henceforth will come under 'PED scrutiny'; such is modern life post-pharmacology.

(more controversy after the jump)

Feds target Greg Anderson's wife - Nicole Gestas; Steroid curse of Barry Bonds spreading?

ESPN came out with a piece saying that when Greg Anderson -- Barry Bonds's trainer -- was released form prison where he rotted away for a couple years keeping mum about Bonds, the Feds sent letters of inquiry to his wife.  Ouch!

For more than a year, Barry Bonds' personal trainer sat inside a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., refusing to testify about his knowledge of performance-enhancing drug use by his superstar client. Finally, last Nov. 15, the day Bonds was initially indicted on perjury charges, Greg Anderson was set free, seemingly ending a major squeeze play by local prosecutors.

Instead, even as Anderson was released, the government made a move on another member of his family. Within days of the trainer's release, his wife Nicole Gestas received a letter from federal prosecutors informing her that she is the target of a grand jury investigation, four people with knowledge of the BALCO steroids case told ESPN.

The sources asked not to be quoted by name because of the ongoing investigation. Since the initial target letter went out, two of the sources, both lawyers, say they have learned that the government's interest in Gestas stems from tax-related issues. The Internal Revenue Service has been the lead investigative agency in the BALCO case, and the sources said they believe the pressure on Gestas -- and possibly other family members -- is directed at getting Anderson finally to cooperate against Bonds.

Did the US Government target Anderson's wife (who knew he had one) in an effort to pressure the trainer to talk about Bonds?

Anderson had been viewed by prosecutors and investigators as someone who could make a case against Bonds airtight -- if the trainer were to testify. But Anderson steadfastly refused, earning a contempt of court citation that put him prison for a total of 13½ months. Now, though, his wife is in the government's crosshairs, presenting renewed issues for the trainer...Until now, Gestas' involvement in the case seemingly had been limited. On Sept. 3, 2003, the day the government launched raids on BALCO and the homes of Victor Conte and Anderson, court records show Gestas was interviewed for about 15 minutes by Jeff Novitzky of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations Unit and three other agents. Novitzky had confronted Anderson at a gym near BALCO, then took him back to the Burlingame condominium the trainer shared with Gestas. Upon arriving, Anderson told his then girlfriend, "The BALCO thing has followed me here," according to a declaration by Novitzky. Gestas, also a personal trainer, told the agents she had "never heard that Anderson sells steroids," and she denied knowing there were steroids and syringes in a kitchen cabinet and the refrigerator of the condominium she shared with Anderson, according to a memorandum of interview. Asked how she never saw the drugs or syringes, she told investigators "it was Greg's area and she never looked," according to the document. Gestas also denied any knowledge of about $60,000 in cash found inside a safe in a kitchen cabinet, court records show. She told agents that Anderson paid her $1,000 in cash each month for rent.

Anderson and Gestas apparently were not very happy about the IRS intrusion, which led to more maneuvers, and then Anderson's extended stay in prison:

In an October 2004 declaration, responding to allegations by Anderson and Gestas that he and other agents had not acted within the law the day of the raid, Novitzky defended his actions and indicated he believed Gestas had lied during her September 2003 interview. The agent recounted Gestas' statement she had no knowledge of Anderson's involvement with steroids, and he wrote, "At one point, I told Gestas that I did not believe she was being truthful in this regard based upon steroids which had been found within the refrigerator inside the residence." Novitkzy also suggested that Gestas had lied in a 2004 court filing that was part of a motion by Anderson, Conte and the two other BALCO defendants to suppress evidence on the grounds of government misconduct. Gestas and Anderson both suggested the IRS-CI agent had purposefully refused to provide them with a copy of the search warrant, a charge Novitzky said was "untrue."

Anderson ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of distributing steroids and one count of money laundering. Prosecutors had sought to have Anderson name names of players to whom he provided the drugs during his plea agreement, but the trainer refused, according to court records. He was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement. Upon Anderson's release, in a move characterized by legal experts as unusually tough, the government turned around and subpoenaed the trainer in April 2006 to testify in the perjury probe of Bonds... Anderson ultimately served 413 days in prison in connection with the contempt citation, freed briefly twice during legal maneuvering. He had been in jail for nearly one year straight before his Nov. 15 release.

You wonder if Anton Chiguhr will head out to Odessa to get Anderson's wife...

Daily Steroid Dose

1.  Josh Hamilton's recovery. (Star-Telegram)

2.  The Chicago Tribune looks at baseball's best father-son combinations including the Bonds (ChiTribune)

3.  Despite HGH, fans still admire Andy Pettitte (NY Times)

Daily Steroid Dose

1.  Which juicer is more obnoxious: Clemens or Bonds?  (Deseret News)

2.  Saying Winstrol is used to enhance appetite in horse, Big Brown's vet dismisses steroid withdrawal (great logic; by this logic because Vioxx was used for arthritis, it cannot have caused heart attacks). (NY Daily News)

3.  Everyone is jumping on Big Brown, including the Toronto Star.

4.  Chicago bodybuilder -- steroids and booze -- on Real World. (Yawn, Chicago Sun-Times)

5.  Do vets understand steroid withdrawal?  (NY Times)

6. Article says to tune out juiced-up Hulk Hogan.  (Galveston Daily News)

Trevor Graham Trial Days One and Two

The Trevor Graham (pictured below with lawyer)trial started in San Francisco.  As background, Graham coached track stars including Tim Montgomery, and Marion Jones.  In the early 2000s Graham, irritated with his competition whom he believed used illegal anabolic steroids, mailed a mystery syringe to the USADA.  That syringe contained THG (The Clear); this began the steroid and PED scandal called BALCO.  Graham is charged with lying about his own history with steroids, to the BALCO Grand Jury  in the course of the investigation.

Day One consisted of opening arguments.  Day Two showcased ex-IRS, current FDA agent Jeff Novitzky, the star investigator of the BALCO probe, and Angel "Memo" Heredia, a steroids dealer well know to Graham.

Day Two Links are here: WaPo, USA Today, and San Francisco Chronicle here.

Heredia spoke to his relationship with Graham (WaPo):

A prosecution witness in a federal steroids investigation said he provided track coach Trevor Graham and his athletes with steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs over four years that began around the time Graham and two sprinters visited him in Laredo, Tex., in December 1996, and stayed at his apartment for four days.

The witness, Angel "Memo" Heredia, identified Graham, the former coach of jailed sprinter Marion Jones, in several photographs he said were taken in his house, or at a nearby track, during the visit, which Heredia said was intended to kick off a business relationship involving performance-enhancing drugs.

"He wanted to establish a connection . . . to get performance-enhancing drugs," Heredia said during the second day of Graham's trial in federal court in the Northern District of California. "And he didn't want me working with anybody else."

Novitzky also testified about Graham's involvement with steroids, however was tripped up at points (again the WaPo):

Jeff Novitzky, a former Internal Revenue Services special agent, testified Tuesday morning that he found Graham's name on various documents, including a file folder, discovered during the raid.

But under cross-examination from Keane, Novitzky admitted that he had been mistaken when he said he did not know Heredia's full name -- he said he knew him only as "Memo" -- when he interviewed Graham four years ago. Keane produced a memorandum of an interview with Jones's ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, in which Hunter gave Novitzky Heredia's name and even spelled it. The interview with Hunter occurred just hours before Novitzky's interview with Graham.

Novitzky also said under cross-examination he might have been incorrect when he interpreted a handwritten scrawl on a paper inside the Balco folder that contained Graham's name to say "two beans." Novitzky told the jury he had learned that "beans" was slang for oral testosterone.

Memo Heredia will continue of the stand for cross on Day Three.

Doper of the week: Big Brown

Keen competition this week for the coveted 'Doper Of the Past wEek' (DOPE) award.  We considered Barry Bonds for adding some indictment charges in his BALCO trial.  Dwain Chambers certainly deserves consideration for the amount and the scope of drugs he took during his BALCO days, and his bravado for taking on the UK Olympic establishment to worm his way back into the Games.  Barbie of the MMA, Carina Damm led a strong female component this week, when she peed male steroid hormones.

However, in terms of doping toward achievement, the Winnied-up winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness wins the DOPE award this week.  Yes, Big Brown, whose trainer hands out Winstrol to all his steads like a hopped-up monthly supplement, raced into the DOPE winners circle with the PED use.

104 men out? Feds may subpoena 104 MLB players in Bonds/BALCO trial

Life could be very interesting for about 104 former and current MLB players.  Word comes from ESPN that the federal investigators in the BALCO/Barry Bonds perjury trial may be interested in talking all 104 players who tested positive in the 2003 pre-comprehensive testing policy 'steroid urine screens'.  (Actually the New York Times broke the story with the source)

Tucked away inside the United States attorney’s office in the Northern District of California are documents that link more than 100 major league baseball players to positive tests for steroids conducted in 2003...

According to a lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity because the government’s plans are supposed to remain confidential, federal authorities will seek to question each of the 104 players about where and how they obtained the substance detected in their urine samples.

The authorities then intend to distribute the information they receive to federal prosecutors around the country.

Remember all the Fed-MLBPA fighting about the release and use of the information from the 2003 MLB preliminary steroid tests?  The MLB tested players for PED use.  If 5% percent tested positive, then the MLBPA and the MLB would institute PED controls.  That data was gathered by federal investigators, leading to a court battle of the use of the files obtained from testing labs.  The feds won the use of positive player results through several court proceedings.

The tone of the investigation and trial should send some chills through the MLB rank and file, perhaps more trepidation than generated by the Mitchell Report; the Gov't has the power of prosecution:

Distributors, not users, have been the focus of the government’s investigations into performance-enhancing drugs ever since the authorities began seriously looking into the issue in 2002. But the 104 players would be asked to provide testimony — to federal agents or before grand juries — to lead investigators to the distributors. The players’ identities could become public if their testimony is used in government documents to obtain search warrants or to charge individuals. The players could also be called as witnesses at trials.

Regardless of how many of the 104 names eventually become public, the notion of simultaneous drug investigations being conducted by various federal attorney’s offices around the country would be a significant setback to Major League Baseball, which has struggled to get control of the issues related to performance-enhancing drugs.

A very full and comprehensive history of the MLB testing, the Gov't raids, and the court proceedings with analysis can be found on the NY Times website.

One wonders how far this investigation would have gone if Barry Bonds simply admitted to PED use in the original BALCO trial; the entire episode might have stopped right there.

Daily Steroid Dose

1.  Giants owner Peter McGowen, went through Bonds era, retires.  (San Jose Mercury-News)

2.  The courts can contain drug-cheats (News-Observer)

3.  Problems with Jason Giambi's fat steroid-enhanced contract?  (NY Daily News)

4.  Jose Canseco to fight at Atlantic City?  (PressofAtlanticCIty.com)

5.   Middle schooler writes about steroids and sports heroes (Beacon News)

Daily Steroid Dose

1.  NFL officials meet with steroids dealer David Jacobs; asking for advice on HGH appearance enhancement.  (USA Today)

2.  SI in-depth review of the Bonds BALCO perjury case. (SI.com)

3.  Tony Mandarich continues to excel at professional photography.  (Mandarich web site)

4.  More on Psysops on steroids.  (TheRawStory)