Steroid Nation

Image is everything: Andre Agassi story points out star-power weakness in anti-doping fight

 Andre Agassi, cashing on on the world wide market for a juicy story, hits upon a weakness of the anti-doping fight: The ability of star power to overcome the rules. Where is Agassi's image now - as he says 'Image is Everything" -- when he reveals himself as a drug user and a liar to his sports authorities?

Agassi's new book reveals that he submitted a urine sample tainted with meth that should revealed to his suspension for a drug of abuse, not a PED.  However, Agasi lied about the meth, a lie which was bought by the tennis anti-doping establishment.

Stories abound about star power tainting the doping fight:

1.  Barry Bonds and other MLB stars appear to have been tipped off by someone with deep knowledge of MLB steroids testing

2.  Willy Voet's book -- Breaking the Chain -- documents the skill in the cycling stars to avoid doping tests in events such as the Tour de France.

3. Star Russian track athletes including world champion Yelena Soboleva were tipped off to doping tests, prior to the olympics.

One wonders the extent of the cheating based on star power throughout sports (and society in general).  Obviously the playing field is not equal.  Little guys are going to face more sanctions that the stars (generally speaking).  The truth of the corruption (which it is) often doesn't come out, as the stars reap the rewards.

Kinda like the man said about the NCAA...

Of course there's no guarantee the NCAA will step in and do the right thing in any of these cases. Tarkanian best summed up the NCAA's approach to justice 14 years ago, after a package from the Kentucky basketball office to the father of a recruit popped open and $10,000 fell out. 'The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky,' Tarkanian said, 'that it's going to put Cleveland State on probation for three more years.'" - by John Feinstein, Washington Post, "A March Into Madness," March 11, 2003.

1996 Olympic gold medal winner and pro wrestler Kurt Angle arrested with HGH

Once an Olympic gold medalist, wrestler Kurt Angle appears to have been caught with HGH.  Angle has a little run in with the steroid cops in the past (here, and here); he also defected from the WWE, apparently after he needed time to withdraw from painkillers.

 To WPXI:

Professional wrestler Kurt Angle was arrested in Robinson Township on Saturday morning.  According to a criminal complaint, his girlfriend had filed a protection from abuse order against Angle, which was served at his home on Saturday morning.

The woman reported to police that she was at a Starbucks on the internet, when she claims she saw Angle stalking her.  She called 911, and police pulled over Angle in his girlfriend's car.

According to the criminal complaint, Angle was driving on a suspended license. Police also found a capped syringe and two vials of "Hygetropin," otherwise known as HGH.

Angle told police he had a legal prescription for the drugs.

The charges against Angle include: driving while operating privilege is suspended, prohibited acts-possession, harassment and prohibited acts.  Angle is currently the World Champion in TNA Wrestling, and was scheduled to wrestle in a pay-per-view match in Orlando on Sunday night. TNA Wrestling did not return calls for comment.The girlfriend mentioned in the complaint is also a wrestler for TNA.

Angle wrestled legitimately at Clarion, then as mentioned won an Olympic gold medal.  Now it's all downhill for him.

2007 Giro d’Italia champion Danilo Di Luca drops positive urine for CERA EPO

The New York Times reports that 2007 Gyro de Italia champion Danilo Di Luco tested positive for CERA EPO during this year's race (surprise).

CERA EPO is Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA) as form of Erythropoietin (EPO).  The kidney naturally produces the hormone EPO, which stimulates red blood cell proliferation.  CERA is a larger molecule that is not eliminated by the kidneys as easily as 'regular' EPO, t his making it a longer acting up-regulator of RBC production.

The attraction of doping athletes for CERA appears to be the thought that a new molecule would slip through the detection process...doping control....giving the athlete a PED boost.  Athletes will try to get by with cheating as long as they think the cheating is undetectable.

The Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca, the 2007 Giro d’Italia champion, tested positive for the blood booster CERA twice at the Giro d’Italia in May, the International Cycling Union said in a statement on Wednesday.

Di Luca, the runner-up at the Giro, is the leader of the LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini team, a squad that was not invited to participate in the Tour de France. At the Giro, Di Luca finished 41 seconds behind Denis Menchov.

The cycling union said it provisionally suspended Di Luca, 33, after a Paris laboratory found traces of CERA in his blood.

“These adverse findings were a direct result of a targeted test program conducted on Mr. Di Luca using information from his biological passports blood profile, previous test results and his race schedule,” the cycling union said.

Neither of Di Luca’s backup blood samples has been tested for traces of CERA, an anemia-fighting substance that is a new generation of the drug EPO, which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Both EPO and CERA stimulate bone marrow to produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells, but CERA is longer lasting and requires fewer injections.

Antidoping rules say Di Luca has the right to have both samples retested in his presence or in the presence of a representative.

He will remain provisionally suspended until the Italian Cycling Federation holds a hearing to determine whether Di Luca had violated antidoping rules.

This year’s Tour, which ends Sunday in Paris, has not had any positive doping tests.

Summary of recent Texas steroid bust

For more complete coverage of the large Texas steroid bust last week, and much more comprehensive than we can offer, go to this site --- Mesomorphis.

Operation Farmacia de Juicy Phruit is the code name for the major steroid bust in Houston led by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department involving the arrest of 73 defendants. The “largest narcotics operation in the history of Fort Bend County” primarily involved the arrest of personal trainers, their clients, bodybuilders, a professional bodybuilder and a gym owner in the Houston area. Many of the arrests only involved steroid possession. The steroid network was characterized by Sheriff Milton Wright as a “loose knit” network of individuals involved in fitness/bodybuilding who distributed steroids through “word of mouth”. The total amount of steroids sold over a period of about six years was estimated to have been $643,924 (”Authorities round up drug suspects,” May 27).

California physician Ramon Scruggs pleads guilty

The US District Attorney received some PR, and California steroids doctor Ramon Scruggs copped some pleas it was announced yesterday.  As readers recall, Scruggs was a major supplier of steroids and PEDs to professional athletes, and apparently normal people too.  To the Imperial Valley News:

United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams announced that Dr. Ramon Scruggs pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to illegally distribute anabolic steroids and illegally smuggle human growth hormone into the United States, and one count of money laundering, in violation.

Dr. Scruggs, 61, of Tustin, California, was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 6, 2008.  He was charged with conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, specifically, the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids and the illegal smuggling of human growth hormone into the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; the distribution of anabolic steroids, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841; misbranding drugs held for sale with intent to defraud and mislead, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 331(k); conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956; and money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A).  Under the plea agreement, Dr. Scruggs is pleading to the counts charging him with conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and to bring human growth hormone into the United States and one count of money laundering.

In pleading guilty, Dr. Scruggs admitted that between 2000 and 2003, he distributed anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (“HGH”) to individuals in a manner outside the usual course of professional practice while operating his medical practice at New Hope Health Center in Costa Mesa, California.  Dr. Scruggs further admitted that he knew that such distributions were not for a legitimate medical purpose, and that they were instead for non-legitimate purposes,  including performance enhancement.

Dr. Scruggs admitted that he illegally distributed between 250 to 1,000 10cc vials of anabolic steroids.  He further admitted that on or about May 17, 2003, he illegally distributed the anabolic steroid testosterone to a person in Santa Clara County, and that he caused this distribution of anabolic steroids without a medically adequate examination.

Dr. Scruggs further admitted that he asked others to assist him in the illegal distribution of steroids.  On March 11, 2003, an individual under the authority of Dr. Scruggs wire-transferred $3,605 from a bank account under Dr. Scrugg’s control at that time, Bank of America Account #02020-01935, from San Francisco, California,  to the People’s Republic of China.  The purpose of this transfer was to make a payment for HGH Dr. Scruggs had prescribed for patients without a medically adequate reason or a medically recognized need.

So the Scruggs book appears closed.  Scruggs supplied dope to athletes like Troy Glaus.  Although no one would condone Glaus's actions given the widespread use of PEDs, Glaus might have thought he was cautious going to visit a doctor who apperaed to use PEDs in his practice.  In this case, the doctor is more at fault than the patient...and  problaby liable to a lawsuit too.

Catch me if you can: Did world class cyclists -- including Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen -- engage in doping conspiracy?

It's one thing to run afoul of the press and the fans using PEDs as a drug-cheat as we saw with Manny Ramirez.  Manny lost a few million dollars, and lost some face with the fans and the Hall of Fame voters.  However, it is quite another thing to be charged in a criminal prosecution.

World class cyclists -- elite competitors  --  Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen appear to be targets of Austrian prosecutors as part of an international doping conspiracy.  To Monsters and Critics:

Vienna prosecutors said Monday that they had started criminal proceedings against cyclists Bernhard Kohl from Austria and Denmark's Michael Rasmussen, as well as Austrian Nordic skier Christian Hoffman, for allegedly running a blood doping operation.

The three are suspected of having invested in a blood centrifuge which they not only used for themselves but also made available to other athletes, Austrian news agency APA reported.

Having just watched "Catch Me if You Can", the video with Leonardo DeCaprio and Tom Hanks, we don't think we would want to see the inside of a European prison (or any prison for that matter).

The third 'co-conspirator -- Christian Hoffman -- is no slouch as a gold medalist in skiing.

Hoffmann, who won a gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, denied the accusations.

'That's absolute nonsense, that's a smear campaign against me,' the Austrian daily Die Presse quoted him in its Monday edition, after his name was the first to be confirmed by prosecutors on Sunday.

Kohl has publicly admitted having used blood doping and having bought the machine together with others. He has been stripped of his third place in the 2008 Tour de France for using the blood booster CERA.

The cyclist's former manager Stefan Matschiner was conditionally released on May 7 after several weeks of detention, as he was heavily implicated by Kohl. The centrifuge was found in Matschiner's apartment in Budapest.

Rasmussen is currently banned for lying about his whereabouts at the 2007 Tour in connection with doping tests.

Blood doping is mainly used in endurance sports. Athletes are injected blood that has been enriched with performance-enhancing red blood cells.

Sounds like these boys were very heavily involved in the doping process.

In the USA, doping obviously carries much more rewards than risks.  If being a drug-cheat were risky would athletes like A-Rod and Manny dope?  There are few legal consequences.  The law trouble that dopers run into tend to occur when their egos run into a grand jury, ala Barry Bonds.  If Bonds had been truthful (according to legal charges) he might have been exposed as a juicer or he might not have been embarrassed.  Embarrassed or not, Bonds would never have seen the inside of a courtroom as defendant; the USA's legal machine looks the other way for athletes. No sports fraud, no conspiracy, etc. -- although there are exceptions (Marion Jones).

However, sounds like Kohl and Rasmussen are in a bit of trouble...btw, someone tell Rasmussen (photo left) to lift some weights...

Justin Gatlin speaks about track and about steroids..a walk through someone's reality

Let's Run anchors a section on Justin Gatlin talking about track and roids.  Gatlin's recent interview, found here, meanders around a number of subjects, none of which include responsibility for Gatlin's positive testosterone test.

What was your immediate reaction when you found out the "A" sample was positive?

Shock. You’ve heard of somebody saying they were so in shock they fell out of their chair? That’s what really happened. I was in my house in my office, I was on the computer. I got the call and I remember breaking down and crying right there.

How long were you upset?

I was upset for almost a straight week. I was trying to get everything in order, trying to figure out why this is happening to me and if this is true. I remember breaking down in public at some points. This was my life. I feel like I’m a victim to the situation.

Worst moment of your life?

Worst moment of my life...

What do you feel bitter about?

A lot of misquotes from the press. Nike not standing up and saying anything. I fell they rode the fence and they still ride the fence until this day. I had a great rapport with Nike past a business relationship. I felt that when everything happened they kind of put themselves back into the crowd, slunk into the shadows. They suspended me while they fired Trevor and fired Chris Whetstine. That was their way of saying, ‘hey, we’re gonna hold this guy. And we’re gonna jump back on the bandwagon and if anything bad happens, we’ll just let him go’. Instead of saying ‘Justin, we believe in you, you know what the contract is, this is what it is.’

I was very upset with the sport about a lot of things. When everything was going good, everyone was patting me on the back. When things started going bad, everyone was shaking their finger in my face saying, see I told ya.

A lot of blame goes to Chris Whetstine and Trevor Graham as well. Obviously, they were there to be my inner circle and protect me. You discover a lot of things about different people. I found out Chris Whetstine could not get a credential to the (2004) Olympics because he had a criminal record.

Chris was more of a renaissance masseuse. He understood biomechanics, alignment of your body, muscle therapy, trigger points, how to stretch you, acupuncture. This guy had the total package.

When you have someone like that who has those kind of credentials to understand the body wholly, that eliminates you from working with three other masseuses or chiropractors. Though Nike wouldn’t do anything to hurt any of its athletes, if they’re going to pay this guy they knew he had some kind of record. That’s when I felt really upset. They put this guy on the payroll and they have got to do a background check on everybody you’re paying.

Gatlin appparently continues to blame his masseuse and Trevor Graham with sabotague.  In fact it was a conspiracy..somneone or oragnization was out to get him.

Do you thing it will ever come out how you tested positive?

I don’t know.

Do you think you should be looking into this more yourself?

I’ve been doing that from day one. I feel like (rappers) Biggie (Smalls) and Tupac (Shakur, both who were murdered in the late 1990s). Maybe I’ll never find my killer. That’s how things are.

Come on, man, do you really think people buy that you have no idea of PED use?  The referrals to Smalls and Shakur are unbelievable.

Weird 'doping photos' of ex-New York Ranger star Alexei Cherepanov

Last year, budding NHL hockey star Alexei Cherepanov collapsed and died of 'myocarditis' at a hockey game in Russia.  His demise seemed fishy at the time.  Russian news releases were not all that helpful in clarifying the situation.

Now, photos emerged from Russian showing the young hockey star receiving an iv infusion of something.  It is referred as an 'injection' however that is not an injection.  To the National Post:

Remember a few months back when Russian investigators said that New York Rangers draft pick Alexei Cherepanov was taking banned substances before his death during a game with Avangard Omsk last October? Well, now photos on a Russian Web site suggest that those examining the case might have been on the right track.

The photos, which you can see here, depict Cherepanov taking an injection of something, and while it's always best not to jump to conclusions, the events that came after these photos were taken are kind of damning.

Cherepanov died of cardiac arrest on Oct. 13 during a game between KHL teams Omsk and Vityaz.

Here is translated Russian:

Attorney [Cherepanovykh] asked to introduce to the matter of the photo 27.04.2009 15:33 The attorney of the family Of [cherepanovykh] Sergey [Amfiteatrov] sent to the consequence on business of death of the forward of " [Avangarda]" Aleksey Cherepanov three photographs,  reports Sports.ru. " These photographs granted the family Of [cherepanovykh], one of them - the last photo before the game, made on October 13, during the day of death of hockey player. We see on two others how someone carries out the unestablished procedure. I sent to their inspectors with the request to introduce to the materials of [dela]" , he said amphitheatres. The dates of the second and third photographs are unknown. They are named " [Narkomaniya]" and " Addiction of 2" by hockey player himself, who sent to their family.

German pro cyclists Kloeden and Kessler under doping suspicion

A huge doping scandal in pro cycling continue in Germany involving the T-Mobile team.  Latest caught up were Andreas Kloeden and Matthias Kessler.  To the Earth Times:

German cyclists Andreas Kloeden and Matthias Kessler have been implicated in illegal doping practices following an independent investigation, news magazine Der Spiegel reports. The former T-Mobile cyclists are suspected of having received banned blood transfusions by doctors at Freiburg University Clinic, the magazine reports in its edition to appear Monday, quoting the results of an investigation by an expert commission.

The independent commission has spent two years looking into doping allegations against the doctors, Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, who are alleged to have created a systematic doping system between 1995 and 2006 for the former T-Mobile and Team Telekom team.

Kloeden, who now rides for Astana and is regarded as Germany's top cyclist, and Kessler, who is serving a doping ban, did not comment to Spiegel on the report. Kloeden has always denied doping. Former T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz has admitted having received banned blood transfusions from the Freiburg doctors and also to having used the illegal blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO).

Once again medical professionals aid the dopers.

Lenny Dykstra, 'Nails' with steroids, a complete sports and business fraud

EPSN compiled an in-depth story on Ex-Philadelphia Philly, Ex-New York Met Lenny Dykstra once known as 'Nails".  Dykstra was a  hustling aggressive ballplayer in the MLB, but when it was revealed that Nails used steroids to juice up his play, his athletic reputation appeared a a bit rusted.  (commentary at Deadspin)  Now, like other steroid cheats (Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, Tim Montgomery) we see his business dealings are also fraudulent.

Fish's article looks at the fraud that is Lenny Dykstra's business 'empire'.  Like the fake stats he juiced up in baseball, Dykstra fraudulently juices up his business acumen, massaging the data to look great, meanwhile he lies, cheats, misrepresents, and defrauds his clients, friends and family.

In case you missed the HBO profile last year or the magazine stories that trumpet Dykstra's business acumen, his life beyond baseball includes acquisitions such as hockey legend Wayne Gretzky's old house ("the best house in the world," Dykstra says) in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which he bought for $18.5 million. He drives a black Rolls Royce Phantom with an extended wheelbase, and hires pilots to fly him around in his Gulfstream II jet...

And after thumbing through a series of lawsuits that stretches from coast to coast and chatting up his business associates, you wonder if this aspiring financial Pied Piper is, indeed, living in a fantasyland. You wonder if the dream, built on glitz and greed in a time of economic uncertainty, is a teetering house of cards. You wonder if anyone this side of Bernie Madoff has ticked off more people -- business partners and family, alike -- than Lenny K. Dykstra.

The lawsuits suggest that one of two things is going on here: Either Lenny hates to pay his bills, or he's a financial train wreck.

Just in the past two years, Dykstra has been the subject of at least 24 legal actions, including 18 since November. Three suits hit the courts on Jan. 29. He's been sued by publishers and print companies, by three different groups of pilots and by a Maryland-based financial and litigation consulting firm that offered expert testimony on his behalf in an earlier lawsuit. He's even been sued by a die-hard Mets fan who was the best man at his wedding 20-some years ago, though that New York investor claims there is no bad blood. 

Dykstra cheated at baseball with steroids and PEDs, and it also appears he cheats at business.  Critical point: look at Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, and Lenny Dystra.  Heck, look at A-Rod too.  These athletes expose serious character flaws that cheat the games, the fans, their competitors, and now their clients.

Those who say illicit steroid and PED use presents no big deal need to answer to the cheating.  The cheaters are consistently flawed and frequently fraudulent.  Sports fraud leads to business fraud leads to personal fraud leads to a wacky moral compass.

Baseball may not be really important or as revered as devotees think.  Then again, ostensibly the sport offers a break from the stress of life...the sport defines itself between the lines where the setting is controlled and the results immediate.  Man v man, like the old days.  However, the cheating and back-stabbing that now takes place daily in the business sphere, is mirrored between the lines.  Great refuge huh?  Human nature, huh?

If Baseball doesn't give a dran about reputation, let the cheaters go on about their way, and we look on the sport as an interesting pastime, kinda like Vegas.  However devotees demand 'integrity'.  Clean up the game and the records if that is the case  From 1990 on there is little  integrity in the game in the 'Steroid Era'.

Dystra's brother turned against him, after the business burns; guess who supplied Nails with Roids:

Kevin Dykstra acknowledges that he briefed investigators for the Mitchell report as well as Major League Baseball security on what he describes as Lenny's use of recreational and performance-enhancing drugs during his playing days. Kevin says he was a source of the drugs for his brother, even after Lenny's baseball career ended.

And here is what the tainted records are worth:

So Dykstra, an assistant and a driver dash out of his office en route to the meeting, carrying plastic-wrapped bundles of The Players Club magazine. Inside the office elevator, Dykstra lifts his right leg like a dog relieving itself -- he retains a degree of the old flexibility -- and farts.

ESPN writer Howard Bryant calls out 2002 Angels - Giants World Series as apex of steroid juiced MLB

ESPN writer Howard Bryant (Juicing the Game) calls out the players and management of both teams in the 2002 World Series between the Anaheim Angles (Troy Glaus) and the San Francisco Giants (Barry Bonds).   Bryant doesn't spare the doctors, also popping unethical California physician Ramon Scruggs who supplied steroids to the Angels' players.

The cornering of Alex Rodriguez and his subsequent admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs represented, for all intents and purposes, the nadir of the steroid era with few, if any, remaining ambiguities: The A-list, Hall of Fame's best used drugs; and so did the mediocre; and so did the worst. The general managers demurred, the leaders shrank and the men who signed the checks, like everyone else, made a fortune. The shock is gone. Little else can surprise our calloused sensibilities.

That said, the intricate details of just how this confidence game was carried out still carry immense value, for they cement a discredited time with facts instead of speculation. Understanding the foundations of the steroid era also reveals that this industrywide failure stretched far beyond the players connected to Brian McNamee, Kirk Radomski or the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. It provides even more evidence that so much of what we've seen on the field during the past decade and a half needs to be recast.

Recently, The New York Times obtained transcripts of interviews by federal agents with four major league players conducted as part of the ongoing criminal investigation of Ramon Scruggs, a physician under indictment for illegally distributing steroids to big leaguers, police officers and corporate executives, among others.

As we have said, dirty trainers, doctors, and health professionals often stand behind the doping curtain:

Meanwhile, dirty doctors such as Scruggs have applied the same cheap excuses for their behavior that we've heard for years from the players. Glaus told investigators he used steroids to recover from a shoulder injury that was not healing. According to the Times, Schoeneweis told federal agents he felt run-down. Greene said he was fearful of losing his spot on a major league roster and so would not be able to support his family. Valdez said shoulder and knee injuries were not healing. Suggs mailed him steroids and syringes.

Each player used an old rationalization -- I wasn't trying to cheat; I was trying to stay on the field -- to soften the appearance of his actions, but the domino effect remains the same. At this late date, the excuses grow thin, the lies nothing more than a self-created noose.

And that 2002 Series pitting Glaus and the 'Angels' v. Bonds and the 'Gaints'.  We will not point out the delicate irony behind those monikors (we just did):

The 2002 Angels, for example, are the legitimate champions of an illegitimate time, just as Bonds is the legitimate home run champion of a discredited era. Despite Angels manager Mike Scioscia's adamant public stand against drugs, people around the game point privately to that club as one of the premier steroid-fueled teams thanks in part to a bullpen rife with career minor leaguers who suddenly began throwing in the mid-90s after their 30th birthdays.

Glaus was the MVP of that 2002 World Series, which is looking more and more like the definitive Steroid Series. Glaus, Brendan Donnelly and Schoeneweis, all of whom have been implicated, played for the Angels that season. On the Giants, there were Bonds, Benito Santiago, Marvin Benard, David Bell and Rich Aurilia. And that doesn't include the players who were suspect.

Bryant's exleeent writing is very dense reading, packed full of fact and logic.  Excellent piece.

Tulsa doctors juicing up Oklahoma pros Another IFBB name: Trudy Ireland-Kline

New details emerged in the Oklahoma steroids bust that netted an IFBB pro.  As often seen, doctors are involved in the distribution and use of the juice.

State drug agents are releasing more information about the arrests of an Oklahoma City firefighter and two Tulsa doctors in a steroid investigation.

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control spokesman Mark Woodward says 12 arrest warrants have been issued and five people are in custody.

Among those arrested are Oklahoma City firefighter Sherry Smith for using steroids, Tulsa Dr. Brad Stahlheber for possession of steroids and Tulsa Dr. Gary Lee for improperly prescribing steroids.

Woodward says those involved have ties to competitive bodybuilding.

He says several more people have been indicted on federal charges that are currently under seal and more arrests are expected.

This is not a good career move for a physician.  (the photo shows Dr. Stahlheber when he was a medical student at OSU Osteopathic school). 

It doesn't reflect well on a school to have a recent graduate arrested for illegal drugs.  However, most medical schools are lax in providing ethical guidance...often because the professors are lax in ethics (take a look at recent medical news of fabricated research results; trying not to be preachy about all this).

News 6 says that Dr. Lee developed quite a practice with juicing bodybuilders.

Dr. Brad Stahlheber was arrested at Muskogee Community Hospital where he works.  Agents say he admitted buying steroids over the Internet and using them for cosmetic reasons.

Dr. Gary Lee faces charges of writing more than 30 steroid prescriptions to a couple of  competitive bodybuilders and a power hitter on a national softball team.

And, in Oklahoma City, Darrell Terrell, an amateur bodybuilder who's been featured in national magazines and city firefighter Sherry Smith, both face charges after a search of their home turned up steroids and syringes

Darrell Terrell's (right) secret is now out: he juiced.

And yet one more nationally known bodybuilder who looks less that 'natural'.  According to her website, this bodybuilder is only 51.  She needed to lighten up on the dose!

A nationally recognized competitive bodybuilder from Tulsa, Trudy Ireland-Kline was out of state and promised to surrender when she returns.

Documents show she admitted using steroids, but said she quit because they were causing heart problems.

We don't believe Ms. Ireland had kicked the PED (steroids) habit at the time of this photo.  From her website Ms. Ireland talks about the elements of her success.  She forgot the part about anabolic steroids:

Above all else, I love weight training. I love the gym. I am proud to be more muscular and stronger than I've ever been in my life. Lifting heavy weights and watching my muscles grow bigger and stronger is the ultimate! My training philosophy is train hard, train heavy, eat clean and get big! I love the bodybuilding life style and have been living it for almost two decades. 

Wasn't there someone to help this woman understand she was obviously over-doing the steroids?

Greek racewalk champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka might be walking in jail yard

From Hellenic Athletes comes a story on champion Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka.  Appears the Olympic athlete caught doping with CERA EPO may be spending time in the pokey.

Olympic race-walk champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka was charged under Greece’s penal code earlier this week with using an illegal performance-enhancing drug.

Athens prosecutor Costas Simitzoglou charged Tsoumeleka with breaking the country’s strict anti-doping laws, recently revised to include jail-time, after she tested positive in January for the drug CERA, an advanced version of the blood-booster EPO.

Last month, Greece's track and field federation handed her a two-year ban from competition, while this week's charge carries a maximum two-year jail term.

Tsoumeleka finished ninth in Beijing in the 20k walk event in a personal best of 1 hour, 27 minutes, 54 seconds. She was almost 3½ minutes behind winner Olga Kaniskina of Russia.  In 2004, she won Athens gold in 1 hour, 29 minutes, 12 seconds.

Tsoumeleka, 27, denies knowingly using the substance, has expressed doubts about the whole testing procedure, and upon learning in

January that she had tested positive announced her immediate retirement from competition.

Steroid bust in Oklahoma nets IFBB pro bodybuilder Sherry Smith

The News OK reports an interesting steroids bust in Oklahoma City which netted an IFBB body builder Sherry Smith.  The report states the people targeted in the arrest maintained an interest in bodybuilding.  It appears that a female firefighter arrested is a big time IFBB star.  We wonder why anyone would suspect her of using anabolic steroids (see photos).

Five people were arrested Thursday, including an Oklahoma City firefighter, on allegations of using, manufacturing and distributing anabolic steroids, authorities said.

Firefighter Sherry Smith, 39, was arrested on one of two warrants issued in Oklahoma City in connection with a two-year investigation into illegal steroid use, said Mark Woodward, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs spokesman. Eight warrants were also issued in Tulsa and two in Wagoner County. Of those 12 warrants, five arrests were made by 9 p.m. Thursday, but the identities of the others arrested were not available, Woodward said.

Those arrested face various complaints, including misdemeanors of using anabolic steroids and felony charges of importation, manufacture and illegal distribution of steroids, he said.

Woodward said the individuals involved all share an interest in competitive bodybuilding, but aren’t linked to a particular gym or organization, and that more warrants and arrests are pending.

“This is far from over, but this is a very significant phase that we wrapped up today,” he said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Tulsa Police Department were also partners in Thursday’s operation.

A famous researcher, after struggling to find female steroid users for his studies, concluded that not many women 'roided' up.  Guess he never attended an IFBB event.

Oregon police chief felled by steroids investigation

Over the years we discussed steroid use among our nation's police forces, which presents a problem if anabolic steroids increase behavioral aggressiveness.  Now a police chief in Oregon falls when he fails to aggressively pursue an investigation into his force using illegal anabolic steroids.

To Oregon Live:

The Canby police chief has resigned while facing possible termination resulting from FBI and city investigations into whether he concealed or failed to investigate an officer's steroid abuse.

Greg Kroeplin had been chief of the suburban Portland farming community since January 2006.

The Oregonian reported the 48-year-old Kroeplin had been on paid leave since Nov. 17, a day after the Portland newspaper ran a story with details of the allegations.

The FBI alleged Kroeplin failed to address numerous complaints about former Officer Jason Deason's steroid abuse, enabling Deason to buy steroids on the job and in uniform without any serious investigation.

More on caffeine as performance enhancing

Well written article, originally from the New York Times, but reprinted in the Arkansas Times-Democrat on the use of caffeine as a PED.  Notable was the opening paragraph discussing an episode where 'Let's Run' founder Weldon Johnson discovered the benefits of caffeine in running.

Weldon Johnson first tried caffeine as a performance enhancer in 1998. He was not a coffee drinker but had heard that caffeine could make him run faster. So he went to a convenience store before a race and drank a cup of coffee. For the first time in his life, he ran 10 kilometers in less than 30 minutes. "I remember being really wired before the race," he said. "My body was shaking." From then on, he was a convert. Johnson, co-founder of racenews aggregator letsrun.com, would avoid caffeine, even in soft drinks, for a few weeks before he competed in a race, wanting to have the full stimulant effect. "It may have been a huge placebo effect, but I swore by it," Johnson said. "Having a cup of coffee exactly one hour before the race was part of my routine." Or maybe it wasn't a placebo effect.

Caffeine, it turns out, actually works. And it's legal, one of the few performance enhancers that is not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Is caffeine a PED?

Exercise physiologists have studied caffeine's effects in nearly every iteration: Does it help sprinters? Marathon runners? Cyclists? Rowers? Swimmers? Athletes whose sports involve stopping and starting like tennis players? The answers are yes, yes, yes and yes and yes and yes.

Caffeine is a anatagonist of adenosine A₁ and A₂ receptors and a phosphodiesterase inhibitor (we originally said xanthene oxidase inhibitor, which is incorrect; caffeine is a xanthine compound, if anyone cares about that), which acts as a mild stimulant.  And why do we remember this obscure fact from school, although we can't remember 90% of anything any more?  The compound may act on dopamine receptors to produce stimulation.

Because of the morning Red Bull.  Caffeine also affects the muscles too.

For many years, researchers thought the sole reason people could exercise harder and longer after using caffeine was that the compound helped muscles use fat as a fuel...(however) caffeine increases the power output of muscles by releasing calcium that is stored in muscle. The effect can enable athletes to keep going longer or to go faster in the same length of time. Caffeine also affects the brain's sensation of exhaustion, that feeling that it's time to stop, you can't go on any more. That may be one way it improves endurance, Tarnopolsky said.

Be careful though, too much java and you may experience negative effects.

More on the Matschiner Austrian doping scandal: Kohl, Rasmussen, Vroeman, and more

From Earthtimes comes news of the latest in the burgeoning Austrian/Bulgarian doping scandal. The scandal extends now into cycling (Tour de France contestant Bernhard Kohl), skiing, and track.

Vienna - Austria's cycling doping scandal widened Thursday as three more people were detained, according to media reports. The reports come on top of four arrests of alleged doping suppliers in March.
 
The latest development came after Stefan Matschiner, the former manager of disgraced Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl, was detained Monday night for allegedly supplying athletes with a range of performance-enhancing substances and blood transfusions.

Prosecutors in Vienna did not comment on the reports by Austrian press agency APA and the daily Die Presse, which attributed its story to unnamed investigators. According to the reports, at  least one of the arrests took place Wednesday. Earlier in March, police detained Austria's former cross-country ski coach Walter Mayer on charges of having bought the blood-booster EPO from a pharmacist. The pharmacist and a professional cyclist were also taken into remand but have since been released. Their names have not been made public.

From OE24.at comes a graphic of the athletes involved with the trainer Matschiner.  The group includes the pro cyclists Kohl and Michael Rasmussen, and the triathlete Lisa Hutthaler.  Also note Simon Vroeman, who tested positive for doping last year, was a client of this 'manager'.

 Meanwhile, public attention was focused on the Humanplasma laboratory in Vienna, where Kohl said he went three times to receive blood transfusions before buying a transfusion machine together with other athletes.

The laboratory said it could not confirm or deny Kohl's presence on its premises, but claimed it had never "approached, invited or received" athletes for blood doping.

The Austrian cross country skier Christian Hoffmann, as well as Danish cyclist Michel Rasmussen have denied reports that they also paid for and used the machine that was allegedly set up in Matschiner's home.

This article failed to mention Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova, who is linked to Matschiner too.

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..

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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'.

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?

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...

HGH a growth industry in the Dominican Republic

The Caribbean is getting slammed today about PED suspicions.  In line with that, the New York Daily News reports the HGH can be scored in the DR, perhaps easier scored there than in the USA.

Hardcore steroids aren't the only drugs easily obtainable in the Dominican Republic. Human growth hormone - baseball's scarlet letter - is available on the black market in Santo Domingo, in Dominican supplement shops and even in the island's pharmacies.

Sometimes even without a prescription.

Baseball banned HGH before the 2005 season, but does not test players for the substance as there continues to be debate on the reliability of an HGH blood test. The league's current drug testing program uses urine samples only, and HGH cannot be detected in urine. Doping experts believe HGH use among athletes, particularly baseball players, has increased in recent years since a reliable HGH test has yet to be adopted in all sports.

Interest in the Dominican increased when A-Rod said his cousin smuggled in some Primobolan for the slugger's use.  HGH may also be scored in the DR:

Most steroids are legal in the Dominican, and last week a Daily News reporter was able to buy testosterone enanthate, a syringe and the oral steroid Dianabol at a pharmacy there without a prescription.

Human growth hormone is only legal in the Dominican Republic with a prescription, according to Milton Pinedo, the president of the Dominican Federation of Sports Medicine and a member of the Dominican Olympic Committee.

"By law, you need a prescription to obtain growth hormone here," Pinedo told the Daily News Thursday. "But a lot of the time you can get it without a prescription."

Pinedo said that he did not think HGH use in the Dominican was as big a problem as steroid use.

Several Dominican pharmacies contacted by The News Thursday, including the chain Farmax, said they do not sell HGH. One Farmax employee said HGH can be bought at health clinics with a doctor's prescription, and that HGH is generally prescribed for "extreme medical conditions," such as AIDS wasting.

But two other Dominican sources said HGH is easily accessible - in bodegas where milk, rice and food are also sold, or in supplement stores that sell a wide variety of performance-enhancing drugs. One source said that walking into any Dominican gym will yield whatever drug an individual desires.

HGH is not cheap, however. A bodybuilder who sold a News reporter a 10-cc vial of Primobolan last week in Santo Domingo - the same steroid that A-Rod tested positive for in 2003 and that he allegedly used during 2001-03 - said that a supply of HGH would run 20,000 pesos, or $571. That amount is good for five injections. The 10-cc vial of Primobolan - good for two injections in a week - costs approximately $95.

A-Rod extras: Does this ever stop?

Like Roger Clemens before him, R-Rod might learn that being in the media spotlight is not good.  All kinds of stories coming out:

The Winnipeg Free Press tries to wrap things up on A-Rod.

 Say what you will about Alex Rodriguez -- call him A-Roid or A-Fraud -- but what the Yankees slugger has been doing since his hands were caught in the steroid jar promises to be a fascinating experiment of human sociology.

The Baltimore Sun says MLB is interested in A-Rod's buddies including Angel Presinal.

Primobolan in not OTC (over-the-counter) says the Dominican Republican via the Miami Hertald.

An official in the Dominican Republic is disputing one of Alex Rodriguez's statements in his news conference Tuesday, ESPN Deportes reported Friday.

Rodriguez said earlier this week in Tampa that he and his cousin, Yuri Sucart, purchased an over-the-counter drug, which he identified as ''boli,'' from a pharmacy in the Dominican Republic between 2001 and 2003. But Primobolan, one of the drugs that Rodriguez reportedly tested positive for, is not available for legal purchase with a prescription in the Dominican Republic, ESPN Deportes said. The network quoted Pia Veras, who oversees the agency that regulates pharmaceutical drugs in the Dominican Republic.

''What Alex Rodriguez stated in the press conference doesn't make sense,'' Veras said. ``It is important for us to clarify that such substance has not been registered, and is not currently registered for legal sale in Dominican pharmacies -- not now, and the same applies for the years 2001 to 2003.''

Yankees continue on doping binge: trainer Lopez III once busted for steroids

Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte...appears the New York Yankees are solidly alone at the top of the baseball dope heap.  And this:  A 'former' Yankee trainer in Florida was arrested for a dope and steroid stash in 2002.  Here is the story from Bob's Blitz:

He's the son of Yankees senior vice president Felix Lopez, Felix Manuel Lopez III. Is this what the Yankees refer to as the Tampa Connection?

Isn't it just time to have MLB close up Yankee Steroidium?

Felix the 3rd was sent home after senior management learned of his arrest.

The Yankees claim that he was never employed by the Yanks and he was told by his dad to stop showing up at the minor league complex.

He was charged with trafficking in illegal drugs and possession of controlled substance, approximately 10 vials of liquid steroids and released on 20,000 bond.

According to the arrest record filed with the Tampa Police Department, police obtained several bottles and vials of steroids as well as two boxes with six bottles of the drug GBL when they raided Lopez III’s Tampa apartment on Sept. 18, 2002. His police report lists him at the time of booking as 30 years old and as 6'3" 260lbs. Charge: TRAFFICKING IN ILLEGAL DRUGS 28 GRAM OR M
He listed his employer as...Metro Flex Gym. What, were the Yankees running a Steroids Business on the side?

Go long on the Yankees after the jump...

Scott Siegel -- 'Actor' in The Wrestler -- busted for steroids in New York

Scott Siegal, an 'actor' who sported a role in the recently acclaimed movie The Wrestler, apparently tried to exit stage right when the New York police found a huge stash of anabolic steroids in his hideout.  Interesting that Siegel played a steroids dealer in the movie.  Life mimics art?   To the  PW News:

More details are emerging in the case against actor Scott Siegel who had a featured role in the movie "The Wrestler."

According Detective Glen Spinner of the New Rochelle, New York Police Department, a search of a town home owned by Siegel's parents yielded approximately 1,500 bottles of anabolic steroids and $30,000 in cash.  A subsequent search of the actor's home turned up an additional $70,000 in cash.

As for the chase that Siegel led police on, officers initially tried to block in the 34 year-old actor's SUV with four cars.  Siegel promptly rammed three in an effort to successfully free himself.  During that time the accused also struck an officer with his car who was on foot.

There is also a report on the actor here at Perez Hilton.

San Francisco judge bars positive steroid drug tests in Barry Bonds trial

Judge Susan Illston barred federal prosecutors from introducing 3 positive blood tests in Barry Bonds perjury trial to begin later this year.  The AP reports this story.  (New York Times story here)

Evidence in court must adhere to rules unique to courtrooms, and good for that.  However, the judge cannot banish those positive tests from the minds of baseball fans and Hall of Fame voters, where Barry Bonds really lives...tainted forever.  (BTW Bonds is looking pretty old in the photo)

A federal judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors cannot show jurors three positive steroid tests and other key evidence in the slugger's trial next month.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said the urine samples that tested positive for steroids are inadmissible because prosecutors cannot prove conclusively that they belong to Bonds. The judge also barred prosecutors from showing jurors so-called doping calendars that Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, allegedly maintained for the slugger.

The judge said prosecutors need direct testimony from Anderson to introduce such evidence. Anderson's attorney said the trainer will refuse to testify at Bonds' trial even though he is likely to be sent to prison on contempt of court charges.

However the judge did not bar us from continuing the story after the jump...

Alex Rodriguez faces media during spring training in Tampa; To make donation to Taylor Hooton anti-steroid Foundation

A-Rod opened spring training today with a press conference where he discussed steroid use.  He also announced that he will make a donation to the Taylor Hooton Foundation in Plano Texas.

Reports indicate A-Rod admitted to taking an over-the-counter preparation that contains anabolic steroids.   Although he just now admitted to injections  (the two are very different).

Listening to the press conference A-Rod dodged a question about 'cheating', but he blamed steroid use on being 'young and stupid'.  A-Rod identified his cousin as the supplier of the drug, transported from the Dominican Republic to the United States.

A-Rod is now invoking God, as putting him in a forum where 'I can be heard'.

A-Rod is talking about the steroids being 'over-the-counter' and 'amateur'.  Interesting, in that veterinary anabolic steroids must be 'over-the-counter' in the Dominican.  A-Rod comments that he didn't even know the drugs were steroids.  "I was 24 or 25" (as a note 24 or 25 year-olds graduate from law school and medical school; We would not characterize them as 'young and stupid')

A-Rod refers to 'bolie' which has to be Primobolan, a typical anabolic steroid.  What are the (suspected) effects of anabolic steroids: increased muscle mass, increased power, in proved injury repair, and perhaps improved vigor.  Remember, no study has ever looked at the effects (short or long term) of anabolic steroids in gifted professional athletes.

New witnesses to be called in Barry Bonds BALCO trial, including Patroit linebacker Izzo

The Los Angeles Times delineates the list of potential witnesses in the Federal case against Barry Bonds for lying to the San Francisco Grand Jury about PED use.  A few new names surfaced including Marvin Benard, and football player Larry Izzo.

The government's perjury and obstruction of justice case against Barry Bonds includes plans to call witnesses who will testify that they saw the slugger "being injected" and heard him make statements "admitting his use of steroids," according to court filings Friday in San Francisco.

Among its 39 witnesses, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Northern California said it would call upon "the defendant's mistress," Kimberly Bell, former personal assistants and former teammates Bobby Estalella, Benito Santiago, Armando Rios and Marvin Benard, as well as other major league players...

Syringes, human growth hormone vials and documents pertaining to other athletes with connections to Anderson, including Estalella, Santiago, Jason and Jeremy Giambi and New England Patriots linebacker Larry Izzo, are on the government's exhibits list.

The Feds will also present relatively embarrassing testimony from Bonds's ex-girlfriend Kimberly Bell:

In its filing, the government said Bell "will testify that the defendant told her that he was taking steroids prior to the 2000 baseball season. [She] will further testify to personal observations regarding changes in the defendant's body [beginning in 2000] . . . including bloating, acne on the shoulders and back, hair loss and testicle shrinkage," which prosecution experts will testify is indicative of steroid use.

We could do without some of the images that paragraph invokes.

Paul Kimmage's Lance Armstrong 'cancer' comments in context

Here are ex-cyclist/current journalist Paul Kimmage's writings (thanks to CyclingFansAnonymous), the words Lance Armstrong choose to inflame and impute.  The remarks almost sound prophetic when the Amgen press conference is reviewed.

To be fair, Armstrong has never officially tested positive for a PED, yada yada yada.  Kimmage could be completely insane with his charges., however almost every ending of the Tour de France appears to be very reminiscent of the ending of Ben Johnson's 1988 Olympic win: the finalists almost all doped.

I will add this and personalize the issue.  Both my parent died from cancer.  I doubt that either would be insulted using a cancer metaphor to illustrate a controversial issue.  However, the issue that would inflame both would be cheating.  Cheating and dishonesty at any level would be condemned in memorable vocal displays.

So here it is, the Kimmage invective.  Armstrong would do well to answer each charge in measured facts, if he wishes to promote his innocence, not insults to the author.

Were the 'cancer' comments over the top?

"My reaction...the enthusiasm that I had built up about the sport in the last couple of years has been all but completely wiped out in the last couple of hours.

Let’s turn the clock back to Armstrong’s last apparition in the sport. The Tour de France 2005. He’s standing on the podium. And he makes this big impassioned speech. Which is basically saying ‘The last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics, the skeptics: I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.’ That was 2005, his last ride in the the Tour de France. And the people flanking him on that podium were Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich. And a month after that race ended the French newspaper L’Equipe reported that in his first winning Tour de France, in 1999, Armstrong had tested positive for EPO. Six separate samples taken during that race revealed positive tests for EPO.

Continued after the jump...

Lance Armstrong goes off on journalist at the Amgen Tour of California press conference

A former pro cyclist, and now journalist for the London Times felt the full wrath of Lance Armstrong during a press conference preceding the Amgen Tour of California.  Paul Kimmage was bold enough to ask about Armstrong's support of two 'dopers' (Floyd Landis and Irwin Basso).  Armstrong let loose with a tirade against  Kimmage for writing a piece calling him 'the cancer' of cycling, clearly a metaphor for the alleged use of Armstrong's PEDs leading to his multiple Tour de France wins.

Kimmage apparently has violated the la cosa nostra code of omerta within the cycling doping fraternity by 'spitting in the soup'.  That brought him vitriol from multiple outposts of cycling.  Perhaps his metaphor was not appropriate in discussing Armstrong (should he have used 'venereal disease', which would also make everyone uncomfortable;  maybe 'common cold').

Armstrong told Kimmage he "wasn't worth the chair he was sitting on".  Nice comments from a guy who is a purported humanitarian.  Although Armstrong took umbrage at the 'cancer'  metaphor, he needed to understand the comments were a metaphor only.  The journalist was not endorsing cancer.  The journalist was not promoting cancer.  The journalist in the past used cancer as a metaphor and was not using it in his question.

Armstrong wimped out by saying 'Floyd doesn't believe he is guilty' (and has any doper ever believed he is guilty; forget that international courts found Landis red-handed guilty), then added some other illogical verbiage.  Here is a report from The Examiner (complete with video):

Last night, I sat in the second row of the Amgen Tour of California Press Conference. I listened to and asked questions of cycling greats like Basso, Fiere, Cavendish, Hamilton, Leipheimer, Vande Velde, Brooke Miller (winner of last year’s women’s race)and Lance Himself. Everything was going as press conferency as usual...

Lance asked the gentleman his name. The man answered, “Paul Kimmage.” I render a guess Paul may have legally changed it by now. Kimmage, a former pro cyclist from the ‘80s and author of doping expose Rough Ride, is known for exposing the use of drugs in cycling. This is good! The problem? He thinks Lance’s general popularity has made the scandal of doping “disappear”. This is bad! This, however, is even worse: When Lance began his comeback, Kimmage said, in a September interview, “Well he [Lance] is the cancer in this sport. And for four years this sport has been in remission. And now the cancer's back." Kimmage literally called Lance Armstrong “a cancer.” Lance responded in what I can only describe as verbal chemotherapy. And an awesomely high dosage at that.

And Armstrong's response:

"I am here to fight this disease. I am here so I don't have to deal with it, you don't have to deal with it, none of us have to deal with it, my children don't have to deal with it. Yet you said I am the cancer. And the cancer is out of remission. So it goes without saying, no, we aren't going to sit down and do an interview."

“You [pointing at Kimmage] are not worth the chair you’re sitting on.”

The problem here was that Kimmage didn't judge the crowd in the room.  He essentially went into the Roman forum and asked the Cesar if Rome, indeed doesn't suck...not a good idea.

Armstrong, feeling all righteously indignant, and riding for his 'cause' (although the comeback is more about Lance the personality than Lance the cancer fighter) unleashed an unprofessional and undignified tirade on the journalist, clearly veering from the topic and the question.  Methinks he protested too much.

A more professional response would have been to coolly kept on-topic.

Pro cycling will never rid itself of doping (and it has proven that competitors will drug cheat with disturbing regularity at every opportunity) while the cycling mafia controls the enterprise (and rooms like this).

Cycling fans and various groupies will adorn Armstrong with attention.  Pro cycling will ignore doping, to the determent of the fairness of the sport.  Denial is a powerful force.  Death and disability from doping is powerful too.

Remember, doping kills -- just like cancer.

Federal prosecutors to inject surprise witness in Bonds trial: Says she saw Bonds inject

Federal prosecutors say they will produce a witness who saw Greg Anderson inject some boost into Barry Bonds.  The contents of that boost may not matter, but the injection may , as the Feds charge Bonds with lying to a Grand Jury.  Other witnesses, including some ex-baseball teammates of the Giant slugger will also be called to the witness stand.  They all should be on their best behavior, without lies.  To the New York Times:

Federal prosecutors said on Friday that they planned to call Barry Bonds’s former personal shopper at his perjury trial next month to testify that she saw Bonds being injected by Greg Anderson, his trainer.

Kathy Hoskins, the former personal shopper, is the sister of Steve Hoskins, a childhood friend and former business manager of Bonds’s and a person expected to be a key witness against him at trial.

The disclosure, in a pretrial filing by the prosecution, did not say what Kathy Hoskins thought Bonds was being injected with. But that may not matter. In the government’s indictment of Bonds, it said that Bonds lied when he testified before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative in 2003 that he was never injected by anyone other than his own doctors.

Kathy Hoskins “will further testify that she observed interactions between the defendant and Greg Anderson,” the filing said, “including Anderson giving the defendant an injection.”

The trial, slated for March 2, will also produce Giant players like Benito Santiago, and the ever present Jason Giambi:

The filing by the prosecutors listed current and former baseball players — including Jason Giambi, his brother Jeremy and Benito Santiago — who will testify about how they received performance-enhancing drugs from Anderson. The prosecutors said that Bobby Estalella, who played with Bonds on the San Francisco Giants in 2000 and 2001, will testify that Bonds admitted to him that he was using performance-enhancing drugs.

Hoskins, however, was a surprise to the press.

But it was the new information about Kathy Hoskins that was the most surprising development in the filing. Last week, the prosecution was set back when United States District Judge Susan Illston indicated she was inclined to throw out several pieces of evidence against Bonds, including positive steroid tests and doping calendars that the prosecution believes link him to drug use.

But Kathy Hoskins’s testimony underscores that the government is also accusing Bonds of perjury for denying that anyone but doctors injected him.

We would suggest Hoskins watch her back the next few weeks...

Miguel Tejada to admit to lying: Tejada tatakes taguilty taplea about telying to teCongress

When Miguel Tajada told Congress he didn't know a thing about steroids and PEDs last year, he was as truthful as he appears to be about his age: Not.  This could jeopardize Tejada's 13 million dollar Baltimore Oriole payroll scheduled for 2009.

Today Tejada will plead guilty to lying in front of Congress, which is not generally considered a hit.  To the Baltimore Sun:

Former Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada is expected to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington this morning to a charge that he lied to congressional investigators about illegal performance-enhancing drugs -- telling them he knew nothing though he had discussed steroids with an Oakland Athletics

According to a criminal information document filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia yesterday, Tejada provided "misrepresentations" to staffers from the congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Aug. 26, 2005. It was part of the perjury investigation of former Oriole Rafael Palmeiro.

The document in the misdemeanor charge can be filed only with the consent of the defendant, meaning Tejada likely has reached an agreement with prosecutors and subsequently is expected to enter a guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Alan Kay at 11 a.m. today.

The document filing came one day after Major League Baseball was rocked with another steroid scandal when New York Yankees superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted to ESPN that he took illegal performance enhancers for three years while with the Texas Rangers.

TaStory continues after Tajump...

Transcript of Gammons-A-Rod interview: Alex Rodriguez dodges all the soft balls Gammons throws

The transcript of the Peter Gammons - Alex Rodriguez interview at ESPN is found here.  A-Rod spewed several notable comments, most of which were crafted to avoid giving out information.  If examined you will find that A-Rod essentially said nothing about PED use, or steroid use, or the situation, and Gammons let him by with the skimming:

1. The A-Rod confession, which went something like this:

When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.

Back then, it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive. And I wanted to prove to everyone that, you know, I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. And I did take a banned substance. You know, for that I'm very sorry and deeply regretful.

... The culture back then, and Major League Baseball overall, was very -- I just feel that, you know, I'm just sorry. I'm sorry for that time. I'm sorry to my fans. I'm sorry for my fans in Texas. It wasn't until then that I ever thought about a substance of any kind, and since then, I've proved to myself and to everyone that I don't need any of that.

    2.  No admission of what he took as a steroid or PED, or who was his dealer:

And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using...

Again, at the time, you know, you have nutritionists, you have doctors, you have trainers. That's the right question today: Where did you get it? We're in the era of BALCO ... Back then, it was just about what.

There's many things that you can take that are banned substances. I mean, there's things that have been removed from GNC today that would trigger a positive test.

I'm not sure exactly what substance I used. But whatever it is, I feel terribly about it.

So A-Rod, an intelligent, dedicated professional athlete doesn't know what PED he took, how he took it, and who gave the drugs to him, or doesn't remember?  Does anyone believe this?  Would an intelligent reader take a pill, or inject a substance recommended by (apparently) an apparition without knowing the effects or side-effects?

Rodriguez knows substances banned from GNC that cause positive doping tests, however he doesn't recall what doping drug he injected?  Unbelievable.  And yet A-Rod will be widely praised for 'coming clean',  The only thing that happened was a reporter investigated the positive MLB urine tests to expose A-Rod.  He still isn't fessing up to what drugs he used.

Read the entire interview.  A-Rod appears to have a selective demented memory.  He doesn't remember anything about his PED use.  He didn't even know he tested positive (despite the MLBPA claiming they notified positive tests):

Again, at the time of that culture, there was no illegal or legal. It was just -- you have to understand the time. To take you back there, again, people were taking a number of different things, from GNC, to whatever.

To be quite honest with you, the first time that I knew I had failed a test 100 percent was when the lady from Sports Illustrated [Selena Roberts] came into my gym just a few days ago and told me, "You have failed a test."

A-Rod cites GNC, which is laughable.  The people pushing steroids don't work at GNC.  Some -- like - are dead.  Others like Victor Conte are convicted felons.

How did A-Rod respond when faced with a outline lie -- a denial of PED/steroid use -- he espoused how he feels good about 'telling the truth'.  A-Rod skirted every probing question Gammons popped to him...and Gammons let him by with the skating.

PETER GAMMONS: Now, you mentioned the Katie Couric interview. You were asked if you ever used steroids, human growth hormones or other performance-enhancing substances. You said no, flat-out no. In your mind, that wasn't a lie?
ALEX RODRIGUEZ: At the time, Peter, I wasn't even being truthful with myself. How am I going to be truthful with Katie or CBS? Today, I'm here to tell the truth, and I feel good about that. I think my fans deserve that. I'm ready to put everything behind me and go play baseball. You know, we have a great team this year. I couldn't be more excited about the guys that we've brought in, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett ... It's an important time in my life to turn the page and focus on what's next.

A-Rod appeared to save his vitriol for Selenna Roberts who broke the story.  Shoot the messenger.  A-Rod who lied to an NBC reporter (I cannot bring myself to write the words 'Katie Couric'), who cannot actually put the facts out there, is no impugning a reporter who broke the story...fascinating and nauseating:

...this lady from Sports Illustrated, Selena Roberts, is trying to throw things out there that in high school I tried steroids. I mean, that's the biggest bunch of baloney I've ever heard in my life.

I mean, what makes me upset is that Sports Illustrated pays this lady, Selena Roberts, to stalk me. This lady has been thrown out of my apartment in New York City. This lady has five days ago just been thrown out of the University of Miami police for trespassing. And four days ago she tried to break into my house where my girls are up there sleeping, and got cited by the Miami Beach police. I have the paper here. This lady is coming out with all these allegations, all these lies because she's writing an article for Sports Illustrated and she's coming out with a book in May.

Really respectable journalists are following this lady off the cliff and following her lead. And that, to me, is unfortunate.

The biggest bunch of baloney is A-Rods dodge of his steroid and PED use.

A-Rod -- Alex Rodriguez -- admits to A-Roiding

Baseball slugging icon Alex Rodriguez, aka A-Rod, admitted today he gained some of his extraordinary power from A-Roiding.  A-Rod's admissions add one more piece of evidence to the baseball power era known as The Steroid Era, when sluggers went 'roid wild, toppling gravity with immense feats of power hitting.  It will also be known as an era when the top MLB talent simply cheated the game, the fans, and in the end themselves.

Some say events occur in threes; A-Rods confession coincides with Barry Bonds's BALCO/steroid legal battles firing up again this year, and Mark McGwire's brother pulling open the curtain on his juiced slugging career. The vintage sluggers of just 5-15 years ago now appear to have cheated past sluggers like the Babe with a ptoent mix of anabolic PEDs like testosterone, nandrolone, HGH, and other more exotic drugs.

A-Rod admitted in an interview with Peter Gammons (was this staged?) to roiding (blast magazine):

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003.

ESPN is reporting that Rodriguez, in an exclusive interview with Peter Gammons, has admitted to allegations that surfaced in a recent Sports Illustrated report online.

“I felt an enormous amount of pressure,” Rodriguez told Gammons. “Back then it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth, you know, being one of the greatest players of all time, and I did take a banned substance.”

Rodriguez did appear apologetic in talking to Gammons.

Reports indicated A-Rod tested positive for testosterone and primobolan.  His 3 year run from 2001 to 2003 included 52, 57, and 47 home runs.  And who says anabolic steroids don't benefit sluggers?

The drug Rodriguez allegedly tested positive for, Primobolan, is less detectable than many other steroids because its markers stay in the body for less time than other drugs. It is also expensive, costing about $500 per week, SI reported.

Rodriguez called the time a “loosey goosy” era, saying he didn’t “know exactly what substance” he “was guilty of using.”

Rodriguez hit 47 home runs in 2003, good enough for his third consecutive home run title.

A-Rod A-Bomb! Slugger Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003

Baseball nuclear Armageddon exploded at Sports Illustrated today when the magazine/web site dropped an A-Bomb on R-Rod.  The website reports that Yankee slugger Alex Rodriquez tested positive in 2003 for two steroids: testosterone and primobolan (not legal in the US).

As background, A-Rod delivered fantastic 2001-2-3 seasons for the Texas Rangers.  The steroid slugging era was chugging on full-steam with accusations flying everywhere.  The MLB Players Association agreed to PED testing with the MLB;  if a certain percent of players tested positive, then a full blow elaborate PED testing system would be set up for MLB players.  As we all know now, the minimum criteria (5%) of positive tests was met which meant steroid testing for steroid sluggers.

Steroid testing started in spring training 2003, and apparently continued throughout the year.  Wonder when A-Rod dropped his positive urine?  Wonder how long Rodriguez juiced?

In 2001 for the Ranger A-Rod put up monstrous numbers: 52, 135, .318.  A-Rod's 2002 was even better:  57, 142, .300.  Slugging was .622 and .623 respectively. 

In 2003, A-Rod launched a 47, 118, .298 year, which was good for the MVP, even though the numbers were down from previous years.  Considering A-Rod's positive tests, one wonders why production decreased in 2003.  To Sports Illustrated:

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything."

Test results were obtained when federal agents raided CDT labs as part of the BALCO investigation.

Though MLB's drug policy has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents, armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif., one of two labs used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing. The seizure took place in April 2004 as part of the government's investigation into 10 major league players linked to the BALCO scandal -- though Rodriguez himself has never been connected to BALCO.

The testing procedure itself appears to be corrupt:

Because more than 5% of big leaguers had tested positive in 2003, baseball instituted a mandatory random-testing program, with penalties, in '04. According to the 2007 Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, in September 2004, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, violated an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player (not named in the report) about an upcoming, supposedly unannounced drug test. Three major league players who spoke to SI said that Rodriguez was also tipped by Orza in early September 2004 that he would be tested later that month. Rodriguez declined to respond on Thursday when asked about the warning Orza provided him.

An incredibly embarrassing situation exists in baseball now as corruption dogs the top sluggers and record holders.

Baseball's career and single season home run record holder, Barry Bonds, will be on trial soon for lying about his steroid use. The man pegged as having the best chance to overtake Bonds was A-Rod, who now appears to be a big time juicer.  Mark McGwire, who broke Roger Maris's single season HR record was exposed last month as a huge 'roider.

Baseball, like track, needs to dump the records of the lost steroids and PEDs decades.  Most performance records from the steroid decades appear to be tainted.

Barry Bonds's doctor -- Arthur Ting -- goes roid rage on another doc at hospital

Dr. Arthur Ting, Barry Bonds's physician appears to have gone a bit 'roid rage himself.  The San Francisco By area orthopod might be charged with assaulting a colleague during a confrontation in a hospital.  Good lord, do doctors need to pee for steroids tests 4 times a year now too?

Ting is not a stranger to controverts.  As we noted Ting has been disciplined by the California medical board in the past.  His twin boys quit the USC football team after a reported steroids violation.  And hey, California is a state governed by a former juicer -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. To the San Jose Mercury:

A physician obtained a court restraining order Thursday against former Giants slugger Barry Bonds' orthopedic surgeon, whom he accused of assaulting him last December inside a Redwood City hospital during a fit of rage.

Dr. Arthur Ting, who may be called to testify at the upcoming trial of baseball's all-time home run leader, is accused of attacking Dr. Michael Eiffert during a confrontation at Sequoia Hospital.

Ting has not been arrested and the case has been submitted to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office to determine whether criminal charges should be filed, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Under the restraining order signed by Superior Court Judge John Grandsaert, Ting must stay 100 yards away from Eiffert, an internal medicine physician and Palo Alto resident, for three years.

During Thursday's brief hearing, Ting's attorney Josh Bentley did not argue against the restraining order, telling the judge he would "not present any evidence at this time." Eiffert represented himself at the hearing.

Bentley declined requests for comment outside the courtroom. Ting did not appear in court and did not return calls seeking comment.

Here is the roid rage episide, which the assualted physiican termed 'roid rage'.  Priceless.

According to a police report on the Dec. 26 incident, Eiffert, 37, said Ting grabbed him by the neck inside a stairwell and pushed him up against a wall. Eiffert told Redwood City police that Ting, 57, was upset because Eiffert refused to do a consultation on one of his surgery patients.

Asked in an interview outside the courtroom whether he saw any connection in his case to Bonds' trial for perjury and obstruction of justice, Eiffert said: "The behavior exhibited by the defendant seems to be reminiscent or consistent with roid rage." The term "roid rage" refers to the intense bouts of anger people on steroids sometimes display.

Pressed to explain whether he believes Ting was using steroids when he allegedly lost his temper Dec. 26, Eiffert said: "I couldn't make a judgment as to that, but certainly the behavior was out of control."

Ting, who is the San Jose Sharks' team physician and has a medical practice in Fremont, performed knee surgery on Bonds several times in 2005. Court documents show federal prosecutors plan to call Ting as a witness in their case against Bonds.

Nandrolone or Winny?  Hmmmmmm, wonder what Ting benches?  Rest of the report:

Ting was placed on probation in 2004 by the state medical board for lax supervision of physician assistants and other subordinates, according to state documents.

Eiffert said he is considering filing a civil lawsuit against Ting but would not elaborate, saying he wants to consult with an attorney.

Redwood City police were dispatched to Sequoia Hospital at about 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 26 to a report of a battery, according to the police report.

Eiffert told police Ting called him to ask for a consultation on one of Ting's surgery patients, who had a history of seizures.

Eiffert said Ting just wanted another doctor to check out his patient on a Friday afternoon because that "unlucky doctor is stuck with the responsibility of caring for the patient" once Ting leaves.

The phone conversation escalated, with Ting saying "something to the effect of, 'Ya know, I had a problem with you a year ago,'" according to Eiffert's statement in the report.

Eiffert said he replied, "Your (sic) the ding dong who was giving alcohol to a patient," according to the report.

Ting had been accused of bringing alcohol into the hospital and making cocktails for a patient Eiffert was treating for alcoholism, Eiffert told police.

Eiffert went on to say he did not know whether Ting was disciplined for the alcohol incident. Sequoia Hospital spokeswoman Joanie Cavanaugh declined to comment on the matter Thursday.

After Ting arrived in person at the small office Eiffert was working in, Eiffert said he had other patients to see and refused to immediately consult with Ting's patient, according to the report.

Eiffert said he eventually left the room and an angry Ting followed him into a stairway, grabbed him by the neck and held him up against a wall, according to the report. Ting let go and grabbed him a second time more forcefully, then "pushed Eiffert hard against the wall," hitting the back of his head.

"I'll kill you. I'll crush you. You don't know who I am. I'll kick your ass. And don't ever call me a ding dong again," Ting said, according to Eiffert's account.

Eiffert said he continued to try to defuse the situation and Ting finally let him go, the report said.

Federal prosecutors striking out: Judge to bar Bonds's steroid tests

Looks like federal prosecutors are up against and ump with a shrinking strike zone.  Judge Susan Illston appears ready to strike out the most import piece of evidence federal prosecutor hold in the Barry Bonds perjury trial: the positive steroid urine tests.  To the San Jose Mercury:

A federal judge Thursday appeared poised to weaken the government's perjury case against Barry Bonds, indicating that she plans to strip prosecutors of perhaps their strongest evidence that baseball's all-time home run king lied to a grand jury about using steroids in 2003.

During a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston indicated she will bar prosecutors from using what they say are records showing the slugger tested positive for steroids three times in 2000 and 2001. Despite prosecutors' objections, Illston said the steroid tests were not admissible because there is no concrete link proving the urine and blood samples belonged to Bonds. Such a finding would remove a cornerstone of the government's evidence when the case reaches trial next month.

Illston is expected to issue a final decision soon, but if she blocks use of the drug tests it would mark the strongest suggestion yet that prosecutors will be hobbled because they lack the testimony of Greg Anderson, Bonds' former personal trainer who has steadfastly refused to cooperate and tell his account in a courtroom.

Interesting that the judge would simply bar the tests rather than let the jury decide on the power and the legitimacy of the BALCO tests.  However, it doesn't surprise us.  Judicial realism can be out-of-control, in determining what is and isn't 'truth' these days in the legal system.

Readers should expect some ridiculous maneuvering in the case; no good getting upset or outraged.  The entire conspiracy is an example of how far far from a sense of ethical fairness certain segments of society has drifted.  Cheating: no problem.  At least Bonds didn't rob people of their live savings as Bernie Madoff did in his 50 billion doallr Pnozi scheme.  Bonds only robbed fans of their sens of integrity.

Baseball's lost steroid decade...one more big Ponzi scheme only played out with steroids rather than strictly played out with investments.

New developments in the Bonds perjury case: The Feds ramp up for the trial

The ramp up to the Barry Bonds BALCO perjury trial took off this week.  Yesterday Federal Judge Susan Illston released court documents (found here for the adventurous).

The AP complied the positive urine tests Bonds dropped over the years.  The first three will be contested  because the tests were taken while Bonds was allegedly doped up by BALCO, and thus did not have positive chain of custody.   Bonds shows himself to be an accomplished doper: steroids, amphetamines, and (if Game of Shadows be believed), HGH, insulin, and clomid.  The LA Times also counts 3 positive tests for anabolic steroids.

The court documents unsealed by a federal judge Wednesday in the government's criminal case against Barry Bonds included the results of 26 blood and urine tests. Prosecutors contend five are positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Three of the results were seized from BALCO and did not include Bonds' name; the government said it determined they belonged to Bonds through a Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative log. The other two were taken by Major League Baseball. One later was retested by the government, which is when it came up positive.

_ Nov. 28, 2000: BALCO urine test positive for methenolone and nandrolone

_ Feb. 5, 2001: BALCO urine test positive for methenolone

_ Feb. 19, 2001: BALCO urine test positive for methenolone and nandrolone

_ June 4, 2003: MLB urine test positive for THG, clomiphene, exogenous testosterone

_ July 7, 2006: MLB urine test positive for D-amphetamine

The Smoking Gun posted images of Bonds's alleged doping calender...or someone who was a BALCO client with initials BB.  Perhaps that would be Bruce Banner, The Hulk.

Gwen Knapp, of the San Francisco Examiner, argues that the various dirty urines produced by Bonds should not be introduced in court as evidence.  She cites confidentiality and personal rights as reasons why. We are not quite sure of the legal grounds of that argument. 

It's alarming that Major League Baseball drug tests on Barry Bonds from 2003 and 2006 could be used as evidence in his federal perjury and obstruction of justice trial. Results of both were released Wednesday, and Judge Susan Illston will rule Thursday on their admissibility.

If she allows them, the validity of all sports drug testing should be called into question. Players' unions and agents should call for the immediate suspension of all drug screening, and Olympic athletes should consider their own rebellion.

The very act of urinating into a cup to satisfy terms of employment straddles the line between an ugly necessity and a civil-liberties violation. But in sports, the benefits of drug testing - creating a disincentive for athletes to pump hormones, speed and blood thickeners into their bodies - outweigh the detriments.

The US Government does not sign confidentiality reciprocal agreements with Major League Baseball.  The Govt in pursuit of evidence in the commission of a crime also can obtain other records, including your bank and phone records.  Medical confidentiality is given but not in the case of a crime investigation (unless the records are psychiatric).  Therefore Knapp's argument appears to be a canard.

As we have argued, the responsibility for protection of confidentiality lies with the lab and with the MLB.  If those organizations want complete confidentiality they would have had either a weaver signed with the Govt, or blinded the test results.

Sports Illustrated claims that Greg Anderson, Bonds's ex-trainer will be key to the prosecution.  Anderson is an unwilling witness, however is deep into this mess.  An Anderson conversation goes like this:

The most important document may be the transcript of a recorded conversation between Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, and Bonds' former business partner and longtime friend, Steve Hoskins. Assuming the transcript reflects an accurately recorded conversation -- which Bonds' counsel will question, given that Hoskins, rather than a recording specialist, taped it -- Anderson tells Hoskins that he injected Bonds with substances that sound very much like steroids. Here is a particularly telling excerpt from that conversation:

Anderson: [E]verything I've been doing at this point is undetectable.

Hoskins: Right.

Anderson: See, the stuff that I have . . . we created it. And you can't, you can't buy it anywhere. You can't get it anywhere else. But, you can take it the day of and pee.

Hoskins: Uh-huh.

Anderson: And it comes up with nothing.

Hoskins: Isn't that the same [expletive] that Marion Jones and them were using?

Anderson: Yeah same stuff, the same stuff that worked at the Olympics.

Interesting.  Anderson's conversation implicate Bonds in this widespread sports fraud conspiracy.  Whatever a person's attitude toward the use of PEDs in sports, the subversion of the normal rules and workings of the sports leagues and Olympics should give pause.

Bonds documents released today in San Francisco

As the Barry Bonds perjury trial date nears, more information flows out from San Francisco.  The SF Examiner today reports that taped conversations between Bonds and trainer Greg Anderson, as well as Bonds's urine tests will be made public today.

A federal judge plans to unseal hundreds of pages of court documents at the heart of the government's case against Barry Bonds, who's accused of lying to a grand jury about using performance-enhancing drugs.

Among the documents to be released today are a transcript of a recorded conversation of Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson discussing steroids - first reported by The Chronicle on Oct. 16, 2004 - as well as positive drug-test results that prosecutors say belong to Bonds.

One is a urine sample submitted by the former Giants outfielder during baseball's anonymous survey-testing program in 2003, according to a report on the New York Times' Web site. Bonds' sample did not test positive under Major League Baseball's program but was retested by investigators after it was seized in a 2004 raid, unidentified sources told the newspaper.

Originally Judge Susan Illston sealed the documents, as urged by Bonds's attorneys; however media pressure prevuialed and out into the light comes the information.  More legal manuveriung is reported:

The all-time home-run leader is expected to plead not guilty Thursday to a grand jury's third indictment, which charged Bonds with 11 counts of lying and obstruction of justice.

On the same day, Illston will consider Bonds' lawyers' motion to exclude certain government evidence from his trial, which is scheduled to begin March 2.

In correspondence with Bonds' legal team, prosecutors have said their witnesses include athletes who can testify about doping calendars that Anderson allegedly created for them to track their drug regimens. The government says Anderson kept identical calendars for Bonds.

The Feds have procured witnesses including Bonds's teammates, and looked for information even into last week:

Former Giants catchers Benito Santiago and Bobby Estalella, and returning A's first baseman Jason Giambi, who acknowledged they had received banned drugs from Anderson, seem set to be prosecution witnesses in Bonds' trial.

Bonds has twice before pleaded not guilty, the first time in November 2007 when prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice charges. A judge has ordered prosecutors to revise the indictment twice to repair legal technicalities.

Bonds told a grand jury in December 2003 that he took "the clear" and "the cream," provided by Anderson. Bonds testified that he did not know he was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

He also has denied knowingly taking other steroids and human growth hormone. Prosecutors argue they will prove through positive test results and other evidence that Bonds lied.