Steroid Nation

Patriot's Rodney Harrison suspended for growth hormone (HGH) use

The worldwide leader reports tonight, that the New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison faces a 4 game NFL suspension.  Harrison apparently scored HGH from a Florida pharmacy involved in the Florida bust.  Those names now seem to be trickling out to the media.

In a late Friday night conference call, Harrison acknowledged the suspension, which he said will be announced on Saturday.

"I want to make it clear," Harrison said, "that never once did I take steroids. I did admit to the commissioner that I took a banned substance."

Harrison said that his actions stemmed from his desire to "accelerate the healing process" from his various injuries the past two seasons.

As noted in our post today on the WWE, they Florida formulating pharmacies dispensed steroids and HGH through the Internet.  Albany prosecutor David Soares led a multi-agency team that busted those pharmacies last spring.  Since then, information slowly trickled out about athletes caught in the distribution web.

The list of pro wrestlers released this morning contained some surprises.  Now, Harrison's involvement constitutes a huge surprise.  Not once did his name come up in the spring information about this PED distribution network.  The Patriots player must have come to light to the NFL, which followed up last week.

Earlier this week, NFL quarterback Tim Couch stood accused of HGH and steroid use.  Doping control authorities cannot test for HGH in urine nor blood, thus the NFL must rely on eye-witness accounts, or medical/pharmaceutic records.  Nonetheless, the NFL is bordering on an HGH problem (also noted here)

Harrison had a hearing with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday, the sources said.

A league spokesman said Friday the NFL will not comment on the Harrison case. A Patriots source told ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli that the team is aware of the sanction against the 13-year veteran and is "dealing with it." The team source declined to say when the Patriots became aware of Harrison's involvement.

Harrison used the conference call to apologize to team officials and to his teammates, and to caution young people against using performance enhancers.

"I've made no excuses and I will not make excuses," Harrison said. "I sent the wrong message with my actions. This is a mistake and this is something that I've done."

Pro wrestling body slam: WWE suspends at least 10 for steroid or HGH use

Quickly following the scheduling of Congressional hearings on doping in pro wrestling, Vince McMahon's WWE announced the suspension of at least 10 --including Edge Copeland -- and possibly more pro wrestlers for using the renegade Florida pharmacy -- Signature Pharmacy -- as a source of PEDs.  Also named were deceased wrestlers Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero whose deaths tied to anabolic steroid use.  It was unclear how the suspensions would affect the deceased wrestlers.

The New York Daily News says they have an exclusive list of names:

The WWE was rocked again today, after several of wrestling's top names emerged in the Albany district attorney's probe into a widespread Internet doping scandal.

The wrestling conglomerate based in Stamford announced that it will suspend 10 of its biggest stars for violation of its wellness policy.

In a list obtained exclusively by the Daily News, top wrestlers Randy Orton, Charles Haas, Jr., Adam "Edge" Copeland, Robert "Booker T" Huffman, Shane Helms, Mike Bucci, Anthony Carelli, John "Johnny Nitro" Hennigan, Darren "William Regal" Matthews, Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson, Eddie "Umaga" Fatu, Shoichi Funaki and Chavo Guerrero were all identified as clients of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, the site raided by Albany County and Florida law enforcement agencies in February for distributing steroids and other prescription drugs to clients who had not been examined by doctors. The investigation is part of a probe into illegal Internet drug distribution by Albany D.A. David Soares.

The Daily News adds that deceased pro wrestlers Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit's  also utilized the Florida pharmacy's services for illicit steroid prescriptions.

 Two of its recently deceased stars - Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero - also received steroids and other drugs from Signature, as prescribed by Florida physician Gary Brandwein, who has pleaded not guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal diversion of prescription drugs. Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself in June and Guerrero died in a Minneapolis hotel in 2005 from heart disease.

Guerrero received the steroids testosterone and nandrolone, along with the estrogen-blocker anastozole, a drug commonly taken by men on steroids to prevent developing breast tissue, Nov. 2, 2005, just 11 days before he died of heart disease.

 Guerrero's nephew, Chavo Guerrero, found Guerrero unconscious in the hotel room.

Benoit received steroids from Signature, based on a Brandwein prescription, in February, 2006.

Sports Illustrated corroborated the pro wrestling names on the suspected list.  (found after the jump)

The number of leaked names went significantly beyond what was known about the Signature Pharmacy in Florida.  Does this mean that many more athlete's names are on the Albany prosecutor's list?  Wonder if all the pro athletes (NFL, MLB etc.) and coaches will be outed at some point?

Congressional hearings on pro wrestling

With all the pressing serious problems facing this country, and the world, one must register surprise that the US Congress apparently will hold hearings on the use of PEDs in professional wrestling.  The New York Daily News says it will happen:

A congressional panel that grilled Bud Selig, Paul Tagliabue and David Stern about performance-enhancing drugs in sports two years ago will hold a hearing next month on steroids and professional wrestling.

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold the hearing in late September, three months after World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit allegedly strangled his wife and suffocated his 7-year-old son before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley in his suburban Atlanta home.

"I am extremely concerned about the possible illegal and destructive practices by professional entertainment athletes that negatively influence the younger generation," said Rep. Bobby Rush, the Illinois Democrat who is the chairman of the committee. "We must make sure that today's wrestling sports heroes are not using illegal performance-enhancing drugs that, unfortunately, can and have led to their untimely deaths."

So there you go.  We all complained and whined about the steroid use in pro wrestling;  Congress picks up on a topic and runs with the publicity ball.

The Congressional committee should find a more proper investigatory mission than 'protect the kids' (unless you're a pro wrestler's kid).   The superficial statement above by the great representative of Illinois doesn't impress us.   The homi-suicide of the Benoit family, and the numerous steroid-related (possibly not directly caused) deaths of relatively young wrestlers however does concern public-health minded citizens.

We suspect an investigation will find a sport-wide mess of WWE pressure for revenue and attendance, and use of steroids, HGH, stimulants, pain killers and narcotics, benzodiazepines, alcohol, and anti-depressants that adds up to killer cocktails.

New York Daily News finds new hormone

Quick note here.  The New York Daily News found a new anabolic hormone:

Tim Couch's recently failed comeback may have involved anabolic steroids and humane growth hormone, according to a report by Yahoo.com.

The top pick of the 1999 draft, who recently was released by the Jaguars, admitted to the Web site that he briefly took HGH, which is banned by the NFL, in an attempt to recover from shoulder surgery. The former Browns quarterback denied using steroids or any other banned substances.

This new HGH - humane growth hormone - might be like human growth hormone, but without side effects.  Wonder if there are tests for it yet?

(BTW, our original title stated 'new hormoine'...we're guilty ourselves)

Tim Couch: taking a plant steroid for menopause? (laxogenin)

As reported in Yahoo, Deadspin, and here at Steroid Nation, former Jaguar QB Tim Couch, consulted with a Florida nutritionist for his NFL rehab comeback, who promotes the plant steroid laxogenin as anabolic for his company called Maxim Rejuvenation.  (The write-up from the Maxim Website will be found after the jump).  The claims are nonsense. The supplement Couch took might be weakly helpful for menopausal women.  Likely any benefit Couch received at the clinic was from real steroids and HGH.

Yahoo has a video with Couch promoting Laxogen (go to Part 6).  Good for strength, pumping up the metabolism, and hot flushes.

The Maxim website says this compound was discovered by an American scientist in 1996.  Interesting because all publication are from Japan and China, the first in 1963: [Laxogenin, a new steroidal sapogenin isolated from Smilax sieboldi Miq.] Jpn J Pharmacol. 1963 May;83:557-8. Japanese.  No abstract available. PMID: 14041495 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE].

There are 7 medically indexed publications on the compound.  None look at the compound's anabolic use (Maxim claims found after the jump).  You would think that the National Institutes of Health has a full bore research program on this compound for use in the Olympic Games. Not true. The last official paper on it was from the 'Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry' and discussed the synthesis of laxogenin from diosgenin.

This compound appears to be a plant steroid.  Plant sterols might be interesting, but certainly untested for all the medical uses the Maxim website claims.  There are some naturalists, with little scientific training, who make overblown claims for these plant steroid products.

The actual compound in this drug labeled Laxogenin, as analyzed by Dr. Don Catlin's lab at UCLA, was diosgenin (so much for truth in labeling).  'Disgenin' pulls up 347 references.  This compound is called a sapogenin, and is found in yams.  The molecule is being researched for a number of uses, however ALMOST NONE in human clinical trials.

Here is one clinical trial: Effects of wild yam extract on menopausal symptoms, lipids and sex hormones in healthy menopausal women.  Climacteric. 2001 Jun;4(2):144-50.

Menopausal women?  Couch was taking a plant sterol for menopause?  Hope it helps his hot flashes.

The other paper was looking at a sports drink called SPORT.  There was no effect on performance parameters (reference found at the bottom)

This scheme sounds so Victor Conte and BALCO.

• Invent some bogus supplement as a covering ruse. 
• Use anabolic steroids, anti-estrogens, and HGH to deliver real results. 
• Market your snake-oil.
• Promote the product with athletes who obtained results from real anabolic drugs (Bonds, Romo, Marion Jones)

Fraud.  The FDA. the FBI, and Gov't fraud agencies need to hunt down these renegades.

---------------------------

Can J Appl Physiol. 2000 Feb;25(1):55-67. Links The efficacy of SPORT as a dietary supplement on performance and recovery in trained athletes. Timmons BW, Newhouse IJ, Thayer RE, McAuliffe JE, McIllwaine S.

 

Tim Couch: NFL comeback with HGH and steroids? Yahoo says ex-QB used bogus nutritionist handing out real PEDs to pro athletes

BALCO East?  (Update here, in one clinical trial this plant steroid was used for menopause)

Yahoo News says it acquired documents verifying that former NFL quarterback Tim Couch, attempting a comeback with the  Jacksonville Jaguars, used both anabolic steroids and HGH.  The report by Josh Peter of Yahoo, says that Couch used HGH and anabolic steroids for his NFL comeback.  The QB was seen receiving an injection of steroids; he also picked up anabolic steroids and HGH at his nutritionist's office.  Couch and the nutritionist attribute his amazing comeback to 'laxogenin'.  However none of this compound was found in the bogus supplement given to Couch.

If the Yahoo report is correct, this is a rouge nutritionist, illegally trafficking in anabolic steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), and other hormonal drugs, then covering his base with a bogus unproven homemade drug concoction.

Where is the FDA and the FBI to bust this fraud?  And why did Couch fall for the act?

Documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports indicate quarterback Tim Couch had regimens that called for the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone while he attempted to revive his NFL career after a three-year hiatus from the league.

The regimens outlined in the documents with Couch's name printed across the top called for extensive use of drugs banned by the NFL.

Couch, the No. 1 pick in the 1999 NFL draft, told Yahoo! Sports he briefly took HGH – which is banned by the NFL – in hopes the drug would help him recover from shoulder surgery. But he denied using steroids or any other banned drugs and said he had never seen the documents.

Couch works with a nutritionist in Florida, a Brian Yusem, whose entourage does not sound entirely professional. Yahoo talks about anabolic steroids Couch used including "Stanozolol, Oaxndrolone (note: it's oxandrolone) and Testosterone Cypionate (note: Yahoo mistakenly capitalizes these generic names).  Couch also reportedly used 'Nolvadex (note: prevents side effects of anabolic steroids), which suppresses estrogen levels, and Fluox" (Yahoo misspells this, must be fluoxetine or fluvoxamine, both serotonin antidepressants).

That man is Brian Yusem, a self-styled nutritionist who has distributed human growth hormone to some of his clients and, in treating certain individuals, recommends anabolic steroids and testosterone. He is associated with a growing number of athletes and is working with a self-taught chemist named Mark Thierman, who served prison time for conspiracy and selling mislabeled, illegal drugs touted as a muscle-building product, according to published reports. With help from Thierman and a product they call Laxogenin, Yusem predicts he will revolutionize sports science.

What is laxogenin?  Apparently a plant-derived steroid (big deal) that is claimed as an anabolic steroid.  However the product Couch took, as analyzed by UCLA's Don Catlin is diosgenin, not laxogenin.  Apparently diosgenin can be converted to laxogenin, which gives you exactly what again?  A plant steroid.   Sounds like a scam to us.

The Yahoo site says that laxogenin is legal because it is plant derived and thus a supplement, not a drug.  Likely wrong.  The premise is that any plant derived substance is legal.  So heroin, morphine, digitalis, cocaine, THC, and ephedra are now legal as supplements?

Anyone taking this crap, without clinical research is not too bright.  And to take it from a group that includes a convicted drug trafficking felon does not change that impression.

According to Yahoo, Couch may not be alone in his use of this nutritionist's services:

As for his ties with athletes, Yusem said he has worked with several, including three college football players, two international swimmers, two professional tennis players and a retired Le Mans racecar driver...

(Yahoo's)  anonymous source also provided steroid regimens allegedly prepared for a renowned professional bodybuilder, a retired NFL player, a college football player, a former college football player, a former college basketball coach and a competitive motorcycle racer.

More Yahoo links:

1. Couch and his comeback.

2. Laxogenin analysis.

3.  Yusem, who sounds like Florida's answer to Victor Conte.  Dude reportedly markets 'supplements', but traffics in HGH and anabolic steroids

4. His chemist (photo to the right; this is scary) 

5. The anabolic steroids and other PEDs

(much more after the jump)

Read the remainder of the Yahoo report.  We see at least 3 points:

• Athlete use poor judgment trying to gain an edge. Like Romo, Couch went to some bogus charlatan;
• The trainers and nutritionists claim to be scientists; nothing could be farther from the truth.  They are bogus, snake-oil, salesmen, with no scientific credentials;
• The FDA and FBI need to move in on this medical/sports fraud.  It's getting out of control.

FBI agent who busted Jose Canseco's steroid dealer gives final talk to Michigan football today

If only MLB listened to FBI Agent  Greg Stejskal, back in the 1980s.  Perhaps baseball records would not be as tainted as they are today.  Perhaps weeks or months could go by without a baseball-steroids story that numbs the minds of fans.  But Baseball didn't pay attention, however Bo Schembechler's Michigan Wolverines did.

This report from the Ann Arbor News says that FBI agent Greg Stejskal, whom Bo Schembechler invited to give a presentation on illegal activities to the Blue and Maize football team in 1982, will be ending his association with the University of Michigan.  Bo listened, however MLB officials did not.

Geoff Larcom writes:

It was the summer of 1982, when University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler called the local FBI office.

Could an agent come over and talk to the team about some of the dangers athletes face in terms of agents, sports bribery and gambling?

Greg Stejskal went, along with senior agent Tom Love. The two walked into a room filled with about 100 football players, plus coaches and trainers. Schembechler walked in, introduced the FBI men and said to listen to their message.

"You could have heard a pin drop,'' Stejskal says now. "We had their undivided attention.''

Stejskal, who played football at the University of Nebraska, took over the annual talk the following year, and has been doing it ever since, for Schembechler, Gary Moeller and now head coach Lloyd Carr. Today marks the 25th and probably final time Stejskal will give the talk. He retired last November after a 31-year career in the FBI.

The FBI-football tie has been an important relationship through the years, with national ramifications. A meeting in 1989 of Stejskal, Schembechler and U-M strength coach Mike Gittleson resulted in the FBI pursuing an investigation into national steroid distribution that grew into what many would call the most successful probe of its kind ever.

Stejskal busted Jose Canseco's steroids dealer.  He also knew about Ken Caminiti's source too.  The USA Today reported this in 2005.  The steroids dealer was Curtis Wenzlaff, who as ESPN documents, fell to an FBI sting in the 1980s.  This was the first big bust of pro athletes using PEDs:

After a day of seminars about sports scandals at the FBI's training center in Quantico, Va., Stejskal found himself at a table with other attendees, nursing beers and talking about their cases. Kevin Hallinan, baseball's chief of security and one of the presenters, was at the table, too. Everyone was talking about work when the subject of Stejskal's investigations into steroid trafficking arose. What the hell, he figured, glancing at the ex-New York City cop. Might as well let Hallinan know what I found.

Stejskal and his partner, Bill Randall (who'd posed undercover as steroid buyer Eddie Schmidt), had been sitting on information that had never been made public. Wenzlaff, it turned out, had been a very helpful witness. He'd talked a blue streak about Jose Canseco and the drugs he'd supplied the slugger. He'd also said he believed Canseco was dealing to other major leaguers...

"We've heard it too, but what can we do?" Stejskal recalls Hallinan saying. "The union won't let us test the players. Our hands are tied."

Despite numerous contacts, Hallinan denies remembering the information.  Bud Selig's director of baseball operations, Sandy Alderson -- former Oakland A's GM -- despite having Canseco on his team, and despite the steroid dealer who hung around the Oakland locker room just can't recall any of this stuff too.  No wonder MLB finds the sport in a mucked up steroid quagmire.

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Back to the former FBI agent.  He retired, and thus gives his last address to the Wolverine football team:

Stejskal led the effort, which among other findings identified the man who distributed steroids to former big-league baseball star Jose Canseco and other players. Stejskal passed that information on to big-league baseball officials in the early '90s, but little came of it.

About 10 years later, in 2005, as the steroid scandal broke and players' use became public knowledge, reporters from The New York Daily News tracked down Stejskal and asked him if he had informed baseball back then.

Yes, Stejskal answered.

Baseball officials fell all over themselves denying his assertion before acknowledging Stejskal might have told them something. The story created a national furor over the FBI agent from Ann Arbor.

The former FBI agent's last Michigan talk is today.  His final thoughts (MLB should listen):

Stejskal's bottom line is simple, and will be repeated today.

"Life's tough,'' he says. "But it's tougher if you're stupid.''

 

 

Barry Bonds not marketing on steroids

Sports Illustrated tells us what we can see: Corporate advertising shuns Barry Bonds.

Barry Bonds' smiling mug won't be gracing boxes of the Breakfast of Champions anytime soon.

Since hitting No. 756 there have been no "I'm going to Disneyland'' moments for Bonds, no cereal box immortality.

"We simply have no plans at this point,'' to work with Bonds, Wheaties spokeswoman Tara Johnson said by e-mail.

The home run king remains radioactive to corporate sponsors. A possible federal indictment for tax evasion and perjury, rumors of marital infidelity, alleged steroid use and an often combative relationship with the media is too much baggage for companies seeking an athlete to hawk its wares.

Gracing a box of Wheaties is not the highest level of integrity.  Pushing Nikes doesn't mean an athlete is pure of heart.  However, some athletes offer the image corporations seek to associate with their product.  Payton Manning and Tiger Woods jump immediately to mind.  Interesting, Matt Leinart, despite recently fathering an out-of-wedlock child, jumped into the national advertising spotlight.

Bonds graced several ads before BALCO.  As SI says, though, no company is likely to want their product associated with a fellow who  might be indicted for perjury or tax evasion:

Before indictment rumors and steroid allegations, Bonds made some inroads with sponsors. After breaking the single-season home run record in 2001 he landed short-term deals with KFC parent Yum! Brands Inc. and Charles Schwab Corp. and was paid to wear gear made by the Italian sporting goods company Fila and Franklin Sports.

But after he became embroiled in the federal BALCO steroids investigation, Bonds' already shaky relationship with corporate culture turned sour. MasterCard International Inc. called off negotiations in 2005 because of the performance-enhancing drug talk.

A market for Bonds memorabilia may develop, as a morbid interest in defamed stars. Weird huh?

If corporate sponsors are shying away from having Bonds as their public face, his new status as home run king has helped buoy his memorabilia sales. And the question marks around Bonds' baseball achievements and his Hall of Fame induction may actually help fuel future sales, experts say.

While his record-setting ball is estimated to sell at auction for about $500,000 - far less that the $3 million paid for Mark McGwire's 71st - Bonds' contentious place in history could become marketable in its own right.

Sales are hot for memorabilia from other controversial figures from baseball's past like Shoeless Joe Jackson, whose Chicago White Sox (later nicknamed the Black Sox) threw the 1919 World Series, and Pete Rose, who was banned from baseball for betting while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

"Look at Shoeless Joe Jackson, people want everything (of his) even with the tainted Black Sox thing behind him,'' said David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions, the company that has partnered with Sotheby's to present two home run balls by Bonds (Nos. 755 and 756) for auction.

"Pete Rose, the vintage balls or bats from the early years are very much in demand. That demand is still there,'' Kohler said.

San Francisco celebrates it's huge hero with ceremony for Bonds

San Francisco turned out en mass for hometown hero Barry Bonds yesterday to commemorate his career home run mark.  Putting on his best face, Bonds thanked the city, his family, and Giants ownership for their support. (story at SI.com)  He failed to thank BALCO.

Barry Bonds basked in hometown adulation Friday during a celebration where he received the key to the city and heard not a mention of the steroid controversy that has dogged his pursuit of the all-time home run record.

Bonds was joined on stage by family, teammates, politicians and Giants greats Willie McCovey and Willie Mays. The sometimes prickly slugger smiled broadly as he thanked his parents, Mayor Gavin Newsom, team owner Peter Magowan and especially the Giants faithful.

"Love was giving me that strength," Bonds said. "You the fans, the city of San Francisco -- that is why I'm the player I am today." (Is love a new anabolic?)

The evil media. determined to dwell on the negative. reported Bay Area comments on the steroids controversy surrounding Bonds the past few years:

With throngs in Giants black-and-orange cheering their hero, the lovefest differed sharply from the scathing insults heaped on Bonds at rival ballparks before his unprecedented 756th career home run Aug. 7. Across the country, Bonds has faced detractors wielding placards inscribed with asterisks -- baseball-fan shorthand for the belief that his record is hopelessly tainted by allegations of steroid abuse.

"Everybody in San Francisco is afraid to say anything bad about Barry," said Stephen Quirk, 33, a San Francisco resident originally from Boston who still roots for the Red Sox. "If you go to any other city, it's like the complete opposite."

In San Francisco on Friday, there wasn't an asterisk in sight.

But even among Bonds supporters in the crowd, an undercurrent of disenchantment was in evidence -- if not with the record-holder himself, then with a league plagued for years with suspicions of widespread performance-enhancing drug abuse.

"Even the pitchers were most likely doing it. Therefore I think the record stands," said Art Gomez, 36, of Sacramento who was in town with his three kids, including a young son he described as a big Bonds fan.

Excuses and rationalizations.   Fans worry about Bonds' influence on kids.  From this interview, sounds like the kids are thinking ahead of the parents.

Larry Pagel of Oshkosh, Wis., and his two sons came to observe the festivities as part of their vacation in San Francisco. Each was decked out in Milwaukee Brewers regalia in anticipation of Friday night's game against the Giants. But they didn't all share the same opinion of Bonds.

"I think it's just a major accomplishment no matter what anybody thinks," Pagel said of Bonds' record-breaking shot. "If he took [steroids], look at all the other people who probably took them that need an asterisk. It's still a human body hitting a home run ball."

But Pagel's son Tanner, 12, wasn't so sure Bonds could serve as a good role model for himself and his friends. The record books should probably carry a disclaimer next to Bonds' name, he said, adding "people don't just gain muscles like that."

If a 12 year-old can understand physiology that well, there just might be hope for the world...Was Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson at the ceremony?  In the city where BALCO flourished, Anderson rots in jail for not giving up testimony on Bonds' PED use.

      

David Boston runs an 'out' pattern near Tampa

An unusual report surfaced from Tampa, where recovering wide receiver David Boston -- attempting a football comeback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- passed out at the wheel of his car last night.  An arresting Tampa area officer found an unconscious Boston, with the Range Rover's motor still running. Initial reports say Boston's Breathalyzer registered a '0'.  Urine tests are pending. (Larry Brown link here)

Boston last played a full season in an injury-ridden NFL career, in 2003.  In 2004, the league's biggest, buff-est, receiver tested positive for anabolic steroids, which led to a suspension.  Injuries apparently sidelined Boston the past several seasons.  He appeared to have earned a starting spot as a flanker for the Buc's offense.

Buccaneers wide receiver David Boston was arrested Thursday night and charged with driving under the influence.

According to the Tampa Tribune, Boston was found asleep at the wheel of his vehicle at 49th Street and Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park. The vehicle’s engine was still running.

The report goes on to state that Boston explained to police that he had traveled from Celebration in Orlando and was headed to the Tampa International Airport.

Although breathalyzer tests showed that there was no alcohol in his system, Boston was also given a field sobriety test, at which point it was determined that there was probable cause to arrest him and charge him with driving under the influence of a controlled substance or alcohol...

Depending on the outcome of his urine tests and case, Boston, who was suspended by the NFL in 2004 for a positive steroid test, could face anything from a fine and suspended license to being released by the Bucs and/or suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

We wonder what substance will be found in Boston's urine.  Passed out without blowing alcohol content is weird.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might not be too tolerant of a multiple steroid/substance abuse offender these days.

Baltimore Sun asks 'How will fans judge MLB juicers?' Appears Radomski's testimony key to MLB steroid probe

The Baltimore Sun asks how fans will judge the player's names, that will emerge from the Mitchell probe of MLB steroid/PED use?  The Sun feels Mitchell will eventually release the names of steroid using players.

Many major leaguers are squirming like fish on a hot dock, having learned that Kirk Radomski, the ex-New York Mets clubhouse attendant who admitted selling steroids to ballplayers over a 10-year period, has implicated them all to the Mitchell investigation. It won't be long: One way or another, the names will be made public and the culture of the syringe will finally be exposed for its sleazy ethos.

The obvious question, of course, is what commissioner Bud Selig intends to do with the guilty players. Baseball's image has already suffered, and the commissioner walks a fine line between punishment and outright destruction of the game. A more poignant question, however, is what the public will do with these revelations.

It's one thing to bash Barry Bonds, a despicable man who clearly cheated his way to the all-time home run record. But what happens when you find out your favorite player is on Radomski's list? Then what?

The Sun assumes that offending player's names will be released, something no one in the MLB front office ever assured the press or fans would happen.   Would the MLB Player's Union allow their member's names  besmirched?  Will Commissioner Selig react harshly against users (we doubt it):

If there's a groundswell of revulsion, Selig will have no choice but to someday affix an asterisk upon the entire world of cheaters. Just call the 15-year window the steroid era, not unlike the dead ball era of the early 20th century. No need to remove or reverse anyone's records. Simply let it be known, by official decree, they were set against a backdrop of rampant cheating.

Metboy Kirk Radomski's testimony, done to save his skin from a lengthy prison sentence, appears to the be the linchpin in all this:

We might well discover that every major milestone in a 15-year window has been soiled -- or just plain spoiled -- by players who were artificially strengthened by steroids. Not just personal achievements, but entire pennant races won and lost because certain teams had more steroid users than the others. We could find out that "stand-up" players who've been honest and forthright about everything else, taking responsibility for the errors they've made or the home runs they've surrendered, were hiding a darker truth: They were cheating you, the public, all along.

If Radomski has given an accurate account of who's who and what's what in the steroid world, we're all in for a lousy September. According to SI.com, people are going to be "very surprised" by how much information Mitchell has gleaned. The former Mets employee is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to distributing steroids, and recently met with Mitchell to repeat to baseball's chief investigator what he told the feds.

(more after the jump)

Two records that appear to be safe at Osaka: Women's 400M and 800M

Reports indicate the Osaka, Japan, track runs fast.  A great battle is expected between Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, which might produce a record at the upcoming IAFF World Games.

Other records may fall, however two world record appear safe, and have for over 20 years.  They are the womens 400 M at 47.60 held by East German Marita Koch, and the women's 800M held by the Czech Jarmila Kratochvílová at 1:53.28  Koch set her record in 1985, and Kratochvilova in 1983.

The obvious issue is that both women's records appeared from Iron Curtain runners, in an era when the Soviet Bloc countries doped like crazy.  Both records were set at points when anti-doping measures, if present at all, were easily defeated (as accomplished by the East German doping machine).  Both records have never been approached since they were set.  From The Final Sprint:

Rumors of drug use by both Kratochvílová and Koch persist, their best marks having come during the heyday of the Cold War when nationally-sponsored doping programs within the Iron Curtain were rampant. It should be noted, however, that neither neither athlete ever tested positive for PED’s and both records are still considered to be official by the IAAF.

The same goes for many of the field events, especially the throws, which benefit greatly from the use of anabolic steroids. Most of the world records in the throws were set between the mid 80’s and the early 90’s, the same controversial time period during which the women’s 400m and 800m marks discussed above were set.

Take a look at Kratochvílová's photo's, left.  Is anyone going to contend that this is a 'clean' woman's athlete?  Compare with photos of Sebastian Coe (above), and the men's world record holder Wilson Kipketer (below) at the right.  The woman appears more muscular than Coe.  And this is a women with female type testosterone levels.  Right.

That's the sad thing about 'steroid eras'.  The performance enhancement cheats other competitors out of opportunity.  Again, is the competition between athletes, or is the contst between their pharmacists and trainers?

Doping expert Werner Franke says World Championships to be 'dirty'

German doping expert Werner Franke, who exposed the East German doping machine, and who recently laid into Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, puts it to the IAAF World Athletic Championships set to open in Japan on Saturday (Aug 25).  News Australia, and  The Times of NZ lay out Franke's concerns:

German anti-doping expert Werner Franke said the World Athletics Championships will be rife with drug cheats and insists the event’s testing system is "inefficient".

Franke, a biology professor from Heidelberg and a leading campaigner against doping, says drug-taking is rife in athletics and the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) drugs tests will do little to catch cheats in Osaka.

"This will be one of the dirtiest (championships) since  the beginning of the 90s," he told German agency  SID.

"Doping has moved onto a higher level."

Franke says the IAAF (International  Association of Athletics Federations) cannot monitor the dopers well enough:

The German expert criticised the IAAF’s testing system and says more has to be done if the event in Japan, which runs from August 25 to September 2, is to consider itself drugs-free.

"The system set up by the IAAF remains inefficient," he  said.

"If you don’t have drugs tests at least two to six weeks before the competition, then there is no point testing during the event itself.

"Today, athletes use drugs which leave no trace only  two days after they are used."

We wonder what evidence Franke used to draw his conclusions of how dirty the up-coming Worlds will be.  The event starts Saturday.

Bonds record 756 to be sold online; Make the ball take a urine test first

The fan who caught Barry Bonds home run #756, to break Hank Aaron's career HR record, will sell the tainted famous ball online.  ChicagoSportsToday carries the story.

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball goes up for auction next week, Matt Murphy and Amir Kamal will be anxiously waiting for the bids to pour in.

Murphy, 21, is the New York Mets fan who caught the lucky ball on Aug. 7 at AT&T Park, and Kamal is the best friend who made a pact with Murphy before the game to split the money should either one grab it.

First the auctioneers should make the baseball pee in a cup, then test it for PEDs.  Would they want a fan getting contaminated from their auction?

Now the question is whether the steroid allegations that have dogged Barry Bonds will devalue the ball or make it even more coveted.

"Everybody has their opinion," said David Kohler of SCP Auctions. "From the reaction we've had on this whole deal, there may be people who are thinking this thing is not going to sell for that much, and that may have a negative overkill.

"It may actually go the other way, similar to what you see in the stock market or things like that, and all of a sudden something ends up selling for a lot more than people feel [it's worth]. We're going to find out."

As we contended in a prior post, fans should demand that the degree of taint carried by the baseball should be revealed before plunking down some money on it.  Then again, it took decades before Pete Rose fessed up to his tainted career...

Radomski -- Metboy -- gives up names to Mitchell investigation; Fans still in the dark

Metboy Kirk Radomski, reportedly the major sources for MLB anabolic drugs and steroids following the demise of the BALCO operation, gave up baseball names to the Mitchell investigation.  Story here in the NY Post.  Post Radomski 'Metboy' pieces here, here, and here.  (SI report here)

Kirk Radomski, the former Mets clubhouse attendant, revealed the names of major leaguers who bought steroids from him to baseball's chief steroid investigator, SI.com reported yesterday.

Radomski, who pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in April to felony charges of distributing steroids and laundering money, met recently with George Mitchell, according to the report. He faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine at his sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 7.

As part of the plea deal, Radomski agreed to testify before a grand jury, if needed, and to meet with investigators from baseball's own steroids investigation.

SI.com did not say when Radomski met with Mitchell. But it said the meeting may have occurred before July 13 when Jason Giambi became the one current major leaguer to cooperate in the investigation.

Hurst papers (SF Chronicle and Albany Times)  attempted to obtain the names listed in the Metboy (Radomski) affidavits, however were unsuccessful.

BALCO, who allegedly supplied juice to Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and Barry Bonds occurred over 4 years ago.  Jason Grimsley sang to the Feds 2 years ago.  This year the Metboy scandal and the Florida Internet steroid scandal exploded.  What do fans know about the use of steroids and PEDs in baseball?  Not much.

Do we expect that the MLB Mitchell probe to come clean with all the information.  Former Sen.Mitchell is in the BoSox management group.  Does that give you an inking of the answer?

Despite footing the bill for the stadia and paying the ticket costs, and forking up tons of money for TV and satellite coverage, the average fan out there has no clue (other than Giambi) which player in MLB juiced for which team.  Thus a hallowed record such as the MLB career home run mark stands out there as a tainted record awash in controversy because no one from this very public enterprise, or no one from the Gov't will reveal the evidence.

MLB fans find this acceptable?  They shouldn't.  (more on the story after the jump)

Benoit's lawyer says the wrestler needed testosterone for a deficiency

The AP story, found here at WNBC.com, has the lawyer for Benoit's physician scolding the Gov't for not knowing the obvious:

A lawyer for Chris Benoit's personal doctor suggested in court papers Monday that the wrestler had a hormone disorder that permitted the amount of steroids he was prescribed before killing his wife, son and himself in June.

Dr. Phil Astin's attorney, Manny Arora, said in a motion to suppress evidence that a federal agent failed to tell a judge who issued search warrants in the case about the legitimate uses of steroids.

Arora wrote that if the government had consulted a hormone disorder specialist, it would have learned that "the amount of medication in question was not excessive."

Right.  It is an every day occurrence that a man of Benoit's physical stature and chronological age is deficient of testosterone.  Why would Benoit be hypogonadal (low T)?  Because a lifetime of anabolic abuse would likely mess up the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis that controls the feedback for natural testosterone production.

Either Benoit's natural androgen production was suppressed when he was off-cycle, or he had messed up the HPG axis so much that he needed some supplemental androgen.  This is the reason the testes of androgen-abusing men shrink up; they shut down their own endogenous androgen production.

Because an anabolic-steroid abusing athlete or entertainer has screwed up his natural testosterone production is not a reason -- or excuse -- to prescribe high doses of testosterone.

Sorry.

Player alleges Hawaii Warriors juiced before battle

A former University of Hawaii Warrior football player details the fun and games played in Honolulu. ABC Eyewitness News7 carries the report.

Hawaii will investigate allegations of drug use and rigged testing by a former player.  Ian Sample, alleged Hawaii players used steroids and marijuana, drank excessively, enjoyed the services of coeds, and appreciated all the 'academic' aid in college.

HONOLULU -- University of Hawaii athletic officials on Monday said they will look into allegations raised by a former receiver, including the claim that school officials and players manipulated NCAA-mandated drug tests.

  Ian Sample, who recently published a book chronicling the 2006 season entitled, "Once A Warrior," released unpublished material on his blog about excessive drinking, widespread use of marijuana, sex with groupies and rigged drug tests.

  Sample, who now plays professional football in Japan, wrote that he's "convinced the 'random' tests are not random at all."

"The higher ups definitely know what they are doing when they decide who will be tested," he wrote. "However, getting tested doesn't necessarily mean getting caught, every once in a while a player will side step a positive test result by flushing out their system [the real smokers know where to go to get a cleansing elixir]."

Hawaii's AD and the school's head coach -- June Jones -- both distanced themselves from Sample's book:

John McNamara, Hawaii's associate athletic director, said officials are reviewing and evaluating the content of the book and the Internet postings...

Warriors coach June Jones emphatically denied Sample's claim about the drug testing, calling it a "lie."

  "We don't have anything to do with it," he said, adding that the NCAA supplies a random lists of players, not the school.

"These are the greatest kids in the world," he said. "It's a shame someone would throw them under the bus. With the Internet, anyone can say what they want. It's so dishonorable."

Sample himself ripped off a great line about Jone's literacy:

  Sample told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that Jones is entitled to his opinion.

"But when he talks about throwing people under the bus, if he gets really bored one day and goes to the public library and reads the book, he might have some different thoughts," he said.

How about those 'random' NCAA urine tests:

Sample, who had 54 catches for 690 yards and 10 touchdowns for Hawaii last season, wrote that when one of the random urine tests were conducted, "it's amazing that none of our valuable players are ever selected, especially the ones known for smoking weed."

"The players that are selected to go piss in a cup are the ones less valuable and the ones that have become a nuisance to coaches or the team," he wrote.

If the tales about the Warriors weren't included in his book, Sample posted them on his myspace account:

  Sample's omitted passages were posted on his blog at myspace.com.

George Engebretson, of Watermark Publishing in Honolulu, said he decided not to include Sample's more controversial material in the book, even though it may have resulted in more sales...

About those 'roids:

  Sample wrote that marijuana was the drug of choice for the Warriors, but said he believed some players used steroids.

"Have people on the team taken steroids? Yes, they have," he wrote. "Sometimes it's obvious, you see someone improve over a couple months by leaps and bounds -- we all know it's naturally impossible. I think it's known but not really talked about."

Sample said he has never known anyone caught taking steroids, but has known several players caught with marijuana in their system.

As for the boozing, Sample acknowledged times when he attended practices feeling drunk, along with other players who would drink on a regular basis.

Sample wrote about wild groupies, including one female who wanted him to wear his uniform during sex. He said groupies were readily available, including on campus.

The NCAA might be interested in Hawaii's study habits:

  Sample also claimed that people on and off the team would do schoolwork for money.

"If the money is right, and it always is, they will 'help' us write papers; anything from simple response papers to 20-page research papers," Sample wrote. "Their 'help' is unlimited and completely unassisted."

  He said the entire team knows about the services.

  "The best part is that some of the coaches know all about it," he wrote. "I've even heard

Judge fails to dismiss track coach Trevor Graham charges

Track coach Trevor Graham, once trainer to Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Justin Gatlin,  and other top talent, failed when his lawyers asked that his federal indictment for lying be dismissed.  SI.Com with the story:

A federal judge on Friday denied a motion to dismiss charges against Trevor Graham, the elite track coach indicted as part of a federal investigation into steroid use by athletes.

Graham was charged in November with three counts of making false statements to federal agents. The government accused him of lying in 2004 when he denied distributing steroids or telling his athletes where they could get them.

Of course Graham pumped his athletes full of steroids and anabolics like prized cattle.  The feds don't like the lies.  Thus, Graham in trouble.

Graham's attorneys had asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to dismiss the charges because Justice Department officials leaked information to the media. In court documents filed last month, they cited widely published reports by The Associated Press that Graham "was expected to be indicted." The stories ran the day before he was charged on Nov. 2.

Federal prosecutors argued the grand jury's deliberations weren't compromised by media leaks.

Graham's involvement with PEDs runs deep; he was at first an alley, then a rival with BALCO bosses and coaches.  Here are some of the legal maneuvers in the case.

Illston declined to dismiss the charges and denied the defense's request for the disclosure of all grand jury testimony, but she ordered prosecutors to give Graham's attorneys a complete list of witnesses who said Graham helped them obtain performance-enhancing drugs.

Graham has pleaded not guilty to the perjury charges and was freed on $25,000 bond. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $750,000 fine if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 24 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Graham, who trained track stars Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin and Tim Montgomery, helped launch the government's steroid probe when he mailed a vial of a designer drug called "the clear" to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Wonder if the Gov't remains as concerned about one baseball slugger who might have perjured himself to the investigators too?

   

Inmate reveals details of Bonds-Selig-Hank Aaron's corked bat conspiracy; Bonds tried peddling steroids to nuns

A inmate, doing time in South Carolina filed suit in Indiana this week, alleging a vast conspiracy involving Barry Bonds, Bug Selig, Hank Aaron's corked bat, Sammy Sosa,  steroids and HGH, Steak and Shake on I-70, the Liberty Bell, and....

Uncovered at The Smoking Gun, the official complaint makes for hilarious reading. 

Meet Jonathan Lee Riches. The federal prisoner/habitual litigant recently scored headlines with his insane $63 billion lawsuit against Michael Vick (who allegedly stole Riches's dogs, sold them on eBay, and used the proceeds to buy weapons from the Iranian government). Riches, who is doing a decade in prison for fraud, is at it again, this time filing a loony--though quite funny--complaint again Barry Bonds, baseball commissioner Bud Selig, and Hank Aaron's bat.

We will summarize the complaint here; dude is asking for th e paltry sum of 42,000,000:

Citing "Barry Bonds, Allan H. 'Bud' Selig, and Hank Aaron's Bat" as defendants, the alleged crimes include: bat assault, HGH violations, treason, major fraud, skimming the books, illegal moonshine, terrorism, social security fraud treason, stalking, identity theft, electronic wiretapping, and bad debt.  The defendant says his Constitutional rights were violated specifying 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 13th, and 14th amendments.

• Barry Bonds and Bud Selig formed a secret conspiracy to boost television ratings as Selig supplied Bonds with steroids under the supervision of Sammy Sosa.  Mr. Selig on at least 2 occasions at the I-70 Steak and Shake (Booth 11) for the exchange of needles, cream, and HGH.  (Robert Novak and Judith Miller are in possession of transcripts of the meeting)
• Bonds used Hank Aaron's corked bat, complete with secret chambers full of HGH which Bonds takes while waiting in the batters box (sic).  The plaintiff has recorded Bonds' threats on his I-Phone.
• Bonds conspired to rat out the plaintiff when he became aware of plaintiff's threat to expose his and Selig's cocaine and steroids abuse
• Om June 22, 2004, Bond benched pressed the plaintiff (against his will);  apparently on the same day Bonds was observed selling steroids to nuns
• Furthermore said corked bat was used to crack the Liberty Bell.  This led to a 'steroid house' in South Bend IN, which involves identity theft and bogus loans at Lendingtree.com.
• Bonds is involved in a Columbian conspiracy to import fine HGH
• Once again, said Aaron corked bat was illegitimately stolen from the plaintiff's residence (see attached exhibit)
• Bonds has conspired to fix San Francisco Giant games, as well as LA Dodger World Series games.  Bonds' debt may include monies owned to 'the Gambinos' (? Jason Giambi)
• Bonds supplied mustard gas to the late Saddam Hussein
• Bonds stole the plaintiff's copywrite

Thus revealed, in a drab prison library in South Carolina, are the documents that show Bonds is a cheat and a miscreant.  Let justice prevail.

Various bits of news and injections

Various and sundry reports on PEDs coming in from the hinterlands.

1.  MLB says Jason Giambi will not be beaten with a stick punished.  The Philly Inquirer says:

Jason Giambi won't be disciplined by commissioner Bud Selig after the New York Yankees slugger had a "frank and candid" meeting with baseball's steroids investigator.

Selig said Wednesday that Giambi's cooperation with former Sen. George Mitchell and the player's charitable work persuaded him not to take further action.

"He's doing a lot of public-service work, and I think that's terribly important," Selig said on the second and final day of an owners meeting. "He was, I thought, very frank and candid with Sen. Mitchell, at least that was the senator's conclusion. Given everything, this is an appropriate decision."

Giambi has acknowledged a "personal history regarding steroids." He agreed to speak with Mitchell last month after Selig threatened to discipline him if he refused to cooperate.

What can MLB do?  He took PEDs in the past (obviously a super abuser, look at the physical change).  His MVP season appears to be artificial.  MLB moves on, and nothing changes.  Track would dismantle any world records from a tainted event or season.   MLB appears not to want to go that far; is the MLB concern about PEDS disingenuous?

2.  The Washington Post stoops to analyze steroid abuse in pro wrestling.  The article examines Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero's life with 'roids.  Not pretty:

Benoit and Guerrero lived in a culture that breeds addicts, that encourages comic-book-hero bodies -- and that in recent years has seen dozens of its members die at conspicuously young ages, at a startling rate.

Dave Meltzer, founder and editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, recently compiled a list of current and former wrestlers who have died since 1997, before turning 50. He said his list ran to about 60 names -- and that was before former wrestler Brian "Crush" Adams died Monday of indeterminate causes.

With papers like the Post taking note of pro wrestling's love affair with PEDs, will Congressional hearings be far away?

3.  Dick Pound, head of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) says China better pick up PED testing.  Here, (Pound) found in the USA Today Pound beats on China to up the ante in testing:

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said he'll also call on China next month to "go the extra mile" to persuade the world that it isn't hiding top athletes from drug tests ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics...

China is intent on staging grandiose games to showcase its rising political and economic power. Pound said his message would remind high-ranking officials that one positive drug test for a Chinese athlete could turn the Olympics into public-relations disaster for the communist government.

"The central government, I think, is pretty committed to having an effective anti-doping program," Pound said. "They more than anyone understand the risk, reputational and otherwise."

Perhaps Pound could coerce China into eliminating lead-based paints on the toys they manufacture to send over to the USA.....

 

No evidence that A-Rod juices

A piece in the Village Voice sums things up: this A-Rod steroid thing is out of control.   Isn't that the truth.

The connection between Alex Rodriguez and steroids popped up all over the place late last week, best illustrated by a Daily News back-page headline Friday, "Under Suspicion." Jose Canseco says it, Chipper Jones says it, and now the New York tabloids say it: Alex Rodriguez has a connection to steroids.

The talk shows are a-talkin'! The blogs are a-buzzin'! It's all over the country: The youngest man ever to hit 500 home runs—the man who's supposed to be the hero who will relieve us in a few years of the burden of steroid-cheat Barry Bonds—now has his own drug baggage to lug around.

But what if no one actually said any of these  things? Let's see if we can trace the A-Rod rumors back to their source.

Jose Canseco touched things off a couple of weeks ago, during a July 28 radio interview on a Boston radio station, when he called Rodriguez "a hypocrite . . .

Which brings us to Mike Lupica's column in last Friday's Daily News. Contrary to the misleading headline, "Under Suspicion," Lupica pointed out that there was no evidence at all against Rodriguez, and that Jones had merely said what everyone had been thinking since the first time Barry Bonds's name was linked to the BALCO investigation. And what we have all been thinking is that from now on, anyone who sets a new home-run record is going to be under a cloud of suspicion until proven innocent. (Lupica's whipping boy was the players' union for having so long resisted drug testing.)

So, tracing back the rumor step by step, it turns out that there's not only no evidence, but no one is saying there is. This ugly trail of innuendo, suspicion, and outright paranoia may finally be Barry Bonds's real legacy to baseball: In polluting the historical record, he's muddied the waters for everyone who follows him.

We pointed to the Jose Canseco interview a couple weeks ago on WEEI.  Really, this interview appeared to be Canseco playing coy, dropping innuendos, and generating pub for his alleged new book.  Chipper Jones simply commented on his thoughts, which sounded reasonable: anyone putting up numbers in the steroid era, will be under suspicion.

First, there is no evidence linking A-Rod with PEDs or steroids.  A-Rod is a larged framed, incredible athlete, with great power.

Second, MLB needs to develop a PED-testing program that puts the league above reproach.  The league and the union need to work together to mean what they say about 'roid testing.

Right now baseball is very popular.  However, the competition for the sports dollar remains intense.  One can see how pro cycling is disintegrating, as big sponsors pull dollars out of the teams.  One can see how Barry Bonds is shunned by Corporate America.  There are struggles enough with bad PR when you run a corporation.  Companies do not want their names associated with juicers, or dog killers.

With a solid drug-testing program, a great player like A-Rod may be the target of barbs, however with solid testing the huge burden of proof would fall to the accusers.

Let's keep the game clean.

Steroids aren't the only problem in public health

We blog about steroids as a public health problem here.  However, there is far more wrong in the USA public health domain than just steroids.  Recent reports show that health care in the US is #42 (by one measure) and falling. The New York Times editorial is found here:

Here's a wrenching fact: If the U.S. had an infant mortality rate as good as Cuba's, we would save an additional 2,212 American babies a year.

Yes, Cuba's. Babies are less likely to survive in America, with a health care system that we think is the best in the world, than in impoverished and autocratic Cuba. According to the latest C.I.A. World Factbook, Cuba is one of 41 countries that have better infant mortality rates than the U.S.

Since 1958, the infant mortality rate fell in the US.  However in 2002, the trend reversed.  Infant mortality rose.  It appears infant mortality is higher in New York than in Beijing China.  That's progress,  huh?

"America's children are at greater risk than they've been in for at least a decade," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and president of the Children's Health Fund. "The rising rate of infant mortality is an early warning that we're headed in the wrong direction, with no relief in sight."

The bad news continues with life expectancy.  New York Times again:

Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.

For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands...

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

We talk about the racial issue with regard to Barry Bonds.  Here is a worse situation: the mortality for black males in the country lags behind other groups...by almost 9 years.

Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years, slightly longer than the averages for Iran and Syria and slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco.

This is about more than national health service, but about obesity and poverty, and a shift of money to the wealthy.  Clearly over 40 million Americans who don't have health insurance coverage (and thus receive less than optimal health care) is a factor, however there are other factors:

-- Adults in the United States have one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Nearly a third of U.S. adults 20 years and older are obese, while about two-thirds are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

''The U.S. has the resources that allow people to get fat and lazy,'' said Paul Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta. ''We have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle as opposed to having one imposed on us by hard times.''

-- Racial disparities. Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans.

-- A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations.

Steroid and PED use is a public health problem.  Steroid abusers contribute to morbidity (high blood pressure, severe heat problems, hepatitis, infections, psychiatric conditions) mortality (pro wrestlers and pro cyclists who dope show a propensity to die young), and legal problems.  However, this is just a small part of the overall public health decline in the USA.

(Note: someone loves us: Thanks Slav!)

 

Barry Bonds wants to sue you, but settles on targeting Curt Schilling

Alleged (note 'alleged') roid-monger Barry Bonds, the recent career home run king, announced that he contracted with two Bay-area lawyers to track down miscreants who would besmirch his good name.  The accused juicer threatens to sue Curt Schilling or anyone making false statements about him or his large head.

A local Bay-area TV station(CBS5) first carried the story:

Now that Barry Bonds has passed Henry Aaron to become baseball's all-time home run king, he's threatening to sue anyone who makes false or misleading statements about him, two Bay Area attorneys said Monday.

Attorneys John Burris of Oakland and Todd Schneider of San Francisco said Bonds has retained them "in connection with legal issues arising from the myriad of false statements attributed to him by players, the media and others."

The attorneys, who are veteran civil rights litigators, said they believe "such statements are defamatory and have legal consequences."

Bonds, clearly a public figure faces long odds on suing anyone for 'misleading statements'.  Normal libel and slander lawsuits, hard to prove anyway, require even more conditions for a public figure (expertlaw.com).

Generally speaking, defamation is the issuance of a false statement about another person, which causes that person to suffer harm. Slander involves the making of defamatory statements by a transitory (non-fixed) representation, usually an oral (spoken) representation. Libel involves the making of defamatory statements in a printed or fixed medium, such as a magazine or newspaper.

The elements of defamation include:

• A false and defamatory statement concerning another;
• The unprivileged publication of the statement to a third party (that is, somebody other than the person defamed by the statement);
• If the defamatory matter is of public concern, fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher; and
• Damage to the plaintiff.

When the plaintiff is a public figure this burden is added:

Under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, as set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1964 Case, New York Times v Sullivan, where a public figure attempts to bring an action for defamation, the public figure must prove an additional element: That the statement was made with "actual malice". In translation, that means that the person making the statement knew the statement to be false, or issued    the statement with reckless disregard as to its truth.

According to The San Jose News, Bonds' old attorney, -- Michael Rains (maybe feeling some jealousy?) -- revealed that Bonds intends to pursue Curt Schilling, who as you recall, loves to call out Bonds (and here).

Bonds began seeking civil rights representation three weeks ago after pitcher Curt Schilling criticized the slugger in an interview with HBO's Bob Costas.

"This is directed at Schilling more than anybody," said criminal defense attorney Michael Rains, who is representing Bonds in a grand jury investigation stemming from the Balco case.

"Schilling said some things that were inappropriate and potentially defamatory. I know it was upsetting to Barry. We talked about the issue and I know he was talking to some civil lawyers to put people on notice that he has someone defending him."

This could be very interesting if Bonds' attorneys sue Schilling.  They then must prove that Schilling made false accusations against Bonds, and that Schilling harbored malice in his sinister motives. As Schilling stated Bonds cheated on baseball and on his spouse, Bonds must prove these statements false.

Wouldn't it be interesting to see Bonds sworn-in as a witness, and then asked if he ever took anabolic steroids, insulin, Clomid, or HGH?  If he ever had a years-long affair with his alleged mistress Kimberly Bell (if that was part of the defamation suit)?  Either Bonds perjures himself again, or he fesses up to steroid use.  And if Bonds denies PED use, the defense attorney parades in Victor Conte, Greg Anderson, Kim Bell, Gary Sheffield,  former Giant teammates like Bobby Estalella and anyone else with evidence Bonds cheated baseball and baseball fans.

The best defense against defamation suits is the truth.  Wouldn't we all love to  know the truth about Bonds?
(more on the attorney's announcement after the jump)

Does anyone in pro wrestling live past 45? WWE's Brian 'Crush' Adams dead at 43

It cuts like a knife.  The WWE's Brian 'Crush' Adams failed to answer the bell this morning in Florida.  Adams was 43.  From NewsWatch50:

World Wrestling Entertainment fans are mourning the loss of another star.

Brian "Crush" Adams, 44, who was the third member of the popular World Tag Team Championship team Demolition, was found dead Monday.

Crush's wife found him unconscious and not breathing in their bed, according to 970 WFLA in Tampa. She called 911 but paramedics were not able to revive him.

"The cause of death is still unknown at the time," says Cpl. Jared Douds, a Tampa Police spokesman. "There were no visible signs of injury to Mr. Adams."

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Adams' last wrestling match was in January 2003 where he injured his spine and subsequently ended his career.

This comes just two months after wrestling star Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son.

Everyone will be talking about steroid use. Hawaii authorities arrested Adams in 1995 with a huge stash of anabolic steroids, along with automatic weapons.

Whether or not anabolic steroids are found in the ex-wrestler's bloodstream, the drugs could clearly be involved in his death.  Steroids as well as HGH can hypertrophy the heart, as well as affect the cardiac valves.  Such changes may be irreversible.  In combination with other factors these changes lead to a bad outcome (like death).

 

Bonzai! Rick Gutterson risks impotence in Japan baseball

As noted by Deadspin and the Seattle Times former Mariner pitcher Rick Guttormson found himself pulling out his hair now that he sits out the first 20 game steroids-related suspension in the Japan's Pacific League.  Heck, Taiwan is upset about this hair-raising event.

Although this may be a bald-faced lie, Guttormson says he uses the drug for balding:

A former Mariners minor league pitcher from Anacortes has become the first player in Japanese baseball history to flunk a drug test.

Rick Guttormson, who attended Anacortes High School and Edmonds Community College, was suspended for 20 days Friday after testing positive for a banned substance. His team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, was fined $63,000.

Japanese baseball officials said a postgame test July 13 showed Finasteride in Guttormson's system. Finasteride was in a hair-growing agent Guttormson, 30, had been taking for two years. It's banned because it can be used as a masking agent.

Finasteride is marketed as Proscar and Propecia.  The drug is an anti-androgen, which prevents enzymatic (5-alpha reductase for you biochemists) conversion of testosterone to 5 DHT (dihydrotestosterone).  The drug is used for prostate enlargement or for baldness.  There has been much concern about the drug, which can cause impotence (that is slow down your fastball).

"This is extremely regrettable," Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro said. "We have been very nervous about the issue of doping and we'll need to step up our efforts."

                                                                                                            The commissioner's office also fined the Pacific League club US$63,000.

Finasteride is banned by WADA (and the presumably the Japanese major league) because it can be used as a masking agent for an anabolic steroid.  The drug interferes with the measurement of anabolic steroids.  However, it itself can be detected.  So what good is the drug?

The finasteride debate rose before in athletics who felt they got shafted:

Zach Lund, a member of the U.S. skeleton team at the 2006 Winter Olympics, was banned from competition after finasteride was detected in his anti-doping urine sample. Lund said he had no intention of providing a faulty urine sample when he took finasteride as a hair loss treatment. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) agreed that Lund had not tried to cheat the WADA Code; nevertheless, Lund was banned from competition.

Montreal hockey goal tender Jose Theodore had been taking finasteride for eight years as a hair loss treatment-then found out about the "finasteride problem" when he tested positive for the substance in screening of athletes who hoped to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Finasteride is a banned substance under the WADA Code, which is accepted by the International Olympic Committee. He had been taking finasteride with the knowledge and approval of team physician Dr. David Mulder. The positive test resulted in no disciplinary action because testing for finasteride is not included in the National Hockey League's anti-doping testing program.

Efforts are underway to develop a test that would selectively identify finasteride in a urine sample. Such a test could eliminate finasteride as a problem in anti-doping testing.

Guttormson might have grounds for an appeal.  First taking an anti-androgen itself for baldness bites;  then getting suspended as  your career recedes . So it may be splitting hairs, but he should get a doctor to sign off on a TUE.

Armstrong's Discovery team pulling the plug on cycling

Lance Armstrong's Discovery pro cycling team decided to take down the transfusions bags and pull the plug on cycling sponsorship.  Forbes here with the story.  New York Times link here (reg required).  Story on Contador, and a post on who won and who doped.

With their latest Tour de France champion fending off doping accusations and new sponsors wary of signing on, Armstrong and the owners of the Discovery Channel team said Friday the squad will disband after this season.

The team's premier rider, Alberto Contador won the Tour de France this year, amid more doping accusations:

The decision closes the Armstrong era in cycling and shuts down the sport's only elite professional team based in the United States. Armstrong retired from riding in 2005 but remained a visible co-owner of the team operated by Tailwind Sports.

Discovery won this year's Tour de France behind Spaniard Alberto Contador but has struggled to find a new sponsor for 2008. Discovery announced in February it would not sponsor the team beyond this year

The team cites 10  years of achievement (described as 'the most successful sports franchise in history):

He (Armstrong) won the first of his record seven consecutive Tour de France titles in 1999 racing under the U.S. Postal Service banner. The team had the sport's top lineup as Armstrong and his lieutenants powered their way through the French countryside and up the mountains. It maintained that dominance this year when Contador won the Tour and American teammate Levi Leipheimer finished third.

Discovery will still ride in this year's Tour of Spain and the Tour of Missouri, but the shutdown means Contador, Leipheimer and the 25 other riders must find new teams for 2008.

Ahhhh, how many victories were clean?

(from the New York Times after the jump)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger congratulates Barry Bonds

California, governed by an admitted steroid-using former bodybuilder, can claim home to the greatest array of artificially enhanced politicians, entertainers, and athletes.  Birds of a feather?

SignOnSanDeigo says that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his congratulations for Barry Bonds' career home run feat:

Gov. Schwarzenegger today released the following statement regarding Barry Bonds breaking the all-time home run record last night:

"I'd like to congratulate Barry Bonds on becoming Major League Baseball's all-time home run king. A native of California, Barry has made our state and the Bay Area proud by breaking the most hallowed record in sports. I hope that his determination and perseverance inspires others to achieve their own goals."

From one man who used steroids to get to the top of his profession to another, best wishes.

Is Arnold implying that others should use determination and perseverance everything including chemical enhancement to achieve their goals?

Cheat Wave at Sports Nation: ESPN Package

Wayne Drehs with the power of ESPN Sports Nation published a package (looks like an encyclopedia) on sports cheating at the website linked above.  Incredible range of topics over there from steroids to gene doping.  We looked at the article on gene doping, which was very interesting.  Overwhelming plethora of information on all sports compiled on the site.

Is there any doubt the story in sports in the 2000s is the story of doping, and PED use?  The technology and the chemistry raced past the ethics some time in 1950-something;  we are just now looking at the mushroom cloud aftermath of the pharmacologic revolution in performance enhancement.

This week Barry Bonds may be the point man taking the flak for PED use;  that only scratches the real issues.

Stay tuned.

Bears fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo out 4 games for violating NFL's steroid use policy

Newly acquired Bear fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo received a 4 game suspension for using a supplement that -- to his surprise -- contained a steroid.  (Best story in the Chicago Sun Times).  Further, this compound appears to be deceptively labeled.  Might the fullback have a case?

Ayanbadejo took a compound called Max LMG, which a company markets as a 'progesterone' that doesn't metabolize to estrogen, but is said to be related to nandrolone and DHT (di-hydro-testosterone).  Ayanbadejo appears to be confused about this, and we can see why (photo of the fullback with his brother Brendon, a Bears DL). 

Fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo has failed a drug test and will be suspended for the first four games of the season by the NFL.

Ayanbadejo was notified Tuesday that he lost his appeal to the league for having an anti-estrogen component in his system in a random drug test administered in January. It is a banned substance in the league’s steroid policy, and as a first-time member of the league’s drug program, he will miss a quarter of the season.

He first found out about the failed test in April, and notified the Arizona Cardinals, which led to his release. Ayanbadejo was up front with the Bears about his situation, and they expressed to him that they would stand by him. Ayanbadejo said the product which led to his positive test was Max LMG, and he said it was not properly labeled and he is planning to pursue legal action against its maker.

Now, the full becomes pretty confused, saying he thought the 'supplement' was not a steroid.  Obafemi, dude, it is definitely a steroid, perhaps a derivative of progesterone, but contains the steroid ring.  Or perhaps it is something else, because the formula we see doesn't make sense, and may be a smoke screen of what is really in the drug.  That sucks.

``What was in my system was not a steroid,’’ he said. ``There’s a difference between an anabolic steroid and an anti-estrogen component. But the league considers that a related substance. I took a supplement that had an anti-estrogen component and I did not know it was contained in the supplement.

``I told [the Bears] before I signed my contract what was going on. I bought my own flight to Chicago and told Lovie [Smith] and [pro personnel director] Bobby [DePaul] what was going on and they really respected that I did it that way. I hope they stick with me. The initial vibe was that they would. I know this is a business. I think a lot of that will have to do with how well I play in the preseason.’’

Ayanbadejo is eligible to play in the entire preseason. He would be eligible to return to the Bears for the game at Green Bay on Oct. 7.

The ingredient in Max LMG is 13-ethyl-3-methoxy-gona-2,5(10)-diene-17-one (I can't draw that on a blackboard) which is said to be a progestin.  The 'gona' part looks like nonsense and may be a androstadiene compound (boldenone)???

Don't take it.

Aaron passed, Bonds sights Oh

Home run king Barry Bonds wasted no time in whacking #757 last night, as he started on the long chase of  Sadaharu Oh.  Oh belted 868 homers in Japanese professional baseball.  Bonds sits at 757, which leaves him 111 short of the global record.  That should be about 4 years more putting Bonds at 47.

Oh commented on Bonds' feat:

"Over the past 10 years, I'm sure he has struggled a lot physically, and there no doubt have

"Hitting home runs requires tenacity and passion for baseball while overcoming hardship, and I want to congratulate him from the bottom of my heart," he said.

Bonds wasn't so eloquent about Oh:

When Bonds was asked by a Japanese reporter if he could catch Oh, Bonds' response was simple. "Congratulations, Sadaharu Oh," he said.

Only 111 more to go, Barry...

The chatter continues about A-Rod: Chipper Jones sounds off

The Lexington Dispatch raced to the press with this story, as Chipper Jones talks A-Rod, baseball, and steroids.

Chipper Jones predicted Alex Rodriguez will be the next player answering questions about steroids if he gets close to breaking the home run record.

The Atlanta Braves star said Wednesday that A-Rod probably will face suspicions about steroid use - just as new home run king Barry Bonds has - because Jose Canseco recently hinted he has salacious information to disclose about Rodriguez.

"I don't doubt it," Jones said. "There's been a lot of validation to some of the things that Jose Canseco has said over the years. At first when it came out a lot of people didn't want to give him a lot of credit for it. But a lot of it has been proven true. Now, when he opens his mouth, people listen. And unfortunately, this cloud is following probably two of the best players of this century."

Jones' reaction came from the WEEI interview we posted on last week.  Seems Canseco ruffled some feathers with his statements, which could be a PR ploy too.

Last month, the 1988 AL MVP told WEEI-Radio in Boston that in an upcoming book he has

Canseco said A-Rod was a "hypocrite" and "was not all he appeared to be," according to ESPN.com. But Canseco wouldn't say whether A-Rod had used steroids.

Rodriguez has declined to comment.

Jones discusses the relationship of the media to the ballplayers these days.  He recognizes that the numbers generated in the steroid era boggle the baseball mind.  Obviously questions follow.  And also obviously, given the current technology that develops anabolic drugs relatively easily, MLB must scrupulously develop effective PED/steroid/anabolic testing.  This is on of the prices modern society pays for the pharmacologic revolution.

(more Jones talking about A-Rod after the jump, including the sensationalized NY Post cover)

Update: R-Rod's agent Scott Boras answered in the NY Post today:

“Alex Rodriguez has always been a great power-hitting player form Day 1,” Boras said. “He has hit above 35 homers form his first day in the big leagues. He does not have any indices of change, he has indices of consistency.”

Pro cycling: who won and who doped

News in pro cycling reports two events: who won and who doped.   Fallout from the Tour de France continues.

A race in Hamburg, Germany refused entry to Tour winner Alberto Contador, based on his involvement in Operation Puerto.  (ABC News)

The organisers of the Pro-Tour's Cyclassics event in Hamburg say they have received information from German doping expert Werner Franke which, he claims, shows Contador had taken testosterone and asthma medication.

Franke bases his claim on documents he says are in his possession from the Spanish police's Operation Puerto inquiry into Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor said to have masterminded doping programmes for athletes.

"The name of this Mr Contador appears on several occasions on the court and police documents," he said.

CNN reports a Tour rider tested positive for homologous blood doping. 

Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin on Wednesday became the second Astana rider to test positive for blood doping in less than a month.

Kashechkin, who has been suspended with immediate effect by the Swiss team, failed a test on August 1.

"This result is the consequence of a random test conducted on August 1 in Belek (Turkey)," Astana said in a statement.

Italian rider now faces a court inquiry in his home country.

Cristian Moreni immediately acknowledged drug use when the positive case was announced on July 25, forcing the withdrawal of his Cofidis team.

At the end of the 30-minute hearing, Moreni's lawyer said he did not believe the rider would face further questioning. It was unclear when a verdict would be announced.

Moreni faces a two-year ban.

Bush, Bonds, and Bombs: President phones the home run king

Finally, the Chief Executive called the Home Run Hitter.  This allays fears expressed throughout the Land of Liberty about Bush not calling Bonds.  (link: Larry Brown Sports)

News services and blogs wondered what the President would do when Barry Bonds toppled Hank Aaron as the king of MLB career home runs.  After all, private citizen George Bush owned the Texas Rangers, one of the seminal dirty 'roid teams, from 1988 to 1998 when he sold the team for a handsome profit.

During George Bush's tenure as owner of the Rangers, the club became a hotbed of PED use:  Jose Canseco, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, and others.  (Texas even added Ken Caminiti in the 2000s, however Bush was Juan Gone by then).

Sports columnist Skip Bayless — who was previously a sports journalist in Dallas — said on ESPN that the Bonds situation is difficult for Bush to discuss because he looked the other way on steroids use as manager of the Rangers:

I was there in Texas during those years, and I knew the President when he was owner of the Rangers. And I heard all the whispers around the locker room and the clubhouse. … I think he looked the other way. I’m sure George heard them also and looked the other way. … I think they [baseball commissioner Bud Selig and Bush] believe that Barry Bonds used steroids. (from Thin Progress)

The President created a stir, when following the initial BALCO releases, he attacked steroid use in his 2004 State of the Union address:

To help children make right choices, they need good examples. Athletics play such an important role in our society, but, unfortunately, some in professional sports are not setting much of an example. The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now. (Applause.)

Thus, it seemed interesting to see how the Chief Executive would treat the Chief Alleged Juicer upon his 756th home run.  The President must be aware of the BALCO documents, although we hear he isn't an avid reader.

According to Think Progress, the President called up Barry Bonds, to congratulate the slugger today.

President Bush called Barry Bonds to congratulate him for breaking Hank Aaron’s mark as the all-time homerun king. The White House was apparently in no rush to make the call. “It was after noon before the president finally called, spending about three minutes on the phone.” Why the delay? The Swamp speculates:

Might this have had anything to do with the suspicion of steroid use by the San Francisco Giant who has batted his 756th homer?

“Right now, there is a leaguewide investigation going on in regard to steroid use,” Snow, said, and the president encourages the pursuit of that investigation and also thanks senators for pressing it.

Ah, politics.  Maybe President Bush can get this economy on some steroids...

Update after the jump

Barry Bonds hits career home run #756

On a sparkling clear San Francisco night, the man who held captive the attention of a nation -- even a world -- over the past 6 years powered into a Washington National fastball that cleared the deepest range of ATT Park, the park Barry built, for carer home run 756 to pass Hank Aaron.

Giant fans joined in a raucous joyful celebration fitting for such a historic event.  Bonds' fluid swing produced A 430 feet missile that led to a mild crowd struggle for the ball.

The Giant crowd, not given much to cheer about the past few seasons, scintillated with excitement as Bonds circled the bases.  The man who thrilled and beguiled millions enjoyed the celebration that included a video message from Hank Aaron.

The once slender 400 homer- 400 steals player, the once lock for the MLB Hall of Fame lumbered around the bases, going places no relatively geriatric baseball player ever traveled.  Whether Bonds pharmacologically defied gravity appears to be highly probable, but not entirely pertinent to tonight's event.

American sports in the young century of 2000 produced stories about Tiger Woods in golf; Tom Brady, the New England Patriots, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL; Reggie Bush and the consistent superiority of USC football in the NCAA, the end of Lance Armstrong in cycling, and one major dominating figure in Major League Baseball -- Barry Bonds.

However, the story does not end with Bonds' superior performance on the baseball diamond; the story will continue for years to come as the role of the cyborg-athlete becomes defined in American and world sports.

Does Bonds represent the new athlete in sport: the fusion of genetic talent and drug, gene, and device enhancement?  Or will sport return to valuing human performance above all once again?

Link to urban myths about Bonds and steroids.

Sprinter Justin Gatlin shot with BBs, or B-12, or what?

Forbes carries a new release on Justin Gatlin.  Seems he was given a shot two weeks before he competed at a Kansas track event.  Gatlin said he was told by an assistant to disgrace track coach Trevor Graham the shot was B-12.  He was also handed some unknown pills for inflammation.

The top assistant to track coach Trevor Graham gave Justin Gatlin an injection, which he believed to be vitamin B12, two weeks before the world record-sharing sprinter tested positive for steroids.

After Randall Evans gave Gatlin the shot, the sprinter was given what he was told were anti-inflammatory pills as a follow-up, a person with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Monday.

Gatlin said Evans and Graham came to his house and told him the injection could help his troubled hamstring, said the person, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case.

Gatlin answered questions about the injection and medication last week at an arbitration hearing to determine whether a possible eight-year ban should be reduced.

This could be an interesting development.  Gatlin is faced with an 8 year track ban, secondary to a positive testosterone test at Kansas in 2006.  However, if the sprinter were the victim of sabotage by his coach, that would be a different matter.  Might Gatlin yet compete in the 2008 Olympics?

Gatlin's attorney John Collins confirmed Gatlin received an injection and pills. "But we have no reason to believe it was anything other than B12 and Voltaren," he said.

Voltaren is an nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug to ease Gatlin's pain.  His pain may also be eased by BALCO-busting federal agent Jeff Novitzky, who appears to be on his team

"Agent Novitzky testified after reviewing all those calls that there was no evidence Justin ever knowingly received or used any prohibited substance from anyone," Collins said.

The sprinter also has continued to give anti-drug talks at local schools and other gatherings.

Gatlin, Collins said, wants to regain his reputation as much or more than he wants to compete in Beijing.

Who ever heard of B-12 shots for a muscle pull anyway?  B-12 injections, unless one has pernicious anemia or a neuropathy, pops up as a relic of a few decades ago.  The idea of an assistant coach giving an athlete shots, based on his own diagnosis is nauseating at least, and illegal at best or vice versa).

An athlete should know what drug or substance anyone injects into his body; no excuse for Gatlin there.  However, it may be that these circumstances mitigate the sprinter's ban somewhat.

Neifi Perez not paying attention to TUEs about Adderall use

As soon as we published our bit on Neifi Perez testing positive again for amphetamine, Neifi came out to say that he suffers from ADHD;  he added that he takes Adderall (a mix of amphetamine salts) for ADHD.  (ESPN story here) (Foul balls line here)

However, there are several issues in his statements.

• Neifi said a psychologist diagnosed him with ADHD and then gave him Adderall.  Psychologists cannot prescribe medications;
• 'The team' gave him the medication.  Oops.  Adderall is a Schedule 2 controlled substance, which can only be prescribed by a physician with a DEA number.  If 'the team' gave it to him (presumably the trainer) that is a violation of federal narcotics law;
• Neifi says someone from the team told him to use amphetamine.  Another oops.  It is not recommended to look to baseball players for advice on drugs, and therapeutic doses.

Perez needed to pay attention to team meetings about Therapeutic Use Exceptions.  These are exceptions to drug policies when an athlete takes a banned PED but for a diagnosed medical condition.

For a TUE an athlete needs an official diagnosis of the condition, a legal prescription, and for the doctor to fill out the TUE form.

Either Neifi or his doctor (if he had one) wasn't paying attention.

We have treated professional athletes before.  It is amazing how many obtain drugs form trainers, who have no business giving out medicines to athletes.

"It's not fair," said Perez in a conversation with ESPNdeportes.com from his home in Detroit.

"They called three different positives on a 20-day-period. I was using a medicine that was supposedly authorized by the doctors due to a personal condition."

More powerful sluggers, but not better hitters

Retired Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, along with others, spoke to the Hartford Currant about slugging and hitting.  He appeared to say that the muscle era players hit the ball farther, but  on the whole are not better at actual hitting than pre-muscle (steroid) era players.  Better sluggers, not better hitters"

"To be as straightforward as I can," says Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, one of 27 players in the 3,000-hit club, "the steroids thing, coming along with expansion and smaller ballparks, it seems to have put 500 home runs within reach of a lot more guys. The number of guys hitting 500 home runs will surpass the number getting 3,000 hits fairly soon."

The Currant points out the crowd at the 500 Home Runs bus, which has stopped to pick up more players than ever since smaller ball parks and juiced players. appeared:

Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx were in the club before Mantle hit his 500th off the Orioles' Stu Miller. Eddie Mathews joined two months later; Hank Aaron hit his 500th in 1968...Seven players have hit their 500th home run in the last 10 years, more than managed to do it in the 90 years before Mantle's, and several more are in position to do it over the next two or three years. And thus, there seems to be a growing divide in the public's perception between current players, who have accumulated high home run totals in this era of the home run, some with the suspicion of steroids attached, and those who did it in earlier decades, when, at least judging by the numbers, it was far more difficult.

Barry Bonds cousin, former A, and Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson says this about chemical enhancement:

"I think 500 is always going to be a special number," said Reggie Jackson, who joined in 1984 and finished with 563, "but some of the guys in it are going to be more revered than others. That's the reality; it doesn't even matter that it's my opinion. Some of the guys in it we know used some kind of chemical substances. There's going to be a People's 500 Club, and then some other guys who have question marks.

"The saddest part is some of the guys who have 500, 600 would have hit that many anyway. Barry Bonds was going to be considered one of the greatest players anyway.

Babe Ruth's granddaughter weighs in with an educated opinion:

"Actually, with the introduction of steroids, I do think the 500 home run club has diminished in importance," said Linda Ruth Tosetti, whose grandfather, the Babe, was the first to reach the plateau. "You have to ask yourself: How many of these players suspected of using enhancement drugs would be there without them? I know fans love to see the home runs, but as far as I'm concerned, it's cheating and not fair to all the ballplayers who did it the natural way, with hard work and practice."

The terrible swift sword: Reaction to Bonds' #755

Reaction to Barry Bonds tying Hank Arron with career home run #755 came swift and (at times) terrible.

The Houston Chronicle: The Entire Game is Diminished (image from AP).

Congratulations, Barry. You did it. You joined the 755-homer club Saturday night.

You and Hank Aaron. How does that feel, Barry?

You now share baseball's most coveted milestone with one of its most respected players. Thanks to you, the record feels different this morning. It feels a bit less magical. In fact, the entire game feels diminished.

On the other hand, you certainly did it your way. You did it without regard to what teammates, managers, coaches or fans thought of you. You apparently were unbothered by the rules, either. You believed the means justified the end.

The Detroit Free Press (Mitch Albom): 755! But feat will become farce.

Our long national nightmare is almost over.

San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds hit a home run in the second inning of the Giants-San Diego Padres game Saturday night, tying him with Hank Aaron for the all-time lead. One more, and Bonds would own the record by himself. And then he can disappear to the other side of the mountain, waving his bat like a baton as he leads the most joyless parade in baseball history...

He is not a hero. He is not worth a one-handed clap. Let him do his own cheering, his own waving, his own falsely humble speeches. Bonds seems to matter most in his own mind anyhow. Let him live there as a record holder. The outside world is entitled to its doubts

Gregg Doyle at CBS.com:  Bonds hits 755 and Padres fans appreciate, not punctuate.

Pair of kings. Bonds connects for No. 755 to match Aaron's hallowed home run record, writes Phil Rogers at The Chicago Tribune.

The Modesto Bee talks of purity: Purity left sports long before 755 meant anything.

The Ventura County Star already pegged A-Rod as the probable successor to the career home run mark: Will A-Rod surpass Bonds as all-time home run king? Pro: Yankees star has motivation to pursue mark?

My steroids are better than your steroids: Bonds hits #755 off Hensley

Giant slugger Barry Bonds hit career home run #755 off San Diego starter Clay Hensley tonight.  Bonds powered a Hensley ball into the opposite left field stands.

Hensley himself tested positive for anabolic steroids while in the minor leagues. (SignOnSanDiego.com)

The four Padres farmhands were among 38 minor league players identified as being violators of Major League Baseball's Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

All were suspended for 15 games for using performance-enhancing substances – either steroids or steroid precursors.

"To me, that's not very smart when you know you are going to be tested," General Manager Kevin Towers said. "It's good the names are out there. Public disclosures are going to be beneficial. I hope it embarrasses the heck out of them."...

The best known of the four is Hensley, a 25-year-old right-handed pitcher acquired from San Francisco in 2003 for reliever Matt Herges.

A strong showing this spring earned Hensley a spot in the rotation at Triple-A Portland. He was 11-10 with a 4.30 ERA with Double-A Mobile last season, coming on strong after a slow start threatened his career.

Bonds, himself appeared relieved when he finally connected for the historic home run.  Wonder if San Diego radio broadcaster Ted Leitner had to cast aside his disgust to make a call?

Any comments here about Bonds' PED use?  Naw, not now.  The event is what it is:  Bonds ties Hank Aaron for the career home run mark.  Period.

The Giant celebration and th e Giant bench appeared subdued.  Wonder what these players think in their private moments of the Bonds achievement?

Padre announcer Ted Leitner disdains Bonds and his home run

San Diego Padre announcer Ted Leitner may be in a jam.  Barry Bonds, stuck at home run #754 or one behind Hank Aaron, invade the Padres home park for a 3 game series this weekend.  Leitner wants nothing to do with Bonds record home run(s), should they exit the Padres stadium.  The North County Times caught up with Leitner:

"I say, 'Please, God. Not here. Not me,' " said Leitner, who is in his 28th season as a radio play-by-play voice of the Padres. "I don't want this guy to break the record on my watch."

Ouch.  But Leitner adds perhaps the strongest words to date form a professional concerning Bonds:

"I have no enthusiasm, no desire whatsoever for this because I have eyes. No one does what he does in his 40s without some help," Leitner said in reference to persistent rumors that Bonds' late-career home-run binge has been fueled by steroid use. "Give me a break. This is a bastardization of history.

"Everybody hates this guy. He's booed everywhere he goes. And how dare he say the fans boo him because he's talented. The commissioner of baseball (Bud Selig) said the only reason he'll follow Barry is because in this country you're innocent until proven guilty. The writers who cover him hate him. Even his mistress turned on him.

"Vin Scully, the ultra-professional Dodgers announcer, said last year that he didn't want to be the one to call the record breaker."

How will Leitner call the famous Bonds home run, should it be hammered against San Diego?

Still, if fate puts Leitner behind the microphone for the call, he plans to be professional...

"I will be straight and factual. I'll be as professional as I can, but I don't know about voice inflection."...

"The writers ---- and I know you guys hate him, too ---- can write the facts," Leitner said. "Your writing doesn't have voice inflection. You write and record the facts, and your readers don't see a like or dislike. Broadcasting is different.

"My call will be different if he hits it with no one out and no one on in the third as opposed to ---- God forbid ---- a game-winning grand slam in the ninth. I don't want to throw my partners under the bus, but I hope they're on duty if he hits it here this weekend." 

Browns' lineman Tucker tuckered out; draws 4 game suspension

Ryan Tucker, a Cleveland Browns lineman, will be sitting out 4 games due to a steroids policy infraction (CBS News).  Wonder if the Browns knew this was coming, leading to draft choice Joe Thomas?

The story line reads as if Tucker suffered from a Depressive Disorder at the end of the 2006 season.  The player admits he took 'a banned substance' while be teated for a 'mental disorder'.  Either the substance was an anabolic steroid or a street drug.

Ignoring the entire 'roid rage debate -- which entices people with no medical training to become experts on the subject -- almost anything on the NFL's banned list can produce psychiatric effects.  Anabolic steroids themselves can contribute to depression and psychosis in high enough doses.  Steroid withdrawal can also produce mental effects.

We just wonder if these players receive good medical care during the 'episode'.  Hope so.

Desperate to resume his career, a "down and out" Ryan Tucker risked his football future by taking steroids.

He'll pay for it _ and so will the Browns.

Tucker, Cleveland's rock-solid right offensive tackle, was suspended Friday for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Tucker admitted taking a banned substance, saying he did so while being treated for a mental disorder that limited him to nine games last season.

"I didn't intend to compromise the integrity of the NFL, my team," a remorseful Tucker said following Friday's morning practice. "I want to apologize to the fans, my family. It's been a long road in which I was pretty down and out last year. In my attempt to come back I took a banned substance.

"I'm going to fulfill this punishment and get it behind me."

Tucker can practice with the Browns throughout training camp and the preseason. However, he cannot be with the team during his suspension, which begins Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 1. He is not appealing the ban.

Browns coach Romeo Crennel said he would support Tucker, but characterized the suspension as disappointing.

"We were counting on him," Crennel said. "He's an integral part of that offensive line and created some depth and competition for us. When you lose a guy like that it definitely hurts."

Crennel also said releasing Tucker at the end of his suspension is an option.

"That's always an option for any player we have," he said. "Like I said, at the end of these four weeks we will see where he is, we'll see where we are and than we'll do what is best for the Browns."
The 32-year-old Tucker, one of Cleveland's team leaders on the field and in the locker room, refused to divulge any details about what substance he took.

"There was a point last year that I didn't know if I was going to play again," he said. "Bottom line, I'm healthy now. My family is healthy and happy. People are behind me here, and my family is behind me. That's really all I have."

Tucker will be out during a brutal stretch of games for the Browns, who went 4-12 last season and have had only one winning season since 1999...

Neifi Perez taking huge deduction on paycheck with 80 game suspension

MLB announced Detroit Tiger utility player Neifi Perez will be suspended yet another time; this suspension earns Perez 80 games.  ESPN is sourced here.

A reading of the MLB substance abuse rules says that the third episode of a banned substance results in an 80 game suspension.  Perez' earlier suspension was 25 games, which would count as his second episode with the 'substance'.

ESPN does the math on the money this is costing Perez:

His initial suspension cost him $396,175, and the second will cost him $792,350 -- a total of $1,188,525 of his $2.5 million salary. He will miss the final 54 games of the regular season and finish serving the suspension next year, if he is signed.

Should Perez be in the league come next spring, he will be watched like a hawk:

Because of his initial positive test, Perez is subject to at least six additional tests over the next year.

The Freep says this suspension will likely end Perez' Detroit career.

Three positive tests, allegedly for a 'stimulant' on Neifi.  We would wonder if Perez shows a problem beyond using that drug as a performance enhancement drug (PED).  If so, here's hoping MLB refers Perez to the right rehab facility to get things back on track.

Dodgers present youth 'Steroid Awareness Day'

As noted yesterday, youth Steroid Awareness Day, sponsored by the Taylor Hooton Foundation showed up on the Dodgers schedule for the third game of the Giant's-Dodgers series.  This story from the International Herald-Tribune says that kids be kids.  And those kids let it all hang out:

Eleven-year-old Danny Casas sat on the outfield grass at Dodger Stadium, listening to a team of experts tell him that steroids could make him violent, depressed, suicidal, ugly and bald.

When the lectures were over, and Danny was sufficiently terrified, he had one question for the featured speaker, Dodgers center fielder Juan Pierre:

"Do you think Barry Bonds took steroids?"

Kids, without all the political and economic baggage of the perverted jaded experienced adults who talk around the issue go for the zinger.  Lay it on the line brother: Did the man use steroids or not?

The 100 Little Leaguers at the Dodgers' steroids awareness clinic Thursday went silent. Pierre took two steps back, as if he were gauging a hot line drive.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm staying away from that one."

The answer, son, is that a mountain of evidence points not to just anabolic steroids, but HGH, clomid, insulin, and stimulants. But hey, we are not here to discuss the past.  We may as well keep deceiving these kids, they will grow up to see the world of (more) deceit and cheating and lying soon enough.

Pierre did not want to answer the question, but he had to know it was coming. The Dodgers happened to schedule their steroids awareness clinic for the day that Bonds finished up a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, one home run shy of the career record.

The Hooton family conducted the clinic; they have an agenda:

This clinic was originally scheduled for June 29, when the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres. But Don Hooton, who conducts the clinic around the country, had to push back the date. Hooton was on a conference call with the Dodgers when they decided to hold it Aug. 2.

During the call, Hooton remembers someone in the Dodgers' organization blurting out: "Do you realize who we're playing that night?"

First, the Dodgers had to clear the timing of the clinic with the San Francisco Giants. Then, the Dodgers had to deny reports that they purposefully planned the clinic for the Giants' series. Such is the nature of their brutal rivalry.

When the Little Leaguers walked into Dodger Stadium, a few of them gravitated toward left field, where Bonds plays. Hooton, on the other hand, looked toward the mound, where his cousin used to pitch.

Burt Hooton, Hooton's first cousin, was an All-Star pitcher for the Dodgers. Don Hooton's son Taylor was also a pitcher. When Taylor was 16, his junior varsity baseball coach in Plano, Texas, told him he had to become bigger in the off-season to make the varsity. At 17, Taylor wrapped a belt around his neck and hanged himself from his bedroom door. For months, he had been injecting himself with anabolic steroids.

Do the Hootons debate the Bonds issue?  Not usually:

A debate about Bonds is not usually part of the clinic. The program generally lasts two hours and includes four stations: nutrition, strength training, medical implications and hitting. Bill Mueller, the Dodgers' hitting coach, stood over a batting tee showing the smallest players that they, too, can hit scalding line drives.

So education may start developing kids thinking about the game, it's integrity, and the deleterious effects of using PEDs.  The message may be positive about hard work and success.  However...kids are honest:

Pierre wanted to leave the Little Leaguers with a clear and simple message: If they run enough and work enough, if they use a tee and keep a diet, they too can make the big leagues.

Danny Casas pondered that notion in the stadium parking lot after the clinic.

"I learned a lot," he said. "But I did want to know if Barry Bonds used steroids."

Links: Taylor Hooton's story
Taylor Hooton foundation

Dodger 'Steroid Awareness Day' before Game 3, Dodgers v. Giants

An old friend once said 'what appears to be random is usually well planned, and what appears to be planned is usually quite random', or something like that.

As Larry Brown says (with a link to the LA Times) today is Barry Bonds Steroid Awareness Day at Dodger Stadium.  Coincidence?  Of course.  Coincidence that prolific home run hitter Barry Bonds leads the Giants into LA.  Readers might need to be reminded that whispers about Bonds' PED use echoed in the past.

This was something I alluded to on Saturday in the FanHouse Top Five. Tonight, the Dodgers will be hosting a steroids awareness day. Non-coincidentally, tonight also happens to be the finale of the series against Barry Bonds and the Giants. The Dodgers however, are insisting it is indeed mere coincidence:

The clinic was originally scheduled for June 29, when the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres. But the Taylor Hooton Foundation, which is running the clinic with the Dodgers, had to postpone the event. The late Taylor Hooton, a high school player whose 2003 suicide was tied to steroid use, is the cousin of former Dodgers pitcher Burt Hooton.

"This has nothing to do with who we're playing," Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said. "It's the date that was the best fit for us and the Hooton Foundation."

Obviously these concerns are over now.  MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was shown in attendance last night, enjoying a well deserved Dodger-dog (maybe a dog and a beer will relieve the butterflies he must be feeling as Bonds swings for the fences).

Clearly the myth that Bonds injected 'roids vanished; evidence suggests that Bonds not only used stanozolol, nandrolone, testosterone, but also HGH, insulin, clomid and stimulants.   But who's counting?

Bonds appears stuck at #754, however he will likely burst out of that slump soon.  ESPN looks like they love the Bonds fest; and why not, Bonds' is a very talented baseball player.  Sure wish Hank Aaron would enjoy this spectacle.  Sure wish a guy like Taylor Hooton were alive to enjoy the celebration.

Steroids injected into politics: Edwards, Giuliani, and Obama

So now politicians throw barbs about steroids around like accusations of higher taxes.  John Edwards said this about Rudy Giuliani '“What Giuliani is, is George Bush on steroids.” (Rolling Stone)

We have shared an elevator with Rudy Giuliani.  Rudy is no Arnold Schwarzenegger at all.  He clearly needs steroids.  Very weak pecs and lats.  Edwards added:

Edwards said. “Giuliani, Romney and the rest of the Republicans running for the nomination are going to give the country four more years of crony capitalism, which is exactly what we have now. We have insurance companies and drug companies and oil companies running this government. They need to be stopped. And Giuliani just wants to empower them.”

Now that's a different issue altogether than steroids isn't it?  Edwards accuses Giuliani of steroid use, and then ends up talking about gang activity.  Where is the logic?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, The New York Daily News accuses Barack Obama of using steroids:

After taking hits for being eager to talk with any tyrant, Sen. Barack Obama yesterday rolled out a counterterror plan to show he can be tough, too - vowing to hunt down terrorists in Pakistan.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and others jumped on the Illinois Democrat and White House hopeful last month when he proclaimed he'd meet with hostile leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Cuba's Fidel Castro and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Obama countered by mocking as "Bush-Cheney lite" Clinton's stance that she'd talk to dictators only under certain conditions.

But yesterday, Obama sounded like Bush on steroids, warning Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to crack down on Al Qaeda safe havens in his country.

"Let me make this clear: There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again," Obama said. "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

President Bush's national security adviser, Frances Townsend, angered Pakistanis in July when she made similar comments.

"There must be no safe haven for terrorists who threaten America," Obama said. "We cannot fail to act because action is hard."

He also launched another scorching attack on Clinton, slamming lawmakers who, like her, backed "a dumb war." Obama said while he knew better, "the political winds were blowing" the way Clinton voted.

"Congress became co-author of a catastrophic war. And we went off to fight on the wrong battlefield," he said, then took a shot at Clinton's belief that America is safer now than before 9/11.

So Obama, apparently on-cycle, is taking on Pakistan then Hilary Clinton for good measure.  Sounds like 'roid rage to us, although once again Obama hasn't really bulked up.  Perhaps he is on a cutting cycle?  Or maybe using EPO for endurance?

Only Al Gore looks like he is juicing.  Hey anyone measure Gore's head and foot size?  Interesting ticket...Gore and Bonds: Roids are Great for 2008.

German police search home of Tour de France cyclist Sinkewitz

Early this week German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz admitted to anabolic steroid use following problems at the Tour de France.  Sinkewitz tested positive for testosterone (looks like he did not plan his cycle well) in June.

Sinkewitz had previously denied any wrongdoing but in a statement issued by his lawyer on Tuesday he said he was prepared to take the consequences for his “misdemeanours” and expressed his “deep regret”.

He said that on the day before his test he had used a preparation called Testogel made by the firm Jenapharm which is meant to help people suffering from testosterone deficiency.

“It was a big mistake and showed a lack of responsibility to the team, my colleagues, the sponsor and the entire sport of cycling to use the Testogel,” the statement said.

Sinkewitz said he was ready to cooperate with the German cycling federation (BDR) and hoped to help remove doping from cycling. 

“I am ready to take part in a new cycling after my ban,” he said.

Apparently Sinkewitz failed to mollify the German prosecutors; reports (Earthtimes.com) indicate police searched the cyclists house today:

Hamburg - German police raided the house of cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz on Thursday in the wake of his doping confession, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the athletes' lawyer said. "Mr Sinkewitz has nothing to hide and will answer all questions," said lawyer Michael Lehner. "The search brings no new quality to the case, but is part of the investigation against Mr Sinkewitz.

BKA searched Sinkewitz home in Kuenzell near the central German town of Fulda. It was not known immediately whether evidence was seized.

Considering sports fraud laws in Germany, the authorities are looking for more evidence in their prosecution.  Interesting concept, holding athletes responsible for doping and steroid use

 

 

Franke, Contador, and intrigue: How did the biochemist obtain the documents?

Upon closer examination, the AP story surrounding German biochemist Werner Franke's doping accusations against Tour de France winner Alberto Contador read more provocatively than The Nation first thought.  Found in CyclingForums.com:

Franke said he has documents from last year's Operation Puerto doping
investigation in Spain which show that Contador, a Spaniard who won the
doping-marred Tour on Sunday, had taken HMG-Lepori as a testosterone booster
and an asthma product called TGN.

"We can confirm we have received the documents, and they will be
incorporated into procedures of the district attorney's office," Christian
Brockert, spokesman for Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, told The
Associated Press...

Contador, who rides for the Discovery Channel team, missed the 2006 Tour
when his former team, Liberty, was disqualified because he and four other
riders - plus the team director and doctor - were allegedly linked to
Operation Puerto. 

Media sources, including Le Monde,  hinted at Contador's involvement.  However Franke seems to have resorted to subterfuge to obtain copies.  Read the third paragraph below.  Very interesting.  We have the feeling this story might lead somewhere, but wonder how it all relates to the 2008 Tour.

He isn't the first to say he possesses copies of the Operation Puerto
investigation in which Contador's name surfaces. France's Le Monde
newspaper, along with several German ones, have printed parts of documents.
More than a week ago, Germany's Bild and Suddeutsche Zeitung printed
documents which purport to show the customers of the Madrid clinic.

The initials A.C. were listed, surrounded by other initials that matched up
with Liberty riders.

Franke apparently has acquired other documents, saying only he got them "in
my briefcase" while Spanish police weren't watching.

"The 2007 Tour de France suffered greatly from doping problems," the UCI
said in a statement Tuesday. "This was directly related to the significant
increase in the number of anti-doping controls."

Sports Hernia asks "Which face will Bud Selig pull out with Bonds HR #755"?

From the Sports Hernia.  A study in facial morphology.

Will it be the "maybe testing for steroids 10 years ago would've been a wise idea" face (top left)?

The "are you farting out of your ear? face" (top row, second from left)?

The "constipated Prince Valium" face (top right)? ...(and more)

So Babe Ruth would have used 'roids?

Amazing what some people write and think.  A writer for the Daily Breeze, out of LA, says Babe Ruth would have juiced.

Babe Ruth would have done steroids, too. He did everything else. If all he had to do was drop his pants for a boost of power, well then, that wouldn't have been much of a departure from his habits. He was, after all, just a ballplayer, and it's always about chasing. But Ruth signed a few more autographs than Barry Bonds did, so he's considered colorful instead of cancerous.

Ruth was a ballplayer who lived larger than the rest, a glutton with two distinctions: He wore pinstripes, and no one ever got to see what Josh Gibson might have done to his record had he played in the big leagues.

Now, we've gotten to see what Gibson, another glutton, might have done, though with the name of Barry Bonds. And as the caravan of hatred rolled into Dodger Stadium Tuesday night, here it is, ladies and gentlemen: like him or, more likely, hate him, Bonds is good for baseball.

Quite a stretch to predict an athlete's behavior.  Especially an athlete like Babe Ruth, who dominated without PEDs.  Although the perception exists Ruth accomplished his feats drinking beer, in fact Ruth hired a personal trainer during the off-season.  There is little evidence that Ruth cheated for his advantage.  Hedonism is not cheating.

The writer also believes that hundereds of Bonds contempories used PEDs to cheat the game.  Further, MLB manipulates the 'hatred' of Bonds for financial gain.

f you despise Bonds because you believe he cheated, you must also accept that hundreds of players of his era likely did as well. If you despise Bonds because you need a villain in your life, that's OK, because you paid to see him play...

The animosity toward Bonds is worth hard currency. MLB knows this. On their own Web site, you can find an easy link to Bonds' Web site, and if you play the streaming media, you'll find it is generated by the league. Hatred is sparked by passion. Passion is what helps the game survive. MLB knows that a villain is worth billions, and is most certainly worth more alive than he is dead.

MLB probably likes steroid use about as much as the Tour de France loves blood doping.  Although the use of PEDs result in inflated statistics and achievements, drug-cheating will catch up with the games resulting in loss of credibility, health ramifications, and cynicism.

Babe Ruth partied hard, however that does not equate to drug-cheating.

And by the way, changing the rules on home runs past the foul pole would have added far more dingers to Ruth's totals than Josh Gibson might have prevented.

It happened: Golfer fails doping test

When a athlete the magnitude of Gary Player says to pay attention to an issue, we should pay attention.  During the British open Player expressed his concern about the use of PEDs in golf, which initially seems a bit wacky.  Today, however, Italian authorities suspended an Italian pro golfer for a positive dope test.  From the International Tribune:

Italian golfer Alessandro Pissilli has been suspended after failing a drug test, the Italian Olympic Committee said Wednesday.

Pissilli, who plays on the Italian pro tour, tested positive for the banned diuretic Finasteride at the Omnium National Championship on June 29.

Pissilli has been suspended by the Italian Golf Federation and could face a two-year ban if found guilty of a doping violation.

Golf has come under increased pressure from the World Anti-Doping Agency to introduce random drug testing after South African veteran Gary Player claimed at the British Open last month that some golfers were taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Finasteride is used to treat hair loss but can also mask steroid use, and has been at the center of several recent doping cases.

Reuters adds:

Pissilli, who plays on the Italian pro tour, tested positive for finasteride during the Omnium National Championship near Turin on June 29 after a test was requested by the Italian Golf Federation.

It could be that the golfer simply was treating hair loss; or he might have been using the drug as a masking agent.

The Jamaica Gleaner discusses the possibility of steroids in golf:

Of course there is always a serious and jocular side to the things I write. The comical side of it just went. Seriously, if Player's allegations are true, then one of the sports which I have come to appreciate over the years is just as tainted. It would mean that one of the world's oldest sports has become marred by some of the world's newest ways to cheat.

The stakes in professional sports, regardless of what that sport is, have become incredibly high. Endorsement deals, broadcast rights and of course the gamblers, all mean that the impetus to win has increased tenfold. Now when an athlete says he/she has to win, it might be because he/she really has to maybe to pay off some bad debts with even worse people. So they do all they can, legally or otherwise, to give themselves a better chance than every other competitor. Somehow, when I heard the allegations on drugs in golf, I think that's when I truly felt that the purity in sports was indeed gone.

Sports iaafrica.com adds this:

There are a lot of people on their soapboxes at the moment spouting off about ‘clean’ sport, slamming cyclists that dope and calling for an end to the Tour de France. But if Le Tour is cut from the global calendar we are destined to see the end of most big sporting events because if you are looking for ‘clean’ sport, you are going to be in for one hell of a search.

Cynicism reigns these days, doesn't it?