Steroid Nation

FBI aims fire at the Rocket (Roger Clemens)

Putting on their goggles, the FBI now takes aim at the Rocket -- pitcher Roger Clemens.  Yesterdays news carried stories of letters from Henry Waxman's congressional committee to the Justice Dept asking for an investigation on Roger Clemens's testimony before the committee.  Today, the FBI 'announced' (or at least the AP did) that that agency initiated a probe into Clemens too.  We also learned that IRS agent and BALCO superstar Jeff Novitzky plans on investigating the Rocket.  How many governmental agencies does it take to unscrew a light bulb?

The FBI has begun investigating whether Roger Clemens lied to Congress when he denied taking steroids, officials said Thursday in the case of another baseball star snared in a long-running inquiry into drug use by professional athletes.

Clemens, the All-Star pitcher and seven-time Cy Young Award winner, maintains he has never used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. His former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, claims otherwise, testifying that he injected Clemens with human growth hormones and steroids at least 16 to 21 times from 1998 to 2001.

FBI agents in Washington opened the case a little more than two weeks after both Clemens and McNamee appeared at the same House hearing on Feb. 13, each accusing the other of lying. Three law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, confirmed the inquiry had begun.

This next part is very interesting.  No inquiry of McNamee will be intiated.  Apparently Congress - even without Congressmen Dan Burton -- thinks McNamee told the truth under oath.

The inquiry, opened following a request Wednesday from the House Oversight Committee, could result in perjury or obstruction of justice charges against Clemens. Lawmakers did not ask for a similar investigation of McNamee.

Clemens was first identified as taking steroids in a December report by former Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell, who looked at drug use in baseball. The Mitchell Report was the first public accounting of McNamee's allegations that he injected Clemens with HGH and steroids. McNamee has since said he now thinks those numbers are too low.

Another US Congress committee holds steroids hearings: Uniform testing laws?

The AP publishes this lenghty article on Rep Bobby Rush's "House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection" hearings, which invited America's sports leagues chiefs.

Some members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection used Wednesday's hearing to express doubts that the leagues have done enough since a similar session before the same subcommittee in 2005. Several called for a federal law to legislate drug testing for all the major professional sports.

"Let's get it right this time. ... Let's go ahead and get something into law that is acceptable," Texas Republican Joe Barton said. "It's no fun having this hearing every two to three years."...

There were no players at Wednesday's hearing. Instead, the commissioners sat side-by-side with their sport's union chiefs: Bud Selig was inches away from Donald Fehr; Stern was next to Hunter. Then there was the NFL's Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw, and the NHL's Gary Bettman and Paul Kelly.

The NBA's David Stern disagreed with PED testing mandates:

No, thank you, said Stern, who twice interrupted lawmakers to cite the progress made by all four leagues since the 2005 hearing through collective bargaining with their respective unions. He and the other witnesses also cautioned against a one-size-fits-all law that would apply to their very divergent sports.

"Federal legislation in this area is not necessary for the NBA," Stern said. "Nor do I believe that a uniform, federally mandated approach to drug testing for all sports leagues would be appropriate."

(more on the issues after the jump)

"In spite of the fact that they want to pronounce that they have it under control, I still think that it's not fully under control," said the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. "And we have to do more."

The committee should consider sports frauds law -- that would protect the consumer.

Vince McMahon flips off Congress on steroids hearings

Yesterday the leaders of American sports leagues faced congressional steroids hearings (baseball hearings story here).  One 'leader' declined the invite: the WWF's Vince McMahon. Some congressmen were not pleased.  (Newsday)

The absence of one invited witness at Wednesday's Capitol Hill hearings on steroids in sports did not go unnoticed by several members of Congress, who blasted World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon for his no-show.

Newsday first reported last week that McMahon was the only witness to decline the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection's invitation to testify. WWE officials told Newsday last week that they notified the subcommittee in January that McMahon would not be able to attend because his attorney is involved in a lengthy criminal trial in Pittsburgh. They never heard from Congress again, they said.

The explanation was not good enough for subcommittee chairman Bobby Rush, who said he was "exceptionally and extremely disappointed" in McMahon's absence.

Congress knows about the homi-suicide of the Benoit family, an event likely fueled by steroid and narcotic abuse:

Two congressional committees began investigating the pro wrestling industry last year following the news that WWE wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son, before committing suicide, and was later found to have had abnormally high levels of testosterone in his system.

"Steroid abuse in pro wrestling is probably worse than in any professional sport or amateur sport. And while I recognize that professional wrestling is not actually a sport, it certainly requires a great deal of athletic talent," Rush said before the hearing. "I want to insure Mr. McMahon that this subcommittee fully intends to deal with the illegal steroid abuse in professional wrestling."

McMahon's lawyer said Vince was busy.  Right....Congress might just get a burr in their Potomac saddle about this.  Lots of email going over to Justice from Congress these days.

Nevertheless, Rep. Lee Terry(R-Neb.), accused McMahon during the hearing of "flip his finger" at Congress by failing to appear before the subcommittee. In a statement, McMahon called the characterization "inaccurate and unfair" and said he remains willing to cooperate in Congress' inquiry.

Developing story: CJ Nitkowski called in the Clemens-Canseco party info

How deep does the Clemens-McNamee-Pettitte-Canseco-Steroids-Mitchell-Congress affair go?  Like an onion this story peels off new layers every day.

Remember the Clemens-Canseco party thing, where trainer Brain McNamee says Roger Clemens and Jose Canseco discussed Winstrol?  This party now appears to be gaining momentum as the most famous party since Chappaquiddick.  Was Canseco in attendance or was he not?

Clemens says no.  Canseco says no.  McNamee says yes.  Clemens's nany says yes and no.  A photo of Clemens and an 11 year-old says maybe.  Then a MLB player says Clemens' and Canseco's wives breasts augment the 'yes' vote.

Now, Newsday reveals former Yankee, Met, Tiger, Astor etc. etc. CJ Nitkowski called in this information to Congress.  Maybe.  He kinda remembers.  Not to mention CJ Nitkowski and Brain McNamee go way back...

Former major-league pitcher C.J. Nitkowski told Newsday Wednesday night that he recently relayed a story to congressional investigators that Roger Clemens once told him about being at  Jose Canseco's Florida home before a party.

But Nitkowski said he stressed to the investigators that he could not say with any certainty that the story Clemens told him has to do with the widely discussed 1998 Canseco party that is at the center of the Brian McNamee-Clemens dispute.

According to Nitkowski, Clemens told him a story several years ago in which Jose Canseco's then-wife, Jessica, was sunbathing topless in the backyard before a party. Clemens, according to Nitkowski, mentioned to Canseco that she probably should cover up before people arrive. home before a party.

 

Did Nitkowski remember this or not?  And what happened to the breast augmentation story?

Nitkowski  pitched briefly for the Yankees and Mets in a 10-season major-league career. He said Wednesday that he did not remember the story until he watched the Feb. 13 congressional hearings on television, "which jogged my memory a bit."

Not long after the hearing, investigators who had interviewed Nitkowski reached out to him again, and he said he felt a responsibility to tell them about the story, even though he is not sure of the timing.

"All I've been doing is answering the questions they've asked," Nitkowski said. He is in an awkward and uncomfortable position because he doesn't want to be viewed as if he's trying to help bring down Clemens, who he said "always treated me with respect."

(more after the jump on Nitkowski and McNamee)

 

New book on gay health targets steroid abuse

A new book on health care issues in gay men lists steroid use as problematic. The Windy City Media Group looks at a new book on gay health by Dr. Frank Spinelli.

Dr. Frank Spinelli never saw any books that directly focused on current, wide-ranging health issues affecting gay men, so he wrote one.

The result is The Advocate Guide to Gay Men's Health and Wellness ( Alyson Books; $18.99 ) , a first-of-its-kind resource for life-enhancing holistic medicine. Informational and inspirational, the book provides an in-depth, easy-to-read look at the issues that affect the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical well-being of gay men...

Spinelli stresses the importance of a good physical exam annually, one geared to a gay man.

The book itself is geared for the 40-and-over crowd, “but there's something in it for everyone,” he said, pointing out sections about gay sex and STDs.

“Being gay has a lot to do with how you see your health, how you talk to your doctor, including what you talk to your doctor about,” Spinelli said.

Dr. Spinelli says anabolic steroid and HGH use needs to be addressed in the gay community:

The book also addresses steroid and recreational drug use within the gay community—and, yes, both are a major problem, he said.

“When I moved to New York, I had never even heard of a circuit party, let alone knew what went on at them, including the amount of drugs consumed at them,” Spinelli said. “I really see crystal meth as a major problem in the gay community. I can't even begin to imagine how much we've underestimated its use. It's probably much higher than its given statistically.

“Anabolic steroids definitely are a problem within the gay community. They definitely are having an impact in the community. Same for human growth [ hormone ] .”

The book also offers information about gay man's physical exams and tips to avoid contracting a new bacterial skin disease that has been silently plaguing the gay community since 2002. Also, Spinelli writes about eating disorders, among other topics.

We would suspect of "Appearance Enhancement" as the root of the steroid and HGH use in this population.  Certainly a topical subject.

It's official: the Rocket Probe launched on Roger Clemens

Looks like Fox News scooped the press on this one.  Henry Waxman (d, CA) and Tom Davis (r, VA) will request that the Justice Dept investigate Rocket Roger Clemens on possible perjury regarding his congressional testimony earlier this year. (Update, The New York Post carries the lists of reasons behind the investigation)

"We believe that his testimony in a sworn deposition on Feb. 5, 2008, and at a hearing on Feb. 13, 2008, that he never used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, warrants further investigation," committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis wrote. "That testimony is directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of Brian McNamee, who testified that he personally injected Mr. Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

"Mr. Clemens's testimony is also contradicted by the sworn deposition testimony and affidavit submitted to the committee by Andrew Pettitte, a former teammate of Mr. Clemens, whose testimony and affidavit reported that Mr. Clemens had admitted to him in 1999 or 2000 that he had taken human growth hormone."

Rep Brooks (d, MD) doubts Clemens's testimony:

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told FOX News that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner should have never testified before the House Oversight Committee.

"I think Clemens would have been better off not coming before the committee," Cummings said. "He was insistent about coming forward. He came in. He very adamant."

Cummings is a member of the oversight panel and one of the most vigorous questioners at the hearing two weeks ago. At the hearing, Cummings told Clemens he wanted to believe him, but couldn't. He also reminded Clemens repeatedly that he was under oath.

"I wanted him to understand the significance of what he was doing," Cummings said. "I asked him at least five times if he knew he was under oath."

Chairman Waxman was blunt:

...Waxman told FOX that he may have made a perjury referral to the Justice Department based solely on Clemens' deposition.

"We didn't think Roger Clemens was telling the truth," he said.

Everyone set for a Rocket crash?

News flash: Jeff Novitzky to interview Jose Canseco about Clemens: party apparition or not?

Jeff Novitzky (misspelled in the ABC piece) appears poised to pursue Roger Clemens.  ABC News says Novitzky -- lead BALCO investigator -- made contact with Jose Canseco's lawyer; the interview seems to be set.  (also Congress to launch letter to Justice about the Rocket; the wives compared implants at the party)

ABC News has learned that Jeff Novitsky, the IRS agent who has spearheaded the federal investigation into the use of steroids by professional athletes, has asked to speak to former baseball player Jose Canseco about pictures that have emerged allegedly showing Roger Clemens at a party that Clemens swore, under oath in his congressional deposition, that he did not attend.

The photos, if verified, could put Clemens in legal jeopardy.

A lawyer for Canseco, Robert Saunooke, said his client intends to "fully cooperate," and has tentatively agreed to meet with Novitsky in San Francisco in the next couple of weeks.

Perhaps the question that has held America captive for 3 months will be answered soon: did Clemens party with Canseco?  Stay tuned for the juicy details.

In his sworn deposition, Clemens denied adamantly ever attending the 1998 party held at the house of his then-teammate Canseco. He was asked if he had been at Canseco's house at any time around the June 9 party, and he replied "no."

Clemens' initial denial of having attended the party had been an important part of his lawyers' attempts to undermine the accuracy of the Mitchell Report, the explosive findings of an investigation led by former Sen. George Mitchell, that accused Clemens of taking steroids. The Mitchell Report claims that Clemens was at the party.

Friday evening, Rusty Hardin, a lawyer for Clemens, released a statement saying he had been contacted earlier in the month by a man who said he had pictures of Clemens and his son together at the party. According to Hardin, the man told him that the pictures show Clemens in the pool with the man's then-11-year-old son. According to Hardin, the man said he'd call back but never did.

Richard Emery, a lawyer for Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, who has said that he injected Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs, said that he, too, learned about the existence of the photos. In an interview with ABC, Emery said he told federal prosecutors and congressional investigators about the existence of the photos last week. Emery was told one picture was of the boy in a pool with Clemens, and the other was of the boy and Canseco.

Thus, Clemens might be target of not only a Congressional perjury probe, but also an IRS/FBI steroids investigation.

Congress launches a letter to Justice about Roger Clemens

Looks like there will be a Congressional Rocket launch -- reports say that Congressional leaders pounded out a letter to the Justice Dept, asking for a Clemens investigation, likely into perjury. KGBT:

WASHINGTON (AP) - A draft letter asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Roger Clemens made false statements to Congress has been written by House staffers. That's what The New York Times reports, citing three unidentified lawyers familiar with the matter.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held the February 13th hearing at which personal trainer Brian McNamee repeated his allegations that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone -- and Clemens repeated his denials. Both men spoke under oath during depositions and at the hearing.

A spokeswoman for committee chairman Henry Waxman would not comment when asked about the existence of the draft letter.

Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis have been working in concert during the committee's look at steroids in baseball, dating to the 2005 hearing with Mark McGwire.

Wonder how Clemens apologist Indiana Congressman Dan Burton feels about all this?

New evidence implanted in Congress may bust Clemens

The New York Daily News says that Congress investigators found new evidence that Roger Clemens attended Jose Canseco's Florida party: there occurred a battle of the breast implants.  (also see Congress to turn over Clemens to Justice)

Congress is believed to have received new evidence over the past 10 days that may further undermine Roger Clemens' sworn testimony that he did not attend a suddenly notorious 1998 party at Jose Canseco's South Florida home.

The Daily News has learned that in the days since the Feb. 13 public hearing on steroids in baseball, another major leaguer has informed congressional investigators that Clemens often joked in the clubhouse about a memorable account of the party - a scene in which Debbie Clemens and Canseco's ex-wife Jessica compared the results of their surgical breast enhancements.

So why the big deal about a silly Canseco party?  Here's why:

The 1998 Canseco party is crucial because it was there that Clemens allegedly talked about steroids - and may have even used them for the first time, McNamee has said.

"I think he got it at Canseco's house," McNamee said in a secretly recorded Dec. 12 conversation at his home with private investigators working for Clemens' lawyer Rusty Hardin. "As far as the government and Mitchell, they know that he got the Winstrol at a party; and that's when he did Winstrol."

This story has morphed into a Kafka novel.  The entire McNamee-Clemens feud.  Debbie Clemens's HGH and inplants.  It's nuts.

"I mean, they talked - no disrespect, but they talked about how great Jose's wife's augmentation job was to Debbie and showed her," McNamee said. "And then Debbie showed her her augmentation job."

Where could these revelations lead?  First, would be a Congressional referral to the Justice Dept for a perjury investigation.  And second, IRS agent Jeff Novitsky -- the lead hammer of the BALCO probe -- appears to be taking an interest in Clemens.  Clemens's attorneys seem to be backing down on some counts:

Hardin backed off Clemens' denials about being at the party after the Daily News reported last week about the existence of a photo that may link Clemens to the party. The photo is owned by a young man who attended the party when he was 11 years old and took photos of his baseball heroes, including Clemens.

That photo is believed to be among the pieces of evidence (along with blood-stained medical refuse) being reviewed by IRS special agent Jeff Novitzky and prosecutor Matthew Parrella, who have much broader investigative power than the committee's attorneys did.

All this should 'augment' evidence against Clemens.

 

Tampa Bay Devil Rays thinking of Bonding with Bonds

Once again proving Dave Krieger right (that we are in a post-ethics era), the Tampa Bay Devil Rays ponder giving Barry Bonds a contract.

Bonds, indicted for perjury, and highly suspected of juicing on any number of PEDs (anabolic steroids, HGH, insulin, Clomid, and others), flaps in the wind following his 'release' by the Giants last year.  Embroiled in several steroids flaps one would think a MLB team might avoid steroid flap numero uno.  But no.

On the other hand, it could be argued that any citizen should be given the right to earn a living, if his skills can be utilized.  Difficult moral arguments.  Should a MLB club sign a player under indictment, or strongly suspected of PED use?

TampaBay.com brings us closer to Bonds:

There has been no formal offer, actual wooing or even public displays of affection. But the Rays seem to have at least an eye on Barry Bonds, and team officials have recently talked internally about the all-time home run king who has been at the center of the steroids controversy.

The Rays have weighed the merits of other remaining free agents, such as Mike Piazza and Kenny Lofton, and may not have decided whether to proceed on any of them. In Bonds' case, there would be a lot to think about in balancing what good he could do at the plate and the gate vs. the disruption he could cause in the clubhouse. (Unlike some teams, they also haven't said publicly they wouldn't consider Bonds, either.)

"Our policy is to not comment on any players outside the organization except to say generally that we're committed to improving our roster for 2008 and beyond," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said.

Bonds, 43, is seeking a chance to play and, adding to the potential plot, his agent, Jeff Borris, is in Tampa this week. But he wouldn't say Sunday night if, or how much, the Rays were interested.

"I talk to Tampa Bay all the time for a variety of reasons," Borris said.

 

Negro League players not on steroids or HGH

Interesting article from NW Arkansas News on the Negro Leagues.  Speed, power, pitching, no steroids.  Definitely no HGH (who could afford HGH on their salary):

Leroy "Satchel"Paige, Josh Gibson, James "Cool Papa"Bell, Mamie "Peanut"Johnson and Effie Manley.

They are five legendary figures from Negro Baseball Leagues.

Byron Motley, an authority on the Negro Leagues, spoke Saturday at Northwest Arkansas Community College and he described the league and many of its players. Motley was the guest speaker at the colleges National TRIO Day for its upward bound program...

Negro League players made up to $ 1, 000 a month so many worked other jobs to earn money to help take care of their families, Motley said.

Power and speed without the juice:

Gibson was the mighty home-run threat in the Negro League. His total number of homeruns are not know, but Motley said it is believed that Gibson had at least 950 homers which included one season with 95 home-runs. "He (Gibson ) died the same year Jackie Robinson signed his contract to play in the Major League," Motley said. "Some say he died of a broken heart because his time to play in the Major League had passed."

Bell was the speedster and the base stealing threat, according to Motley. "They say he was so fast that if he would cut the light off and he was back in bed before the light was off," Motley said. "We do know for a fact that he wasn't on steroids."

Jesse Owens even refused to race bell, according to Motley.

The players played for the love of the game...without the juice:

"It's a piece of American history that few remember, but they paved the way for current players and for all people," Motley said. "They kept going for little or nothing to play a baseball game."

NHL to share in Congressional scrutiny on steroids

Faceoff.com tells us that the NHL will face off against Congress soon.

Finally, testing in the development and minor leagues -- where bulking up is most crucial for players wanting to make the show -- is non-existent or ineffectual. As baseball has shown, those at the beginning and end of their careers are most vulnerable to using performance-enhancing substances. (Just see the confessions of Boom Boom Geoffrion's grandson, Shane Monahan, who used steroids in his MLB career in the '90s.) But the NHL plan largely ignores the kids who need HGH to gain another 15 pounds to make the big time.

Generally, the NHL would not come to the forefront when steroids and professional sports are discussed.  Dick Pound disagree with this thought, once slamming the NHL's policy on steroids. However, Congress is going to check this out.

You can excuse Kelly being obliged to defend this stuff. He inherited the plan from his predecessor Ted (The Snoop) Saskin. His chance at creating a better plan will come when the CBA is renegotiated -- or Congress tells Bettman that his plan is a sham.

But there isn't a fig leaf -- enhanced or otherwise -- behind which the NHL owners can hide. Oh, sure, Bettman will regurgitate the line that NHLers have almost never failed the well-announced tests for Olympics or world championships. And that the NHL alone among the sports leagues has avoided the scourge of drugs. Bully. When you don't start testing your players until 2005 and the outside tests come at predictable times, it's like saying you don't speed between radar traps. Who can prove otherwise?

Maybe Congress should talk to Nazarov -- as they did Jose Canseco -- before hearing the well-worn blather from the NHL's head office about its pristine record when the rest of the sports world was using performance-enhancing substances. Or maybe the Congress knows little about the NHL and cares even less.

For once in the NHL's life, ignorance could be bliss.

Maybe Congress can 'ice' this one.

Cheating on steroids; What happened to ethics?

Columnist Dave Krieger discusses an issue which underlies almost all stories on PEDs and steroids: the deterioration of ethics and morals in a culture that turns the other way when someone cheats.

Where have all the ethics gone?

We have been over this territory repeatedly with regard to baseball's steroids era, and you've heard the list of rationalizations from baseball's apologists. But what appears to be a growing compulsion to game the system, to cheat, is far from limited to baseball.

There have always been people willing to seek an advantage outside the rules, but the revelations were occasional and notorious. These days, what used to be years' worth of allegations come compressed into a single 24-hour news cycle.

Look at these examples:

Kelvin Sampson, coach of the No. 15 men's college basketball team in the country, negotiated a midseason exit from the storied program at Indiana University on Friday amid charges he broke the same rules he broke earlier at Oklahoma.

A photograph taken by an 11-year-old boy may prove that Roger Clemens, No. 8 on baseball's list of career wins, "misremembered" under oath before Congress whether he attended a party at Jose Canseco's house, as his former personal trainer claimed.

Barry Bonds, No. 1 on baseball's list of career home runs, cannot get an offer to play for any team, perhaps in part because he is under federal indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Ted Johnson, former CU and Patriots linebacker, told ESPN that while with the Patriots, he sometimes received lists of opponents' audible calls at the line of scrimmage during the week before a game.

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania wondered whether the NFL really wants to talk to Matt Walsh, the former Patriots video assistant, about the team's program of videotaping opponents' defensive signals, also known as Spygate.

Krieger concludes:

Either the stakes are too high or the ethical standards are too low. Maybe both. A number of sports now offer rookie orientation seminars on the dangers of drugs, unprotected sex and duplicitous financial advisers. Maybe ethics need to be added to the curricula.

Clemens doesn't have photographic memory: NY Daily News says photo shows the Rocket at Canseco pad

Roger Clemens, sworn in under oath, testified he did not attend a party hosted by Jose Canseco...a party where reports says steroid use came under discussion.  Clemens's ex-trainer, the infamous Brian McNamee, when sworn in gave testimony that he remembers Clemens, Clemens's wife and family, and Clemens's nanny attending the party.  He said-she said, right?

Maybe not.  The New York Daily News says McNamee's lawyers have procured photographic evidence of the Rocket at Canseco's pad.

As the congressional committee that spent nine weeks considering Roger Clemens' attack on the Mitchell Report now quietly mulls referring the entire matter to the Justice Department, federal investigators seasoned in the anti-doping game are ready to hit the ground running.

Their leads could include new photographic evidence that has emerged to potentially undermine Clemens' sworn testimony that he did not attend a 1998 party at the home of his then-teammate Jose Canseco - a party that figured both in the Mitchell Report and the Feb.13 public hearing in Washington.

The photo is owned by a young man who attended the party when he was 11 years old and took photos of his baseball heroes, including Clemens. Richard Emery, one of the lawyers for Clemens accuser Brian McNamee, was aware that such evidence had been circulating this week.

"We have reason to believe it's reliable evidence," Emery told the Daily News on Thursday. "We believe there's photographic evidence that shows Clemens was at a party he says he wasn't at."

Does this mean the Justice Dept will launch a Clemens perjury investigation?  Who knows?  How important is the issue?  Does this evidence even become admissible in court? Is everyone tired of trials-by-media-release?

Maybe someone saved a swizzle-stick from a cocktail to analyze for DNA.

 

Clemens to be a legal 'pinata'?

The Minnpost.com gives us one of the most hilarious pieces out there on the Roger Clemens steroid situation.

Attorney Rosenbaum wonders what Clemens and his attorney are thinking

It's the cover-up, the adage goes, not the crime. In that regard, baseball's Roger Clemens, the steroid denier, seems to have set himself up for his Nixon moment. The circus surrounding his congressional hearing last week, to some legal observers, was simply the capper on what's been a truly bizarre legal effort.

"No one can really explain the strategy followed here," says Ron Rosenbaum, a local attorney and former talk-radio host on KSTP-AM, a station that still features him all too occasionally. "It strikes me as insane."

Anyone reading this blog know about Clemens's story: the career, the Mitchell Report, and the Clemens Denial and Congressional Hearings Circus. To continue:

Forget about whether he used performance-enhancing drugs — it looks as though he might be under the influence of something else.

"Clemens' ego is so huge that nobody could tell him what was right," Rosenbaum posits, "or he's getting bad legal advice."

Whatever the case, his efforts hardly seems to be working, since most people paying attention think Clemens doth protest too much. But more pressingly, it's worth noting that the investigation that will finally land Barry Bonds in court hinges on not whether he used steroids, but — in his Watergate moment -- whether he lied about knowingly doing so.

Is the issue the juice or the ruse?

But if there's a lack of evidence on whether Clemens used 'roids or HGH — and Rosenbaum notes, "what's the motivation for McNamee" to lie? — there's certainly no lack of proof of general knuckle-headedness by the pitcher and his attorney, Rusty Hardin.

"I'm stunned at how stupid he was," Rosenbaum says, noting that Clemens is "not capable of deep thoughts."

And Rosenbaum doesn't have much good to say about Hardin either.

"There's a difference of opinion in this town, but from the very beginning I thought this was a textbook case of how to not handle a legal situation like this," Rosenbaum says of his fellow lawyer, adding with incredulity that Hardin would allow Clemens to submit himself to a lie detector test, which the pitcher has said he would take. "At the end of the day, all you can do is recommend advice as an attorney. You can't tell your client directly what to do."

Thoughts for the future?

What's down the road?
Not that the appearance of Clemens before Congress has ended the whole ordeal. It took prosecutors five years to make the case against Barry Bonds, and Rosenbaum pointed out that there's a lawsuit hanging over the Clemens matter — one that Clemens brought against McNamee to boot.

"What an idiot — it's his lawsuit," Rosenbaum marvels. Pretty much everything Clemens writes or says in that suit — including "a freewheeling deposition" — will be under oath. In other words, Clemens may have set his own trap.

"He's just a buffoon, and there's nothing juicier than a buffoon in the legal system," Rosenbaum says, calling Roger Dodger a "ripe target." "They'll treat him like a piñata." 

Further complicating the Clemens matter, Rosenbaum surmises, is race. There could be an outcry of a double standard if the black player, Bonds, is nailed, but the white player, Clemens, is not.

"Under normal circumstances, I don't think this rises to perjury," Rosenbaum concludes, "but the fun's just beginning."

We cannot stop laughing, like chuckles on steroids...

 

Barry Bonds not out of juice, wants to play in 2008

He's under indictment for perjury, he made the Mitchell Report, and he's America's greatest home-run hitter.  And now he wants to play ball again in 2008.  Yes, Barry Bonds wants to lace them up again this year, if someone needs a designated hitter who may be taking long AWOLs during the season.  The New York Daily News:

"Barry is not retiring. He's not considering retiring," Jeff Borris, the agent for slugger Barry Bonds, told the Daily News on Wednesday. "If Barry's skills had eroded and he wasn't able to compete at the major league level, he would take off his own jersey."

After the San Francisco Giants - his team for the previous 15 years - finally severed ties with Bonds this winter, the face of the BALCO steroids scandal found himself without work for the first time since 1985, the year before his rookie season in Pittsburgh.

 

Perhaps Barry's legal team will obtain a dismissal of the perjury charges.  Perhaps Barry can latch to an MLB with a need for a DH.  Whatever, Barry has more juice left.

New Jersey Cops enter into steroid probe

The New York Daily News reports New Jersey cops -- a couple dozen -- showed up on the roles of a busted steroids distributor.

More than two dozen Jersey City police officers are under investigation for alleged steroid use - the latest fallout from last year's raid on a Brooklyn pharmacy, sources said.

State investigators raided Lowen's Pharmacy in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, last year as part of a probe begun by Albany County District Attorney David Soares into a multistate scheme to sell steroids and human growth hormone over the Internet. An estimated $8million in steroids and human growth hormone were seized, along with the drugstore's client lists.

The names of 27 New York City police officers were found among those who purchased HGH or some form of steroids. Only a handful have faced internal charges and none faced criminal charges. But the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau found names of cops from other agencies and turned those names over, sources said.

From time to time we have carried stories on steroid use among the police.  Not exactly a great situation: the armed thin blue line juiced up and aggressive.

Not so cool runnings: Canadian bobsleigh pilot positive for steroids

The CBC(Canada) tells us that an elite Canadian bobsledder tested positive for nandrolone -- breakfast of champions.  As a result, Serge Despres will serve a 20 month suspension from sledding down the mountain.

A bobsleigh pilot who trains in Calgary is appealing a 20-month suspension after testing positive for steroids.

Serge Despres, originally from Cocagne, N.B., tested positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, last August, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) said Tuesday.

At an arbitrator's hearing, the 29-year-old athlete lost his challenge of results of a urine test, and was suspended for 20 months.

"I've never knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs or any banned substances," Despres said at a Calgary news conference Wednesday.

The bobsledder pulled the nandrolone supplement defense, which could be true but didn't stop the Canadians from issuing the suspension.

"The positive test was caused by a contaminated supplement I was taking during the past summer and I'm here to state I am not a cheater."

Despres said his suspension should have only been one year, adding the supplement he bought in a local health-food store was recommended by his team's dietitian.

The bobsledder said tests showed he had 2.9 nanograms per millimetre of nandrolone in his system, compared to the legal limit of 2.0 naturally produced by the human body.

"My case is possibly the lowest recorded positive test in the history of sports drug testing," he told reporters.

If you're going to dope, do it the right way at least.

No juicer like an old juicer: Juan Gonzalez wants back in MLB

Great idea: break back Juan Gone (Gonzalez).  This guy constituted one of the original Texas Ranger Juicers Inc.  We will get to his little escape up in Canada later.  However, the St Lois Cardinals, without any steroid/PED controversies -- unless you count Mark McGwire and Rich Ankiel -- apparently need some PED juice.   (Note the svelte Pujols and Gonzalez in the photo from the Dispatch)

To the St Louis Dispatch:"

Former MVP Juan Gonzalez came out swinging in his attempt to return to the majors, a comeback driven by an unfinished career and a chance to add to what he believes is an unquestioned legacy.

A distinct buzz followed Gonzalez and his batting-practice rockets Tuesday as he joined the Cardinals for their first official full-squad workout of spring training.

"Unquestioned legacy"  Huh?  How about this:

His one at-bat in 2005 ended with a shredded hamstring that appeared to force him into de facto retirement. He signed a minor-league deal with Boston in 2006 but did not show up for spring training. That came amid reports and accusations of steroid possession and use. Jose Canseco wrote in his memoir, "Juiced," that he introduced Gonzalez to steroids while they were teammates in Texas.

In 2006, the New York Daily News reported that five years earlier the Canadian Border Service had seized a bag containing steroids and traced it to Gonzalez. Though the report said there wasn't enough evidence to link Gonzalez or his trainer to the bag, the incident was repeated in December's Mitchell Report.

"Unquestioned"?  How about 'unethical'?  What can be up with MLB teams?  Did they not get enough notoriety from the Mitchell Report or from the Congressional juice hearings?  What does Juan Gone say:

"Just talking about myself, I'm clear," Gonzalez said Tuesday. "I've never tested positive for all the substances. I'm clear, man. I don't have a problem. I will continue with my head up and try the best inside the lines."

The slugger was asked directly if he had ever used performance-enhancing drugs.

"I never used it," he said. "I'm clear."

So Juan Gone says he used the Clear is in the clear?

And the Bird's plans:

The plan is to ease Gonzalez into games this spring to protect the slugger's legs. He could see time at designated hitter during early Grapefruit League games and the Cardinals might be wary of playing him on back-to-back days to start. Gonzalez acknowledged that he's running out of years and that staying healthy is the biggest obstacle.

It's why he's dropped weight and why he kept working.

So THAT is why Juan Gone lost weight?  The stories keep writing themselves...

Yankee owner Steinbrenner blasts NFL

Yankee executive Hank Steinbrenner says the focus on steroids in baseball has given the NFL a pass.   Newsday with the report:

Hank Steinbrenner insists baseball is being picked on for its trouble with performance-enhancing drugs, and claims the problem is bigger in football.

"I don't like baseball being singled out," the New York Yankees senior vice president said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday night.

"Everybody that knows sports knows football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs. I don't know how they managed to skate by. It irritates me. Don't tell me it's not more prevalent. The number in football is at least twice as many. Look at the speed and size of those players

Steinbrenner's point is well taken.  The NFL responded:

Answered NFL spokesman Greg Aiello: "We've had year-round random testing with immediate suspensions since 1990 and we conduct approximately 12,000 steroids tests a year."

Interesting.  If the NFL was good at PED detection, why did several Carolina Panthers continue to use PEDs even up to a week or so before the Superbowl?

Teenage steroid use is alive and not so well

We were recently asked by a major news magazine if teenage steroid and PED use constitutes a significant health problem.  The answer: a resounding yes.

Like health problems such as child abuse, elder abuse and date rape, adolescent steroid use exists underground and sometimes undetectable.  Most physicians, parents, teachers, and others in contact with teens do not understand the issue.  How many doctors, for instance, work out at Gold's Gym (or 1 on 1 Elite Personal Fitness in Deer Park, TX) to understand the culture of covert PED use?

At our hospital -- the University of Iowa -- the lab tests to detect steroid use (detection of nandrolone, T:E ratio etc.) are not offered.  Clinicians and lab personnel do not appreciate the appropriate labs to detect the problem.  Therefore, when a 'bulked-up' teen athlete presents with unusually aggressive behavior, the possibility of steroid use is not considered or not investigated.  (Following a recent presentation on steroid use, this author was criticized because the issue was not clinically relevant.)

However, the International Herold Tribune points out that teen 'roid abuse exists, and can be deadly (also Boston Globe).

She just wanted six-pack abdominal muscles. So in the summer of 2003, Dionne Passacantando, a 17-year-old high school cheerleader, gymnast, and vice president of her Allen (Texas) High School class, made a decision she regrets. She bought anabolic steroids from a boy on the school football team.

"Nobody frowned upon it," she said. "It was easier for me to get those than it probably was to buy beer."

But after injecting herself with Winstrol every other day for five weeks, she became suicidal.

"I was the last person in the world you'd think would use anabolic steroids," she said.

There are those who argue that steroid abuse does not induce behavioral changes.  There are those who argue the drugs do not produce significant side effects.  Any story that purports those claims should be either regarded with skepticism, or perhaps treated with disdain (you decide).

There are those who say that steroid and PED use be treated like Lasik surgery, as an aid to performance improvement.  Anyone ever see a patient who underwent Lasik surgery murder his son, and his wife, then kill himself as Chris Benoit did?

The young lady from Texas (cheerleaders now use 'roids) knew about Tyler Hooton:

he July 2003 suicide of 17-year-old Taylor Hooton has haunted her.

Hooton and Roberts never met, though their schools are rivals just north of Dallas.

"We probably knew the same people and probably got our stuff from the same people," Roberts said.

Hooton was a 6-foot-2-inch, or 1.88-meter, 180-pound, or 82 kilogram, pitcher for his Plano, Texas, high school team. According to the Hooton family, Taylor was told by his coach that "he needed to be bigger" for his senior year. Taylor used steroids, became depressed, and hanged himself from his bedroom door on July 15, 2003.

His father, Don Hooton, started the Taylor Hooton Foundation to fight steroid abuse...

The week Taylor Hooton died was the week Dionne Roberts started using steroids, she said. She said at least half the Allen football team was on steroids.

"A lot of parents and coaches were OK with the fact that this was going on," she said. "I feel it was even encouraged to a point."

The school's athletic director, Steve Williams, disputes that.

"I'd have a hard time believing that's the truth," he said. "We have no knowledge of that. Are we naive to say steroids don't exist here? No."

Unfortunately the AD is wrong: physicians nurses, coaches, AD, and principals are not well educated about teen steroid use, and often unaware (in other cases coaches promote it).  While adolescent PED abuse is not public health problem #1, it is as not insignificant as some will tell you.

It won't be long until American teen females suffer the same problems the girls from the East German doping machine suffered: short term problems including voice changes, genital hypertrophy, and long term problems including mood changes and birth defects.  Then maybe someone will believe.

Should MLB/Feds investigate Pasadena Texas "1 on 1 Elite Personal Fitness" ?

National interest seems to be focused on "1 on 1 Elite Personal Fitness", operated by Kelly Blair in Pasadena TX.  Already connected to Yankee pitcher (and HGH user) Andy Pettitte, Blair also sports other interesting connections. (like Richard Hidalgo, see below)

Apparently there is connection between Blair and bodybuilder/jailbird Craig Titus.  Titus awaits trial on charges of murdering his female personal assistant.  (TItus and fitness model girlfriend Kelly Ryan allegedly murdered Titus's assistant).  Titus reportedly supplied Blair's gym with 'roids and PEDs.

A look at Blair's website reveals photos of Blair with various athletes (MLB unless otherwise noted):

• Pedro Borbon (Angels)
• RIchard Hidalgo
• Eric Dubose
• Danny Bautista
• J.C. Romero
• Hector Carrasco
• Kelvim Escobar (Angels)
• Javier Bracamonte
• Donnie Elliott (Padres)
• Andy Pettitte (Yankees)
• Chuck Clemens (NFL QB with Jets, and Eagles)
• Mike Standley (PGA)
• Shaun Helmle (golf)
• Chuck Liddell (UFC)

Simply going to a gym, or posing for a picture with a gym owner doesn't convict anyone of PED use.  However, it appears this gym is gluteus deep in PED use. 

Blair himself seems to know a great deal about 'roids:

Blair spoke authoritatively about steroids in September 2006, for an article in Pasadena's local newspaper.

"People that use steroids suffer near-constant joint pain later on down the line," Blair told the Pasadena Citizen. "I've seen 30-year-old men that have the joints, tendons and organs of a 70-year-old. ... I've seen so many (athletes) suffer from depression when they have to cycle off of the stuff, and it's not something that's really talked about. From what I've seen, it's one of the worst."

Hidalgo generated an uncharacteristic and incredible year in 2000 for Houston:

44 HR 122 RBI .314 AVE

He never approached those numbers again in his MLB career.  When did Hidalgo meet and train with Blair?  2000?

Kelly Blair -- Pettitte HGH source -- returns to Texas

Kelly Blair returned to Deer Park Texas, home of Tom and Andy Pettitte, and home of 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness. (? steroid distributor center).

Blair stands accused of supplying HGH to Tom Pettitte and his son Yankee Andy Pettitte.  There is evidence that plenty of bodybuilders centered steroid activities around Blair's gym.  To the New York Daily News:

A Texas gym rat who illegally supplied human growth hormone to Andy Pettitte's father, Tom - who gave the drug to his son for use in 2004 - has returned to this town of strip malls and highways after a long trip out of the country.  Kelly Blair, who is related by marriage to Pettitte and attended high school with the pitcher in nearby Deer Park, had been in Bulgaria since not long after the Mitchell Report was released, according to people close to his gym, 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness.

Pettitte's father, long ill with cardiac conditions, apparently acquired HGH as a supplemental treatment for cardiac disease.  (we don't know the specifics of the case, however there are reports HGH may benefit cardiac conditions; CAUTION: investigation report)

Blair however, seems to be quite knowledgeable about steroid use:

Blair spoke authoritatively about steroids in September 2006, for an article in Pasadena's local newspaper.

"People that use steroids suffer near-constant joint pain later on down the line," Blair told the Pasadena Citizen. "I've seen 30-year-old men that have the joints, tendons and organs of a 70-year-old. ... I've seen so many (athletes) suffer from depression when they have to cycle off of the stuff, and it's not something that's really talked about. From what I've seen, it's one of the worst."

Things might get hot for Blair, if Congress or the IRS investigates the Clemens-Pettitte-McNamee steroid/PED mess.

Gregg Zahn admits to nothing, doesn't remember anything about steroids

Perhaps Toronto's Gregg Zaun should tutor Roger Clemens.  Zahn's public statements admit to nothing, yet do not intimidate as much as Clemens's diatribes.  From the Toronto Star:

Following 64 days of silence regarding his inclusion in the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, Jays catcher Gregg Zaun finally fought back yesterday...

When asked directly about any use of performance-enhancers, Zaun was careful: "I have never violated MLB's drug policy or failed any drug tests," he emailed.

MLB did delineate a drug policy well before 2002; however that policy was a naive, nonspecific outline of anti-drug use.  Clever players obviously need detailed lists of banned drugs.

Never mind the PEDs violated federal narcotics law; violations of federal law appear to to be the issue here.  What about that canceled Zaun check on the Mitchell report?

Zaun's purported drug history was detailed in the Mitchell Report, released on Dec.13. He only broke his silence when it was suggested by an informant that the $500 cheque used as evidence by Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse attendant and distributor of performance-enhancers, was in fact payment to Jason Grimsley for a losing basketball bet. He was either asked to leave the payment line blank or didn't bother filling it out in a pique of gambling anger.

The catch is that Zaun is not sure.

"It was a long time ago," he told reporters. "For me to be able to recall things that happened six or seven years ago is asking a lot. You're talking about one cheque among thousands that I've written over the last seven years. And I'm supposed to recall why or when, to whom and where. That was nearly impossible for me to figure out."

The problem is that there is no physical evidence other than the cheque and Zaun seems less than 100 per cent certain that it was to pay Grimsley for a sports wager.

For example, in his email conversation, he said: "It's almost a certainty that I wrote him a cheque for $500 to pay off a bet we made or to loan him money."

He told reporters: "Maybe people come away and think that maybe there's a possibility this could have happened. That's the way I remember it happening."

As the Star reports, something stinks in Toronto:

That reeks with uncertainty.

Boston Globe reader tired of Clemens bloody syringes; wants PED-free zone

A Boston Globe reader has written:

Hey Gordon, love the chats. In his almost-daily blog on ESPN, Buster Olney has set up a PED-free zone at the top of the page and the PED zone at the bottom. I don't know how much say you get in the Globe's editorial decisions, but any chance you guys could do the same around here? I for one want to read about baseball and spring training, not some drama involving a box of 8 year old bloody needles.

Tommy, New York City

You're kidding?  Someone out there doesn't want to read all these PED stories?  Rather read about HRs and RBI?

A: Tommy, I get as much say in Globe editorial decisions as Joe Cochran, the veteran Sox equipment manager, gets when Terry Francona makes out his lineup card. But while we clearly have an obligation to cover stories related to steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, there is little question that we will continue to feed you a steady diet of stories pertaining to what is happening on the field, and about the personalities who play the game.

OK, fine.  We are now officially pouting. 

Bring it on: Cheerleaders bulking up on steroids

A new book examines the rough and tumble world of college cheerleading.  Not the sissy universe most think, the author says that male cheerleaders bulk up on anabolic steroids, while the female yell-leaders stay slim with stimulants.

College cheerleading now ranks as an "extreme" sport, no matter what the NCAA might say, argues Lisa Torgovnick, a former Jane contributor who now writes for The New York Times.

For those cartwheels in nandrolone:

Like college and pro sports, varsity cheerleading is developing a substance-abuse problem. Male cheerleaders bulk up on steroids so they can heft more weight. (Contrary to stereotype, Torgovnick writes, cheer-guys are no more likely to be gay than football linemen. Most of them tend toward "weight-lifting, beer-guzzling and head-banging.")

Apparently there is no PED testing in the cheerleading world:

"Flyers," under pressure to stay light - and maintain the usual unrealistic "Barbie" standards of beauty - take a pharmacy of drugs including, occasionally, cocaine. Except for the cocaine, though, almost all this abuse is perfectly legitimate, since the NCAA rates cheerleading as an "activity" rather than a "sport."

Maybe Rep Dan Burton can 'bring it on' to expose this in a congressional hearing.

Pettitte to hold press conference on HGH today

Following two very difficult weeks where he testified against his BFF and JF (juicer forever) Roger Clemens , and revealed he used HGH obtained from his father, Andy Pettitte will attempt to clear the air today in a Tampa  press conference.  Pettitte reports to Yankee spring training camp, not such a happy camper.  Reports indicate his Yankee bosses would not be described as happy spring campers for giving Pettitte a huge salary this year, then learning that his involvement in juicing was more extensive than they were led to believe.

From ABC-13

TAMPA, FL (KTRK) -- After calling out former teammate Roger Clemens for allegedly using HGH, former Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte plans to talk publicly for the first time about the allegation involving his friend, including his testimony read last week at a congressional hearing. According the Yankees web site, Pettitte, "wants to get his life back to normal," which is why he has decided to hold a press conference, so when it is done, he can concentrate on what he loves to do, and that is playing baseball 

He is scheduled to report to Yankees camp today in Tampa. And for the first time, he will talk about his testimony, which many feel was the most damaging to Clemens. Clemens appeared at a congressional hearing last week.

In a deposition Pettitte says Clemens told him he used HGH. Pettitte, himself, has admitted to using HGH, which he says he got from their trainer, Brian McNamee. Pettitte also says McNamee told him Clemens used steroids in 2004.

 

Sick scandal: Children in brothels given steroids

In a heinous scandalous practice, this report says that young girls in Indian/Nepalese brothels receive sex steroids and anabolic steroids to enhance their maturity.

“I hate looking at my body. My chest and hips have swelled in the last year,” says 14-year-old Mina (name changed).

Like hundreds of minors in the city of Mumbai every year, Mina was rescued from the clutches of pimps in Bhiwandi, near Thane, last year.

Intrigued by her statement, NGOs have investigated and found a startling new trend in the flesh trade. Revelations by minor girls rescued from prostitution suggest that they are injected with growth hormones or forced to pop oral pills that quicken their physical growth.

Brothel keepers apparently administer the pills or hormone injections (oestrogen, testosterone, and steroids) as food supplements. A few months later, the girls show abnormal growth, particularly on the chest and hips.

Some even develop facial hair, according to the Rescue Foundation, an NGO which helped to free some of the girls.

As mentioned, India appears to be a huge offender here.  He brothel owners need fresh mature girls to satisfy the appetites of clients.

Most the girls who have been rescued from brothels hail from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and the northeastern states of India. Others are trafficked from neighbouring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh.

“Suddenly I had hair on my chin and my hips were bigger. I was feeling uncomfortable with my body,” says 15-year-old Nina (name changed), who was rescued in November 2007.

During her counseling sessions, Nina confided that she popped in pills regularly, unaware of their harmful effects.

Social workers say there is a growing demand for ‘fresh’ girls from an ever-increasing young clientele. The rates are also higher for minors, which encourages brothel keepers to exploit them further. “If the girls grow physically, they begin to appear like adults. The brothel owner does this to save himself during police raids,” says Triveni Acharya, founder of the Rescue Foundation. She says the girls who are administered growth hormones also develop “manly” voices.

The Mumbai Police, who regularly conduct raids to crack down on prostitution, particularly minor prostitution, say they have not come across this trend. “If it is true, it is a shocking trend,” says a senior officer from the Social Service Branch. “We will henceforth keep an eye out for such cases.”

The human species displays some despicable behaviors.

Andy Pettitte obtained HGH from his father -- and local trainer

The more the Mitchell Report-baseball steroid-HGH tales fill out in de-tail, the more sordid the details become.  The latest sad story comes from Texas, where Andy Pettitte's father acquired illegal HGH for himself -- a seriously ill heart patient -- and his son -- the sore-elbowed pitcher...from a sleazy gym 'trainer' who graduated with son Andy.  One more illicit triangle.  One more example of the sleazy distribution networks for illegal PEDs.

The trainer's name is Kelly Blair who appears pectoral deep in doping athletes.  Blair operates a gym where pro athletes abound, including Roger Clemen's son Koby.  How tangled is this dope ring?

The link between Pettitte's father and the trainer became apparent in the Congressional questioning last week (Kelly Blair's website):

From the New York Daily News:

The (Congressional) committee published the deposition Wednesday upon concluding its madcap inquiry into Roger Clemens' denunciation of the Mitchell Report. In a remarkable act of candor, Pettitte insisted on making his story public by putting it on the record:

Q: Do you have any idea where your father obtained the HGH?

A: Yeah, I do now. Yes.

Q: Where is that?

A: The gym that he works out in. A guy that's the trainer there.

The News has learned that Kelly Blair is the unnamed trainer. The gym that he owns is 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness, which recently moved to a more modest location in Pasadena because, Blair told someone close to the gym, he couldn't afford the lease. Blair did not respond to recent requests for comment and did not participate in this story. He has been outside of the United States for the last several weeks.

Yankees baulking at HGH-user Andy Pettitte?

Did Andy Pettitte balk with the HGH use?  Or do the Yankees now baulk at Pettitte's compensation?

A baulk in baseball constitutes an illegal action and may be a procedural balk, or a punitive balk.  It appears that Pettitte balked when he admitted last December that he used HGH twice.  Now Pettitte admits he used the illegal PED more than he previously let on.  Balk.

Yankee management should not be very happy about Pettitte's duplicity.  Does this speak to his honesty or to the health of his elbow (for which Pettitte says he injected HGH, despite no scientific evidence that HGH repairs worn-out elbows)?

To the New York Daily News:

Monday, the man in whom the Yankees placed all their eggs in one basket last December, arrives in camp carrying far more baggage than anyone anticipated and, because of this, Hank Steinbrenner and the rest of the high command can only hope and pray Andy Pettitte isn't in fact a basket case.

While Pettitte might be acclaimed as "St. Andy" by the blathering bureaucrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for what they feel was the forthrightness in the sworn testimony he gave them regarding his involvement with human growth hormone, I can assure you he is now regarded as something else by Yankee officials. How about disingenuous for starters? Or duplicitous?

And the Yanks:

The fact is, Hank Steinbrenner has a right to feel Pettitte duped him when on the eve of the winter meetings in Nashville, the quiet and sensitive 35-year old lefty called GM Brian Cashman to inform him he was ready to accept the Yankees' standing one-year, $16 million offer. At the time, there was elation all around, especially from Cashman, who used Pettitte's "I shall return" proclamation as the incentive for walking away from a deal for the Twins' Johan Santana - a deal he never wanted to make. With Pettitte taking up $16 million in payroll, the Yankees could no longer afford Santana, Cashman argued, and Hal Steinbrenner, Hank's partner and the primary financial expert in the business, agreed.

Thus, the Yanks ended up without Santana, and with an expensive, not-entirely-honest pitcher who seems to be self-treating a sore elbow.  And now Pettitte took HGH not once, but 3 chronological series

I'm told that in addition to Hank, VP of scouting "Stick" Michael and team president Randy Levine, who handles all the big contracts, wanted to go ahead with the Santana deal anyway. In the end, Hank reluctantly deferred to his brother and Cashman and the baseball people. But when he did, he had no idea of the scope of Pettitte's involvement in baseball's steroids scandal. He knew Pettitte was going to be mentioned in the Mitchell Report, but he had no reason to believe it was going to be any more than in the context of using the same trainer as Roger Clemens. He didn't know Pettitte was going to admit to having taken HGH at least three times and that the last time he took it, he got it from his father, Tom, who got it from a trainer at a gym in Pasadena, Tex., near Pettitte's home in Deer Park called 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness.

Reports suggest soccer star Ronaldo's early steroid use led to current knee injuries

A Brazilian physician sounded off, opining that international soccer star Ronaldo's pattern of knee injuries appear consistent with early use of anabolic steroids.  The Brazilian Football Conference (CBF) subsequently threw the doc under the soccer-bus, firing him following the Renaldo remarks.

Dr Bernando Santi suggested that Ronaldo's knee injuries resulted from doping that began when the soccer star came under the tutelage of a European professional team -- PSV Eindhoven.  Story at Goal.com.  (full name = Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Limarecent)

El Fenomeno’s career could be over after he ruptured the tendon in his left knee on Wednesday night. This is the third time that the player has suffered such an injury, and his career has been ravaged by similar physical problems over the past decade.

Ronaldo Was Doped

Bernando Santi says that the reason why Ronaldo has suffered so many injuries is because when he signed for PSV Eindhoven in 1994 as a 17-year-old, he was regularly pumped full of anabolic steroids in order to build up the player physically and help him grow.

As a result Ronaldo then developed muscles that were unable to co-exist with his knee’s bone structure, leading to devastating problems in later years.

"I spoke to colleagues in Holland who know people at PSV,” Santi told the daily Folha de Sao Paulo.  “I did not get to talk to PSV doctors. They gave supplements to Ronaldo, who was very thin, and among those supplements they included some anabolic substances which could make him grow a bit more.”

Santi is in no doubt that it was these drugs that have caused the injuries.  "It is a consequence of having grown beyond what his muscles were prepared to grow," he insisted.
"He gained muscle mass very fast, when he still had not reached maturity. The bill for the use of steroids shows up long term, 10, 15 or 20 years later."

Dr Santi isn't the only physician who believes Ronaldo blew out his knee:

Brazilian legend, Socrates, who is actually a fully qualified doctor in medicine, says that Ronaldo’s problems are as a result of the “abuse” he was subjected to earlier in his career.

"This was a pre-announced injury," the ex-Corinthians and Fiorentina star said.

"There is a difference between Ronaldo's muscle mass and the tendons on his knee. We have all seen Ronaldo grow too fast at the start of his career. That destroyed his knees forever.”

Interesting take on the soccer star's knee injuries.  Almost impossible to prove without a long term epidemiological study, the relationship between over-developed muscles of an athlete due to steroid use, and later-life tendon and ligament injuries remains intriguing.

 

Bonds Bombshell Busts: Not positive for steroids after record setting 2001 season

Shocking (oh really) news delivered from San Francisco.  Barry Bonds failed a steroids urine test in 2000 only one month after hitting the single season record 73rd home run.  That may be inculpatory evidence that Bonds used the juice before he testified he didn't 'knowingly' dope in the BALCO trial.  Thus Bonds perjured himself under oath.  This is old, but a typo turned it into new news for a couple hours.

The Govt would need to prove Bonds knowingly juiced up on steroids supplied by 'trainer' Greg Anderson. From ATP:

"At trial, the government's evidence will show that Bonds received steroids from Anderson in the period before the November 2001 positive drug test, and that evidence raises the inference that Anderson gave Bonds the steroids that caused him to test positive in November 2001," US Attorney Joseph Russoniello wrote.

Barry Bonds, the all-time career home run leader, and single-season home run record holder flunked the 'riods test in 2001 one month after blasting #73. (Well, that was a mistake; it was 2000). ABC News:

Federal prosecutors in San Francisco say Barry Bonds tested positive for steroids just one month after hitting his record 73rd home run of the 2001 season. 

Federal prosecutors in San Francisco say Barry Bonds tested positive for steroids just one month after hitting his record 73-rd home run of the 2001 season.

This new allegation came to light on Thursday, in a legal filing in his perjury case connected to the BALCO steroids investigation.

Prosecutors contend they have evidence bonds tested positive for steroids in November of 2007, just two months after he set the single-season home run record. (Note: that's type #2)

Bonds has maintained he never 'knowingly' took performance-enhancing drugs.

Let's go to the expert, Victor Conte, for a comment:

On Thursday night, Victor Conte told ABC7 News: "It's my opinion, that there are no such positive steroid test results for Barry Bonds in November of 2001 as alleged by the government."

We recant what we said earlier about Conte.  Victor Conte was correct....Bonds did not fail a 2001 test.

 

This is why we have hearings on steroids and HGH in Congress

We own a rather rotund Corgi.  After watching the Clemens congressional hearings yesterday, Corgi decided she wanted to lose a couple pounds, and tighten up those abs for a photo-shoot.  She asked her owners for a shot of c-HGH (canine HGH).

This is the reason it is of ultimate importance Congress get to the bottom of this PED/steroid/HGH madness.  Do we want our pets and our children using HGH before their photo-shoots?  Do we want our teenager daughters picking their pimples and injecting HGH into their buttocks prior to senior pictures?  Do we want to be hosting barbecues for our nanny prior to testifying before Congress, so we can get her our story straight.

No we say.  And no, we say to the Corgi.  No c-HGH for you.  What would the Queen think?

Two Colorado Rocky players admit to PEDs

Matt Herges and Glenallen Hill admitted to PED use today.  The Mitchell Report named both players, when it was published last December.

            DENVER,  Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Two members of the Colorado Rockies Wednesday admitted using performance-enhancing substances as described in Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report.

At the time they used the substances, neither pitcher Matt Herges nor first base coach Glenallen Hill was with the Rockies.

Herges has spent nine big league seasons with the LA Dodgers, Montreal, San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona, Florida and Colorado. Hill said he used performance-enhancers late in his playing career which spanned seven teams -- Toronto, Cleveland, the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco, Seattle, the New York Yankees and Anaheim Angels -- from 1989-2001.

"Several years ago I made a poor decision rather than trusting in the abilities the Lord has blessed me with," Herges said in a statement. "I have no excuse for my actions. Words cannot describe how remorseful I am."

The Mitchell report centered on steroid use among major league players. The latest admissions came as pitching great Roger Clemens told a congressional committee at a hearing on Capitol Hill that he had "never taken steroids or (human growth hormone)."

Clemens Congressional hearing live blog

10:30 Central.  Missed some of this, because of dental appointment.  Already discussed Cnaseco party with significant differences between BM and RC (Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens).  Rep Tierny now grilling Clemens about statements he gave that appear not to be consistent in the past.  Lawyer Rusty Hardin and Mrs. Clemens look very dire.

Rep Davis now grilling McNamee about bloody gauze pads.  A representative is accusing McNamee of being a liar. This Congressman is really calling McNamee a big liar.  He seems to be saying that McNamee is lying about Clemens and destroying Clemens's reputation.  This is very OVERDONE!

10:45  Congressman from Mass grilling McNamee about the Clemens abscess.  MRI from Clemens buttocks (gluts) now introduced.  An independent radiologist concluded that the abscess in Clemens glut "compatible with Winstrol".  WOW!

11:00 Everyone is now obsessing about the Clemens injection and buttocks injections.  Congressmen apparently don't get it that B-12 injections don't commonly produce injuries, while steroids (oil based) do.

Congressman now aggressively grilling Mitchell Report writer Scheeler on the Canseco party.  Congressman seem particularly irritable about this.

11:15  Now questions concern B-12 v. anabolic steroids.  Congressman questioning both Mac and Clemens.  McNamee says he never gave B-12, but did inject Clemens with Winstrol, testosterone and HGH, and he knew the colors of the liquids.  Clemens said McNamee injected him with B-12.

Congressman Maloney says she is proud of Clemens's Yankee achievements and work with children.  Gee, impartial isn't she?  However she is grilling Clemens about his inconsistency concerning his stories about not talking to Mitchell.

Congressman from Indiana just said someone is lying here.  He states that Knoblauch, Pettitte, and Radomski vouch for McNamee's truthfulness on this issue.

Clemens is now getting irritated about a question concerning his integrity.  He gives a history of his hard work and his dedication.  None of this pertains to PED use.

The Congressman asks which uniform Clemens will wear at the Hall of Fame.  Starstruck, indeed.  Get his autograph fro Ebay, sir.

11:30  Waxman now takes over.  Waxman is saying that once contacted, Clemens's nanny said Clemens WAS AT the Canseco party, and in fact Clemens's family spent the night there.

HUGE exchange between Waxman and Rusty Hardin.  Waxman now points out that Clemens invited his nanny to HIS HOME before her questioning by Congress.  It is also pointed out that Clemens talked to the nanny about the party. This looks bad for Clemens.  Witness tampering????

Despite rules against lawyers speaking in hearing, Both Hardin and Clemens other lawyer stood up and screamed at Chairman Waxman.  What do these guys think?  They can pump witnesses before the testimony.  Sleazy!

Noon CST: 15 minute break  At some point above, David COne's name was mentioned, which caused the Rep from Indiana to wonder about MLB management's role in the PED scandals.

Clemens now uses Mrs. Rocket (Debbie Clemens) as alibi

Roger Clemens will try to minimize damage to his convoluted defense by implicating his wife in HGH use, sources reveal.  Clemens apparently will give up his wife in a desperate attempt to save his own injected skin.  Reports indicated depositions last week in Congress back up McNamee's allegation of Rocket juicing.

Andy Pettitte's Congressional deposition last week related several episodes where he and Clemens discussed Rocket fuels like HGH.  Pettitte reportedly referred to a 2001 discussion of HGH, human growth hormone.  However the Rocket says Pettitte misunderstood his intention: Clemens was discussing wife Debbie's use of HGH to grow younger.  (Seattle Times)

The AP source said Pettitte told Congress that Clemens backtracked when the subject of HGH came up again in 2005. Clemens reportedly told Pettitte he had misunderstood the previous exchange, which took place in 1999 or 2000, and that he had actually been talking about HGH use by his wife, Debbie.

Yeah, that's the ticket. McNamee was lying, Pettitte was confused, and the only juicer in the family was his wife. It will be fun to watch Clemens sell this one.

That's about right...the only juicer in the Clemens family is wife Debbie -- according to the Rocket.  incredible, using the wife as an alibi.

Ever since the Mitchell Report came out with its damning accusation, that McNamee injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001, Clemens has put back on his game face and come out swinging.

Just listen to the tape he made of his phone conversation with McNamee. To me, Clemens comes across as a bully, and McNamee seems scared to death of him.

Just watch the news conference at which he played the McNamee tape, when a visibly seething Clemens promised to answer all questions and ended up stomping off in anger.

Listen to the words of his attorney, Rusty Hardin, who said of IRS special agent Jeff Novitzky, the linchpin of the BALCO investigation, "If he ever messes with Roger, Roger will eat his lunch."

However this bully is turning on his wife?  Incredible.

Dwain Chambers -- of horrors -- back for the UK

Welcome to the first non-Clemens post here in years (it seems).   The UK appears horrified that sports bosses selected drug-cheat Dwain Chambers to run on their Olympic-level World-Championship team. To the Daily Mail:

Dwain Chambers sparked outrage in British athletics on Tuesday after he was selected to run at next month's World Indoor Championships.

Double Olympic champions Dame Kelly Holmes and Lord Coe both spoke out against the self-confessed drugs cheat, while Chambers' young sprint rival Craig Pickering insisted the former European 100metre champion would not be welcome in the British team for Valencia. 'I don't think it puts us in a good light as a country allowing a cheat, who has admitted he is a cheat, to represent us,' said Dame Kelly.

UK Athletics selectors also revealed that they were unanimous in not wishing to select Chambers but said they were left with little choice because he had achieved the qualifying time and won their indoor trials at Sheffield on Sunday.

They also knew that any decision to sideline him could result in a potentially ruinous legal battle.

Two year ago Chamber earned a 2 year ban from Olympic competition when he admitted using BALCO-supplied THG.  Now he is back with everyone else in the UK's vengeance.

And last night Pickering broke rank with those athletes who have been supporting the 29-year-old.

The European Indoor 60m silver medallist, who will be involved in a race-off against Simeon Williamson to see who takes second spot in the team behind Chambers, said: 'It looks like Simeon or me will be left at home. I do not really welcome him back but it is out of my control, so I just get on with it.'

Although banned from the Olympics, Chambers could challenge that nullification soon.  WADA's Dick Pound thinks Chamber might head to court:

Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, added: "I have personal, visceral issues with this person taking part in the Olympics but doping is governed by rules."

Prominent sports lawyer Nick Bitel agreed with Pound and believed the athlete's best chance would be in challenging the ban on the ground that it hinders him in making a living.

He said: "The BOA has always argued that running in the Olympics is not a trade, it is a privilege. I fear that is a difficult position for them because it does add to an athlete's value - most of them have a clause in their shoe contract which says they earn money if they make the Olympics.

 

 

 

Early Valentine: Roger Clemens testifies in Congress today.

With Andy Pettitte's damning testimony proceeding him (New York Times), Roger Clemens takes on Congress and Brian McNamee today.  Clemens's side of the story stands in stark contrast to ex-trainer Brian McNamee's story: McNamee says Clemens is a big time juicer; Clemens says McNamee is a big time liar.  Clemens maintained he used only lidocaine and B-12 (which frankly is ludicrous).

A good round-up is found here at the London Free Press.

Toronto -- This is the day every true baseball fan has waited for all winter. Yes, boys and girls, this is the day that pitchers and catchers report to Room 2154 of the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill in Washington to deliver their sworn testimony.

The bang of the gavel. The smell of old leather, or maybe of fear. And then that magic moment arrives when the man in the blue suit calls out "Do you solemnly swear . . ."

And the Pettitte-McNamee-Clemens love-perjury triangle:

In this realm, a perjury indictment is always only one half-truth away and, apparently, Pettitte couldn't risk saying under oath the things that Clemens wanted to hear.

Besides it's been confirmed by a committee member that Pettitte, in a deposition last week, provided testimony that supports McNamee's claims that Clemens was a big-time juicer in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The Boston Globe, also carries an excellent summary of the case with these interesting details about the Pettitte testimony:

Citing a source familiar with the affidavit, the Associated Press reported yesterday that Pettitte's deposition claims he talked with Clemens in 1999 or 2000 about using human growth hormone.

According to the source, Pettitte said Clemens backtracked when the subject came up in 2005, before the same House committee held the first hearing on steroids.

The source also said that Pettitte claims in the affidavit that he asked Clemens in 2005 what he would do if asked by the media about HGH. According to the AP account, Clemens responded by saying Pettitte misunderstood the conversation in 1999 or 2000 and that, in fact, Clemens had been talking about HGH use by his wife.

This doesn't sound like a love triangle as much as a Shakespearian plot: no one will survive without wounds.

Pettitte shot down the Rocket (Roger Clemens) in Congress

Word from Washington, as inside as it gets, says Andy Pettitte's testimony to Congress last week, corroborated Brian McNamee's accusations that teammate Roger Clemens used PEDs (most likely HGH and anabolic steroids).

As Clemens lobbies Congress,it seems the Rocket, if not shot down, appears to be on a slow burn to explosion.  The Congressional committee chaired by Henry Waxman excused Pettitte, Knoblauch, and Radomski from tomorrow's hearing.  This now gets down to McNamee v. Clemens, and Clemens is bloodied (so to speak), cut, and dazed.

To the New York Post:

Rep. Tom Davis, the ranking Republican on the congressional committee investigating steroid use in baseball, told Newsday that Pettitte, in his deposition last week, backed up the account of Brian McNamee, the former trainer of Clemens and Pettitte.

McNamee has said Clemens used steroids and human growth hormone.

Davis told the newspaper that Pettitte's testimony matches McNamee's in most details, but that Clemens, in his deposition last week, said both of them are mistaken.

One of Clemens's legal team responded this way:

"I think Andy Pettitte should do whatever is in Andy's best interest and whatever he thinks is best," said Lanny Breuer, one of Clemens' lawyers. "Roger Clemens is going to testify on Wednesday. He'll answer everything truthfully and forthrightly as he's done since the very beginning."

"Truthfully and forthrightly" is not the way most fans would describe the Rocket's diatribes thus far.

Did MLB physician -- Cornell's Millman -- warn Rocker, I-Rod, A-Rod, and Palmeiro about steroids?

Former pitching flake John Rocker claimed yesterday that (NY Daily News) lectured 4 Texas Rangers, including A-Rod, I-Rod, Raffy Palmeiro, and Rocker himself on steroids use.

The loudmouth former reliever said he and then-Rangers teammate Alex Rodriguez, among others, were advised in spring training of 2002 by management and players' union doctors on how to use steroids in a way that is "not going to hurt you."

Rocker said a doctor hired by the Players' Association pulled aside himself, A-Rod, Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro following a spring training lecture and candidly told them how to use steroids.

"Look guys, if you take one kind of steroid, you don't triple stack them and take them 10 months out of the year like Lyle Alzado did," the doctor told him, Rocker said yesterday during an interview on the Buck and Kincade Show on WCNN-680 The Fan in Atlanta. "If you do it responsibly, it's not going to hurt you."

Alzado, a former Oakland Raider, died of brain cancer in 1992.

Interesting that the Mitchell Report named a couple physicians who lectured baseball too.  Mitchell was not kind in relating their story.  One is substance abuse expert Robert Millman who teaches at Cornell Medical Center.

During baseball’s winter meetings in Nashville in December 1998, baseball executives and team physicians heard a presentation from Dr. Millman and Dr. Solomon on baseball’s drug policy. One attendee, Dr. William Wilder, was then the team doctor for the Cleveland Indians. In a memorandum to then Indians general manager John Hart that he wrote after the meeting, Dr. Wilder reported that the presentation focused on the benefits that could be obtained from testosterone. He was disturbed by the presentation, observing in the memorandum that whether or not testosterone increased muscle strength and endurance “begs the question of whether it should be used in athletics.” He believed there was “no reason that some preliminary literature can’t be sent out to the players concerning the known and unknown data about performance enhancing substances,” and recalled that Houston Astros’ team physician Bill Bryan presented a good overview of these issues with respect to supplements at meetings the previous year.   Dr. Wilder reiterated these observations and views in our interview with him.

Bill Stoneman, who retired in 2007 as the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels, had a similar recollection of a presentation by Drs. Millman and Solomon. He remembered wondering at the time why Major League Baseball had permitted the presentation, which to his recollection included the assertion that there was no evidence that anabolic steroids with the message of leniency that was being conveyed.

Off his rocker? John Rocker implicates A-Rod in steroid use

Might this story push Clemens off the front page for the first time in 2 months?  The story: John Rocker claims that back in 2000 when he pitched for the Texas Rangers he flunked a steroids drug test without penalty.

Rocker also points to a 2002 meeting when several Rangers players underwent tutoring on steroid use: Rocker, Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod), Ivan Rodriguez, and Raffy Palmeiro.  Bombshells exploding about now in Bud Selig's office.

To the San Francisco Chronicle:

John Rocker claims he flunked a drug test ordered by Major League Baseball in 2000 and that he, Alex Rodriguez and other Texas Rangers were advised by management and union doctors following a spring training lecture on how to effectively use steroids.

"Bud Selig knew in the year 2000 John Rocker was taking the juice," the former pitcher said Monday of the baseball commissioner on Atlanta radio station 680. "Didn't do anything about it."

Rocker goes on to say that Ranger's physicians educated several Rangers in 2002 -- including A-Rod -- on the dangers of 'roids:

Rocker said that doctors from management and the players' association, following a spring training talk with the Texas Rangers about steroids and other topics, pulled himself, A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro and Ivan Rodriguez aside. Rocker was with the Rangers in 2002.

"Look guys, if you take one kind of steroid, you don't triple stack them and take them 10 months out of the year like Lyle Alzado did," Rocker said the doctors told them. "If you do it responsibly, it's not going to hurt you."

Rocker did not identify the doctors.

Who cares about the doctor's identities.  Rocker just implicated potentially the greatest offensive player in baseball, as a steroid user.  Just as when Jose Canseco called him out, A-Rod is again 'Hit by pitch'.

Update: The New York Daily News says 'the MLB Player's Union physician warned the crew about 'roids.

Rocker said a doctor hired by the Players' Association pulled aside himself, A-Rod, Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro following a spring training lecture and candidly told them how to use steroids.

"Look guys, if you take one kind of steroid, you don't triple stack them and take them 10 months out of the year like Lyle Alzado did," the doctor told him, Rocker said yesterday during an interview on the Buck and Kincade Show on WCNN-680 The Fan in Atlanta. "If you do it responsibly, it's not going to hurt you."

 

Potential conflict of interest between Clemens lawyer and the MLB

MLB seems none too pleased that Roger Clemens retained the services of a firm with long time ties to the league.  Covington and Burlington added Clemens to their client list in 2008 and will represent the pitcher in Congressional hearings; the firm also represents MLB.  Oops, we smell a conflict brewing.  To Law.com.

Earlier this year Covington & Burling decided to add pitcher Roger Clemens to its roster of high-profile clients. But perhaps it should have received approval from another client, Major League Baseball, first. Covington agreed to represent Clemens in the congressional steroids inquiry without getting the league's sign-off -- a potential blunder in the high-stakes world of sports league representation. According to a source familiar with the matter, Covington's decision to represent Clemens annoyed the league. The official relationship between Major League Baseball and the firm has not changed but, according to the same source, a meeting between the two is imminent. Mitchell Dolin, a Covington partner designated as the firm's spokesperson, declined to comment. Patrick Courtney, a spokesperson for MLB, also declined to comment.

Covington represents the NFL and the MLB.  With regard to MLB, Clemens points to problems with the Mitchell Report.  Thus Clemens retained a lawyer from a firm with ties to one of his potential lawsuit targets.  Here is how that went down:

(Clemens) turned to Lanny Breuer, co-chairman of Covington's white-collar defense and investigations group, who has plenty of experience on the Hill. As special counsel to President Clinton, he represented the president during his impeachment proceedings. Since then his clients before congressional committees have included Halliburton Co., Moody's Investors Service in connection with Enron Corp.'s collapse, and the University of California in an investigation into Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Clemens main attorney, Rusty Hardin, says there are no conflicts.  We will see about that:

In January, Hardin told The New York Times that Breuer said he had to get clearance first. "We'd talked to him, and we'd just been waiting a day or two to check out conflicts," said Hardin. "He had no conflicts."

Canseco backs Clemens about party

The Roger Clemens protagonists are now arguing about whom attended what party and what they discussed.   Incredible.  However the saying "Falsis in uno, falsis in omnibus", means that if McNamee is wrong about one issue, his entire testimony might be discredited.

First McNamee said Clemens attended a Toronto bash thrown by Jose Canseco; steroids were discussed...maybe.  (Did Debbie Canseco discuss HGH with all the other wives?)

Then Clemens says no he didn't party hardy with Jose (Rotoworld).

Roger Clemens says he can prove that he wasn't at the party at Jose Canseco's where Brian McNamee claims they first talked about steroids.

His two biggest pieces of evidence are a tape of a game's broadcast where the announcers mention that Clemens didn't attend the party, and an affidavit from Canseco saying he wasn't there. Of course, it's worth mentioning that Canseco reportedly told Magglio Ordonez he would keep him "clear" of steroid charges if Ordonez invested in a film Canseco was promoting.

Then McNamee says he did (Newsday):

Jose CansecoMcNamee's recollection involves Clemens' wife, Debbie, and Jessica Canseco, who at the time was the wife ofClemens' teammate. Although McNamee was not in the room at the time, he says Clemens later told him about how the two women were comparing their own physiques, discussing who had the better build, the sources say.

Meanwhile Canseco says Clemens didn't attend his party.

Canseco is now calling McNamee a liar. In a phone interview, he says, referring to McNamee, "I think he was pressured by someone into saying (that). I'm 1000 percent sure Roger never showed up at the party. We didn't talk then."

Did Jose get Roger to "invest" in his little film venture?  Good recruiting ploy, huh?

BTW, what did Canseco say about Clemens in "Juiced":

“It was the pitchers who really kept that ‘B12’ joke going. For example, I’ve never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did. But we’ve talked about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations, and I’ve heard him use the phrase ‘B12 shot’ in respect to others.”

Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin slapped down by Chairman Waxman

Congressman Henry Waxman sent Roger Clemens's attorney, Cowboy Rusty Hardin a letter of reprimand Sunday following Hardin's perceived threat against IRS agent (and BALCO investigator) Jeff Novitsky.  Hardin, who has been threatening to kick a great deal of ass, threatened one too many times.  To the New York Post:

Rusty Hardin, the lawyer representing Roger Clemens in the pitcher's red-hot denials of performance-enhancing drug use, said Sunday with dismay in his voice that he has always suspected his client could end up embroiled in a federal prosecution.

He made the comments moments before Henry Waxman, the chairman of the  House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, sent out a blistering letter reprimanding Hardin for making intemperate comments in the media about a federal officer deeply involved in the sprawling BALCO steroids investigation

What did Rusty say?  This:

"If he ever messes with Roger, Roger will eat his lunch," Hardin said in comments in a Sunday article in the New York Times that predicted Jeff Novitzky, an I.R.S. special agent, would attend Wednesday's hearing on the Mitchell Report that features Clemens and his accuser, former Yankee strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee. As part of his agreement with federal authorities not to be prosecuted for steroid distribution, McNamee agreed to cooperate with Mitchell's private report on illicit drug use in baseball.

This ain't traffic court in Lubbock, cowboy.  Don't be saying anything about lunch, because Congressmen take lunch very seriously:

"Under one interpretation it can be seen an attempt to intimidate a federal law enforcement official in the performance of his official duties," Waxman wrote. "I have never met with or spoken to Mr. Novitzky and have no information whether he intends to attend the hearing. As an independent branch of government, our inquiry operates independently of the executive branch. And as a witness in our independent investigation, it is not your client's prerogative to dictate who attends or does not attend the hearing. Given your long service as both a prosecutor and a private attorney, I trust you did not intend your comments to be a signal that there could be adverse repercussions to a federal law enforcement official for attending the hearing or taking other official actions."

Hardin now believes that there will be a Justice Department investigation of Clemens.  Guess who gets to continue to collect billable hours at a high rate?  That's right, Cowboy Hardin.  Perfect.

Professor refutes Clemens statistical defense

In a New York Times brief, Penn Professor Justin Wolfers refutes the Hendricks brothers statistical defense of Roger Clemens.  (and here)

The main argument in the Clemens Report is that there is nothing unusual in his career numbers, and, in fact, his performance is quite similar to that of Nolan Ryan. But we note the following:

[S]uch comparisons tell an incomplete story. By comparing Clemens only to those who were successful in the second act of their careers, rather than to all pitchers who had a similarly successful first act, the report artificially minimizes the chances that Clemens will look unusual.

There’s a pretty neat trick at work here: if you compare Clemens only to those who had a terrific last decade of their careers, then the last decade of Clemens’ career doesn’t look that unusual. To sidestep this, we suggest that “[a] better approach to this problem involves comparing the career trajectories of all highly durable starting pitchers.”

So we put together data on all 31 other pitchers since 1968 who started at least 10 games in at least 15 seasons and have pitched at least 3,000 innings. This broader comparison group yields some pretty different conclusions than the Clemens v. Ryan contrasts.

The regression lines show the typical course of performance of aging pitchers; this shows exactly the reverse "u" curve of an athlete's performance as he ages.  Clemens's career deviates from the trajectory significantly.

This statistical deviation does not prove Clemens ever used PEDs.  It might mean Clemens is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete who can maintain incredible performance as he ages.  Or it might mean he used a performance-enhancing agent -- that doesn't mean a drug.

The bottom line: looking at the curves generates a question of how Clemens defies performance-aging gravity.

Sorry for being a steroids trafficker: Metboy Kirk Radomski earns probation

His work with the Mitchell probe earned Kirk Radomski a pass out of jail when the former Met clubhouse boy faced a federal judge yesterday.  The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Metboy's judicial face off:

A former New York Mets batboy who says he provided performance-enhancing drugs to a long list of major-league baseball players was put on five years' probation Friday and fined $18,575 for dealing steroids and laundering money.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Judge Susan Illston agreed with the recommendations of prosecutors, who said Kirk Radomski, 38, deserved to avoid a prison term because of his "significant cooperation" with a federal probe into steroid use in baseball.

Radomski, who also has worked as a Mets clubhouse attendant and personal trainer, could have been sent to prison for up to six months for his crimes under sentencing guidelines.

Radomski worked with George Mitchell, exposing some of the extent of the PED abuse in major league baseball.  That bought him some legal relief it seems:

When Radomski pleaded guilty last year, prosecutors ordered him to give details of his steroid dealing to former Sen. George Mitchell, whose investigative report on what has been called the sport's steroid era was released in December.

Radomski told Mitchell that he had provided drugs to dozens of players in the past decade. Among them, he said, were 12 members of the New York Yankees, including pitching stars Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Kevin Brown, infielder Chuck Knoblauch and outfielder David Justice...

"Had this defendant not cooperated, the government would be recommending that he go to jail," Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella told Illston.

As we recall Radomski -- Metboy -- worked in the Mets' clubhouse before embarking on a career as a steroid and PED dealer; Metboy used his connections as a clubhouse boy to spread steroid venom around the league.  Then the major steroids trafficker Radomski exposed dozens of MLB players when the heat came down.  Effectively, no Radomski, no Mitchell Report.

Radomski worked for the Mets from 1985 until 1995, then became a personal trainer. With longtime Mets clubhouse attendant Vinny Greco, he operated a Long Island car wash called Pro Touch Detail.

In February 2005, an informant told the FBI that Radomski was selling steroids to baseball players, court records show. The case was referred to the investigators who had probed steroid dealing at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in Burlingame, and undercover agents made several steroid buys from Radomski.

In an affidavit dated Dec. 13, 2005, in support of a search of Radomski's Long Island home, Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator Jeff Novitzky described the trainer as "a major drug source in professional baseball who took over after the BALCO laboratories were taken down."

Agents found "thousands of doses of numerous types of anabolic steroids" at Radomski's home, the government said. The agents also seized vials of human growth hormone, insulin, an asthma drug called clenbuterol that has muscle-building properties, and a masking agent called Clomid, court records show.

Federal agents also obtained Radomski's client list, along with bank records showing as many as 23 "MLB-associated individuals" who wrote checks to Radomski's account, according to court records. Facing a maximum 25-year prison sentence, Radomski pleaded guilty in April to steroid dealing and money laundering.

Don't worry, though, Radomski is very very sorry he pushed steroids to pro athletes:

Radomski apologized in court for his crimes. In a letter to the judge, his lawyer, John Reilly, asked for mercy.

"Mr. Radomski is a devoted family man and is torn with guilt and remorse," he wrote.

 

Did Debbie Clemens grow younger with HGH?

Word comes from Capital Hill that Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens's trainer, gave it to Clemens's wife Debbie - HGH that is.

Information emerged that McNamee, Clemens’s former trainer, had stated in a sworn deposition Thursday that he not only injected Clemens with steroids and human-growth hormone but had also injected Clemens’s wife, Debbie, with H.G.H., at Clemens’s request.

That's pretty weird.  Is this not the weirdest saga since, well, since Curt Schilling shaved the other day.  In this photo shoot, Mrs. Clemens does look strange.  Has anyone seen abs like that on a 40 year-old mother of four?   Anti-aging clinics use HGH to enhance muscle and decrease fat in men and women.

In the deposition, which was made behind closed doors with lawyers for the committee, McNamee said he injected Debbie Clemens with H.G.H. in late 2002 or early 2003, a person with knowledge of the matter, insisting on anonymity, told reporters. McNamee had previously told federal investigators the same thing, the person said.

From Debbie Clemens website:

“Roger came to me one day and told me that we had been asked to do a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated. I had major anxiety! I was a 39-year-old mother of 4! Once I realized that this WAS going to be a reality, I decided I had to give it everything I had. My mind was set. I am not a risk taker, but have since learned that with great risk, sometimes comes great reward.”

Sounds like Mrs. Clemens appeared intimidated by that kind of 'exposure'.  Perhaps there is something to the story.  The bosoms seem enhanced too.  However, After hours of productive contemplative deliberation, Clemens's lawyer Rusty Hardin commented:

Clemens’s camp reacted angrily to the public disclosure without specifically denying it. “This shows what kind of person we’re dealing with,” Clemens’s lawyer Rusty Hardin said.

The McNamee camp plays this one cool:

McNamee’s other lawyer, Earl Ward, said in a telephone interview Friday evening: “We are not interested in Debbie Clemens or anything associated with her. We are interested in Roger Clemens and his use.”

Emery and Ward said they wanted to turn attention back to what they described as important corroborating evidence for McNamee — used syringes, vials and bloody pads they said were used when McNamee injected Clemens on various occasions in 2001. The materials were given to federal investigators Jan 10, and lawyers for McNamee released photographs to congressional staff members Thursday.

The Times article carries this comment about Clemens's veracity:

As all this was gradually occurring, Towns, the Brooklyn congressman, was speaking in positive terms about Clemens, saying his half-hour personal visit made him a believer in Clemens’s character. But Towns said he did not feel that way about McNamee; he said he found his story of holding onto used syringes and swabs for seven years to be “weird.”

Wonder if Clemens's threw a bat at Congressionman Towns's head?

Bloody good show: McNamee saved alleged Clemens' steroid syringes

How weird does it get?  This weird: Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens's ex-trainer says he saved syringes and needles used in the injections of anabolic steroids and HGH into the Rocket.  The NY Daily News reports: (and here)

Brian McNamee turned over physical evidence last month to federal investigators that he believes will show Roger Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs, according to McNamee's lawyers.

"This is evidence the government has that we believe will corroborate Brian in every significant way," said McNamee lawyer Earl Ward.

McNamee's attorneys would not discuss the details of the evidence, but according to a source close to the former Yankee strength and conditioning coach, McNamee gave the Justice Department's BALCO investigators vials with traces of steroids and growth hormone, as well as blood-stained syringes and gauze pads that may contain the Rocket's DNA.

Wow.  What does this prove?  Probably not much, since McNamee might have used Clemens's blood stained gauze to contaminate a needle or syringe etc. etc.  The chain of evidence is certainly not professionally ascertained.  The again...Might Congress using a lesser standard of evidence than say a court, accept this kind of physical evidence?

DNA matching could prove the Clemens connection.  When an injection is performed a small amount the the recipient's blood is back-washed into the syringe.  That would allow DNA testing to verify Rocket-DNA; forensic analysis could also identify anabolic steroids.

n a statement released to the media, Clemens' attorney Lanny Breuer called McNamee a "troubled man" who has lied to federal investigators and former Sen. George Mitchell and accused the trainer of manufacturing evidence.

"He said Roger treated him like family - but he now claims he kept blood, gauze, and needles from Roger Clemens for seven years. It defies all sensibility. It is just not credible - who in their right mind does such a thing?" Breuer said.

Proper protocol (if followed) would require the blood stained medical implements etc. be disposed of in a red, marked bag then sealed and segregated before appropriate processing.  Obviously those blood products could contain hepatitis or AIDS.   Why would McNamee be saving the Clemens relics for another purpose?  (like what?)  And why is a trainer injecting a player?  Trainers are not licensed to perform therapeutic injections.  This entire situation sounds bizarre.  CSI, Yankee Park.

The New York Times says that these blood relics will not be admissible in court (although that may not be the question either)

Scientific experts said there was no known method to date steroids or human growth hormone. The syringes, vials and gauze pads are said to date from 2000 and 2001, part of a four-year period in which McNamee contends he gave Clemens drug injections. But even if the physical evidence tests positive for Clemen’s DNA and, say, steroids, Clemens’s lawyers could argue that McNamee added steroid traces to the original evidence in a bid to incriminate Clemens, experts say.

Used syringes at a trainer's home for 7 years.  That's spooky.  Was McNamee going to clone the Rocket?

Andy Pettitte takes the mound in Congress

Andy Pettitte took the mound yesterday, as the Yankee pitcher threw over 2 1/2 hours to Congress.  Neither the Congressional staff, nor Pettitte revealed the score when the hurler finished his inquisition.  To the New York Times:

Pettitte emerged from his deposition with a serious, somewhat grave expression, accompanied by his wife and three lawyers. Asked if he had any comment, Pettitte said, “No.” Everyone else in the group kept silent as they pressed through a crowd of journalists between the House oversight committee offices and an elevator.

How important might Pettitte's testimony be?  He remains a very key player in determining the credibility of the Mitchell report, looking at the use of PEDs (including HGH) among pro athletes, and judging the merits of Roger Clemens's -- his Yankee teammate -- pleas of innocent.

Pettitte, more than anyone else invited to testify, could know about the main subject of the investigation: Clemens, his longtime friend, adviser, teammate and workout partner. They were teammates on four World Series teams in New York and one in Houston, and they shared a personal trainer, Brian McNamee, who said he injected them both with human growth hormone and Clemens with steroids.

Pettitte was also named in the Mitchell Report was an HGH user.  The Yankee admitted to HGH use, then moved on.  Meanwhile Roger Clemens denied any PED use (despite evidence of even more extensive juice than Pettitte) and remains front and center on sports pages today.  There is evidence that this situation caused a rift between the two pitchers:

The relationship between the two men is strained, though. Pettitte has admitted using H.G.H. and Clemens has denied it; Pettitte hired separate lawyers after having shared Hardin; and Pettitte is being brought before Congress because of Clemens’s denials. Friends of Pettitte’s have let it be known, according to news media reports, that Pettitte and Clemens are not as close as they were made out to be and that they did not appreciate Clemens’s tactics in attacking the Mitchell report.

Clemens takes the mound today, as he testifies in front of the Congressional staff.

Should Clemens take this pitch? Plead the 5th or not?

The Houston Chronicle gives Roger Clemens some unsolicited legal advice: take this pitch (the 5th) when Congress puts you in the batters box?  No not the 5th inning, the 5th amendment.

Roger Clemens might be known for answering the call when it's his turn to pitch, but several legal experts believe he should invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify about steroid abuse before Congress today and next week. Otherwise, he risks the chance lawmakers could refer him to the Justice Department for criminal investigation.

"As a lawyer, I'd recommend he take the Fifth and be overcautious," said high-profile criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, who also is a Harvard Law School professor. "When Clemens was pitching, he never took the cautious way. He's being consistent with his personality. Of course, his world isn't a legal world; it's the world of halls of fame and reputation."

There you go: that great baseball name Dershowitz says Clemens better keep his bat on his shoulder.  Or, will the pitcher hit away?

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, agreed that his client logically should invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege to protect himself.

"Dershowitz is right, and just about every attorney in the world will tell you he should take the Fifth because of the risks," Hardin said.

But that's not what Clemens will do, Hardin said Monday.

"Roger is saying (that) what the public thinks of him and his career are important," Hardin said. "And if he takes the Fifth, he lets the Mitchell committee do to him by omission what they've essentially done by commission."

Oy Vay.  Maybe Clemens needs an attorney not a PR man in this matter.  Roger, check those signals again...