Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong refiled a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in a bid to halt a doping case against him.
They are always the last to understand.
As the Roger Clemens trial plods along, many are asking, in one form or another: Why did Congress waste millions of our tax dollars to investigate if a baseball player used steroids?
U.S. v. Roger Clemens -- take two -- starts today in the D.C. chambers of U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton. SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions.
With the Hall of Fame voting results scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday, here is a Cooperstown edition of Three Strikes. I divided my ballot into three parts: the player I voted for who I believe will get the necessary 75 percent support from the baseball writers electorate to get enshrined, three others I voted for who will add to their support but likely remain short of election, and the one guy I left off my ballot who is most likely to get my vote next time.
updated: Fri Dec 16 2011 18:55:00
Legal expert Sunny Hostin says it's a big win for Barry Bonds' defense team that he received two years probation.
Baseball legend Barry Bonds was sentenced Friday to two years of probation and 30 days of house arrest for obstruction of justice in a grand jury inquiry into illegal steroid use by professional athletes.
Baseball legend Barry Bonds is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for his obstruction of justice conviction.
In the wake of Ryan Braun's positive test for ... well, for something, there has been talk that somebody should confiscate his National League MVP award. After all, he won it for his performance, and his performance was allegedly enhanced.
Federal prosecutors want baseball legend Barry Bonds to serve 15 months in prison for his obstruction of justice conviction, according to a sentencing memo filed in court Thursday.
The NFL Player's Association has confounded the NFL and science experts in recent weeks by debating the validity of an HGH test that has been widely stamped for a approval by independent scientists, leaving some of those involved in the meetings to suggest that union politics are obstructing the process of drug testing. On Friday, owners of all 32 NFL teams received notice from the league that the HGH test would not be in place for the start of the regular season, though that was the previously agreed upon goal of the NFL and the NFLPA.
Baseball sent a warning to its major and minor league players last week that may sound odd, if not comical, but is a sign of these drug-testing times: stop ingesting deer antler spray.
For those of you depressed that two of our grandest leagues -- the NFL and the NBA -- are both temporarily out of business via lockout, cheer up, because there's other major news to divert you. Drugs are back, front and center; in fact, it's currently a veritable pharmaceutical hullabaloo.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton may have altered the legal strategies of prosecutors and Roger Clemens' attorneys this afternoon when he said that he will probably deny former Yankees players, including Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch, from discussing any performance-enhancing drugs they received from Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer and chief accuser.
With jury selection set to get under way Wednesday in the trial of baseball legend Roger Clemens, the judge in the case says he is leaning toward not permitting some of Clemens' former teammates to testify for the prosecution about their history of performance-enhancing drugs.
For baseball fans, July signals the midpoint of America's pastime: the All-Star Game, the full swing of pennant races.
NEW YORK -- The Paper Champion made his way toward the stage, arms raised, a toothy smile creasing his face. These are the moments Floyd Mayweather lives for and craves, those meticulously planned, carefully choreographed entrances where all eyes lock on him. They feed his ego and reassure the most insecure star in sports that, indeed, he is still No. 1.
Baseball legend Roger Clemens may get a chance to see internal documents compiled by a law firm handling a report on the illicit use of steroids that named him among possible players involved.
Barry Bonds doesn't belong in jail. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Baseball legend Barry Bonds was convicted Wednesday on one count of obstruction of justice, but a mistrial was declared on three counts of perjury after jurors reported they could not reach agreement.
He's convicted of obstructing justice; hung verdicts on three charges
updated: Tue Apr 12 2011 18:40:00
Baseball player Barry Bonds, accused of doping, arrives at a San Francisco courthouse.
Jurors deliberated quietly Tuesday in Barry Bonds' perjury and obstruction of justice trial, sending no notes to the judge and offering no obvious signs of their decision process.
Two courtrooms, one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast; two legendary baseball players, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens; and one game neither wants to lose: fighting charges that include perjury and obstruction of justice related to investigations of illicit steroid use.
Jurors deciding Barry Bonds' fate asked to listen again to the testimony of a key prosecution witness Friday before they recessed deliberations for the weekend in the baseball legend's perjury and obstruction of justice trial.
Barry Bonds' former trainer was freed Friday from the prison where he's been held since he refused to testify in the baseball legend's perjury trial two weeks ago.
A federal jury began deliberating the perjury and obstruction of justice case against baseball legend Barry Bonds Thursday afternoon.
The defense rested Wednesday in Barry Bonds' perjury trial, and jurors are expected to begin deliberations Thursday after hearing closing arguments from the prosecution and Bonds' defense attorney.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Three quick thoughts after Day 10 of the perjury trial of former Giants outfielder Barry Bonds:
Some of the biggest names in baseball don't play these days. Barry Bonds is on trial, Roger Clemens is warming in the courtroom bullpen, Ken Griffey Jr. just spent his first Opening Day as a retired player and Stephen Strasburg is hurt. All of them were major drawing cards, which leaves us with . . . who?
SAN FRANCISCO -- Three quick thoughts after Day 6 of the perjury trial of former Giants outfielder Barry Bonds:
SAN FRANCISCO -- Three quick thoughts after Day 5 of the perjury trial of former Giants outfielder Barry Bonds:
updated: Tue Mar 29 2011 11:36:00
Bond's former mistress Kimberly Bell testifies against the San Francisco Giants star in a perjury trial. Affiliate KGO reports.
Each year at this time, baseball loves to put on its best face. Unfortunately, this year the game's springtime face has an ugly pimple from its past that simply won't fade away.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Three quick thoughts after Day 2 of the perjury trial of former Giants outfielder Barry Bonds:
Barry Bonds' childhood friend Steve Hoskins, who worked for a decade as his assistant, testified Wednesday in Bonds' perjury trial that he tried to convince him to stop using anabolic steroids in 2000 and 2003.
Barry Bonds' personal trainer refused to testify against the baseball home run king in his perjury trial Tuesday, prompting the judge to order the trainer held in custody until he changes his mind.
The all-time home run leader is on trial in criminal court. What sounds like an explosive trial is, from a baseball perspective, oddly lacking in meaning. The United States of America vs. Barry Lamar Bonds, case 07-0732, has almost nothing to do with the legacy of the home run king. That acquired an indelible stain long ago.
The start of the perjury trial against former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds this week doesn't guarantee that the BALCO scandal -- now in its ninth year -- has reached an absolute end, but it represents a culmination of sorts: The scandal's most recognizable figure finally stands before a jury.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The man has been gone for years, his superstar aura has dissipated and now even the name of the recent Giants legend is rarely uttered by his former teammates.
Barry Bonds' chances of gaining an acquittal in his perjury trail are slim. The federal conviction rate is approximately 90 percent, meaning that the minute the government elected to charge Bonds with a crime, his chances of avoiding a conviction were no better than one in 10.
Even with U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston rendering key pieces of prosecutorial evidence inadmissible, and even with multiple re-writes of the federal government's indictment, the perjury case against Barry Bonds remains viable.
Although his long-awaited perjury trial is still six weeks away, Barry Bonds will soon learn a great deal about his odds for victory or defeat. Later today, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston will hear arguments from the government and Bonds' lawyers over whether Illston should deem a recording of a potentially damming conversation as admissible evidence or inadmissible hearsay.
Andy Pettitte is retiring with 240 career victories and another 19 postseason wins that helped the New York Yankees regain prominence -- and win five World Series championships. But that resume might not be good enough for Pettitte make the Hall of Fame.
Andy Pettitte, whose pitching helped the New York Yankees to five World Series championships, announced his retirement from Major League Baseball at a news conference Friday morning at Yankee Stadium.
A federal judge has blocked the lead defense attorney for Roger Clemens from questioning Andy Pettitte, the ex-baseball star's longtime teammate and friend, once his client's criminal trial starts in July.
After a string of courtroom victories, Barry Bonds was dealt a blow Friday afternoon in a San Francisco courtroom.
The long-awaited trial of 46-year-old Barry Bonds, who was originally indicted in November 2007 and who now faces 11 counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, is still two months away. Pretrial hearings in the next few weeks, however, may determine whether federal prosecutors can convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that baseball's all-time leading home run hitter knowingly lied under oath about using steroids. If convicted on all counts, Bonds, who has a clean criminal record, would almost certainly face some amount of time in prison, possibly up to two and a half years.
On Wednesday, two players, second baseman Roberto Alomar and starting pitcher Bert Blyleven, were elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Here are five things we learned from the voting:
How come you hardly ever talk about or investigate tennis players and doping? We only hear about positive tests when [the ITF] publicize the results. But you hardly ever comment on players that are suddenly looking different, suddenly hitting the ball harder, etc. This is talked about [on one website in particular] but journalists should investigate this! --Ben P., New York
Ken Burns vowed he would never do a sequel but six years ago he encountered a cosmic event so extraordinary that it forced the documentarian to change his mind: The Red Sox won the World Series.
Anthony Galea stories in the SI Vault
HASLEMERE, England -- News of the cricket scandal broke early Tuesday morning, and by that evening the sport's governing body sent a message: We refuse to stand for this.
updated: Fri Aug 20 2010 11:18:00
CNN's American Morning talks to a panel about baseball great Roger Clemens facing perjury charges.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Roger Clemens was vehement: "Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH," he told a House committee in 2008. Now, instead of the Hall of Fame, baseball's seven-time Cy Young winner could go to prison after being indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lying to Congress.
You know what sounds easy? Punting on the whole steroids issue. Give 'em all hypodermic needles with their signing bonuses. Let them pop pills. Let them inject pure, unfiltered testosterone. Let them eat uranium yellowcake if they think it will make them bigger, stronger, faster, quicker or better-looking.
NEW YORK -- Dozens of flashbulbs greeted Alex Rodriguez's first-inning swing Wednesday afternoon, and when he connected with the pitch from Toronto's Shaun Marcum, the 47,659 fans in attendance at Yankee Stadium stood and cheered as the ball arced over the center-field wall to become Rodriguez's 600th career home run. As he rounded the bases behind Derek Jeter, who had been on first base, the scoreboard congratulated Rodriguez and then there was a procession of hugs with every teammate in front of the empty dugout.
In a series of recent e-mails to cycling officials and sponsors, Floyd Landis accused 17 other riders -- most notably seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong -- of doping or complicity in doping. All of the accused parties either declined to address or denied outright Landis's allegations.
This story appears in the May 31, 2010, issue of Sports Illustrated.
A former trainer for Alex Rodriguez reportedly contacted by federal authorities in connection with an ongoing investigation of Toronto-based physician Anthony Galea denied knowing -- or ever having heard of -- Galea and said that he has not been contacted by federal investigators, much less spoken with them.
JUPITER, Fla. -- From time to time, something upsetting or unhappy may come up and Mark McGwire will be have to talk about the past again. It happened just last week, when his estranged bodybuilding younger brother, Jay, came out with a book contradicting his more famous, richer brother's contention that he didn't use steroids to make himself bigger or better. McGwire will look uncomfortable for a little while, as he did in this case, but then go back to working dawn 'til dusk with the Cardinals hitters and generally enhancing their abilities and polishing his own reputation.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Alex Rodriguez felt a huge relief after helping the New York Yankees win the World Series.
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- On Monday, British rugby player Terry Newton made sports history with the announcement that he had become the first athlete to test positive for human growth hormone. Newton's positive test (out of competition) came in November, and he has been banned from rugby for two years by the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Agency.
You know what I miss? I miss those days when being a sports fan did not also require a deep and textured understanding of body language. I miss the time when you could follow the games people play without having a hyper-sensitive scent for sincerity. I miss the time when being a judgmental sports fan meant only that you made moral judgments about a manager's decision to bunt or not bunt in the third inning or a golfer's choice to go for the green in two from a balky lie.
One week after Mark McGwire clumsily asked for unofficial reinstatement to Major League Baseball, under far less controversy, the New York Mets granted absolution to two prodigal sons of another drug culture. The Mets' naming of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry to their Hall of Fame caused barely a ripple of attention, in part because the McGwire fallout kept its momentum but also because the announcement was, if anything, too long coming.
updated: Sun Jan 17 2010 20:32:00
Mark McGwire speaks Sunday in his first public appearance in St. Louis, Missouri, since admitting steroid use.
Former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire said Sunday he's glad he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs, but faced ongoing questions about why and which drugs he took.
When baseball slugger Mark McGwire admitted he had used steroids in his record-breaking 1998 season, he recalled refusing to talk about the subject in his 2005 testimony to Congress.
Will Mark McGwire's admission that he intentionally used steroids be followed by other notable players admitting the same?
Interest in the Roger Maris Museum, located in a hallway between the Spencer Gifts and the Nails Pro in the West Acres mall in Fargo, N.Dak., has this week been unusually strong. "We get a lot of walkers out there, and sometimes they walk by and only glance at it," says Jim McLaughlin, 84, who in 1984 co-founded the museum, which features 72 feet of memorabilia-filled display cases and a video room devoted to the accomplishments of one of his state's most favorite of sons. "The last couple of days, though, they've come in and really looked at what he did. It's been a little hectic."
updated: Thu Feb 12 2009 17:18:00
On the streets of New York, CNN's Richard Roth hears reaction from disappointed fans and those willing to forgive.
Baseball star Alex Rodriguez, who admitted this week he had used steroids, "shamed the game," the commissioner of Major League Baseball said Thursday.
Every year during spring training, Donald Fehr, the executive director of Major League Baseball's Players Association, travels across the country. He starts in Arizona and ends in Florida, stopping along the way to brief every team on the key issues for the year.
By March 30, 2006, baseball commissioner Bud Selig, against the advice of many of his closest advisers, knew he had to take the risk of springing open the lid to the Pandora's box of the sport. It had been eight years since an Associated Press reporter saw andro in Mark McGwire's locker (the moment Selig described as his epiphany when it came to performance-enhancing drugs in baseball), five years since Selig pushed through a drug-testing program for minor leaguers, and three years since the major leagues adopted such tests. But when SI published an excerpt from Game of Shadows that March, yet another signal that the story and the discovery of steroids in baseball were not going to stop, Selig knew baseball could not keep running from its past.
BEIJING -- Over the course of the 2008 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee carried out the most extensive testing program for human-growth hormone to date. In the final days of competition, the IOC was on pace for more than 500 blood tests for HGH.
Trevor Graham, who rose to fame from coaching U.S. track and field stars -- none more notable than former Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones -- will be tried this week on felony charges. Federal prosecutors claim that he knowingly lied to government officials about the use, sale and distribution of steroids from the infamous Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).
Students will learn about the risks associated with taking anabolic steroids and human growth hormone to improve athletic performance.
The trial of former U.S. Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas, convicted last Friday on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, lends insight on what to expect from a likely trial of Barry Bonds.
1886 Twenty-four-year-old Welsh cyclist Arthur Linton dies during a race from Bordeaux to Paris; though the cause of death is reported as typhoid fever, he is believed to have taken trimethyl, a stimulant.
Athletes who take performance-improving drugs make all the headlines. But the culture of personal physical enhancement has pushed the use of steroids and HGH everywhere -- from Hollywood to the music industry to your next-door neighbor who doesn't want to grow old. Don't blame only the jocks.
Testosterone: Like other hormones, testosterone is produced by both men (primarily in the testes) and women (in the ovaries) -- though the average man produces 10 times more than the average woman. Testosterone is classified as an androgen, or male sex hormone, because it promotes the development of masculine characteristics, such as body hair and a deep voice. It also has anabolic, or building, effects that can increase bone density and muscle mass.
updated: Fri Feb 08 2008 12:44:00
Richard Emory, the attorney for Roger Clemens' trainer, shows photos he alleges prove Roger Clemens used steroids.
Ten years have passed since I first held a Hall of Fame ballot in my hands, and it still ranks as one of the more awe-inspiring moments of my life. To realize that you have a say in who will be immortalized in Cooperstown -- and also who won't -- is a huge responsibility.
This is great news, really. It turns out baseball doesn't really have a steroid problem at all. Never did.
Only through a tiny keyhole could George Mitchell view the dimly lit room of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, his scope constricted by a stiff code of silence among union members and a drug policy crafted and administered by the commissioner's office and the union to be opaque where convenient rather than fully transparent. Even thus blinkered, the former U.S. senator got as roguishly ugly a glimpse of baseball as ever has been seen.
A lawyer for Roger Clemens strongly denies the seven-time Cy Young Award winner used steroids to pump up his body and his pitching statistics.
Since last summer, Sports Illustrated reporters Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim have been investigating an alleged illegal steroid distribution network that has implicated pro athletes. Earlier this year the reporters accompanied federal and state drug enforcement agents on a coordinated raid of an Orlando compound pharmacy and a Jupiter, Fla., "anti-aging" clinic that investigators allege conspired to fraudulently prescribe steroids, human growth hormone and other performance enhancing drugs over the Internet.
The man whose lab distributed performance-enhancing drugs to athletes says the policies of American professional baseball and football leagues encourage their use.
updated: Thu Dec 13 2007 11:54:00
BALCO founder Victor Conte says drug testing is not comprehensive enough to slow anabolic steroid use in sports.
Arizona Diamondbacks righthander Curt Schilling thinks twice before giving a teammate the traditional slap on the butt for a job well-done. "I'll pat guys on the ass, and they'll look at me and go, 'Don't hit me there, man. It hurts,'" Schilling says. "That's because that's where they shoot the steroid needles."
The IOC formally stripped Marion Jones of her five Olympic medals Wednesday, wiping her name from the record books following her admission that she was a drug cheat
George Mitchell's report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball has been hanging over the game for more than a year and a half now. So it's probably not surprising that, as the former U.S. Senator readies to make his findings public -- reportedly later this week, or certainly sometime before Christmas -- the overwhelming emotion around baseball is not one of fear or apprehension, but of impending relief.
updated: Fri Dec 07 2007 14:45:00
Barry Bonds arrives at court to face charges that he lied to a grand jury about using performance-enhancing drugs.
updated: Tue Oct 09 2007 04:33:00
CNN Sports' Larry Smith discusses Marion Jones' doping confession.
Track star Marion Jones pleaded guilty Friday to lying to a federal investigator about taking banned substances.
NEW YORK (SI.com) -- The man credited with creating the performance-enhancing drug known as "the clear" said in an HBO Sports interview that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield took the drugs provided to them by BALCO, reports the New York Times.
From his parked car, Jack, the special agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, had a clear view of the entrance to the Empress Hotel in La Jolla, Calif. It was Dec. 14, an overcast day, and Jack's men were all in place. They were hoping to arrest a key figure in Mexico's steroid industry, a pharmaceuticals executive and trained veterinarian named Alberto Saltiel-Cohen, who, according to a tip, was staying at the Empress.
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