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LEAVE IT TO the good people of Philadelphia, whose football fans once famously booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus, to come up with the perfect takedown of the most inflated (in more ways than one) superstar in contemporary sport. With the visiting Barry Bonds at the plate and needing just two home runs to tie Babe Ruth’s iconic 714 lifetime homers, the banner was raised: “Ruth did it on hot dogs & beer.” The target of this concise discourse on the roots of greatness has been booed lustily in every major league city he’s played in outside his hometown...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Independent Dutch investigators cleared Lance Armstrong of doping in the 1999 Tour de France on Wednesday, and blamed anti-doping authorities for misconduct in dealing with the Austin, Texas, cyclist. More.....

See for example this thread first. Barry Bonds has hit seven fifteen It still remains to be seen if he'll be "Hall of Fame". For the sake of the game I sure wish he had kept himself clean!

A new substance has emerged that suggests the next stage in the drugs battle has started THE grim new world of gene doping, for so long viewed as the apocalyptic future of illegal performance-enhancement in sport, has dawned in Germany. Experts had been concerned that advances in gene therapy would start to impact on sport by the time of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. However, evidence from a court case in Magdeburg, Germany, suggests that a new brand of cheats could be injecting in time for the Turin Winter Games, which start next week. Gene doping is the big fear...

AIGLE, Switzerland - The International Cycling Union has appointed a Dutch lawyer to conduct an independent investigation into allegations Lance Armstrong tested positive for EPO during the 1999 Tour de France. The cycling body said Thursday that Emile Vrijman and his law firm would “undertake a comprehensive investigation regarding all issues concerning the testing conducted by the French laboratory of urine samples” from the ’99 Tour. Vrijman’s firm is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and he is a former director of the Netherlands’ national anti-doping agency.

Prosecutors in the BALCO steroids conspiracy case subpoenaed a former girlfriend of Barry Bonds to testify before a federal grand jury in San Francisco last week, questioning her about the Giants star's finances and whether he used steroids, The Chronicle has learned. Kimberly Bell, 35, a graphic artist from San Jose who says she dated Bonds from 1994 to 2003, told the grand jury Thursday that in 2000, the left fielder confided to her that he had begun using steroids, according to two sources familiar with an account of her testimony. Bell also testified that in 2001, Bonds had given...

Prosecutors in the BALCO steroids conspiracy case subpoenaed a former girlfriend of Barry Bonds to testify before a federal grand jury in San Francisco last week, questioning her about the Giants star's finances and whether he used steroids, The Chronicle has learned. Kimberly Bell, 35, a graphic artist from San Jose who says she dated Bonds from 1994 to 2003, told the grand jury Thursday that in 2000, the left fielder confided to her that he had begun using steroids, according to two sources familiar with an account of her testimony. Bell also testified that in 2001, Bonds had given...

Instead of pitchers and catchers, the opening of baseball's spring training seemed preoccupied by syringes and steroids. One day after stores began selling former American League MVP Jose Canseco's book of doping allegations, the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, and Cincinnati Reds opened their training camps. In his first press conference, Yankees manager Joe Torre faced a torrent of questions about the proliferation of performance-enhancing drugs in America's pastime, with the subject taking the first half-hour of the 45-minute session: "It doesn't go away, unfortunately." In light of the quick sales of Mr. Canseco's new book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant...

Horse-racing officials announced they will start testing thoroughbreds for illegal, performance-enhancing "milkshakes" yesterday, as 17 people charged in a gambling scandal linked to equine doping were arraigned in federal court. The tests for the so-called "shakes," which involve a sodium bicarbonate cocktail fed into a horse's stomach, will begin early next month, and could lead to "severe" penalties, the New York Racing Association said.

Anyone have Before/After Photos of Barry Bonds --- One photo ~ 20 years ago when Barry was ~ 180 lbs with a hat size of ~ 7 1/2; And a recent photo showing him ~ 260 lbs with a hat size of ~ 9 3/4;

Olympic case dropped against Hamilton; Still facing Vuelta sanctions IOC medical chief blames lab error for 'inconclusive B-Sample' By Charles Pelkey news editor, VeloNews This report filed September 23, 2004 Tyler Hamilton's Olympic gold medal may be safe after the International Olympic Committee dropped disciplinary proceedings against him, but the Phonak rider could still face a two-year ban from cycling based on evidence of blood doping at the Vuelta a España. The IOC announced Thursday that it had dropped disciplinary proceedings against the Olympic time trial champion, begun after "an adverse analytical finding" on his A sample from the Athens...

Colorado Springs, CO (Sports Network) - American cyclist Tyler Hamilton, the champion in the road time trial at this year's Olympics, may lose his gold medal due to a blood doping violation. Gerard Bisceglia, the CEO of USA Cycling, said Tuesday that the organization was waiting for the 'B' sample results to come back from another doping test. The follow-up tests were to be conducted on Tuesday. USA Cycling was informed last week that Hamilton had tested positive shortly after he captured the gold medal on August 18. Hamilton reportedly also tested positive at the Spanish Vuelta on September 18,...

August 25 : Korzhanenko also said she demanded the DNA testing of her samples and the samples that contained the banned steroid stanozolol, but her demand was rejected by WADA. August 26: 200 meters Men's Final - almost all of the 75,000 denounced the conspiracy against hero Kenteris. The protest keeps dealying the start of the race. This time the Greeks refused to swallow the lies - the TV commentators that this time made the mistake to broadcast the event live, keep silence about what the crowd is shouting : "Kenteris, Kenteris" ...

Marion Jones: The Movie or Real Life? June 18, 2004 If this were "Marion Jones The Movie," Jones would be a hero of major proportions. We'd see Marion stand up to the wicked, secretive, scandal-mongering U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which, for no good reason, is trying to sully her spotless reputation and ruin her brilliant career. We'd see Marion fly into San Francisco on a winged gold chariot and call a press conference at which she dares the USADA to come out from behind closed doors and hand over the evidence. She'd say they can't do that because no evidence exists...

<p>Hanging from the BALCO-ny Drug sting puts superstars' reputations at risk, but who really cares?</p>

<p>Major League Baseball: All players were randomly and anonymously tested for illegal steroids in 2003 as a survey. If 5 percent or more test positive, mandatory random testing for illegal steroids will take place the following two years with players being identified. If 2.5 percent or fewer test positive in consecutive years, mandatory random testing will end. In any year in which there is not mandatory random testing, there will be anonymous testing. The first time a player tests positive during mandatory random testing, he is placed in a treatment program. For subsequent positive tests, penalties range from a 30-day suspension to a two-year suspension.</p>

New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating a company that prescribes nutritional supplements for elite athletes, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday. Before the second game of the World Series on Sunday, Giambi told the Chronicle, "Uh, yeah, I was," when asked if he had been subpoenaed in connection with the probe of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO. Giambi said he visited Burlingame, Calif.-based BALCO last fall before going on a tour of Japan with other major leaguers. "I just asked about some vitamins and supplements and stuff like that,"...