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"I can't push this enough," Mark McGwire said addressing his Cardinals' players. "Steroids help you hit." McGwire, former Home Run King, will return to the St. Louis Cardinals as their new hitting coach, and he has a simple slogan: "Get Big...Illegally" McGwire proceeded to pull a Mike Singletary during his meeting and pull down his pants revealing his testicles had disappeared. "Would you rather have big balls or hit the balls big?" McGwire asked. The Cardinals players seemed to take to the slogan and clearly so did management. "I'm on board," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Cheating is the...

With the recent news about professional athletes using steriods, many Americans wonder how these drugs affect your health. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are manufactured substances related to male sex hormones (e.g., testosterone). “Anabolic” refers to muscle-building and “androgenic” refers to increased male sexual characteristics. “Steroids” refers to the class of drugs. These drugs can be legally prescribed to treat conditions resulting from steroid hormone deficiency, such as delayed puberty, but also body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass. Some people, both athletes and...

Thursday's raid followed a two-year criminal investigation into the company and corporate officers, including founder Ryan DeLuca, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to search warrants filed in U.S. District Court. The searches were conducted at Bodybuilding.com's headquarters at 2026 S. Silverstone Way, Meridian, and its warehouse off Gowen Road in south Boise, after two warrants were signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy W. Dale, said Wendy Olson, an assistant U.S. attorney in Boise. DeLuca could not be reached for comment, but a spokeswoman said the company is cooperating fully in the investigation. "We are not the manufacturers...

The federal appeals court ruling against the government Wednesday in the long running Major League Baseball drug-testing case has several far-reaching ramifications. The decision means that leaking the names of steroid-tainted players to Sports Illustrated and The New York Times likely constituted crimes, and that an investigation could be launched to identify the leakers. It also means that the blockbuster revelations about steroid cheating by Alex Rodriguez(notes), Sammy Sosa(notes), Manny Ramirez(notes) and David Ortiz(notes) were based on evidence gathered in an illegal search by lead BALCO investigating agent Jeff Novitzky. Unless the Ninth Circuit decision is successfully appealed to the...

The BBC has seen the birth certificate of South African athlete Caster Semenya, which states that the new 800m world champion is female. Ms Semanya, 18, has been told to take a gender test after several remarkable improvements in recent performances.

The gold medal favourite in tonight's women's 800m World Athletics Championships race is today facing claims that she is really a man. South African Caster Semenya, 18, is set to race in tonight's final in Berlin after sailing through a semi-final on Monday in her first major international sporting competition. But the teenage sensation has sparked controversy over her strikingly muscular physique, and today insiders claimed she would be gender tested following the final in Berlin.

Boston's erstwhile slugging duo reportedly on list of 104 According to lawyers who spoke to the The New York Times, and whose names were not revealed, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are on the list of 104 players who tested positive in Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing for performance-enhancing drugs, testing that was agreed to and conducted only on the condition that the results would remain anonymous. Ortiz and Ramirez were members of the Boston Red Sox at the time and helped the club end an 86-year streak in which they hadn't won a World Series. Results from the...

According to a New York Times report, both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the list of roughly 100 major leaguers to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. The report cites unidentified lawyers with knowledge of the results for the information

Roger Clemens made $121 million during his major league career. He earned tens of millions more in endorsements. He won seven Cy Youngs and an MVP. Clemens gets to keep all that, no matter what the fans, the media or a bunch of cranky old-timers have to say. Barry Bonds was paid some $188 million by the Pirates and the Giants for his 22 seasons in the big leagues. He won seven MVPs, eight Gold Gloves and 12 Silver Sluggers. He gets to keep all those, too, even if he someday loses his freedom and does a stretch in prison....

OAK RIDGE - Four security guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant were fired after testing positive for steroids, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services Inc., the government's security contractor, confirmed Friday. The guards' union, however, is challenging two of the cases, claiming that the positive readings were linked to use of over-the-counter supplements. News of the drug firings comes just a few days after Wackenhut confirmed that three Y-12 guards had been suspended without pay for bringing electronic game devices into the inner sanctum of the high-security weapons facility. Security police officers at Y-12 are subject to regular and random...

<p>SAN DIEGO (AP)—Manny Ramirez(notes) will be back in big leagues on Friday night after a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy. His return should be nothing short of a spectacle.</p> <p>It’ll be the start of the Fourth of July weekend, and thousands of blue-clad Los Angeles Dodgers fans are expected to be at sold-out Petco Park to support the dreadlocked slugger in the opener of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres.</p>

1.Nomar Garciaparra 2.Manny Ramirez 3.Johnny Damon 4.Trot Nixon 5.David Ortiz 6.Shea Hillenbrand 7.Derek Lowe 8.Pedro Martinez 9.Brian Roberts 10.Jay Gibbons 11.Melvin Mora 12.Jerry Hairston 13.Jason Giambi 14.Alfonso Soriano 15.Raul Mondesi 16. Aaron Boone 17.Andy Pettitte 18.Jose Contreras 19.Roger Clemens 20.Carlos Delgado 21.Vernon Wells 22.Frank Catalanotto 23.Kenny Rogers 24.Magglio Ordonez 25.Sandy Alomar 26.Bartolo Colon 27.Brent Abernathy 28.Jose Lima 29.Milton Bradley 30.Casey Blake 31.Danys Baez 32.Craig Monroe 33.Dmitri Young 34.Alex Sanchez 35.Eric Chavez 36.Miguel Tejada 37.Eric Byrnes 38.Jose Guillen 39.Keith Foulke 40.Ricardo Rincon 41.Bret Boone 42.Mike Cameron 43.Randy Winn 44.Ryan Franklin 45.Freddy Garcia 46.Rafael Soriano 47.Scott Spiezio 48.Troy Glaus 49.Francisco Rodriguez 50.Ben...

CHICAGO (AP)—When it comes to the electing players to the Baseball Hall of Fame, no new guidelines are needed to deal with the so-called Steroid Era because voters are already asked to consider a player’s integrity and character. That’s what the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America decided Friday. The chapter will not forward any measures or recommendations to the national chapter of the baseball writers group, which will meet at next month’s All-Star Game in St. Louis. While some Chicago writers said Friday they’re frustrated at the idea of voting for people who may or may...

Maybe the best way to explain Donald Fehr is that he was very good, maybe even too good, at his job. It's just that he could not or would not grasp what his job could have and should have been. If the union chief's sole responsibility was to pump up player salaries, then the brilliant and quick-witted Fehr was a smashing success. Clearly, that is how he evaluated himself. The fact that his own income was tied directly to the average player's salary may have had something to do with his point of view. But if the head of the...

Head of the players' union Donald Fehr is planning to step down, SI.com has confirmed. Michael Weiner will take over as the chief of the union. The reasons aren't immediately clear. Weiner has served as general counsel (the union's third-ranking executive). He leaps over Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer. The union has come under fire in recent years for stonewalling MLB over steroid testing, with Orza enduring much of the criticism. Weiner is better liked by the central office at MLB, so this could be a positive for future negotiations (maybe).

NEW YORK — Jose Canseco plans to file a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the players’ association, saying he’s been ostracized for going public with tales of steroids use in the sport. Canseco said Wednesday that he has discussed the suit with lawyers and intends to enlist Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro to join in the suit. Canseco said the basis of the suit would be “lost wages—in some cases, defamation of character.” “Because I used steroids and I came out with a book, I was kicked out of the game, but I have not been inducted into...

A congressional committee will look into former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa’s denial that he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs in light of a report that he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003. The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York, says that the committee takes seriously suggestions that a witness had been misleading.

Give David Wells credit. He makes the world an interesting place. At Yankee Stadium today as a TBS analyst for the YanksNew York Yankees -Twins game - on the 11th anniversary of his perfect game against the Twins, Wells held nothing back before the game in a chat with the media. In a nutshell: steroid users should be banned immediately on a permanent basis once uncovered; Alex RodriguezAlex Rodriguez home runs that he hit while using steroids should not count; and abusers could be banned from the Hall of Fame. And Boomer related he saw Clemens at a golf tournament...

It's hard to say when the Steroid Era began. And it's hard to say who was clean and who was dirty. Take Clark, for instance. As a 22-year-old with the Giants in 1978, Clark proved he was an emerging young star, belting 25 home runs and 46 doubles, knocking in 98 runs and batting .306. For fun, do a Google images search on Clark. You quickly will find baseball cards from his early days with the Giants. In the same way we can look at the rookie cards of Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds -- all skinny kids...

http://crosshairs.archangelsandwitticism.com/2009/05/10/we-shall-reap-what-we-sow.aspx

The best and brightest neighborhood in the Los Angeles sports landscape is a very different place today. Mannywood has officially gone to hell. The giddy streets are lined in shadows. The colorful houses are painted in lies. The friendly shops are stocked with juice. The mayor is a drug cheat. Manny Ramirez dropped a bomb on Mannywood on Thursday, leveling the Dodgers' spirit, stripping the Dodgers' psyche, and blowing up the Dodgers' safe. He has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a banned substance, but it could be 500 games for all I care. "You have to...

CALIFORNIA CITY - In an effort to curb vicious dog attacks, the city council will consider an ordinance aimed at regulating ownership of pit bulls and Rottweilers during its regular meeting Tuesday. The meting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 21000 Hacienda Blvd. The proposed breed-specific ordinance will require owners of pit bulls and Rottweilers to register their dogs under a special breed registration, in addition to the regular dog license. This registration will have an additional fee of $100 and require owners to provide a recent photograph of the dog. No more than two...

A-Rod should be banned for life from baseball for steroid use. Alex Rodriguez has done irreparable damage to the sport of baseball. Pete Rose was banned from the game for life for gambling on baseball. Do you think Pete Rose's gambling or A-Rod's steroid use had a larger impact on the outcome of any particular game of baseball? There is no proof that Pete Rose's bad habit ever affected a baseball game. We know what kind of effect steroid use has on an athlete's performance. When you correlate Alex Rodriguez's steroid use with his records and outstanding seasons, you can...

Alex Rodriguez's admission of steroid use has unleashed a new round of debate in yet another fantasy game. Where to put asterisks? Which are the corrupted numbers? A-Rod steroid shake-up The Alex Rodriguez steroid controversy took another twist Monday when the three-time AL MVP admitted taking steroids during a three-year span while with Texas. Will Rodriguez's eventual tally for hits and home runs warrant the mark of eternal shame? Will Barry Bonds' 762, or 73? How about 354, Roger Clemens' career win total? Or maybe, 6?

Every time I imagine baseball with more bunts and 1-0 "pitching duels," my blood goes cold. If intolerable tedium interested me, I would have turned my attention to soccer or golf years ago. Baseball's singular purpose, some seem to have forgotten, is to entertain us. So the moral panic surrounding Alex Rodriguez's steroid use is unquestionably counterproductive. If an athlete decides to sacrifice his testicles to the gods of baseball, who am I to object?

WASHINGTON (AP) - All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada has been charged with lying to Congress about steroids. Tejada is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday where he is expected to plead guilty.

To my Conservative Friends: I digress for a day from discussing Conservative issues and liberal tooling to comment on the steroid use in baseball and how it has destroyed the legacy of our great game... Unless you have just emerged from under a rock somewhere, you know that the best player in the game, Alex Rodriguez, just admitted that he used banned substances between the years 2001 and 2003. In a very emotional interview yesterday with respected baseball man Peter Gammons, A-Rod almost broke down several times as he copped to his transgressions and apologized several times to the fans...

Here is video of Baseball Star Alex Rodriguez talking today with ESPN's Peter Gammons. In the interview, he admits to having used "performance enhancing drugs" from 2001-2003 while a player with the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez says he is sorry for taking the substances. . . . . . . (Watch Video)

The house of cards, once and for all, has collapsed on Major League Baseball and its steroids era. On Saturday, the past took down the future king. Take a real good look across the devastated terrain that commissioner Bud Selig once commonly referred to as a renaissance. • Barry Bonds, 762 home runs, seven-time MVP, goes on trial for perjury beginning March 2. • Roger Clemens, 354 wins, seven-time Cy Young winner, is being investigated for perjury by the FBI, which is also investigating former MVP Miguel Tejada. • Rafael Palmeiro, 569 home runs, 3,000 hits, has already been investigated...

Another example of union morality is on full display in the breaking news of New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez's failed 2003 steroid test. After witnessing the near-strangling of the U.S. auto industry at the hands of decades of union thuggery, and with the disastrous Card Check waiting in the wings, it is instructive to see the morality of those who aim to lead the labor revolution in America. And here we see it, buried deep within SI's story: Rodriguez finished the 2003 season by winning his third straight league home run title (with 47) and the first of his...

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated. Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004. When approached...

Court documents show Barry Bonds tested positive for three types of steroids, and his personal trainer once told his business manager in the Giants' clubhouse how he injected the slugger with performance-enhancing drugs "all over the place." Prosecutors plan to use those 2000-2003 test results and other evidence, detailed in documents released Wednesday, at Bonds' trial next month to show he lied when he told a federal grand jury in December 2003 that he never knowingly used steroids. Bonds' attorneys want that evidence suppressed, and U.S. District Judge Susan Illston is to hear arguments Thursday on what to allow jurors...

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury is investigating whether Roger Clemens lied under oath to Congress last year when he denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. The sources said the grand jury was convened several months ago, in response to a referral in February by Congress asking the Justice Department to investigate Clemens' sworn statements in a deposition and his testimony during a hearing Feb. 13. But the grand-jury probe was described by the sources as a routine part of such an investigation and that no indictment or other public action was imminent. Clemens,...

Romero suspended; no appeals planned NEW YORK -- Phillies reliever J.C. Romero was officially suspended Tuesday for the first 50 games of next season after testing positive for a banned substance. The suspension was announced by Major League Baseball. It was first reported by ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday. The suspension will cost Romero $1.25 million in salary, Gammons reported. Neither Romero nor the Players Association plans to appeal this case further. "That process has played itself out completely," said Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock. Romero is allowed to participate in spring training workouts and games. And Phillies general...

Cyclist Lance Armstrong said he may have a future in politics, coyly hinting that a desire to serve may lead him to seek public office after the conclusion of his athletic career.

Chairman Waxman Releases Letter Regarding Illegal Steroid Use in Professional Wrestling In a letter to Office of National Drug Control Policy Director John P. Walters, Chairman Waxman summarizes results of the Committee’s investigation into steroid use in professional wrestling and requests that ONDCP examine the widespread steroid abuse and systemic deficiencies in testing policies and practices. January 2, 2009 The Honorable John P. Walters Director Office of National Drug Control Policy Executive Office of the President Washington, DC 20503 Dear Mr. Walters: As you may know, I will be leaving the Oversight Committee to become Chairman of the Energy and...

Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night. Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai. The first shooting took place near the CST police station

Keovongsa Siharath was arrested in Henry County on charges he punched his stepfather. Jeffrey Churchill was charged with assault in an altercation with a woman in a mall parking lot. All three are now officers with the Atlanta Police Department. More than one-third of recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have been arrested or cited for a crime, according to a review of their job applications. The arrests ranged from minor offenses such as shoplifting to violent charges including assault. More than one-third of the officers had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies, and more than half of the recruits...

If ever there was a player meant to be an Oakland Raider, it was Tony Mandarich. He was 315 pounds of pectorals and trouble, a wild and crazy offensive tackle who lived life not just large but extra large, maybe even triple-X. Before he had pancaked his first NFL defensive end, Sports Illustrated anointed him "the best offensive line prospect ever." Scouts gushed that he was better than Anthony Munoz, the tackle against whom all were measured. You had Mandarich, the second player picked in the 1989 draft, reportedly admitting on Showtime's "Inside the NFL" that he was a steroid...

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Heidi Krieger proved herself one of the world's top athletes in the 1980s, winning medal after medal in the shot put for East Germany. Andreas Krieger says his body changed soon after he began taking what coaches said were vitamins. Andreas Krieger says his body changed soon after he began taking what coaches said were vitamins. Now, the former sports star looks disdainfully at the awards, dismissing them as "doping medals" and honors that turned a woman into a man. Heidi Krieger, the 1986 European women's shot-put champion, became Andreas Krieger after a sex-change operation in...

The drug chief of the International Olympic Committee accused Russia of systematically doping its athletes on Tuesday, the same day that three of the country's race walkers, two of them Olympians, were nabbed for steroid use and less than a week after seven prominent female were caught in an elaborate doping and test-rigging scheme. In an interview with AFP, Arne Ljungqvist, who is also a vice-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), expressed his disappointment and disbelief at what has transpired with the Russian team.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday that politicians who suggest that lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling would ease rising fuel prices in the United States were "blowing smoke." The comments were seen by the U.S. media as a slap at Republican leaders including President George W. Bush and the party's presumptive presidential nominee John McCain, who have recently spoken in favor of more offshore drilling as America tries to wean itself from its dependence on foreign oil. A spokesman for the governor, however, said the comments were not directed at McCain, nor at...

Plano, Texas (AP) -- A convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him was found shot to death in his home Thursday, police said. Early Thursday morning, Plano police made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead. Police said both had been shot to death. Police spokesman Rick McDonald said the officers were making a welfare check after relatives of Earhart-Savell expressed concern about her whereabouts. Plano detectives aren't releasing information about whether the deaths were a double homicide...

In football, the Spygate scandal is just now settling down (no thanks to Arlen Specter's rabblerousing). In baseball and track, BALCO keeps rearing its Barry Bonds-sized head. In basketball, flopping has become so prevalent that the NBA is going to start penalizing it. In tennis, meanwhile, players are being investigated for fixing matches. And let's not forget NASCAR, where fender-bending seems to have taken a back seat to rule-bending. But wait! All hope may not be lost. I call your attention to two recent episodes in the state of Washington - one in college softball, the other in high school...

BREAKING NEWS: Barry Bonds is charged with 14 counts of lying and one count of obstruction of justice in a new indictment stemming from a steriod probe. Full article coming shortly.

The U.S. attorney's office filed 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction against Barry Bonds on Tuesday, sources told ESPN's T.J. Quinn. The counts were filed in what's known as a superseding indictment that added 10 more counts to the four baseball's all-time home run king was charged with in November. In March, the perjury case against Bonds was put on hold for three months, with prosecutors telling a federal judge they plan to obtain a new indictment against him. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had told prosecutors on Feb. 29 to fix their original indictment because it...

Former Giants slugger Barry Bonds has asked the Players Association to consider filing a grievance on his behalf because Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader has been unable to sign a contract as a free agent for the 2008 season. In his behalf, the union has contacted the Commissioner's Office seeking information about why Bonds hasn't even been extended an offer. "We've raised both general concerns and some player-specific concerns," Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel, said, telling The Associated Press that the only specific concern raised was the case of Bonds. "We have made requests for information. I...

Book Review: God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (and How We Can Get It Back) Written by Will Leitch. Published by HarperCollins, 2008. If you would like a truly fresh and hilarious perspective on the protests surrounding the passing of the Olympic torch, pick up a copy of Will Leitch's book, God Save the Fan, and read his essay concerning the Olympics that starts on page 97. Leitch wrote the book long before the Chinese oppression of Tibet became the...

SAN FRANCISCO, (AP) -- A San Francisco jury has found former cyclist Tammy Thomas guilty of lying to a grand jury about her steroids use. The first person in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation to go to trial, Thomas was convicted Friday of three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. The jury acquitted her of two counts of perjury.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It didn’t matter if it said "PacBell," "SBC," or "AT&T" on the outside; to many San Francisco Giants fans, the ballpark on the city’s waterfront was always known as "The House That Barry Built." But now, less than a year removed from Barry Bonds’ setting of the all-time, home-run record, the average fan will have a hard to finding evidence that the slugger ever played there. His name, his image, as well as any mention of his feat, have been scrubbed from AT&T Park. Wednesday was Media Day at the ballpark; a chance for reporters and photographers...