Uh... Baseball Think Factory?

A baseball player's mentioned in it. Yes! Score!

Wow. Low standards.

Let me save everyone the trouble:

This news makes it absolutely clear that the indictment and conviction of Barry Bonds on perjury charges is just a matter of time.

Jones' guilty plea proves that if federal prosecutors had anything on Bonds they would have indicted him by now.

I think that just about covers it.

What about all the name calling and acrimony? You can't leave out those!

And, Larry, we've had stories with looser baseball connection than this before, so save your scorn for the Yankee starting pitching.

There's a link up right now to a story about birth control. It would seem that JC's standards are right in line with the norms for the site.

Weee! Look at me!!! I posted a news item!!!

TITTL

At least the story about birth control is directly addressing a baseball player. This story *mentions* a baseball player.

It wasn't linked to because it mentioned Barry Bonds, it was linked to because it's about steroids.

it was linked to because it's about steroids

No! ####, I never would have thought of that.

I didn't know Jones had been indicted.

I get no schadenfreude out of any of this steroids prosecution/persecution. Athletes take drugs to help them compete. I never would have known. So, let's prosecute the ones with loose-lipped friends.

TITTL?

Just guessing here ...

Take it to the ???

latrine?

Take It To The Limit

the three-time gold medalist has admitted in a recent letter to family and close friends that she used steroids before the Sydney Games, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

As I see it, there are two possibilities here. Either one of her close friends or family members leaked the letter to the Post, or she just considers the Washington Post a close friend.

"Dear Washington,

Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here. I used steroids.

Love, Marion"

JC, it's spelled "Wheee! Look at me!" The number of "e"s is optional, the inclusion of the "h" is not.

As long as we're on the topic, here's what the New York Times reports: The Investigation of Bonds Seems to Be at a Standstill:

Lawyers involved with the case say that if prosecutors had enough evidence to indict Bonds, they would have acted.

As long as we're on the topic, here's what the New York Times reports: The Investigation of Bonds Seems to Be at a Standstill:

this is so stupid!
thanks for sharing.

The admission could cost Jones the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics

Not to mention the 73 home runs.

“It cost me a lot of money to defend myself,” Conte said Thursday. “But I told the truth then, and I’m telling it now.”

Does that then mean when he was quoted in the USA Today on 3/16/06:

"BALCO did not give him (Bonds) steroids," Conte said Thursday by phone from Taft (Calif.) Correctional Facility, referring to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative in Burlingame, Calif. "I never gave him steroids."

he was telling the truth also?

BALCO did not give him (Bonds) steroids

HGH? Something that technically might be classified as something other than a "steroid"? BALCO sold steroids to Bonds?
That statement is deliberately worded to say almost nothing.

Uh... Baseball Think Factory?

I know what this article has to do with baseball, but I can't tell you....

Color me extremely disappointed. Jones has always been vociferous in her denial of taking steroids, and her performances actually kind of backed it up (she was always great). I believed her. More fool I.

She did pull a raffy palmeiro. Sportscenter played her over the top denials this morn. Nice.

Seeing her -- a short-distance sprinter -- blow away the field in the 4x400 relay was pretty damn impressive. They can't take that memory away from me! I'm sure the Ministry of Truth is digitally erasing her from the film of that event as we speak.

Seeing her -- a short-distance sprinter -- blow away the field in the 4x400 relay was pretty damn impressive. They can't take that memory away from me! I'm sure the Ministry of Truth is digitally erasing her from the film of that event as we speak.

I'd say thre's a good chance her competitors weren't pure, if that helps.

Color me extremely disappointed. Jones has always been vociferous in her denial of taking steroids, and her performances actually kind of backed it up (she was always great). I believed her. More fool I.

From where I sit, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams are looking more and more vidicated with their reporting of this entire story.

From where I sit

In kevin's lap?

In kevin's lap?

No, at the adults' table, somewhere you haven't been yet.

From where I sit, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams are looking more and more vidicated with their reporting of this entire story.

Except for the whole "Reporting Supposedly Secret Grand Jury Testimony To Make A Buck" thing.

Seeing her -- a short-distance sprinter -- blow away the field in the 4x400 relay was pretty damn impressive. They can't take that memory away from me! I'm sure the Ministry of Truth is digitally erasing her from the film of that event as we speak.

This is the essence of the issue. I suggest that how you feel about steroids can be identified with how you feel about this statement.

I had the exact same reaction when Ben Johnson made Carl Lewis his #####. And while my memory hasn't been erased the meaningfulness of the event has been forever tarnished. The question is who are we to blame. Souless apologists want to say lalalalalalalalalalala it didn't happen you fascists can't take my memories away. The defenders of justice want to say it wasn't real. It never would have happened without the steroids. You gutless piece of #### cheater have turned the majesty of athletic competition into just another meaningless entertainment. For that you should be tarred, feathered, then dumped in Lake Tahoe along with Fredo and all the other betrayers of hope.

What about all the name calling and acrimony? You can't leave out those!

Better?

I blame this on President Bush, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Jay Marriotti, Joe Morgan, Rudy Giulani, PETCO, and Admiral Akbar. Discuss.

I can link this to baseball:

Some aspiring Bill Veeck wannabe should sign up Marion Jones (or another elite female sprinter) and use her in the pinchrunner/Herb Washington role during September roster expansion. Imagine the ensuing media circus.

Except for the whole "Reporting Supposedly Secret Grand Jury Testimony To Make A Buck" thing.

Blame Troy Ellerman. And there isn't a single investigative reporter or editor anywhere in America that wouldn't have broken that story if they had gotten it first.

In any event, people may certainly continue to not like them, but I think it's about time that everyone finally admitted once and for all that what they reported was indeed factual.

In kevin's lap?

No, at the adults' table, somewhere you haven't been yet.

Why is kevin sitting on the adults' table?

/sorry, couldn't help myself

Except for the whole "Reporting Supposedly Secret Grand Jury Testimony To Make A Buck" thing.

Blame Troy Ellerman. And there isn't a single investigative reporter or editor anywhere in America that wouldn't have broken that story if they had gotten it first.

My two cents: I'd agree, if they'd just written the articles. The book, however, shows that their motives weren't just "investigative reporting".

You gutless piece of #### cheater have turned the majesty of athletic competition into just another meaningless entertainment.

The 'majesty of athletic competition' goes out the door the instant money and power involved. And money and power have almost always been involved.

The 'majesty of athletic competition' goes out the door the instant money is involved. And money's almost always been involved.

In a happier world, Dr. Z has a nice piece on Al Oerter at cnnsi.

The book, however, shows that their motives weren't just "investigative reporting".

Those legal bills won't pay themselves.

I thought #23 was sarcasm.

but I think it's about time that everyone finally admitted once and for all that what they reported was indeed factual

Who do you think still believes there isn't anything to it?

Weee! Look at me!!! I posted a news item!!!

Still an attention-whore since you're still jealous Darren didn't call you a "condescending smart guy" on the lead-in to an ST thread, eh?

And, although I disagree with JC on many issues and on some aspects of steroids, I think the BALCO connection makes this a reasonable link to post.

Blame Troy Ellerman. And there isn't a single investigative reporter or editor anywhere in America that wouldn't have broken that story if they had gotten it first.

In any event, people may certainly continue to not like them, but I think it's about time that everyone finally admitted once and for all that what they reported was indeed factual.

Except, of course, that nothing they wrote about Bonds has been proven true. But I do see that you finally have something to pleasure yourself to besides Kevin's picture.

Color me extremely disappointed. Jones has always been vociferous in her denial of taking steroids, and her performances actually kind of backed it up (she was always great). I believed her. More fool I.

I'm not sure where you've been for the last 5 years.

Unfortunately, it's really not that hard to make a bald-faced lie to a direct and pointed question. Why people continually seem to be surprised by this is beyond me. I can only laugh when people respect "hard-hitting" journalism of the sort when Diane Sawyer asked Mel Gibson point-blank: "Are you an anti-Semite?" Whether you believe he is or isn't is irrelevant. It's actually far easier to make a simple lie to a direct question: "I never did X", "I am not Y", then it is to try to explain away all of the facts seem to point to that conclusion.

"No, at the adults' table, somewhere you haven't been yet."

If all they do at the adults' table is act dour and sanctimonious, I think I'd rather hang with the kids. To each his own.

Who do you think still believes there isn't anything to it?

I think Niepothead just answered the question for you before I could even respond! But yeah, I imagine the number of people still in denial about the truth is probably getting smaller and smaller all the time with every new revelation.

Jones said she took steroids from September 2000 to July 2001 and said she was told by her then-coach Trevor Graham that she was taking flaxseed oil when it was actually "the clear." That's a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

"I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after," Jones told the judge. "By November 2003, I realized he was giving me performance-enhancing drugs."

She said she "felt different, trained more intensely" and experienced "faster recovery and better times" while using the substance.

"He told me to put it under my tongue for a few seconds and swallow it," she said. "He told me not to tell anyone."

Apparently, Jones said this in court, as part of her guilty plea. I find that at least mildly interesting. The prosecutors did not object. The judge did not stop and admonish her. It may turn out that there really is something to the idea that the BALCO boys weren't telling their clients just what they were giving them, and the clients weren't asking. Of course, it didn't take her long to figure out that it wasn't just flaxseed oil she was slipping under her tongue.

Now what would really be interesting is knowing exactly what was the nature of the evidence that prosecutors had that finally allowed them to indict her, and more importantly forced Jones to quit the denials and agree to plead guilty. I suppose it's possible that she just all of a sudden got religion or something, but it's a lot more likely that they had a smoking gun, and I'd be curious to know just what it was. The wire story on the guilty plea mentions "ledgers, purchases, doping calendars, and various blood-test results connected to Jones" being seized in the raid on BALCO. Well, if that's all it takes, then doesn't one sort of have to suspect that Game of Shadows notwithstanding, they don't have the same sort of goods on Bonds? Or did somebody still have to rat her out and corroborate or interpret those ledgers and schedules?

IE,

Good post. I thought about putting that same section up but didn't. It was another reason that I thought the link was relevant to baseball, as I indicated above.

(45)
Just speculating, but I think the force came from the check fraud case - the doping was just part of some deal. Support of this is that the plea took place in New York, where the check fraud case was, and that she was apparently indicted in that case as "a close associate of Tim Montgomery." From what has been stated she can give the feds Trevor Graham.

I don't believe she was ever indicted over Balco. Graham and Tammy Thomas were the only ones indicted.

Yeah, pretty silly of me to just completely buy into the MSM take on this as a drug case with some peripherally-related check fraud. Obviously, it's the other way around.

So, just how big a fish is Graham, anyway? I'm pretty much a typical American who only pays attention to track in Olympic years, or when there's a doping scandal.

I think Graham coached a significant portion of the early 2000's American track stars. He's also the guy who started the clear crackdown in an attempt to bring down competitors.

If he gave his athletes these drugs, as Jones is testifying, I think it very just that he gets in more trouble than the competitors he was trying to sabotage.

I think Niepothead just answered the question

Yes, that definitely sounds like someone at the "adult" table....

And, Larry, we've had stories with looser baseball connection than this before, so save your scorn for the Yankee starting pitching.

So, was I wrong for not posting the story about the Topps beef recall?

So, was I wrong for not posting the story about the Topps beef recall.

No, but you should have posted something about the fact that they are apparently giving steroids to the bulls in pro rodeo.