Jose Canseco has grown accustom to watching his best laid plans go up in smoke. He took steroids to become a superhuman baseball player, but ended up a big joke. He wrote “Juiced” with hopes of hurting Major League Baseball, but has seen the sport thrive despite all of the steroid talk. This time around, Jose’s book “Vindicated” could lead to him being indicted.

Federal investigators met with Jose in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago to talk about current and former ballplayer’s use of performance enhancing drugs. While Canseco thought he would only be snitching on others, the investigators had a few questions for Jose about Jose.

They asked him about a number of current and former major leaguers, including Alex Rodriguez, and their possible connection to performance-enhancing drugs. They also asked Canseco whether he sought money from various players before the release of his latest book.

Jose Canseco’s lawyer, Greg S. Emerson, knew this was a bad sign for his client.

He said he became troubled when Novitzky said he had heard that Canseco had approached a number of major leaguers about investing in a movie project even as Canseco was working on his second book about baseball and performance-enhancing drugs, titled “Vindicated.”

Emerson went on to say he’s afraid that the investigators are shooting the messenger. I’d say they’re getting it right. Jose Canseco shed a lot of light on the steroid situation, but that doesn’t him the right to turn into a shakedown artist. And considering the amount of steroids Jose brought to the game, a federal charge of some sort seems fair.

Officials Sharpen Questions for Canseco. Courtesy of The New York Times

Jose Canseco, MLB, extortion, baseball

The Congressional hearing that will feature Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Brian McNamee has been delayed until February 13th. Congress wants to actually plan for this hearing instead of winging it like they did the first time MLB was called to Capitol Hill. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will begin meeting with lawyers for Clemens, Pettitte, and McNamee Thursday.

January 15th will still see steroids in front of Congress as the HCOOAGR will breakdown the Mitchell Report. Testifying in front of the House that day will be Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, union leader Donald Fehr, and George Mitchell. Hopefully Fehr and Selig will have to face some tough questions.. Like, how far up your ass does your head have to be for you to be blind to the steroid problem?

At the end of the day, these hearings mean nothing. The players and owners won’t be forced to give back any money, World Series rings aren’t going to be forfeited. MLB’s attendance has been climbing for years so the fans are clearly not too upset by performance enhancing drug use. The hysteria over outing guys will wear off, and the game will get back to normal. And we’re all gonna wonder how the hell Congress has this much time on their hands.

Hearing featuring Clemens, McNamee, Pettitte postponed until Feb. 13. Courtesy of ESPN

Photo courtesy of The Hype Guy

Tags: Roger Clemens, Congress, Andy Pettitte, Baseball

Another day, another steroid story. This one isn’t as big as Roger Clemens admitting steroid use, but it’s still interesting. James Gahan, the father of champion inline skater Corey Gahan, was sentenced to 6 years in jail for providing performance enhancing drugs to his son. From the Central Florida News 13 website:

The father of a world class, record-setting inline skater has been sentenced to six years in prison for giving his son steroids.

James Gahan, 41, is believed to be the first person convicted of providing illegal performance-enhancing drugs to an athlete.

James Gahan gets 6 years for giving his 14 year old roids, but nobody’s going to jail for supplying half of baseball with the juice. Who’s the Pablo Escobar of the steroid era? I don’t know, but if people don’t wise up, Bud Selig’s gonna slip away like Keyser Soze.

Father Of Champion Inline Skater Sentenced To 6 Years. Courtesy of Central Florida News 13

Tags: Steroids, James Gahan, Corey Gahan, Jail

Ok, so Roger’s denying everything.. Of course he is.. I like how he and his team are hiding behind the mistake made by the Los Angeles Times. You may remember the L.A. Times reported that Roger Clemens’ name was mentioned in the Jason Grimsley affadavit. As it turns out, he wasn’t and now Team Clemens is saying see, we told you… Here’s my thing.. The informant for the Times had good information, he was only wrong about the source of the info. Guys up and down the Mitchell Report have come clean about their steroid/performance enhancing drug use. Roger Clemens’ ace boon coon Andy Pettitte admitted to using HGH, but Roger’s the one clean guy? Uh, no.. Roger should’ve paid more attention to how poorly Barry Bonds handled the allegations against him. America will forgive you if you come clean, but all of the hemmin and hawin, and videotaped denials are only making the hole deeper.

Tags: Roger Clemens, Mitchell Report, Sports, Baseball, utube, youtube

Before the Mitchell Report was released there was news the Mitchell investigators had asked about Pete Rose. That was dumb because everybody knows the only juice the hit king deals with is of the bookmaker variety. During the taping of Wednesday night’s Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller, Pete got a chance to speak on the Mitchell Report.

“The Mitchell Report’s come out, and I never thought anybody would make me look like an altar boy.”

“I’ve been suspended 18 years for betting on my own team to win … I was wrong … but these guys today, if the allegations are true, they’re making a mockery of the game.”

It’s close, but I’m gonna side with Pete. Gambling is the number one crime in baseball, but Pete Rose committed his crime alone. The steroid era involves management, ownership, and hundreds of players. It’s a conspiracy, a scandal, and a bigger black eye than Pete Rose’s gambling. As you would expect, John Dowd, the author of the Dowd Report, disagrees..

“He committed the capital crime of baseball… He’s the king of capital crime.”

18 years later and still hatin.. Let it go John, let it go.

Dowd dismisses Pete Rose’s protests on ‘roids vs. betting. Courtesy of Newsday

Tags: Pete Rose, Steroids, Mitchell Report, Baseball, Dennis Miller

The Mitchell Report dropped and while all hell didn’t break out, Roger Clemens’ name officially did. The video features Roger’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, standing by his man. Mr. Hardin seems bent on discrediting Brian McNamee, somehow forgetting or overlooking the fact that Roger Clemens was reportedly mentioned in the Jason Grimsley investigation.. The Mitchell Report had access to the Jason Grimsley files, but they were redacted.

So now Clemens and his team get to go through a version of what Barry Bonds went through. Out of all of the names on the list, Clemens is the one being singled out. Even though the whole league was walking around with syringes, Roger Clemens is the Mitchell Report fall guy… This does explain Roger’s bat throwing at Mike Piazza (noticeably absent from the report) in the 2000 World Series as a simple case of roid rage.

I jacked the list of all of the names in the report from Deadspin,

where they are crushing the Mitchell coverage. I’m pretty sure Paul Loduca never planned on having his note about a returned check plastered across the tubes… Here’s the list:

All the players listed in the section VIII. B.: “Information Regarding Purchases or Use of Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball” (section 3 is “Radomski¹s Distribution of Performance Enhancing Substances to Major League Baseball Players”)

Lenny Dykstra
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo
Todd Hundley
Mark Carreon
Hal Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley
Gregg Zaun
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Adam Piatt
Miguel Tejada
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett, Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan

Section IX. B.”Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball”

Rick Ankiel, Paul Byrd, Jay Gibbons, Troy Glaus, Jose Guillen, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Gary Matthews, Jr., and Scott Schoeneweis, and former players David Bell, Jose Canseco, Jason Grimsley, Darren Holmes, John Rocker, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams, and Steve Woodard.”

BALCO FOLK

Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

You know what stands out after looking at all of these names? Roger Clemens.. And a gang of scrubs.. If you have to say ‘oh yeah, I remember him’, the steroids didn’t work for that guy.

So there you have it.. All of the names, and Roger Clemens’ lawyer going on the offensive. There will probably be more players callin bs on the report over the next few days. There will definitely be too much talking down about the whole situation. I say too much talking because when the 2008 season rolls around, MLB will be working it’s way to a fifth consecutive attendance record.

The Mitchell Report

Tags: Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens, youtube, Lawyer, Rusty Hardin, utube

George Mitchell’s steroid investigation findings are the other shoe waiting to drop. Everybody knows it’s coming, but nobody knows when. Names are supposedly gonna be revealed, so MLB’s gonna have to figure out a way to sweep the report under a rug before next season. Hopefully Bud Selig has been taking notes from David Stern on how to handle a potentially league crippling scandal.

During the course of the investigation George Mitchell has tried to talk to anyone he felt could give some insight into performance enhancing drug usage in Major League Baseball. The only player he has spoken with is Jason Giambi, and that’ only because pressure was applied to Giambi. With the lack of available people to question, the Mitchell investigators turned to people formerly associated with the game.

Larry Starr was the head trainer for the Cincinnati Reds from 1972 to 1992 and for the Florida Marlins from 1993 to 2002. He has been interviewed by lawyers involved in the investigation 4 times over the past year and a half, but has stated numerous times that he will not reveal the names of any players he knows to have used PEDs. That hasn’t stopped the lawyers from asking.

He said throughout their conversations — which included a face-to-face meeting in the summer of 2006 in which Gordon and another lawyer traveled to Florida — Gordon would throw out the names of players and ask if they had used drugs.

Starr said Gordon asked about “the obvious ones,” including Barry Bonds, and about other players as well.

“I think Sheffield’s name probably came up, and to be honest, I said while he was with me there was nothing I saw,” said Starr in reference to Gary Sheffield, who played for the Marlins from 1993 to 1998.

I’m not surprised that they asked about Barry, he’s been the trophy the whole time, but this caught me off guard:

“They asked me if Rose used drugs,” Starr said. “His name did come up; I am not sure why, other than I had him as a player. Anyone that knows Pete knows he didn’t use steroids.”

The Mitchell investigation wants to know if Pete Rose used steroids? I guess Pete Rose, the all time hit king, being banned from the game isn’t enough. They need to let Charlie Hustle breathe. And how far back did the investigation go? I don’t need the Mitchell report to tell me Jackie Robinson and Stan Musial never used the cream and the clear.

Former Trainer Provides Insight Into the Mitchell Steroid Investigation. Courtesy of The New York Times

Tags: Steroids, Performance Enhancing Drugs, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, New York Times

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=pVm29YcTNMM[/youtube]

I can’t tell you that I haven’t, but you’ll never be able to prove that I have.

I would say John Cena’s statement is pretty much gonna sum up any interview George Mitchell’s baseball steroid investigation is able to land. No amount of links to internet pharmacies or accusations by other players is gonna make a guy come out and say “Yeah, I used roids. What of it?”

Steroid use in wrestling isn’t a newsflash.. And overall, steroid use in sports isn’t new, but you don’t hear anybody wanting to put asterisk next to the 70s Steelers or the late 80s A’s. Roids and PEDs are hot button issues, but MLB’s increasing attendance and revenue, combined with our nation’s love for the NFL, tell me that the general public only wants to be entertained.

**MAJOR UPDATE**

When I wrote this post, I trusted that CNN had shown the interview in at least an 80% accurate light. I was wrong. WWE.com has posted two versions of the CNN’s John Cena interview from “Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling”. In response to the actual steroid question, John Cena responds “Absolutely not”. The statement I quoted above was taken from Cena speaking about a broad example.

One question? CNN, WTF?!? I don’t need any help looking like a jackass.. I’m a blogger.. And as a blogger I’m pissed. Bloggers are the ones that are supposed to make up news and fabricate stories just so we can get views hits. If the MSM is gonna start bogartin’ the unethical side of journalism, what will us unemployed lowlifes with keyboards do to entertain nerds that are wasting their company’s time and money reading our blogs?

**End Update**

Cena: Steroids? “Absolutely not”. Courtesy of WWE.com

Tags: John Cena, Steroids, WWE, Baseball, MLB, NFL, CNN Edits Cena Interview

Weren’t 5th and 6th grade great? I remember strollin’ in to class, hopped up on Coke and jolly ranchers, and ready to learn. I played sports and I even gave my all at recess but I never used steroids. I didn’t trade my caprisun and accompanying straw for corticosteroid injections. The same can’t be said for today’s youth.

The French, tired of being the butt of jokes world wide, have a plan to show the world that they’re not soft: Doping up the kids. A study that followed 2,199 French 6th graders (They couldn’t find one more kid?) for 4 years reports that 1% of the 6th graders used a doping agent. 3% of the students had used a doping agent when polled four years later. The drugs of choice are corticosteroids, salbutamol, anabolic agents, and other stimulants. 44% of the kids polled credit PEDs, mainly stimulants, for their winning.

This is bad for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that now whenever a kid knocks on my door selling candy or the girl scouts are posted up outside the grocery store, I have to buy something. I’m not gonna wanna risk getting beat down by some roid ragin’ pre-teen.

Here’s an easy way for kids to get “the clear and the cream”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJrne74y53c]

If you do the “no homo” thing, then NO HOMO, but here’s a good reason kids should think twice about the juice.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALjcr3cHDc4]

I hope that dude’s “just kidding”. Sadly, I don’t think he is.

Study: 11 year-old Athletes Using Doping Drugs. Courtesy of Fox News

Study: Performance Enhancing Drugs on the Rise in Middle School. Courtesy of Volunteer TV

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