Good Morning Mr. Bonds

Barry Lamar Bonds that is. Yes, Mr.home run himself.

We are forgoing the usual Monday Morning Motivation because today is the first day of the Barry Bonds trial, and I have to write about it!

I am fascinated by steroids and athletes. I am also fascinated by the Mafia and religious sects, but that doesn't mean I am going to take steroids, marry a mobster or join a cult!

My interest lies mainly in the fact that we hold these people in such high regard, yet they are frauds and cheats. These are our "hero's" yet they have done nothing heroic.

If someone wants to take drugs then fine, I don't care if they mess up their minds and their bodies, but don't do it and pretend you are a super hero and  lessen the accomplishments of others who are talented and worked hard to get where they are.

I don't understand why a talented athlete would take drugs, well, I do, it's money and power. But, truly, most get into the sport for the love of it I would guess. I connect athleticism with health and happiness. I connect drugs with pain and illness. I just shake my head in wonder at the whole mess!

I was listening to a podcast today in the gym while I was on the stairmill, it's called "Big Nation Radio" and says it is male oriented talk...hmmm oh well, I find it interesting.

This episode was "Who's on steroid's?" and they said it is a given that all professional bodybuilders and wrestlers are without a doubt. I agree, but oh so many more are. Baseball, Football, Hockey.

So what is the big deal anyway? It all started in 2001 when they raided BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) after receiving tips that Victor Conte, the founder had been supplying  professional athletes with undetectable designer drugs. It all snowballed after that. They searched the home of Bond's trainer, Greg Anderson. An investigation begins and several athletes are implicated and linked to the lab.

Conte, among others is indicted by a grand jury charged with running a steroid distribution ring. Conte and Anderson plead guilty to felony charges of distributing steroids and money laundering.

Bonds is on trial for three counts of lying under oath in 2003 about using steroids  and one count of obstructing justice through the same testimony.

In 2006, Anderson, among others, is subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating whether Bonds committed perjury by lying under oath in 2003.

Anderson is found in contempt of court and imprisoned for refusing to testify.

In the mean time, Bonds continued to break records, his face got rounder, his entire body changed, just look at the pictures.

In 2009 a U.S. District Judge bared the government from using evidence against Bonds including 2 positive steroid tests taken between 2000 and 2001. Although there is rumored to be one additional positive test that will be allowed as evidence, and this was administered by Major League Baseball in 2003

March 17, 2011, prospective jurors show up to fill out the Barry Bonds Juror Questionnaire

So, I shall be following the trial and reading it everyday in the paper, but for a start, I thought you may be interested in looking at the 22 page questionnaire above that all of the jurors had to complete!

I used to buy ZMA from BALCO and it drove David nuts. He said "They make steroids!" and I told him "Yes, but Conte also makes the best ZMA!"

I use a meal replacement made by Bill Romanowski, he was also rumored to have been a steroid user, but that doesn't mean his products are all tainted. I have been tested, and am tested annually, so I have the utmost confidence in my supplements.

I will be busy reading, but you will still never find me in the gym reading like so many others are while they "work out".

New EPO Like Drug

I think you can tell that I am pretty anti-drug. I just find it hard to believe that people would jeopardize their health for a trophy, or a photo-shoot, a paycheck, it's crazy.

It is one thing if people are stupid enough to mess with their own bodies, but when they bring it into a competition or sporting event, it makes me angry.  What right do they have to cheat and steal from the people who are really working hard to achieve their lifetime dream?

 Runners have been one of the most notorious drug abusers over the years, and I am not just talking about Olympic level runners, but National and even recreational level. Their drug of choice? EPO. Mild mannered little "Susie" probably does all sorts of drugs so she can run so far and so fast, and no one even guesses.

Here is an article I found particularly interesting that just shows how cheaters will continue to do whatever they can to get what they want.

By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer Eddie Pells, Ap National Writer Wed Sep 22, 1:22 pm ET
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A drug that mimics EPO as a way to help patients with kidney problems is in the late stages of development, one in an long list of new pharmaceuticals that anti-doping authorities are monitoring as they struggle to keep sports clean.

The drug, called Hematide, is in Stage 3 development, meaning it could be on the market by 2012. Anti-doping authorities say there's a chance some version of the blood-boosting drug could already be available on the black market.
"It speaks to the length people will go to try to cheat," said Larry Bowers, the lead scientist at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. "You get drugs with perfectly beneficial health purposes and it gets diverted for use by people who shouldn't be doing it."

Almost every drug on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list, including human growth hormone and steroids, have legitimate medical purposes.
Hematide's arrival is the latest development in a long-running cat-and-mouse game between the drug police and the athletes who find ways to use drugs to improve their performance. Cases involving track athletes Marion Jones, baseball players Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and an investigation into seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong have centered around whether they used human growth hormone, EPO or designer steroids, all of which have proven more difficult to detect than traditional steroids.
EPO (short for erythropoietin) is a hormone that boosts the body's production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen — and more oxygen helps athletes perform better, particularly endurance athletes in sports like cross-country skiing and cycling. In 1989, the Food and Drug Administration approved EPO for legitimate medical purposes, mainly to treat anemic conditions in patients with kidney diseases and cancer.

Before Hematide, the most significant development in the line of EPO products was CERA, a version of EPO that stays in the blood for longer periods of time. There was no test available for CERA at the Beijing Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee holds onto doping samples for eight years so it can analyze them later if new testing methods become available.

Using a new test in 2009 is how the IOC retroactively caught five Beijing Olympians for using CERA. This year, the IOC said it was retesting some samples from the 2006 Turin Olympics — strong indicators of how patient anti-doping authorities are willing to be to catch cheaters.

One of the newer drugs on WADA's radar, Hematide essentially does the same thing as EPO — helps produce more red blood cells — but, much like CERA, it stays in the body longer so patients don't have to go through as many treatments.
Still, Hematide is not EPO, and so it must be detected using different methods than were used for the original blood booster. Anti-doping authorities are strategically vague when talking about whether a test is already in place for developing drugs, not wanting drug cheats to know what solutions have been found or perfected. At an anti-doping conference last year, WADA said it was studying a new method that would allow wider testing of EPO.

And in yet another attempt to counter possible new EPO-like substances — as well as all other developing drugs that haven't hit the market yet — WADA recently added a category of "non-approved substances" that covers developing products that are not included in other sections of the list and not yet approved for use.

Hematide, however, is already specifically named on the banned list, said Gary Wadler who leads the WADA committee that determines the banned-substances list.

Earlier this year, WADA signed an agreement with a group representing pharmaceutical companies that gets the companies to voluntarily share information with drug police when they're developing new products. It was considered a breakthrough, giving anti-doping authorities a window into what's out there. In return, WADA has to agree not to share proprietary information between competing companies.

"The mission is to be good citizens here," said Anne-Marie Duliege, chief medical officer at Affymax, the company developing Hematide. "We clear it with the professional agencies who know how to do this. The idea is not to replace WADA. We're just delighted to work with WADA, so they can see what's out there and what they might need to prevent down the road."

It's too early to tell how big a factor Hematide

"We work with the people involved with it. It's not like it came out of nowhere," Wadler said. "We all follow the literature on what's being developed. Something like this does not surprise you at all."