McNamee’s lawyers on Wednesday filed a document in Texas federal court, which stated that Clemens should have a word with the prosecutors regarding defamation suit. They said that it was the prosecutors, who had forced McNamee to talk to former Sen. George Mitchell concerning over the steroid abuse issue.

The document was a defy reaction to a motion filed by Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin last month in which they solicited Keith Ellison, the U.S. District Judge, to review his decision of dismissing Clemens’ defamation suit. Clemens, a winner of seven times, filed the suit shortly after the release of the Mitchell Report in December 2007. In the report, McNamee had admitted that he infused Clemens with banned steroids and human growth hormone several times in between 1998-2001.

Richard Emery, one of McNamee’s attorneys, said that the thrust of their response was Clemens’ blame on Brian for what he was angry at the government prosecutors for doing- that was- compelling Brian to talk to them and tell the truth.

Emery also said that the prosecutors compelled McNamee to talk and they made the report publicly by their own. Clemens and his lawyers were pointing their fingers at the wrong person.

Earlier, Hardin had argued in court filings that McNamee should not be protected with absolute exception. He also pointed out that Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella, who had led much of the BALCO investigation, gave an argument in case of Tammy Thomas, the cyclist convicted of perjury last year, that the main motive behind the government’s steroid probe was to nail distributors and not athletes or users.

Hardin further argued that McNamee’s statements to Mitchell about Clemens’ alleged steroid use play no role in exposing and prosecuting drug distribution rings. However, McNamee’s lawyers countered with the point that the prosecutors did not tell names of cooperating witnesses and the purpose or scope of their investigations.

From New York Daily News:

Roger Clemens should pick a fight with the prosecutors who forced Brian McNamee to talk to former Sen. George Mitchell, and not with his longtime trainer, McNamee’s lawyers said in a document filed in a Texas federal court late Wednesday.

The document was a response to a motion filed by Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin last month that asked U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison to reconsider his decision to dismiss most of Clemens’ defamation suit. The seven-time Cy Young winner filed the suit shortly after the Mitchell Report was released in December 2007 — in which McNamee told Mitchell and his investigators that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone numerous times between 1998-2001 — and it questioned granting McNamee immunity for the statements he made to Mitchell for his report on drug use in baseball.

According to the filing, “No private citizen, approached by the government, could know such things. It is for this reason that the law does not require a witness to be omniscient to be covered by absolute immunity.”

However Emery said that Clemens could file a suit known as a “Bivens Action” against the government for abuse of authority. He further added that if they filed that suit then they would have someone to point the finger at least.

It seems like it’s not only Alex Rodriguez who will be put to public judgment. You might think that the 104 athletes that tested positive among more than 600 samples should be the only ones scared now that the list has been found. It doesn’t seem that way though since even those who tested negative could be subject to some re-testing. Apparently, the trend started by Barry Bonds seems to be getting carried over other athletes. As we can recall, Bonds tested positive back in 2003 but when the prosecution tested his samples again, it came back with traces of a then-undetectable steroid.

From Daily News:

Even those who tested negative could be subject to re-testing as a result of the Players’ Association’s failure to destroy the spreadsheet with the names of those who tested positive.

There are believed to be 525 negative urine samples in the hands of the government in addition to the 104 positive samples.

After the testing process was completed in 2003, union officials had the right to destroy the documents that connected names to actual urine samples. Sources close to the union defend its inaction, saying it would have been improper to destroy urine samples and test documents because they were potential evidence in the ongoing BALCO probe.

The protocol is that the laboratory should destroy negative samples after 30 days and positive samples after a year. Unfortunately, the lab didn’t destroy the negative samples and that leaves the government with about 525 urine sample to analyze once again, and 525 baseball players who are at risk of becoming the next target for public critique. It is even possible that a sample of Roger Clemens urine still exists. And like Bonds, that sample could be analyzed and, if it yields positive results, be used against them.

Just this weekend, reports came out that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan back in 2003. He was still with the Texas Rangers then and that was the season when he first received his Most Valuable Player award and broke 300 career home runs. Of course, there was no sanction for using performance enhancing drugs until 2004 and the samples for those tests were supposedly destroyed and the results kept confidential. Unfortunately, the list came up during the BALCO investigation and the laboratory that did the test still had the samples.

From Washington Post:

According to the report, Rodriguez was one of 104 players on a list of positive tests that year, when baseball instituted “survey” testing to determine the extent of steroid use in the game. Those supposedly anonymous results were seized in April 2004 by federal agents investigating the Balco steroid ring, which did not involve Rodriguez. The legality of that seizure is the subject of a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, Calif.

A message left for Rodriguez’s publicist yesterday was not returned, but Rodriguez, who has repeatedly denied having used steroids, is quoted by SI.com as declining comment. “You’ll have to ask the union,” he reportedly said. “I’m not saying anything.”

Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations, would not discuss the validity of the story, saying in a statement that the 2003 survey testing was “intended to be non-disciplinary and anonymous.”

While the accuracy of the report is still in question, MLB officials chose not to condemn anyone. For Rodriguez, he won’t be facing any legal charges unlike Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens who are now fighting in court. Nevertheless, many believe that the news of the baseball superstar using steroids could greatly affect his name and status as the highest-earning baseball player in MLB. It can also make people question his MVP award and his chances in the Hall of Fame.

Have you ever tried to look at the controversy on athletes using  anabolic steroids another way? Jared Zeidman of Bleacher Report shares his views on the bias against players who had used performance enhancing drugs at one point or another. Zeidman is against the use of steroids and other illegal substances. According to him, though, you can’t tell how good an athlete is even when he does not use steroids. He cited Giambi who still performed well after he had stopped using steroids.

From Bleacher Report

With all of this said, I am adamantly against the use of steroids or any other illegal performance enhancing drug. But, I am also drinking a diet coke as I write this article, which is illegal if I am an Olympic athlete. With so many ridiculous drugs out there, and so many absurd regulations trying to control them, it is more than possible that some of these athletes really don’t know what is going in them.

And I know people are going to want to say, “Everyone should be responsible enough to know what they are putting in their bodies.” To those people, I ask the following:

Without looking at the box, right now, tell me all of the ingredients in a Sudafed tablet. Not just the drug itself, the substances that hold it in pill form, the shiny coating…

Sorry you’re out of time.

With no genuine way to establish the game play effect of performance enhancing drugs, I can’t help but think that some people are just looking for the placebo effect. They are now taking the special stuff.

Another example Zeidman cited was Shane Mosley during his fight with Antonio Margarito. Mosley had been involved in a scandal with Balco and claimed that he didn’t know he was taking steroids. Mosley was drug free during his fight with Margarito, and lo and behold, he defeated his opponent with a knockout. Everyone was thinking that Margarito would destroy him but Mosley’s abilities were top class and he didn’t need steroids to win. Maybe Mosley used to take steroids but now he is clean and he won his battle.

On January 24, boxer Shane Mosley will be facing WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito in the rings of Staples Center. While the preparation is intense, this isn’t the only challenge Mosley will be facing. For the past few months, his legal team has been trying to clear his name from his connection with the 2003 federal raid on BALCO, implicating that Mosley had used illegal performance enhancing drugs during his match with Oscar De La Hoya. In the process, Mosley and his camp bumped heads with founder and owner of BALCO, Victor Conte. BALCO is the company that allegedly sold Mosley anabolic  steroids.

While Mosley would claim that he was misled by Conte and was not aware of what he was taking, Conte would claim that he had fully disclosed the steroids to the boxer. Mosley would the counter with, as Conte would claim, a web of lies. The case slowly became more confusing as to who is telling the truth.

From Maxboxing

Conte, speaking exclusively to Maxboxing, would explain, “Basically what happened is that we filed an anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) motion; basically this is what you do when there’s no merit to a lawsuit and it’s strictly a PR stunt and it’s frivolous. So that was our response and we were getting ready to file a motion and there were some issues that came up about Shane and his residence. And what we discovered was that he had represented in a court case, under oath, two weeks before we deposed him, that he was a resident of California. And when we deposed him he said he was a resident of Nevada. Now, you can’t be a resident of both states at the same time, so in one of the cases he was not being truthful. We believe it was in our case because he lives in California, his children go to school in California, and he operates his business out of California. He may have income or properties that he owns in Nevada and may have income that he has there fighting, but it was clear, in our opinion, that he’s a California resident. So once we told them that we were going to bring this issue up, which could have possibly led to discussions of tax fraud, because one of the two times he was not being truthful, we know he’s misrepresented a number of things to the grand jury. So what happened was they agreed to withdraw the federal lawsuit and we found out later that the exact same day they withdrew the federal case, they filed another case in the state court of New York.”

This actually isn’t the first case of its kind that BALCO got involved with. Back in 2004, Marion Jones, a multi-gold medalist in track and field, also tried to dispel any connections between herself, BALCO, and the use of performance enhancing drugs. Conte had come clean about his role in Jones’ career and although she had initially filed a lawsuit for defamation, she later on admitted to lying. This eventually led to a prison sentence.

Conte believes that this issue with Mosley is another “Marion Jones”. He is quite confident that Mosley’s own words would eventually lead to his downfall while he faces the court this January 15.

“I’m salivating to get Victor Conte under cross examination,” said Judd Burstein, Shane Mosley’s controversial New York attorney.

This is Burstein’s response to Conte’s move to dismiss the defamation suit Mosley has lodged against him. The suit stems from Conte’s revelations in connection with the boxer’s alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

According to USA Today, Conte’s lawyer Thomas Harvey filed a motion to dismiss and among the documents he submitted was an affidavit in which Conte itemized the drugs Mosley had used and payments made for said drugs

Among the documents Conte’s lawyer, Thomas Harvey, said he filed along with a motion to dismiss Mosley’s suit, is an affidavit in which Conte says he charged Mosley $900 for EPO and $600 for the steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear.” Conte says he billed Mosley an additional $150 for blood work and $200 for the limousine Mosley used during his visit to Conte’s offices. Conte also says Mosley paid him $500 in cash and, later, $1,350 by personal check.

Conte was the founder of the now defunct BALCO, a Burlingame-based which was said to be the source of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs of elite athletes, including Marion Jones, TammyThomas, and Barry Bonds.

Conte stated in various interviews that he had watched Mosley injected himself with the blood booster EPO and that the boxer knew that what he was taking were prohibited compounds. Mosley had acknowledged that he had used EPO and steroids but insists that he didn’t know at that time that they were banned drugs.

“I believe it is time for Shane Mosley to receive the consequences he deserves for lying about his use of performance enhancing drugs,” Conte said Tuesday in an e-mail. “Other athletes associated with BALCO who have lied about their use of drugs have been banned from their sport, stripped of their records and medals and even spent time in jail.”

Conte’s allegations could strip Mosley of the junior middleweight title he won when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya via decision in 2003. Mosley testified before a grand jury that anabolic steroids and EPO were included in his training regimen in the lead-up to said ring encounter.

The World Boxing Council revealed earlier this month it is investigating the doping allegations against Mosley, who won his WBC junior middleweight title fight against De La Hoya by a decision.

Shane Mosley may face disqualification as the World Boxing Council decides to conduct an investigation in connection with the boxer’s confessed use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to AP report.

When he testified under oath in 2003, Mosley admitted before a grand jury that anabolic steroids and EPO were part of his training regimen in preparation for his ring encounter against Oscar De La Hoya. Nearly three months after his victory with De La Hoya, Mosley was summoned to testify before said jury. His testimony was part of the BALCO file which was under protective order until it was released by a US district judge to lawyers and prosecutors involved in the Barry Bonds doping case.

In his testimony, Mosley said the he used the designer drugs known as “The Clear” and “The Cream”. Mosley, however, claims that he didn’t know that the substances he took were banned or illegal.

Ignorance is no excuse

The WBC is taking the matter seriously with its president instructing the organization’s legal counsel to gather evidence.

“It was a real surprise to read that Mosley has confessed that he did take those medicines, those drugs that are totally prohibited by the WBC,” said the Council’s president, Jose Sulaiman. “The WBC rules state that we must have a hearing. This is a matter of serious concern to us.”

“Thus far the WBC has seen only press reports, and must therefore investigate any available evidence and review it, in terms of the WBC rules and regulations’ anti-doping provisions,” said Robert Lenhardt, an attorney for the WBC.

Concurrent to the investigation is Mosley’s defamation case against BALCO head Victor Conte. Victor apparently spilled in his interviews that he had personally seen Mosley inject himself with EPO and that Mosley was aware what he was taking.

Will there be a next ring assignment for Mosley?

According to the WBC rules, no boxer “shall be under the influence of any drug during the contest that will in any manner affect their performance in the ring.”
The organization’s 29-member board of governors has the authority to vote on sanctions and can impose disqualifications and/or severe fines.
Mosley’s next ring assignment is scheduled Jan. 24 at Staples Center in Los Angeles against WBA welterweight title holder Antonio Margarito.

Boxer Shane Mosley told a grand jury in 2003 that he injected himself with EPO in preparation for his fight against Oscar De La Hoya, according to New York Daily News based on its review of court transcripts and doping calendars seized during the BALCO raid.

The transcript of Mosley’s testimony was formerly under protective order before U.S District Judge Susal Illston granted permission last Wednesday that they’d be released so that prosecutors could share them with Barry Bonds’ lawyers. The transcript was part of the voluminous BALCO file.

The boxer, who defeated Dela Hoya in that match, has admitted that he had used performance-enhancing drugs but he said he didn’t know they were illegal or banned when he took them. BALCO’s big boss, Victor Conte, maintained, however, that the boxer knew all along they were banned compounds.

Conte is being sued by Mosley in a defamation case.

“Specifically, I explained to Mr. Mosley and Mr. Hudson (Mosley’s trainer at the time) that ‘The Clear’ was an undetectable anabolic steroid and that ‘The Cream’ contained testosterone and epitestosterone,” Conte wrote in a sworn statement filed in the defamation case. “I explained that ‘The Cream’ was primarily to be used as a masking agent. I also explained that EPO increases the production of red blood cells, and therefore Mr. Mosley should take additional dietary supplements that aid in the manufacture of red blood cells, such as iron, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, and vitamin B12. … There is no question that I informed Mr. Mosley that he was taking the three banned performance enhancing drugs.”

More from the Daily News:

While on the stand in the same San Francisco courthouse where Barry Bonds is due to stand trial next March on charges that he lied to federal agents investigating BALCO, Mosley admitted taking the EPO and steroids purchased from the BALCO lab for $1,850, including $500 in cash.

After advising Mosley to use the drug to boost his endurance, BALCO founder Victor Conte moved the boxer into a “maintenance phase” of less frequent injections so that Mosley didn’t fail a drug test or have a heart attack – a fate that has befallen athletes who use EPO.

Mosley was on a doping binge that summer, taking a potent mix of steroids and EPO to build his strength and stamina right up until his successful fight against Oscar De La Hoya that Sept. 13. Mosley has admitted publicly and in court documents that he took EPO and the designer steroids “the cream” and “the clear”, but says he did not know they were either illegal or banned.

Marion Jones appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and talked about her journey with anabolic steroids.

It was the Olympic sprint athlete’s first interview since her release from a federal prison in Texas a month ago. Jones had served a six-month sentence for lying about steroid use and her role in a check-fraud scam.

The 33-year-old had consistently denied her use of steroids until her testimony in a federal court last year when she admitted that she had used the designer steroid known as ‘The Clear’ from September 2000 to July 2001. She had been stripped of all the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 – 3 golds, 2 bronzes – after her admission.

“I made the decision I was going to lie and try to cover it up,” Marion Jones told the Queen of Talk Show about lying to prosecutors when they showed her a vial of “The Clear”, a designer steroid. “I knew that all of my performances would be questioned.”

“The Clear” was the design of the now defunct Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative of the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, also known as THG. BALCO was reportedly the source of performance-enhancing drugs of many elite athletes including Jones.

Jones’ teammates in the relay teams were also stripped of their medals, and she apologized to her teammates for doing what she did.

“When I stepped on that track, I thought everybody was drug-free, including myself,” Jones said. “I apologize for having to put everybody through all of this.

“I’m trying to move on. I hope that everybody else can move on, too.”

Jones’ U.S. teammates in the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays were also disqualified by the International Olympic Committee due to Jones’ doping violation and have filed an appeal in the Court of Sports Arbitration.

Jones said to Oprah that she will never run again and instead wants to inspire young people to do things the right way.

“I don’t have athletics anymore to hide behind,” Jones said. “In the past, it was Marion Jones, the athlete. … I don’t have that cover anymore. I have really had to find out who I am and why I make certain choices.”

In the end, There were rumors Marion Jones was going to buy steroids directly from BALCO, but decided to buy steroids thru her Olympic coach.  This is what caused her downfall in the Olympic world.  She started a cycle of steroid abuse, backed by her great Olympic performances.