Perhaps the only reason we even know that Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Sammy Sosa failed drug tests back in 2003, is because federal prosecutors working on the BALCO case seized the records and urine samples from baseball's testing program, including the information that linked test results to individual players. Their investigation was only supposed to cover the 10 specific players linked to BALCO, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield (who have never been publicly linked to "the list"). They took it all and now they've been scolded for it.

The player's union sued and yesterday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco (i.e., dirty hippies) ruled that the seizure was illegal and therefore prosecutors may not use the evidence in court, in the BALCO case or any future trials. It could still go to the Supreme Court—since there are larger issues at stake about searching electronic records—but if they reject the case or uphold the ruling, the samples and the data may finally be destroyed.

Too late to save the players who have already been named, of course, and since the list has already been seen by numerous lawyers, rumors and revelations will continue to persist. And all so the Justice Department could nail Barry Bonds on a perjury charge. (Which happened six years ago, by the way, and they still haven't prosecuted him.) So this has been a great use of everyone's time.

Appeals court bars feds from using pro baseball players' steroids test results [San Jose Mercury News]

Stubblefield lied to investigators initially, which is how he ended up in this thing, but then cooperated with the Feds to name names in their seemingly never-ending crusade to do, uh, something about the scourges of steroids, HGH, lying and/or baseball. According to MSNBC.com:

Stubblefield pleaded guilty before Illston on Jan. 18, 2008, to making a false statement to a federal agent in 2003 when he denied receiving the steroid THG, also known as "the clear," and a blood hormone, EPO, from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.

He will serve 2 years of probation. As a public service, I'd like to remind all the doped-up athletes out there that lying to federal investigators is a pretty bad idea, especially when telling the truth won't land you in the clink. There's a reason we call you "dumb jocks", I guess.

[MSNBC.com]

It seems that someone actually took the time to read the 30,000 pages of court documents that were made public from the rather extensive BALCO case and discovered an interesting little tidbit about the "Clear," the "designer steroid" at the heart of the investigation. Before 2005, the main ingredient in the "Clear"—tetrahydrogestrinone (THG)—was not illegal. It was unapproved for sale by the FDA, but it was not a banned steroid. So when Bonds said he didn't know if he took a steroid, well ... technically he didn't take one. And when you're on trial for perjury, "technically" is all that matters.

The story also implies that prosecutors would have known that fact, and made their questions to Bonds intentionally vague as a result. Perjury charges are notoriously hard enough to prove in a court of law, and if this latest report is true, the case against Bonds gets that much more difficult to win.

The most interesting part may be the reason why THG was not banned in the first place: Because there is no evidence that it actually did what it was supposed to. No one had (or has?) ever studied it, so for all we know, this entire brouhaha was over a drug that didn't even work. Awesome.

Bonds blockbuster: ‘The Clear’ was legal [Yahoo]

Bonds' legal team objected to technical flaws in the original indictment. By law, the government can accuse a defendant of only one crime per count of an indictment. Bonds lawyer Dennis Riordan contended that the indictment accused Bonds of telling as many as five lies in a single perjury count. Judge Susan Illston agreed, and ordered the government to rewrite the document. The new indictment broke each of the old perjury charges into multiple new ones.

This actually changes nothing, really. Bonds still faces a maximum of 30 months in jail if found guilty on all counts, same as before. It's just that now, all the counts are proportioned in smaller, bite-sized pieces.

You know, it really frosts me. Why would a major league team not offer a contract to an aging outfielder with no speed and bad knees who has a reputation as a clubhouse cancer, probably took cattle steroids for several years and has criminal counts that seemingly multiply like rabbits? Must be collusion.

Now Bonds Faces 14 BALCO Perjury Counts [SFGate]

It mostly wraps up the whole BALCO business, and it also allows Victor Conte to talk, which is always fun.

"I find the fact that Troy Ellerman has admitted to leaking the BALCO grand jury transcripts to be outrageous," Conte said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "This man was an officer of the court who was highly paid to provide the services of a criminal defense attorney. Instead, he chose to serve his own agenda and act in a way that was tremendously damaging to his own clients."

If Conte ever fades from the public consciousness, it will be our loss.

That Lawyer's In Trouble If Barry Bonds Ever Gets His All-Naturally Grotesquely Enlarged Hands On Him [Metroville]
Victor Conte Is Ready To Bring Some RAWK [Deadspin]

Bonds addresses the allegations on his achingly personal Web site BarryBonds.com, a new entry dated today. Answers are taken straight from the journal.

Deadspin: Mr. Bonds, what are your thoughts on your longtime personal trainer Greg Anderson going to prison for distributing steroids?
Bonds: I also like to watch the post-season baseball games as well as some football.
Deadspin: OK. Do you feel that Anderson's sentence in any way casts some doubt on your steroid denials?
Bonds: My licensees will also be holding promotions that will coincide with the 2006 season. Right now, I'm working on four more Limited Edition TOPPS cards that you can only get from me.
Deadspin: Do you think anyone else could get away scotfree from their freaking personal trainer being busted for distributing steroids?
Bonds: I would also like to thank New Era, Majestic, Franklin, McFarlane, PhotoFile and Getty Images, as well as all my other licensees for producing hundreds of high quality Bonds products this year.
Deadspin: Freestyle a bit for us, and we'll be your best friend.
Bonds: With the new look [of my site] you will get to see my design side. I'm still thinking about which items from my personal archives that I will put in to the Club House Collection next season.

Barry's Journal [BarryBonds.com]
Conte, Anderson Sentenced In BALCO Case [San Francisco Chronicle]