Newz Forum: BASEBALL: All Four plead not guilty in Steriod Case

Conte and others pleaded not guilty Friday to dstributing seteroids to athletes and were ordered by federal Magistrate Juge Maria-Elena James to post bond by Feb 27 or face arrest.

One of Conte's atrorynes, stated that he expects at least six months before the case comes to trial because the attorneys must review tens of thousands of pages of documents.
Also Charged are James Valente, vice president of Bay area Laboratory Co-Operative that Conte Founded; Greg Anderson, the personal trainer for Bonds; Remi Korchemny, the world-class track coach whose sprinters won gold medals but then flunked drug tests.
All Four defendants refused comment friday as they left the courthouse, but their attorneys said that iw as outrageous that no athletes have been charged in this manner.

i can only hope that this is just an isolated incident and not the tip of the iceberg, sports needs to be played by real people who are judged by their true performances, not by who has the best chemist, will be watching this story with interest to see just how far it goes

In my opinion i think it is the tip of the iceberg and that tester are going to find more and more illegal drug use out there to help the players performance. And the atlethes get the easy way out by blaming their trainers.

San Francisco-based firm Balco is accused of being at the centre of the scandal which has global ramifications.

A lawyer for Balco earlier said the company would fight the charges, which he described as "not a big surprise".
Federal law enforcement sources told Reuters news agency earlier that no charges were expected to be brought against actual athletes for now.

The US Anti-Doping Agency earlier accused Balco of developing THG, which only became known when an anonymous coach handed in a syringe of the substance to authorities.

They are charged with providing anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and other banned substances to "dozens" of elite track and field athletes, as well as professional baseball and American football players.

What i dont get is why players feel they need to take these, its cheating, and they sohuld know that. They also should know that there are major penalities with that. Why would they want to cheat their bodies, when a good workout everyday is what the players can do it.

I know that the players want to get a head of every other player in the league, but still its no excuse to do that.

Ben they will take them knowingly if it improves there performance,the consequences doesn't matter to them when they want to be top of there sport.

No matter how much YOU think its wrong doesn't really matter to them.Of course they know its cheating and the punishments they will recieve will be great.

There is no way in the world a good workout will get them to the top of their chosen sport,sometimes they have to do what they have to do to get there.

Could the Atlthetes that testified earlier in the year that players do take illegall substances, be the next target?

Those who told the truth could be in trouble, too. Olympic athletes who admitted to grand jurors that they took steroids and other banned drugs would not be prosecuted in court, but they could be suspended from competition -- even if they never failed a drug test.
Section 9 of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's protocol gives that agency the authority to bring a drug case against an athlete in lieu of a positive drug test "when USADA has other reason to believe that a potential doping violation has occurred, such as admitted doping."

In such cases, the protocol document says the USADA would initiate the case and send it to a three-member USADA review board for consideration.

The USADA covers anti-doping issues for U.S. Olympic athletes, including those in sports such as track and field. NFL and baseball players wouldn't face USADA sanctions, except in the case of baseball players who also participate in international tournaments. But such sanctions would not extend to major league games.