Barry Bonds' Agent Surprised By Lack Of Offers

Apparently, Barry Bonds and the players association feel strongly enough about the lack of interest in his skills that the issue of collusion has come up. It's been inferred that the San Francisco Giants front office may have made a concerted effort to keep Bonds from playing this season.

The players' association has expressed concern to the baseball commissioner's office over the lack of offers to Barry Bonds, asking for additional information about the offseason's free-agent market.

The union did not go as far as to file a collusion grievance on behalf of the 43-year-old outfielder, who remains unsigned since the San Francisco Giants decided not to make him an offer last year and he became a free agent.

"We've raised both general concerns and some player specific concerns," Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel, said Tuesday.

Weiner said the only player the union specifically brought up in its discussions with the commissioner's office was Bonds, who repeatedly has said he wants to play a 23rd major league season.

"I haven't received any offers on Barry since he became a free agent," said Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris.

Management has repeatedly said there has been no concerted effort against Bonds.

"The union notified us that it was investigating potential collusion regarding Barry Bonds and asked for information, and we told them that there was absolutely no collusion with respect to Barry Bonds or any other free agent," said Dan Halem, MLB senior vice president and general labor counsel. "We are aware of no facts which would support a collusion claim regarding Bonds or any other free agents."

Collusion? What about BALCO? Or that Bonds is a player that many feel has put together a tainted record? Certainly, those have nothing to do with it.

Actually, while I would love to believe that the other MLB franchises are freezing Bonds out because of his past actions, I'm also smart enough to realize that at the end of the day professional baseball is a business. Eventually, some team will come calling whether it's because of his power hitting, or because he will draw some fans to the stadium. Bonds will sign on the dotted line, and continue adding to his legacy, for better or worse.

Could Dana Stubblefield's Guilty Plea Open The Flood Gates?

Earlier today, former NFL player Dana Stubblefield was charged with perjury. This afternoon he plead guilty to those charges which stem from the BALCO steroids case.

Former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield has pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in the BALCO steroids case.

Stubblefield was charged with perjury earlier today, becoming the first football player accused in the case.

Stubblefield, a three-time Pro Bowler who testified before the BALCO grand jury in November 2003, is charged with lying to federal agents about his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs.

The charges unsealed in federal court in San Francisco allege Stubblefield made false statements to an Internal Revenue Service Agent when he allegedly said he had not used steroids linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and denied receiving performance enhancing drugs from BALCO founder Victor Conte.

Up to this point, the NFL has been able to deflect any criticism that's accompanied positive tests for performance enhancing drugs by their players.

Two participants in this weekend's conference championship games, Shawne Merriman and Rodney Harrison, have been suspended in the past because of violations of the league's substance-abuse policy(Merriman-supposed Nandrolene use, Harrison-HGH use). However, those positive tests have been all but forgotten. Other players such as Jarrod Cooper, Ray Edwards, Jim Miller and David Boston have all missed time because of steroid suspensions, but we rarely hear about them. For the most part, the NFL isn't portrayed as having a "steroid problem" on the level as say Major League Baseball.

However, Stubblefield's involvement with the BALCO case, and his acknowledgement that he lied about taking steroids could be the first step in the "outting" of other players. Don't forget that Barry Bonds' involvement with BALCO was sort of a starting point for where Major League Baseball is today in terms of steroid investigation and controversy. While Stubblefield probably isn't as disliked as Bonds was/is, which was a factor in the BALCO investigation, he has now admitted to taking steroids and obtaining them through the same channels as Bonds. And don't forget that Stubblefield was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1993, the Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 and was a three time Pro Bowl selection. So he has some amount of fame attached to his name, like Barry Bonds.

It will be very interesting to see how this admitted guilt by Stubblefield affects the NFL. Up to this point the league has been able to stay out of the spotlight when steroid talk takes place. However, this event could focus that light brightly on it.

Marion Jones Might Have To Sell Some Of Her Gold Medals

Back in 2000, female track star Marion Jones seemed to have it all. She won five(3 gold and 2 bronze) medals at the summer Olympics in Sydney, and had won numerous events and set a variety of records. She had reached a point where she was earning "between $70,000 and $80,000 a race, plus at least another $1 million from race bonuses and endorsement deals".

All that is gone now, as the Los Angeles Times discovered during a recent review of court documents. According to them, Jones is "down to a bank balance of about $2,000". That's a long way away from the Marion Jones who used to live near Michael Jordan in a $2.5 million home. That house was foreclosed on by Jones' bank, and she's also been forced to sell her mother's home in order to raise money for court judgments.

Having BALCO founder Victor Conte state that he personally gave her illegal performance enhancing drugs hasn't helped Jones. Neither did the counterfeit check scheme that she was allegedly involved in with her track coach Steven Riddick.

While it is sad to see someone who at one point had it all, fall so far. You can't help but feel that Jones brought it on herself because of her involvement with BALCO, Charlie Francis, and many signs that point to alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. Hopefully she can get everything in order before she's forced to sell one of her gold medals. Possibly one of the last things she has to remind her of what it was like to be on top.