The authors of the book Game of Shadows, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, have been brought to the forefront of sports reporting in this year. Their research for the San Francisco Chronicle with regards to BALCO's distribution of illegal steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs became the foundation for Shadows' information. The long and short of the book is that Victor Conte, the founder and director of BALCO, along with other employees, distributed "the cream" and "the clear." The clear is tetrahydrogestrinone, an anabolic steroid. The cream is a masking agent used to hide the usage of the clear when tested.

Game of Shadows connected Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Bill Romanowski, amongst others, to BALCO. Romanowski was a linebacker in the NFL, playing for San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver and Oakland while gaining two entries in the Pro Bowl. He amassed 911 tackles in his 16 year career, an average total for a player of his career length.

Jones and Montgomery, who at one time dated and had a child, were both track stars. Montgomery ran the 100 meter dash in 2002 in 9.78 seconds, for what was then a men's world record. His record was removed from the books due to his usage of the BALCO drugs. In the 2000 Olympics, Jones won gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter dashes and the 4x400 meter relay. She also won bronzes in the long jump and the 4x100 meter relay. She has not been stripped of these medals or any other achievements, but Conte stated on 20/20 that he gaves Jones five different performance enhancing drugs.

The focus is Bonds, which is not shocking when one considers the weight of his historical standing within the game. But Giambi and Sheffield are important athletes as well. Sheffield is a nine-time All Star and finished in the top ten of the MVP voting six times. Giambi is a five time All Star, a one time MVP winner and finished in the top ten three other times. And Bonds, of course, is currently second in all time home runs, holds the single season home run record, is a 13 time All Star, has won seven MVPs (and finished in the top ten six other times, including two second place finishes) and eight Gold Gloves. He has possibly the best statistical record in the history of the game.

Thanks to Game of Shadows, the relevance of steroid usage was magnified to an extent it had never been done before. The issue of steroid and other performance-enhancing drugs is such a notable issue that George W. Bush touched upon the issue in his 2004 State of the Union address. Fainaru-Wade and Williams undoubtedly attempted to do this with their book.

In the research necessary to author their book, Fainaru-Wade and Williams interviewed 200 people and reviewed 1,000 documents. Among those documents were leaked grand jury testimony from the federal government's investigation of BALCO. The government, in an attempt to find the source of these leaks and to prosecute the responsible parties, demanded Fainaru-Wade and Williams to surrender the name of their contact. The authors refused. In turn, the government has threatened the two with jail time due to contempt of court for failing to comply with their demand.

I believe that the main legal argument of Fainaru-Wade and Williams is that they should not be forced to hand in their source or sources due to the journalistic requirements of their job. If they reveal their source, they will never be able to work as a journalist again as no one would be willing to speak with them off the record, giving them a right to keep their conversations private much like a doctor, lawyer or priest can. This stance could possibly define the legal rights of jounrlaists to an extent yet to be handled on the national level - if the journalist has any rights to privacy with regards to the conversations he or she has with unnamed sources.

I believe this will be a long legal fight that will last for several years and will not cease until the Supreme Court makes a ruling. They can rule in one of two manners - either journalists do have the right to keep the information of who their sources are secret under 95% of all cases (instances of serious legal circumstances, such as threats to the national security, will be the exceptions) or they do not have this right.

In the end, though, the authors could spend more time in jail than Victor Conte. Conte only spent six months behind bars with his plea bargain; Fainaru-Wade and Williams are being requested to give information for a year-long grand jury that has been in existance for less than a month. The judge can order the authors behind bars for the entire length of the jury's existence if they fail to provide information; as a result, they could spend 10 to 11 months imprisoned, longer than the man behind the entire BALCO operation.

So... Ryan Freel is a scary person. He is a utility guy for the Cincinnati Reds who made a pretty good catch the other night. Apparently, Freel made the catch in spite of the beliefs of Farney. Farney, according to Freel, is:

"He's a little guy who lives in my head who talks to me and I talk to him," ... "That little midget in my head said, 'That was a great catch, Ryan,' I said, 'Hey, Farney, I don't know if that was you who really caught that ball, but that was pretty good if it was.' Everybody thinks I talk to myself, so I tell 'em I'm talking to Farney.' "

Congratulations, Reds fans. You may have the next Darren Daulton on your hands.

Ah, for the days when the world was more innocent. Specifically the date of January 3rd, 2003, when Maurice Clarett was viewed as a sure superstar in the making and a future first round draft pick.

And then we found out that he is absolutely insane, as shown by his demanding to enter the draft a year early, failing to create a back-up plan to allow him to return to college to continue working on his game, getting cut from the Denver Broncos and robbing a pair of people behind a bar. I thought the worst was over, but apparently, I was incorrect.

So drunk driving - not that crazy, especially if J.J. Reddick does it. Continuing to drive despite the police using stop sticks to cause your SUV to have flat tires - slightly crazy. Wrecking into a police car - pretty crazy. Keeping a hatchet, a loaded assault rifle and three loaded handguns in your vehicle - completely insane. Getting out of your car wearing a bulletproof vest which resists tazering, causing the police to have to rely upon mace to subdue you - that's it, you win the crazy Olympics.

Additionally, Deadspin reports that Clarett took a swig of Grey Goose after being stopped by the police - in plain sight of the police. Oh, how the insane have fallen.

Michael Kay of the YES Network: "... you believe it, whether somebody pitches a perfect game, you really believe that?

Caller: "It has nothing to do with you personally."

Kay: "What does it have to do with?"

Caller: "It has to do with, if you're, if you're broadcasting, if you're saying the game on TV..."

Kay: "Yeah."

Caller: (Stutters) "Basically, you cannot... it's baseball etiquette."

Kay: "No! I don't agree with you. That's not a professional broadcaster. But why shouldn't I say it? Tell me, Jimmy. Why?"

Caller: "Because, because it's just baseball etiquette."

Kay: "Tell me why!"

(While the caller stutters, Kay continues)

Kay: "Don't tell me about baseball etiquette. You know, it used to be etiquette to have black people as slaves. It's over. Tell me exactly why. Tell me why. Jimmy! Tell me why. Why can't I say it?"

Caller: "Because, it's just baseball etiquette."

Kay: "It's a stupid, stupid thing to say. You're not giving me a reason. Baseball etiquette - there's a lot of rules that don't make a lot of sense. That's why there was Nazi Germany. Why did they (stutters) people in the ovens? Well, that's what they told them to do. That's a stupid, stupid reason. Oh, it's baseball etiquette. It's just ridiculous. Oh, I was following orders, I was supposed to. Well, why? Well, they told me to. But, why? Well, they told me to."

So goes the first minute of Kay's just-over-three minutes of ranting about how he could not have jinxed a Chien-Ming Wang perfect game earlier this year. Of course, the classic comparison between the possibility of affecting the outcome of a baseball game you are broadcasting is the slavery of an entire race of people, a low point in the history of the United States, and the systematic murder of twelve million people, including six million Jews, under the orders of an oppressive, hate-driven government.

Yes, Michael Kay, this is simply put a work of genius on your part. Maybe we can be so blessed as to hear what you believe would be the equivalent of the undue criticism of Alex Rodriguez. I would guess it would be the unfair burning of witches at the stake and the treatment of Native Americans by the first European settlers.

What amazes me the most about this situation is that Kay's behavior is, to me, equivalent with Ozzie Guillen's reference to Jay Mariotti as a "fag." However, the media has completely failed to report upon the former incident while the latter was run into the ground. I'll allow you to guess which world atrocities might be to blame for this fact.

Thanks to the good people at Fire Joe Morgan for continuing to follow this situation. Their update regarding Kay implying that he provided good luck to the Yankees in 1998 by interviewing Paul O'Neill before each game adds an extra little oomph towards the commentator's ridiculous behavior. However, it does not appear that Kay has been punished for his words in the slightest.

The Denver Nuggets - locks for the playoffs, but very possibly locks for being bounced from the first round. They have a superstar in the making, Carmelo Anthony, a great point guard in Andre Miller, a solid starting big man in Marcus Camby and a group for a strong bench of Earl Boykins, Nene, Ruben Patterson and Eduardo Najera. Nene and Najera are likely to be starters, which is okay, as they're on that border between starter and top of the substitution list. Their defense will be solid between Camby, Patterson and Najera, and they will be able to run some.

However, they do have some problems. They lack a second scoring option next to 'Melo, Camby misses at least a fourth of every season (most games played in a season 72, from '03-'04), Miller isn't a good shooter, and none of the bench players provide a scoring boost. Kenyon Martin, who is eating a large percentage of their salary cap, is still suspended for his head case behavior during the playoffs and unlikely to return to the team. He's an underachiever with a huge contract, which means the Nuggets will have to trade their dollar for a quarter.

Denver's biggest problem is they failed to make any moves of note beyond finalizing the extensions of Carmelo and Nene. Their first round pick went to New York via Toronto via New Jersey as a result of the acquisition of Kenyon Martin. No free agents of note were signed - sorry, Jamal Sampson - and no trades were made. As a result, the Nuggets will continue to be on the verge of playoff qualification but will fail to advance deeply into them.

Livan Hernandez was traded from the Washington Nationals to the Arizona Diamondbacks today, in exchange for two pitching prospects from the Arizona system. This will be Hernandez's fourth major league team, unless you count the Nationals and Expos as separate franchises and if you do you should reconsider that as it makes no sense whatsoever.


Hernandez works fine as a third starter, and probably won't hurt Arizona over the next couple of months. I don't believe he'll be the difference between Arizona making the playoffs and not, but in the worst case scenario he's a consistent player who is almost always just above average. At this point in his career, he's comparable with Richard Dotson, Mark Gubicza and Mike Witt - good at eating innings and being an acceptable pitcher.

Fun fact with Livan - he's only 31, and I feel like he's been around long enough to be 40. You have to wonder how much longer he can last, but that's not going to be an issue this year.

The Dallas Mavericks are an interesting team. After losing in the NBA Finals, they've managed to keep their core playing group. Dirk Nowitzki emerged as one of the five best players in the NBA. WIth the supporting cast of Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Devin Harris, Josh Howard and Erick Dampier, the Mavericks are full of firepower and there is no reason to expect the team to fail to follow up on their success in the past season. Their starting five might be the most talented in the NBA. Needless to say, a failure to at least reach the Western Conference semi-finals would be shocking. I expect they'll be able to reach the conference finals, if not the NBA Finals.

Their bench has been downgraded from last year. The sum may be greater than the individual parts though. DeSagna Diop is finally starting to shine as a defensive force, Howard will be one of the best sixth men in the league, newly acquired Greg Buckner and Devean George are both going to boost their defense, and Austin Crosher will do well filling in for Dirk for about six to eight minutes a game. I do not believe Keith Van Horn will be brought back, but if he did he would be the offensive spark for the bench that they need.

In the draft, they added Maurice Ager from Michigan State with the 28th pick of the first round. The Mavericks really did not need to add much here, but they picked up a shooting guard who can score at a position where they need a bench scorer. He is as experienced as they can get in the draft, going through four seasons with the Spartans. He can shoot and drive to the hoop decently well, and the Mavericks don't need a lot more. Ager should work on improving his defense, but at this point in time he'll be little more than a 10th man off the bench for the Mavs, regardless of his improvement defensively. He might get some serious minutes at the end of the year though.

Their second round pick, J.R. Pinnock of George Washington, was not signed. They did sign a teammate of Pinnock's, Pops Mensah-Bonsu. Mensah-Bonsu will not see many minutes, and might end up in the NBDL for most of his rookie season. Injuries will determine if he gets playing time or not.