Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
SAN FRANCISCO - Two central figures in the BALCO steroids probe were front and center Thursday, accused of obstructing the federal grand jury investigating performance-enhancing drugs in sports.
Barry Bonds’ personal trainer was ordered back to prison for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury's probe, while elite track coach Trevor Graham pleaded not guilty to hindering the same investigation.
Graham remained free Thursday on a $25,000 bond, but a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Greg Anderson to report to the Dublin federal prison by noon Monday.
“We are disappointed,” Anderson’s attorney, Mark Geragos said of the 9th Circuit ruling. “But it is certainly not over.”
Geragos said he is considering asking a 15-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court, or even the Supreme Court, to consider Anderson’s plight.
Outside his arraignment in federal district court, Graham did not comment after his attorney, Gail Shifman, entered the plea on his behalf.
“He’ll be vindicated,” Shifman said.
According to a Nov. 1 indictment, Graham, who coached Olympic champions Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin, lied to federal investigators in 2004 when he told them he neither supplied his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs nor informed them about where drugs could be purchased. Anderson repeatedly has refused to tell the grand jury about alleged steroids use by Bonds, whom authorities suspect of lying to a 2003 grand jury. Bonds testified he believed Anderson gave him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, not steroids.
Anderson, 40, already has been behind bars twice before, after being held in contempt of court for his refusing to testify. Both times, the prison stints were cut short because of legal technicalities.
Now, he could serve more than a year behind bars unless he agrees to tell the grand jury what he knows.
Geragos unsuccessfully argued Anderson shouldn’t have to testify about whether he gave Bonds steroids, contending prosecutors have an illegally obtained tape recording of Anderson discussing steroids with an unidentified person.
Prosecutors say the recording was made during a face-to-face meeting and wasn’t obtained improperly. They also agreed not use any statement from the tape in questioning Anderson before the grand jury, an arrangement that satisfied a lower court judge.
The San Francisco-based appeals court agreed Thursday with the lower court, ruling that no material from the tape ever has been presented to the grand jury.
The same grand jury on Nov. 1 indicted Graham on three counts of making false statements to federal agents investigating the use of steroids in professional sports. If convicted, Graham faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
Graham operates Raleigh, N.C.-based Sprint Capitol USA, a team of about 10 athletes that includes Gatlin, the 100-meter co-world record holder who tested positive for testosterone and other steroids in April. He also coached Jones, a sprinter who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Games, and her ex-boyfriend Tim Montgomery, formerly the world’s fastest man who was suspended from competition for two years for doping.
In August, the U.S. Olympic Committee banned Graham from its training centers because many of his athletes have been suspended for doping offenses. Last week, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency notified Graham in a letter that he is accused of violating doping rules, sources have told The Associated Press.
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Three years ago, Graham helped spark the steroids investigation by anonymously mailing a vial containing “the clear,” a previously undetectable steroid, to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
The investigation has netted five convictions, including that of Patrick Arnold, the Illinois chemist who produced the clear for the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the now-defunct Burlingame supplement company that served as a front for a steroid ring.
Anderson also pleaded guilty in the BALCO case, sentenced to three months in prison for steroid distribution and money-laundering charges.
San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said Thursday that the government’s steroids probe “is an ongoing investigation.”
“Whether or not there will be more indictments,” he told KGO-AM, “only time will tell.”
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
