Greg Anderson, the man busted for dealing steroids to former Giants great Barry Bonds, is now being shunned by little league baseball. "A Northern California youth baseball league has barred Barry Bonds' former personal trainer from coaching his son's team," reports BCN (via KTVU). "The president of the Burlingame Youth Baseball Association says Greg Anderson is not a registered coach and is prohibited from being on the field during games." more ›

After four weeks of Barry Bonds' perjury trial, the Jury has reached a verdict on one of the four charges facing the record holding homerun slugger. According to KTVU news by way of the Appeal, after some confusion in the courtroom, Bonds has been declared guilty on the charge of obstruction of justice. On the other three counts of False Declaration to a Grand Jury, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and the judge is declaring a mistrial. more ›

Much to the surprise of the visually-impaired, Mark McGwire, former A's' star/Helen Hunt's wet dream, admitted to using steroids when he broke baseball's home run record back in 1998. McGwire, it seems "did everything he was accused of doing, chemically speaking, more or less, and he acknowledged regret," Ray Ratto gloats. more ›

Well, it's about time. The Castro district -- notorious for being "too body conscious," or whatever the technical term for it is that the spherical gays always toss about, angrily -- played host to a DEA raid on Thursday. According to Lance Williams, who snatches away the "Best Scribe Name" trophy from Jaxon Van Derbeken, the "U.S. Food and Drug Administration agents served search warrants at the Max Muscle store on 16th Street and at the Pacifica home of Maurice Sandoval, who was identified as the owner of a laboratory that markets two heavily advertised supplements called Tren Extreme and Mass Extreme." While the two products are technically legal, two beauty-hating FDA scientists claim that said products "contain two undetectable designer steroids," which prompted yesterday's raid. (Max Muscle, by the way, used to be the nicest little wine and smoke shop before the meatheads took it over, so please excuse our glee.) So sorry, boys. (Read more about it here.) more ›

Great news, Giants fans. The LA Times reports that, as of this morning, Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez has been put on temporary suspension for 50 games after testing positive for an illegal substance. And, in classic prescription drug abuse excuses, Ramirez blames the doctor. more ›

Sporting a tan suit (not since Nedra Ruiz has San Francisco seen a such a glamor-free court trial), Barry Bonds pleaded 'not guilty' in federal court today. Bonds, a former SF Giant great, is accused of lying to a grand jury after testified in 2003 that he never used steroids. Yesterday, the prosecution alleged "that Bonds used a designer steroid during the 2003 season, along with a female fertility drug that was supposed to mask the steroid on drug tests." The trial starts March 2. more ›

When he came up with the A's, he grew into a genial homespun hero.

Then he left, and became a steroided diminishing-returns disgrace.

Now he's back in Oakland?

What-th'-hell for?

Couldn't he have signed with LAD or LAA?

Get you gone, prodigal douche. more ›

Barry! We've missed you! How've you been? Wait, what's this now? Conspiracy?!

MurrayChass.com broke the story:

"I am convinced that Major League Baseball will never let him put on a uniform ever again," said Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris. more ›

Former baseball great and Giants slugger Barry Bonds appeared on court today, pleading not guilty to 15 federal charges of fibbing to a grand jury. If you recall, Bonds just did the exact same thing in December, but after a "judge ordered prosecutors to rewrite the slugger's indictment to fix legal infirmities in the document," the brand spanking new indictment "legal infirmities in the document." Whatever that means. more ›

Here's a roundup of sports news more ›

Winning the title of first football player to be nabbed in the BALCO scandal, ex-49ers defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield was charged with lying to a federal agent when he denied taking steroids. Oh, Dana. he is expected to plead guilty in a San Francisco federal courtroom later on today. more ›

Here's todays sports highlights more ›

HBO bought the rights to Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal That Rocked Professional Sport, the infamous book penned by Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. According to a sister over at Variety, in it Bonds is "painted in 'Game of Shadows' as a gifted player who made a Faustian bargain to increase his power." (Might we suggest Damn Giants as a working title, then?) Ron Shelton -- auteur... more ›

Choose your allusion-- the sword of Damocles finally striking, the chickens coming home to roost, karma being an ill-tempered bitch-- but Barry Lamar is now up against it for breaking the law, breaking the law. Personally, we were a bit stunned that it happened coming as it did years after the actual case, but we're cavemen-- we fell on some ice and was later thawed by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses us! more ›

-- Gargantuan steroid sting nabs two Bay Area brothers. [SJ Merc] more ›

Well, that was fun. Last night out in the center-left bleachers, each time Barry Bonds came to bat, the crowd rose giddily to their feet. The stands brimmed with grins and shouts of encouragement and nervous energy. Mitts were pulled on. With each pitch thrown to him, photoflashes flared all about the stadium like Chinese New Year firecrackers. more ›

Hey, remember that Grand Jury that was out there looking into the whole BALCO mess? And remember how supposedly the Grand Jury dropped that issue and instead started investigating Barry B? Well, according to the New York Daily News, the Grand Jury got themselves six more months to look at the case against Barry and that supposedly they have a pretty good case against him. The source in the story say that the Grand Jury has enough to go after Barry but wants at least six more months to make the case go from pretty strong to dead-to-rights strong. They are also afraid of making it look too political in handing down the indictment right around the time Barry is on the verge of breaking the big record. more ›

Despite a few anxious laps during the climactic Stage 7, wire-to-wire overall race leader Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) found just enough energy to fend off a cheeky breakaway from Danny Pate (Slipstream) and win the 2007 Amgen Tour of California (TOC) . more ›

Levi Leipheimer successfully defended his gold leader's jersey yesterday in Stage 6 of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California (TOC), but it was Team CSC that commanded everybody's attention. Refusing to concede a single pedal stroke to Leipheimer or his Discovery Channel team, CSC kept the stage hopping with steady pressure on the front from veteran scrappers like Bobby Julich and Stuey O'Grady. For their efforts, CSC locked up the overall team classification and propelled their TOC sprint man Juan Jose "JJ" Haedo to his second stage victory of the tour.

Running 169.6 kilometers (km) from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita across challenging terrain that included four King of the Mountain (KOM) category climbs, two points sprints, and three 5.6-km circuits to finish, Saturday's Stage 6 featured nonstop, granular action motivated by visions of personal glory and dedication to team and teammates.

It's one thing to sit in a team's slipstream or ride the momentum of the peloton, but the truest measure of a cyclist is how he (or she) performs in an individual time trial (TT). On Friday, in Stage 5 of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California (TOC), 127 bicycle riders looked into the face of destiny to see who would crack and would emerge triumphant. When the dust settled, it had become clear to all that Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) is the best bicycle rider in the TOC.

In an individual TT, it's just the bicycle rider against the clock. No drafting, no group tactics, no jockeying for a sprint finish, no using other riders for motivation. Finishing position is irrelevant, it's all about the time. It is cycling distilled down to its most primal essence: how fast can you go?.

Snoo-zer. Aside from the final five seconds of the race, the most exciting part of Thursday's Stage 4 in the 2007 Amgen Tour of California was the scenery. Relatively undistinguished topography and the desire of most riders to save themselves for tomorrow's critical individual time trial turned yesterday's stage into little more than a placeholder in the week-long tour.

It was a day of defensive rest, with everybody working extra hard to do the least amount necessary to maintain the status quo and playing it as safe as possible while doing so.

There was some nominal bad weather to keep the racers on their toes, a lukewarm breakaway led by Hilton Clarke of the Navigators Insurance team, a minimal response from Discovery Channel and the peloton, and a rather pedestrian, if not historic, sprint finish capped by Paolo "the Cricket" Bettini's (Quick Step-Innergetic) technically brilliant track throw to nip Gerald Coilek (T-Mobile) at the tape. Other than that, we loved it, thanks for asking.

It was poetry in motion out there in Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California, like a ragged stream of consciousness.

Hills, . . . hills-hills mark the stage most crucial to date, elevation profile like an EKG.

Under the merciless stare of giant windmills stoic 17 riders breaking away BEWARE! the false summit of Patterson Pass, Van de Walle caught out as Peterson's debt to William Frischkorn grows. Over the top jersey stuffing newspapers, protection against the windy descent.

Let's face it, in the peloton of American spectator sports, cycling got cracked off the back on the first climb out of town and is just now working its way back into the rear of the pack. Even with eight straight years of Americans winning the Tour de France, the biggest event in the cycling world, cycling has only the most tenuous of holds on the American consciousness. O'er the pond, the Europeans have more than a century of rich road racing history and cultural lore out front making a passionate pace.

One of the problems is that American race promoters and fans haven't quite figured out how to wrest maximum entertainment value out of a professional cycling race. Organizers of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California (TOC) understood this issue and came up with a great solution: circuit laps to finish the stages. Brilliant.

Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California (TOC) started out in the brilliant sunshine of Sausalito but ended 156.2 kilometers (km) later under a cloud of controversy in downtown Santa Rosa. In between, riders faced heavy winds, multiple crashes, and an entertaining collection of breakaways and points sprints. When it was all said and done though, Levi Leipheimer was still the hometown golden boy.

This was a stage for cycling geeks to Tivo and watch over and over. From a rolling start, the peloton quickly pulled a Category 4 climb up and over the shoulder of Mt. Tam and down the Panoramic Highway to Stinson Beach, following Highway 1 through beautiful West Marin. Local roadies finally got a chance to see how the international cycling elite handle our regular rides. On the Versus network television coverage, legend Phil Liggett praised the beauty of the Panoramic Highway, but commented that it was a little narrow to ride when open to vehicle traffic. Ha!

This morning, ESPN's Len Pasquarelli is reporting that "sources" say that the 49ers' prized offensive coordinator Norv Turner will be the new coach of the San Diego Chargers, to which we say noooooo. more ›

For most of the day it looked like a total Cinderella story for unknown Jason Donald, but when the very last rider of the 2007 Tour of California (TOC) prologue crossed the finish line Sunday, it was Levi Leipheimer who had tears in his eyes.

A Credit Agricole rider suffers his way up the last 300 meters to the finish line atop Telegraph Hill. Photo from SF_Chris.

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the national anthem, Jean-Marc Marino of team Credit Agricole rolled down the starting chute at 1:00 p.m. sharp and the prologue was on. In a time trial like Sunday's prologue, riders race alone and against the clock rather than against each other en masse. Following Marino, 144 more riders attacked the course at one-minute intervals for the next two hours.

Clip in sports fans, between the weather and the Amgen Tour of California (TOC), it's going to be a great weekend for cycling in the Bay Area.

Whether you're tackling Mt.Tam on your Saturday morning club ride or comparing yourselves to the pros with a summit of Stage 3's infamous Sierra Hill climb, pack the sunscreen today and leave the rain shell behind.

On Sunday at 1:00 p.m., the TOC starts with the prologue, a 3.0 kilometer time trial from the Ferry building to Coit Tower.

That's right Cutters, the Italians are coming, along with the French, the Spaniards, the Americans, the Germans, the Dutch-- yeah, even the Dutch. They're all going to be in the City this weekend to compete in this year's Amgen Tour of California.

We're talking the real deal. This isn't some club-level Saturday morning crit for free tubes at the local bike shop (no offense), this it the best road cyclists in the world, competing for top-tier elite international cycling teams like Discovery Channel, CSC, T-Mobile, Rabobank, and more, in serious competition.