21 said:
Double Down said:
21 said:
The list of the 104 players whose urine samples tested positive is under seal in California. However, two sources familiar with the evidence that the government has gathered in its investigation of steroid use in baseball and two other sources with knowledge of the testing results have told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez is one of the 104 players identified as having tested positive, in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan. All four sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the evidence.
Not doubting the veracity of the reporting.
But four sources, all suddenly leaking sealed evidence to SI?
A fair point, but what if they've been chasing this for two years, and got four sources over that time period? We don't really have a time line here of how the story was put together or what finally let them go forward with it. I think if you're going to make this kind of claim against the best player in the game, it's probably the kind of thing you need to be airtight before you go forward. Maybe SI editors said they needed four sources to go with it. And they finally got the fourth this week.
The whole 'investigation' has been such a farce from the start. How many names have already been revealed through leaks and the Mitchell ordeal? And just now, this comes out? 104 names, and only ARod revealed this time?
And now what? You have two people 'familiar' with the evidence and two more 'with knowledge' of the results. Why even bother to seal the evidence if everyone who sees it has the compelling need to leak it?
There is again some major law-breaking going on here in the leaking of these test results, assuming that this story is accurate. These records are all under seal.
This is all wrapped in a legal battle over the seizure of the tests that likely won't be settled short of the Supreme Court. The case is before the entire 9th circuit currently (the legal term is en banc) where there are indications it will rule on behalf of the players. The players won a lower court ruling, it was reversed by a three-judge panel from the 9th circuit on a 2-1 vote and is now being heard by the full circuit.
The government had search warrants to seize test results of the 10 players involved in Balco but instead went into computer files and took all of the results of testing that players agreed to submit to anonymously as part of the 2003 survey testing that led to implementation of full drug testing program with penalties the following year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3780351
An issue that everyone should be concerned about is that a ruling in favor of the government would give criminal investigators carte blanche to go into computers and seize records of hundreds or thousands of people in places like hospitals, telephone companies and banks (in addition to labs) -- all based on a warrant for a single person's record.
Another issue of genuine concern if the government's position is upheld is that such a ruling would have a chilling effect on all confidential drug testing that is done by employers and insurers. Why should a union -- or an individual employee, for that matter -- agree on a good-faith basis to confidential drug testing when, in fact, no such guarantees can be made by a private or public employer? Any human resources person will tell you that confidentiality is the cornerstone of an EAP.
As a side matter, I don't know who leaked the information but is part of a disturbing number of leaks that have come as a result of the Balco investigation and its various offshoots. I do believe that the aforementioned Jeff Novitzky, who was made to look like a hero in Game of Shadows, has been up to his elbows in much of the less-than-ethical prosecution of these cases.
Interestingly Yahoo reported last week that Novitzky (along with other IRS agents) was the subject of a Treasury Dept. investigation into misconduct and missing funds in the Balco investigation. More interesting is that nobody else in the media has picked up the report. Unfortunately, stories that raise any of these constitutional or investigative misconduct issues don't flow very well into the seemingly favored narrative that Novitzky and friends as heroes for freeing the sports world of PEDs. The constitutional and misconduct issues are far more important in the larger scheme of things, just not as salacious.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=li-novitzky020309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
A disturbing part of this is that the leaks have typically occurred (like this one) when the government's case begins to look shaky and there's growing fear that it may not prevail in court. I believe that there's a feeling on the part of the investigators that rather than go down quietly it should toss every piece of evidence to the public, regardless of its veracity or the legality of its seizure.
I'm not going to get involved in a long discussion about this on SportsJournalists.com today -- it's Saturday and I've got things to do -- but the fact is that these issues were raised -- and shouted down -- here several years ago because, well, everyone wanted to believe that Novitzky was a golden boy and the Game of Shadows was the definitive statement about the Balco investigation when, in fact, GOS was reported from the government's viewpoint (yes, along with help from a rogue defense attorney).
