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Giambi Admits to growth hormone use
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Will he be sacked by the Yankees a la David Millar because he admitted to performance enhancement drugs? Like Millar, he never tested positive but has admitted to use- For some reason I don't think he will be banned or out of a job next season. Yanks' Giambi Reportedly Testified He Used Steroids Slugger Allegedly Says He Was Given Several Steroids by Bonds' TrainerSAN FRANCISCO (Dec. 2) -- New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi injected himself with human growth hormone in 2003 and also used steroids for at least three seasons, according to his grand jury testimony reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The testimony given in December 2003 to the federal grand jury investigating BALCO contradicts Giambi's public proclamations that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.

Giambi described how he injected human growth hormone in his stomach, testosterone into his buttocks, rubbed an undetectable steroid knows as ''the cream'' on his body and placed drops of another, called ''the clear,'' under his tongue, the Chronicle reported on its Web site Wednesday night

Giambi testified that he obtained several different steroids from Barry Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who is one of four men indicted by the grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. He said he got the human growth hormone from a gym in Las Vegas.

Anderson's attorney, Tony Serra, declined comment to the Chronicle, citing a court order.

Anderson, BALCO founder Victor Conte, vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny all have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include steroid distribution.

On Wednesday, a federal judge said she would not immediately dismiss the charges in response to accusations that prosecutors illegally searched BALCO headquarters and Anderson's house and car. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said she may conduct hearings into the matter in January.

Giambi was among dozens of elite athletes - including Bonds, Gary Sheffield and track stars Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones - who answered the grand jury's questions last year. Bonds, Jones and Montgomery deny using illegal drugs, but Sheffield told Sports Illustrated and ESPN earlier this year that he used ''the cream'' and ''the clear'' from BALCO, which he said unknowingly to him contained illegal steroids. By the Numbers .297
Jason Giambi's career batting average, but he has hit just .250 and .208 in his past two seasons

2000
Year Giambi won the AL MVP award as a member of the Oakland Athletics

$120 Million
Amount of seven-year deal Giambi signed with the Yanks in 2001

80
Games played by Giambi during the 2004 season

0
World Series rings, reaching the playoffs every year since 2000

Photo: Getty | Source: MLB.com

[/url]

The Chronicle reported in October that on a 9-minute recording it had obtained, a speaker the paper identified as Anderson is heard saying Bonds used an ''undetectable'' performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 season.

Giambi met Anderson when the trainer joined Bonds on an All-Star tour in Japan in November 2002. Giambi said he wanted to know what Bonds' secret for success was.

''So I started to ask him: 'Hey, what are the things you're doing with Barry? He's an incredible player. I want to still be able to work out at that age and keep playing,''' Giambi testified, according to the Chronicle. ''And that's how the conversation first started.''

After returning to the United States, Anderson told Giambi he could provide him with performance-enhancing drugs and suggested he stop taking the steroid Deca Durabolin that he obtained from the Las Vegas gym because it stays in the system too long, the paper reported. Giambi said he started using Deca Durabolin in 2001.

Giambi said Anderson never told him that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs.

''You know, I assumed because he's Barry's trainer - you know, Barry - but he never said one time, 'This is what Barry's taking, this is what Barry's doing,''' Giambi testified. ''He never gave up another name that he was dealing with or doing anything with.''

Prosecutors confronted Giambi with a calendar seized from Anderson's home that detailed Giambi's schedule of drug use.

Giambi said he didn't notice a ''huge difference'' in his performance after starting to use illegal drugs.

Giambi came to spring training this year looking noticeably trimmer as baseball began a steroid-testing program that included punishments for the first time. Asked in February whether he had ever taken performance-enhancing drugs, Giambi said: ''Are you talking about steroids? No.'' [/url]

Giambi won the AL MVP in 2000 for Oakland and signed a $120 million, seven-year free-agent contract with the Yankees after the 2001 season. He hit 155 homers from 1999-2002 and batted over .300 each season, but injuries slowed him down the last two years.

Bothered by a balky knee, Giambi hit just .250 in 2003. Giambi batted .208 and played in only 80 games last season, missing time because of a tumor, which the New York Daily News reported was in his pituitary gland. Medical experts told the Chronicle that Clomid, a drug Giambi said he thought Anderson had given him, can exacerbate a tumor of the pituitary gland.

Giambi's younger brother, Jeremy, who last played in the majors with Boston in 2003, also testified that he used performance-enhancing drugs given to him by Anderson, according to the Chronicle.



12/02/04 07:29EST

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.


Jason Goldberg
FIT Multisports
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [jasonogk] [ In reply to ]
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Was there ever really any question? He had the look of a user. It was so obvious. Interesting sidebar: A friend of mine, a registered nurse and former steroid user, made a prediction about Giambi that came true. When Giambi was going through his medical problems, when they were calling it everything from a weird intestinal parasite to I can't remember what else, my friend said that in a few weeks, after the hype died down, Giambi would announce that he had a benign tumor on his pituitary gland. Which, my friend said, is a common condition found in those who have abused steroids. If you followed the case, you know that's what his ailment was eventually declared to be.

But even before Giambi got sick (and before his name was associated with BALCO), you could look at him and tell he was using. 'Roid users have a look about them, and you can spot them a mile away.

If Giambi returns to baseball, it will be interesting to see what his production will be.

RP
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [jasonogk] [ In reply to ]
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Nothing will happen to him. The 'major' ball sports have a vested interest in ignoring, or giving token lip service, to steroid use ... not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars for individual athletes ... billions for all athletes.

My cynical opinion, based on nothing but informed conjecture, is that PED use is more prevalent in the major American sports than pro cycling.

I don't think that fans care what the athletes do to their bodies, as long as they (the fans) are entertained and they (the athletes perform).

Thanks for posting the article. Interesting reading.

*****
"In case of flood climb to safety"
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [Robert Preston] [ In reply to ]
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Any triathletes that you have "spotted a mile away?"
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [jasonogk] [ In reply to ]
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Anyone catch ESPN last night? Kind of scary, they are getting HGH from aids patients.
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [Diamond Adam] [ In reply to ]
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No, but one track cyclist from the late '80's had "the look." It is harder to pick out the triathletes, cyclists, and distance runners because they don't bulk up and get "the look." But because many such athletes don't have "the look" certainly doesn't mean they don't use drugs. Unfortunately, I do not for a single minute believe that Nina Kraft is the only top level pro who has used or is using drugs.

RP
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [jasonogk] [ In reply to ]
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This explains his tumors.

But I guess everyone has their price.
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [Nice Guy Eddy] [ In reply to ]
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I am a Yankee fan but even I knew all along he was juicing. Amazingly he lost a whole bunch of weight last winter and this year he did not look like (or play like) the same player. It is pretty much a joke. Right now that Yanks don't want him or need him in his new diminished not steroid enhanced condition. Are steroids an illegal substance in baseball? IS his use of them a breach of contract? The interesting question will be CAN the Yanks fire him and cancel his contract because he was doing illegal roids? Or were they not illegal when he signed the huge contract? I am sure the union would fight it but how serious can their argument be?

JW (on the comback trail)
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [NYCTri] [ In reply to ]
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I suspect that they won't try to void the contract because if they do, what happens when Sheffield and others get busted? The Yankees wouldn't want to void the contract if he was still playing well. Plus, the league has a very laid back drug policy even if you test positive, so as you said, the Players' Association will never let it happen. The truth is that the only difference between Giambi and Sheffield, Bonds and countless other Major Leaguers who use PED's is that Giambi isn't playing well.

JC

-------------------------
Jonathan Cane
City Coach Multisport
http://www.citycoach.org
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [jasonogk] [ In reply to ]
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No formal NBL charges.

Punishment/fines didn't begin until the 2004 season.
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [jasonogk] [ In reply to ]
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Babe Ruth and countless others had confirmed that baseball is a game not a sport. BR had a big beer belly and he was far from having an athletic body, plus he used to smoke and drink like there was no tomorrow, yet he was one of the best if not the best baseball player of all time.

If you think about it, a 50 year old baseball player can do as good as a 21 year old player. It is more about talent. If a player has no talent, coordination, good vision etc then no drug is going to make him more talented.

Do you think Tiger Woods needs to use EPO to improve his golf skills, or he is at the top of the sport because of it?
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [runbikerun] [ In reply to ]
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"If a player has no talent, coordination, good vision etc then no drug is going to make him more talented."

That is an incorrect statement. Drugs will make a player more talented. Just look at what happens when players come off the juice (Giambi is a prime example). The added talent may be temporary, but players definitely show more talent when on the juice.

I don't how many of you have a background in slowpitch softball. Down here in South Georgia, slowpitch softball is a major sport. Weekend tournaments begin in January, just after deer hunting season ends, and run until October, when deer season begins. There are all kinds of local leagues as well. You should see the guys who get on the juice just to hit the ball farther. You can take a 140 pound leadoff hitter who couldn't hit the ball out from second base, put him in the gym with a barbell in one hand and a syringe in the other, and a few months later you have a bona fide clean-up hitter blasting two out a game. It's unreal. I've seen it happen more times than I care to recall.

If guys down here will place their health in jeopardy for C or B class slowpitch softball, what will athletes with real money on the line do? And they do it because it works, it makes them better players, and it makes them more money.

Athletes in all sports in all eras have always taken whatever they had at their disposal to improve their performance. It may not have been growth hormone, steroids or EPO, but whatever it was, they took it. And it will always be that way.

RP
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [NYCTri] [ In reply to ]
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Steroids in baseball? I'm shocked, simply shocked! ;-)) I personally think that the "Big 3" sports in the U.S. (baseball, football and basketball) is probably rife with this stuff. And I don't think hockey's too far away, either.

Think about the amount of money these players can earn if they just get that little edge that this stuff can sometimes provide. Most of these cats would jump at the chance to earn millions, and be set for life, with the chance that they might suffer some problems, or even lose a few years at the back end of life, by just doing this stuff. The mortality issues are just too amorphous to them.

T.
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [runbikerun] [ In reply to ]
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"If you think about it, a 50 year old baseball player can do as good as a 21 year old player."

Yeah, MLB is just swimming with 50-year old players.
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [mr. mike] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, there aren't any 50 year old players. But Julio Franco of the Braves is close. He's what, 47 or 48? And he hit right at .300 this year, maybe a point or two above? Reckon he's staying in that kind of shape on Powerbars and creatine?

RP
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [Robert Preston] [ In reply to ]
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I totally agree that the only difference with Giambi is that he is not playing well. To think that roids will have no influence on baseball is crazy. Roids will allow to to get faster and stronger. Look to the olympics if you still need proof of that. If you can increase your bat speed just a little, it is a HUGE advantage. Add in more power from strength and now you make $15,000,000.00 per year. It woud also help in the field. Ever see Sheffield gun someone down from right?

JW (on the comback trail)
Last edited by: NYCTri: Dec 2, 04 11:32
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [Robert Preston] [ In reply to ]
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Oh, so if Julio can hit .300 at 46 (I think) then 50 year olds are as good as 21 year olds? That's insane.

The hand-eye cooridation starts to decrease, not to mention an increase in the nagging injuries that a 162 game season bring.

______________________________________________
Father Kevin

http://www.churchofcycling.org
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [runbikerun] [ In reply to ]
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While you are right in saying that baseball takes skills other then just being strong the fact is that strengh can help you. For example if you can throw a baseball from outfield to home without a bounce you will no doubt be a hot commadity. Also certain PED's can improve eyesight. Drug use though goes far beyond anabolic roids in the majors according to most players uppers are much more prevelent b/c they hep a player play day in and day out for the whole season.

Dan

PS I'm a Giants fan and Barry didn't do it. ( I can sense the storm coming now)
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [DanTri] [ In reply to ]
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There are very few "heroes" in sports anymore. The Curt Schillings (his work with ALS is tops) are few and far between. Roberto Clemente gave his life in support of the needy among us.

I don't advise parents to hold any of these guys up as role models, anymore. The whole Pistons/Pacers idiocy confirmed my belief about that.

Tony
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [DanTri] [ In reply to ]
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you bring up a very good point about eye site. I've read that either steroids or HGH can improve your site. People always talk about Barry Bond's pitch recognition (which is pretty amazing), and that steroids won't help you hit the ball...I disagree...if they are helping your eyesite, and giving you greater bat speed, then of course they are helping you. How many home runs did Mark Maguire hit that looked like he barely got good wood on the ball??

I also read in the espn interview regarding the aids patients that HGH users noticed strength gains without even working out.

The future hall of fame ceremonies in the big pro sports will either become a freak show, or a lot of the older athlete's will be dead.
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [BallPrkRat] [ In reply to ]
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"Oh, so if Julio can hit .300 at 46 (I think) then 50 year olds are as good as 21 year olds? That's insane."

I agree. There aren't 50 year olds in the majors for a reason. Julio is the closest thing, though. He says he wants to play until he's 50. We'll see if that happens.

RP
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Re: Giambi Admits to growth hormone use [runbikerun] [ In reply to ]
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BR had a big beer belly and he was far from having an athletic body, plus he used to smoke and drink like there was no tomorrow, yet he was one of the best if not the best baseball player of all time.

I think you just described most NFL athletes from the 50s. =)

What BR shows is how far above everyone else his talent was. In a modernn game with more talent he wouldn't get away with that. You could take Michael Jordan from today (or Shaq), let him get fat and sloppy, and he'd still dominate the game from the 50s or 60s. His talent is just too high.

No athlete using steroids surprises me anymore. The only thing that surprises me is that they admit it.

=======================
-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --
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