80-year-old weightlifter busted as steroid cheat

Don Ramos is one aging athlete who has found a way to cheat Father Time — but not if he's been messing with Mother Nature to do it, says the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

The latest target on the U.S.A.D.A's list: An 80-year-old weightlifter who was busted for steroids, according to The Associated Press.

The agency that brought down Lance Armstrong announced a two-year suspension for Ramos of Colorado Springs, Colo., who tested positive for steroids while attempting to set a world record in his age group at the Pan American Masters Weightlifting Championships in June.

USADA was contracted to test at the event for athletes 35 and older. The suspension means Ramos can't compete again until July 2015.

Organizers of masters events have been cracking down on doping. Two years ago, USADA suspended nine masters athletes for positive tests, including one in his 50s and three in their 60s.

Yankees continue battle over 'The House that Juice Built' trademark

As if the New York Yankees don't have enough to deal with — injuries, contract talks and getting under the luxury tax limit — the team is still battling a Long Island man over a trademark slogan — for the fourth straight year!

The dispute between Steve Lore and the team's pinstriped lawyers is over his trademark application for the phrase "The House that Juice Built," reports The New York Post.

Lore's slogan is a twisted word play on the team's trademarked phrase for Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built." Lore's version also alters the team logo from an Uncle Sam-style hat over a baseball bat to the hat with the bat being replaced by a syringe.

It sounds like this house hits too close to home.

The Yankees slammed the trademark application as "offensive" and understood the word "juice" to be a reference to "consumption of alcohol or illegal anabolic steroids."

The Brooklyn-born Lore, a lifelong Dodgers fan, applied for the trademark in 2009 as an anti-steroid message.

"This is about wanting to control people," said Lore. "They don't want to be held responsible for not overseeing their own players.

"Steroids really ruined the game, and when news of [the rampant use] broke, it was mostly of Yankees that were suspected — Giambi, A-Rod, Clemens," he explained.

The case has lingered before the US Patent and Trademark Office even long before the Core Four was whittled down to the Key Three and has been suspended to allow the two parties to negotiate between themselves.

"They are dragging this on because they don't have a case," claims Lore.

The Yankees have not commented.

Clemens claims comeback is not a ploy to delay Hall of Fame

Roger Clemens went to great lengths and expense to clear his name of perjury charges and now critics are saying his baseball comeback is not just for fun— but a calculated attempt to delay his  appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot this winter.

The 50-year old pitcher downplayed the idea that he was hoping to return to the majors, where even one pitch would delay his eligibility for Cooperstown another five years and maybe put memories of his association with steroids in the back of voter's minds.

Clemens is expected to begin pitching for the independent Atlantic League's Sugarland (Tex.) Skeeters this Saturday.  The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Houston Astros have already sent a scout to see the seven-time Cy Young Award winner throw.  The 354-game winner's fastball was recently clocked at 87 mph on a radar gun.

Hall of Fame voters were expected to reject the inclusion to the Hall of Fame because of his high-profile role in the Mitchell report on doping in the major leagues.  A jury acquitted Clemens in June of six felony charges related to his congressional testimony after he denied using steroids and human growth hormone.

"Sure the Hall of Fame is great, I've told people that.  But it's not going to change my life either way," Clemens said.  "But if there's something there that somebody feels like they have a grudge or want to hold something against you, I can't control that one bit."

Clemens last pitched in the majors with the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS in 2007 claims  a big league return or turning back the Hall of Fame clock aren't on his mind.

"I've been to the major leagues and back a couple of times," he said.  "I've retired and unretired, so I wouldn't consider thinking that far ahead.  I'm just going to try to get through Saturday.  I think I can compete a little bit."

Former Astros executive and current Skeeters special advisor Tal Smith knows Clemens will help put fans in the seats but won't call the comeback a publicity stunt.

"Knowing Roger and how competitive he is and what great shape he is in, and the fact that Jamie Moyer pitched close to 50 and Nolan Ryan pitched well into his 40's. If anyone can do it, Roger Clemens can do it," Smith said.

It sounds like Smith thinks Clemens' return to the majors will help the pitcher's chances of winning over the HOF voter's hearts

"I think voter's should remember that he's been acquitted of all charges and that he never tested positive," Smith said.  "I hope this story dies down in future years."

If Clemens' comeback can make unsympathetic voters forget about the 10-week trial— with its images of steroid-covered syringes and other medical waste covered with the hurler's DNA— could a Barry Bonds return be far away?

Reggie Jackson says A-Rod's records are 'clouded' by PED use

New York Yankees' great Reggie Jackson sounds like he has a warning for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens or any other players linked to steroids and will be on the ballot for the Hall of Fame next year— don't expect to make it to Cooperstown in the near future.

If Mark McGuire is any indication— Bonds, Clemens and any other players associated with PEDs will not make the cut and, if they do get into the Hall of Fame, Mr. October won't be there to welcome them.

"If any of those guys get in, no Hall of Famer will attend," Jackson told Sports Illustrated.

That list of players with their names tainted by PEDs and headed towards a Hall of Fame ballot will probably one day include Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez— who passed Jackson on the all-time home run list.

"Al's a very good friend, but I think there are real questions about his numbers," Jackson said.  "As much as I like him, what he admitted about his usage does cloud some of his records."

Rodriguez admitted in 2009 to using PEDs earlier in his career.

It's sounds like a complete 180-turn from what Jackson told USA Today last month.  He said Clemens deserved to be in the Hall of Fame after he won his perjury case.

While Jackson— who still works for the Yankees organization as a special adviser— ripped A-Rod's numbers as not being legit, he said he might make an exception for Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte— who also admitted using PEDs.

"The question is going to be a guy like Andy Pettitte, who admitted  that he got involved for a while, but who is so universally respected in the game," said Jackson.  "I think he'll get in, but there will be a lot of [members] who won't go."

Asked if Pettitte was inducted, would he attend?

"I've know Andy since he was 20," he said.  "I'll leave it there."

The former A's, Angels and Yankees slugger didn't hold back when it came to a number of players recently inducted into Cooperstown who he feels are undeserving of the honor.

"I didn't see Kirby Puckett as a Hall of Famer," Jackson told Sports Illustrated.  "I didn't see Gary Carter as a Hall of Famer.  I didn't see Don Sutton as a Hall of Famer.  I didn't see Phil Niekro as a Hall of Famer.  As much as I like Jim Rice, I'm not sure he's a Hall of Famer.

Jackson once claimed he was the straw that stirred the drink when he was with the Yankees during the turbulent '70's.  It looks like he's shaking things up these days.

Judge Denies Clemens' Motion To Prevent 2nd Perjury Trial

A motion by Roger Clemens' defense team to have a judge dismiss the government's case against the former pitcher was denied Friday afternoon, as reported by Fox News.  Clemens' lead attorney Rusty Hardin had asked judge Reggie Walton to forbid another trial following the July hearing in which the judge declared a mistrial after two days of testimony.

According to Fox News, the judge sided with the prosecution and set a date for the second trial.

Hardin accused prosecutors of deliberately sabotaging the case because it was going badly for the government.

During the first trial jurors were shown evidence that was already determined to be inadmissible in court by the judge.

The prosecution team claimed it was a mistake.  Prosecutors-- Steven Durham and Daniel Butler made a critical error by introducing the barred evidence.  They apologized and impelled Walton into giving them another chance.

The evidence in question was a video in which a congressman referred to testimony by Laura Pettitte-- former Yankee Andy Pettitte's wife-- that Walton had barred as second-hand testimony.

In a statement, Walton said," I want to believe it is a mistake.  I would find it hard to believe that they would blatantly disregard a ruling I would make.  But it's hard for me to reach another conclusion."

Hardin, meanwhile, thinks a retrial would be a "reward" for the prosecutors for causing the mistrial in the first place.

Clemens is accused of lying under oath after speaking before a committee about steroid use in 2008.

At that hearing, Clemens testified," No matter what we discuss here, I'm never going to have my name restored.  But I've got to set the record straight.  Let me be clear.  I've never taken steroids or HGH."

Today's decision by judge Walton means that there was no procedural misconduct and it favors the prosecution.

The ruling determined that Clemens will be tried once more for lying under oath.  The trial date is set for April 17.

A guilty verdict would further tarnish the image of one of baseball's greatest pitchers and hinder his chances of getting into Cooperstown.

Hardin said it would take a couple of days to decide if they will file an appeal.

A-Rod's Banned Drug Mule Spotted On Yankees Road Trip

Major league baseball is looking into New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez's relationship with his steroid-supplying cousin Yuri Sucart after the admitted drug mule was spotted at the team's San Francisco hotel during the Yankees series against the Oakland A's.

Like bedbugs and Katie Couric, Sucart isn't easy to get rid of.

According to a team source, Sucart was seen at the St. Regis Hotel Tuesday night during the Yankees two-game series across the bay.  Sucart has been banned by the Yankees from any team-related activities after Rodriguez admitted that his cousin supplied and injected him with performance-enhancing drugs while he was with the Texas Rangers in 2001-3.

The source said Sucart, Rodriguez's mysterious "trainer" and "personal manager,"  has accompanied the Yankee third-baseman on numerous road trips over the past two seasons and the Yankees and MLB aren't too happy about the donkey's alleged resurrection.

Sucart was Rodriguez's constant companion during A-Rod's playing days with the Rangers, the Seattle Mariners and the Yankees.  He was banished, by the Yankees in 2009, from any Yankees team flights, stadiums or training facilities where the team was located.  Unofficially, Sucart's banishment does not apply to team hotels or sitting in the stands as a spectator.

After a 2009 Sports Illustrated story reported that Rodriguez tested positive during a 2003 drug test, he confessed how Sucart would pick up the steroids (or "boli" as it is sometimes called) in the Dominican Republic and inject the drug into both him and his cousin when he played for the Rangers in 2001-3.

Since 2003, Major League Baseball has had it's own ban on personal trainers and managers who are not affiliated with the teams and is once again looking into A-Rod's questionable relationship with Sucart.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman had no comment on the allegations, but can't be too happy about his star player bringing another distraction to the team.  MLB is already interested in the miraculous "stem-cell procedure" that has revived Yankees starting pitcher Bartolo Colon's arm.

The 48 year-old Sucart has seen better times since his Yankee banishment.  He is in foreclosure on several real estate properties according to his lawyer and feels he took the rap for A-Rod's misdeeds.

"Everybody wants a scapegoat," the dejected Sucart once said.

Maybe that's a step up from being a mule.