I was reading today how Barry Bonds' former personal trainer Greg Anderson is once again refusing to testify against his buddy when the slugger's perjury trial begins next week. And if that's not the definition of a good friend I don't know what is.

Here's a guy who is willing to go to jail not once, but twice, to protect his friend. Without Anderson's testimony, the judge is barring prosecutors from showing jurors key evidence such as positive drug tests alleged to have belonged to Bonds. What that essentially means is without Anderson's testimony, the prosecutors have nothing to convict Bonds of lying before the grand jury several months ago regarding his "alleged" steroid use. 

If Anderson continues to stick with his "mums-the-word" approach, he will likely find himself behind bars once again for contempt of court. If convicted of the contempt charges, Anderson would be imprisoned for the duration of the trial which is expected to last about a month but could be even less without Anderson's damning testimony.

While I'm sure Mr. Bonds has and will continue to pay Anderson for remaining loyal to him throughout the years, I'd be curious to know exactly how much hush money he's going to ultimately receive. I would wager my car the number reaches well into the seven-figure category, but I also know that there would likely be about the same number of people who would have gone all Benedict Arnold on Bonds by now as well. Many would have caved under the pressure of it all but to his credit, Anderson has remained tight lipped throughout and is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, all of this can be put in the rear view and he can start spending his time spending the money he's earned for remaining true to his friend.

I just wonder if those payments from Bonds to Anderson be continuous and if they'll put a strain on their friendship? If not, I wonder how long it will take for Anderson to start the blackmail process when the payments cease? If I was Bonds I'd plan on continuing the payment plan right up until the day I die or that friendship born in needles and creams will die a quick death.

Although I love the game of golf, I fully understand why it's not a big draw in the TV ratings department. In the give-it-to-me-now world we live in, golf on TV simply doesn't provide viewers with enough action to satisfy us, and when it does, it usually takes longer than a cross-country flight to present itself. Because of his greatness and because of his persona, Tiger Woods remains the exception to golf's boring rule.

No matter if he's 10 strokes up and looking to establish a new course record or slapping down another challenger who thought he was ready to take down the game's best ever, an event with Tiger in the field is instantly ready for prime time while one without him is more suited for a Sunday morning time slot going head-to-head with the 700 Club.

So it's understandable then why PGA Tour officials are jumping for joy as Tiger returns to the Tour this week after an eight-month absence to repair a nagging knee injury. And it wasn't just commissioner Tim Finchem rejoicing either. Thousands of fans joined Woods in Arizona on Tuesday, as Tiger made his official return at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships. While huge galleries are commonplace for Tiger, they are usually reserved for in-tournament rounds not meaningless practice rounds. But there they were, Tiger's legions of fans skipping out of work to watch the return of golf's greatest player ever. Did I mention this was a practice round with the real tournament scheduled to get underway on Wednesday when Tiger will undoubtedly take out his eight-month-long frustration on Australia's Brendan Jones.

The PGA Tour needs Tiger even more than Mickey Rourke needs a new hairdo. More than Jessica Simpson needs a new personal trainer. More than A-Rod needs a Selena Roberts detector, and more than the "Slumdog Millionaire" producer Christian Colson needs a bigger trophy case. The point is, the PGA Tour is back, baby. Tiger has come to save the day yet again and we're all happy he did. I'm blaming every Sunday afternoon nap I've taken in the last eight months on his absence. Time to wake up and see what Tiger's up to now. 

Saturday, Feb. 28                        
College Basketball
Clemson at Florida State
Ohio State at Purdue
UCLA at California
Sunday, Feb. 29
Marquette at Louisville
Missouri at Kansas
Michigan St. at Illinois
NBA
Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix
Higher total: Shaquille O'Neal's Points + Rebounds or
Kobe Bryant's Points
Detroit at Boston
Higher Total: Richard Hamilton + Tayshaun Prince's Points or
Paul Pierce's Points
NHL
Los Angeles at Chicago
Total Goals Scored: 4 Goals or less or
5 Goals or More
NASCAR
Better Finishing Position: Matt Kenseth or
Carl Edwards

I've been staying away from most of the A-Rod steroid fallout for the last couple of weeks because the fact that A-Rod used steroids wasn't shocking news to me. Ever since the Feds started chasing Barry Bonds seemingly 20 years ago about his usage, I've maintained that Barry wasn't the only one who used it and couldn't understand why all of the allegations were geared toward him.

When Jose Canseco came out and said that 85% of all MLB players used steroids I thought the number might be a little high, but unlike many who felt the number was no where near accurate, I've always maintained a guesstimate of 75%. Not trying to sound like I could predict the future or anything, but as more and more details about the Steroid Era are revealed, it looks like me and Canseco were pretty darn close to being dead on. Because of my gut feeling way back when, A-Rod's recent admission wasn't a shocker.

Just for the record, I wouldn't be surprised to see Albert Pujols, Luis Gonzalez, Mike Lowell, J.D. Drew, Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Vladimir Guerrero, Tori Hunter, Carlos Pena, Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Rickie Weeks, Travis Hafner, Russell Branyan, Scott Rolen, Delmon Young, Andrew Jones, Ty Wigginton, Gary Matthews Jr., Hank Blalock, Pat Burrell and Magglio Ordonez turn up on a future list of users either. That was just a list of names off the top of my head listing at least one player from each team. And that was just the American League for the most part, I could've easily continued and came close to the 104 on the latest list but thats really not the point here.

I have nothing against of these guys or any of the admitted users and likely would've taken streoids myself if I was them. If you see the guy two lockers down from you go from a 20-20 guy for five years straight then jump to a 30-30 guyt in one offseason, you're more than likely going to do whatever you have to do to keep up with the Jones.

What I do have a problem with, is the guys like A-Rod who admit guilt only to then blame it on their own ignorance. A-Rod first admitted to using steroids when interviewed by Peter Gammons last week only to retreat in today's press conference by saying that his "cousin" injected him with an over-the-counter drug he picked up in the Dominican Republic. He said he injected the drug to provide him with an energy boost. Really A-Rod? Ever hear of Red Bull or Five-Hour Energy? A-Rod added that he was "ignorant and naive." While I do believe A-Rod isn't the brighest guy around, I don't believe for a minute that his group of advisors (the same advisors that came up with the cousin/energy boost defense) couldn't provide him with a trainer that could help him with all of his steroid needs. I also don't believe that anybody making more than $25 million a year would put anything in his body if he didn't know what it was or how it would affect him.

Everybody on the most-recent list was on the new list because they used Primobolan or Testosterone. For those of you unfamiliar with these drugs are steroids, plain and simple. Neither drug has ever been taken to boost energy that I'm aware of. They are taken to repair muscle tissue and to regenerate the cells in those muscles so users can repair the muscles damaged by extreme workouts and they can get back in the gym sooner than those who don't. They also can help hand-eye coordination and reaction time, which comes in real handy when trying to catch up to a 95-mph fastball. What they don't do, is provide an energy boost.

If only we could get all of these guys to come out and tell us the truth, we could all get past this tainted era quicker. If A-Rod came out and said, "I started using because I saw how it was making some of these average players great, and great players legends. I knew I was already a great player and didn't want them to close the gap on me so I said 'if you can't beat them join them,'" we'd all forgive and forget in time.

If these guys would just come clean, be honest, provide all the details of their usage and inform the public of baseball's little secret, we could all put this mess in the rear-view mirror where it belongs. C'mon, it's been 10 years of this BS, enough already. Toward the end of A-Rod's news conference he added, "I know it's a long road but I want to start working toward earning others' trust back ... " Exactly A-Rod, it will be a long road. But if you keep merging onto BS Boulevard with all of the rest of the phonies, you're only going to end up on a dead end in the eyes of us fans.