Secret Testimony Now Only a Grand Illusion

As we wait for the next shoe, baseball cleat, track spike or supposedly sealed courtroom document to drop, we take time to ponder this week’s newly revised definitions of the word leak:

* To let a substance in or out through an opening, such as what occurs when a world-class athlete injects human growth hormone from a hypodermic syringe into his or her leg.

* A crack or hole that usually by mistake lets something escape, such as those cracks and holes now breaking out all over Notre Dame’s once airtight image as America’s College Football Program Above It All.

* Urban Meyer’s new quarterback once he takes over at the University of Florida.

(To use it in a sentence: “One reason why Meyer snubbed Notre Dame and signed on with Florida instead was because Florida has Chris Leak and Notre Dame doesn’t.”)

* To allow to become known as information given out covertly, such as the grand jury testimonies of Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, or not so covertly, such as ABC’s teaser “preview” of its Friday night “20/20” interview with BALCO founder Victor Conte that made Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004 quite possibly the worst day in the life of Marion Jones. So far.

This has been the week of the leak, with some of the greatest reputations in American sports getting flushed in the process -- as well as, oh, yes, the law.

Friday, Michael Rains, Bonds’ attorney, could be seen ranting on ESPN about the leaking of his client’s grand jury testimony to the San Francisco Chronicle, saying that “the judicial system, the grand system, has broken down. And as a result, the confidence of my client in the justice system has been eviscerated and he has been betrayed.”

Roger Cossack, ESPN’s legal analyst, said that “one of the sacrosanct laws of law is that grand jury testimony is and should be and should always be secret until the event (under investigation or indictment) is completed. And that’s something that’s etched in stone.”

Cossack said that if he were one of the defense lawyers representing BALCO, “one of the questions that I am going to bring up is one, whether or not I can get a fair trial in San Francisco, and, two, whether or not the leaking of this material has jeopardized my ability to put on a defense to the degree that possibly I would want to get it dismissed.

“Now that of course wouldn’t get me out of the hot water, because they could re-indict with a new grand jury. But nevertheless, if it was successful, it would certainly help them.”

ESPN, which never needs much nudging to shift into “The Barry Bonds Network” mode, immediately launched a “Bonds Juiced?” Internet poll based on this leakage.

According to its “SportsNation” survey, nearly 85% of respondents did not believe Bonds when he said he didn’t know the clear substance and cream he received from trainer Greg Anderson were steroids. More than 82% believe the substances had a moderate to significant effect on Bonds’ home run totals, 66.4% believe Bonds should have an asterisk next to his name in the record books and 55% believe Bonds years from now will be remember as “steroid user.” By contrast, only 28.3% maintain Bonds will most be remembered as the “greatest home run hitter of his era.”

It’s ugly out there. On one side, we have athletes using illegal drugs to gain the competitive edge. On the other, laws are being broken in the chase to bring the cheating athletes to “justice.” Whatever happened to the concept of fair play?

It has become quite clear -- no pun intended -- that the once-quaint notion has sprung a leak.

Available for viewing this weekend:

TODAY

USC at UCLA

(Channel 7, 1:30 p.m.)

This week, FSNW aired a program called “The Lexus Gauntlet,” which has nothing to do with a new style of automobile and is not a reality show set on a car lot pitting plucky customers against the ultimate dark force of evil, a band of car salesmen. (Uh oh. Future Fox prime-time programming alert.) No, the Lexus Gauntlet is a PR gimmick disguised as a trophy given annually to USC or UCLA, whichever school fares better in head-to-head matchups in 18 sports.

On the show, former Trojan players Charles White and John Jackson ganged up on former UCLA wide receiver Mike Sherrard as they sat around venturing predictions on the big football game. Predictably, White and Jackson predicted a USC rout. Sherrard went with UCLA, but laughed a lot when he said it, and didn’t sound convinced when he said it and, really, can you blame him?

Oklahoma vs. Colorado

(Channel 7, 5 p.m.)

This is where the BCS got into a bind last year, to the delight of millions of college football fans with no other rooting interest in the Big 12 championship game except “Kill The BCS.” Last year, Oklahoma lost this game, 35-7, to Kansas State, creating the USC/Oklahoma/LSU debacle that seemed the BCS nadir, but was merely the warmup act to this year’s USC/Oklahoma/Auburn debacle.

This time, an Oklahoma defeat would help the BCS. Fortunately for the BCS haters, Colorado ’04 is not Kansas State ’03.

Auburn vs. Tennessee

(Channel 2, 3 p.m.)

The Southeastern Conference championship game. Auburn’s Tigers are 11-0, they have yielded an NCAA-low 13 touchdowns and, barring a miracle by UCLA or Colorado, this is the only championship game they’ll play.

SUNDAY

Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles (Channel 11, 1:15 p.m.)

Earlier this season, the Packers were 1-4. Now, some people are calling this matchup a preview of the NFC championship game, which says all you need to know about the Atlanta Falcons (9-2 and nobody’s buying it) and the NFC (which has two 5-6 teams and seven 4-7 teams -- and one of them, at least, is going to make the playoffs).