It has recently been reported in the news that the two reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada are being threatened with jail time if they refuse to divulge the source who illegally leaked grand jury testimony from the BALCO case that implicated such baseball stars as Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds as having used illegal substances to improve their bodies for playing baseball.

The reporters, their editors, their lawyers, and other journalists are now screaming that such a threat is unfair.

I think their pleas are full of crap.

Regardless of what was accomplished by reporting the details that were leaked, these two reporters knew beforehand that leaking grand jury testimony was a crime. Not that the reporters are criminals, but the leaker of the information is. These reporters should have had the foresight to realize that printing this leaked testimony would likely lead them to the position they are in now -- reveal their source, or go to jail. By reporting the information, they accepted this risk, and took upon themselves the responsibility to do jail time if that was what was required of them.

Williams and Fainaru-Wada should be content with their fate of facing jail time, likening it as a small price to pay for the goal they accomplished, which was forcing Major League Baseball and the Players' Accociation to negotiate tougher rules and standards for drug testing.

There's been a lot of flap in the media lately about Barry Bonds and his climb towards Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list. Most of the media think that Bonds' pursuit of '714' is a special event, because Ruth's number is such a lexicon of baseball statistics.

I say that's biased, and biased because of the age of any media type who says it. I am only 33, which means that Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth's total before I even knew what baseball was. Ever since I began following baseball at the end of the 1970s, the only home run total that mattered was Aaron's 755. I've never known Ruth's 714 as being anything more than a number Hank Aaron passed along the way to posting his own.

In fact, the only reason I know the significance of 714 is because the video highlights of Aaron's 715 are burned into my mind, along with the harrowing journey he had to take in order to get there.

714 is an old, white man's number. 755 is a real number, and if Bonds approaches that, then we have reason to take notice. 

My sincere congratulations go out to Stan Heath, head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Hogs win today at Tennessee all but clinched an NCAA Tourney berth, the first in a number of years for the program, and Heath's first invite since taking over a troubled program.

The Hogs are playing well down the stretch, too, a key ingredient for teams who want success beyond the first round of the Big Dance. Good Luck to the Hogs!