But Michelle Smith also happened to be newly married at the time a discus thrower named Erik DeBruin, who had just been handed a four-year suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. Sensing circumstantial evidence, the worldwide media made Smith the most harassed competitor at the 1996 Games, never mind that she passed every test in sight. Others thought she was being falsely crucified and was given the benefit of the doubt.

But two years later Smith�s competitive career ended with her own four year suspension after she was allegedly caught tampering with a urine test taken at her home, according to the governing body the sample was contaminated with large amounts of alcohol, probably whiskey. The long-running suspicions on many had indeed been proven true.

Which leads us to Barry Bonds. The stories on Bonds intense training regimens are legend, whether it be having trainers rips the surgically repaired adhesions (literally bringing him to tears) in his elbow in 1999 so he can return to action, or reporters covering football�s East-West Shrine Game in January hearing the crack of the bat coming from the bowels of the stadium, finding Bonds already hard at work in the batting cages.

When Bonds lost half the �99 season due to the surgery, many thought that any realistic chance of hitting 600 home runs had gone out the window. The last home run I saw Bonds hit in person was #499 in his career, it fell on Easter just three years ago. Bonds had never hit as many as 50 home runs in a season, then hit 73 at age 37. Bonds followed that up with the highest batting average of his career (.370) at age 38. And of course everyone digs up the old video and photos of Bonds as a sleek, lanky member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early �90�s. Just like Michelle Smith, the public smelled a rat. Then came his personal trainer becoming a central figure in the BALCO scandal this past off-season, and suddenly the evidence was becoming insurmountable even to the staunchest defenders.

But don�t look for a dropoff from Bonds in the foreseeable future, home runs 660 and 661 came this week, officially beginning the march towards the all-time home run record, an event that Henry Aaron is already on record as saying he will not attend. And then there is the batting eye, Harold Reynolds was on record as saying that Bonds has a serious shot at hitting .400 this year, pointing out that Bonds was only twelve hits shy of attaining that mark two years ago. Bonds wouldn�t have to attain the quantity at-bats of other hitters (502 official plate appearances, not At Bats is required to win a batting title). Imagine that circus, a race towards the home run record along with a run at .400 at age 40.

After just one week of the season, it has become as obvious as ever that there are precious few relievers you can trust. Gagne of course is an automatic, same for Billy Wagner if the Phillies ever had a lead, and Mariano Rivera is still very reliable. But for the vast majority of teams it is a different story�

Cleveland � Forget about last year, David Riske had his second spectacular meltdown in as many save opportunities last week, and was roughed up a little in a non-save situation this week. I mentioned Jose Jimenez being on the payroll last week, but it is Rafael Betancourt who is actually next in line, who had similar numbers to Riske last year.

Minnesota � Joe Nathan is proving that he won�t be a long-term solution, as he had to be pulled from mop-up duty this week with Juan Rincon winding up with a save. Jesse Crain is going to happen sooner rather than later.

White Sox � Billy Koch came in for the ninth with a four run lead this week and managed to cough it all up. Koch was last seen kicking over a lantern on the South Side.

Oakland � Mixed reviews on Arthur Rhodes thus far, who has saved four of five games but had an ugly BS v. Seattle over the weekend.

Seattle - Shigetoshi Hasegawa is expected to be the primary closer for the next month or so, while Eddie Guardado works his way back into shape. In an interesting development Rafael Soriano was optioned to SINGLE-A this week. The company line is that they want to get Soriano some work, but sending him all the way down to A-ball sounds like the organization delivering a wake-up call.

Florida � Armando Benitez made the top-ten among relievers on most cheat sheets, and went on to convert all five save opps in the first week. The Marlins look like they still have a chip on their shoulder and the starting pitching is stout. Look for 40+ saves from Mando.

Philadelphia - Billy Wagner hit 100 MPH on the gun while saving one of the Phils two wins thus far.

Atlanta � John Smoltz was touched up in all three appearances last week, but it looks like the elbow is not an issue. If anything, Smoltz may have been a little too accurate, throwing strikes on 26 consecutive pitches at one point. Velocity has been in the mid-90�s, so look for Smoltz to work things out.

Milwaukee � The Brewers appear improved, and Dan Kolb has picked off where he left off last year converting all three of his save opps. Kolb should be a nice value for the rest of this year.

Houston � Octovio Dotel only has one save thus far and has been touched up a bit, but is still one of the better options. In what may be good or bad news, manager Jimy Williams plans on utilizing Dotel in non-save situations when the team has a four-run lead.

Pittsburgh � How many times have we tried to stick a fork in Jose Mesa�s career??? Mesa has retired all seven batters this season and has three saves.

Cincinnati � Don�t start the Ryan Wagner watch quite yet. Danny Graves has recorded four saves in quiet, uneventful fashion thus far for the first place Reds.

Colorado � Shawn Chacon started out shaky on the road last week, but had no problems recording a save in the Rockies home opener, continuing a career trend where Chacon actually performs better at Coors Field. He should continue to grow into his new role.

Arizona � Much was made on future closer Jose Valverde uncorking two wild pitches along with three walks in an outing this week. Valverde is a bit wild to begin with but I have to give the big man a mulligan on a 36-degree day on the road.

San Diego � Trevor Hoffman�s fastball is off, and has had to throw more off-speed stuff in an attempt to get by. TH51 has allowed seven baserunners in three innings thus far.

C � Javy Lopez 213, Piazza 159, Varitek 33: Look for some cheaper catchers to start getting some buys, particularly Vic Martinez (2 HR) and the White Sox Miguel Olivo (HR, 2 SB�s).

1B � David Ortiz 188, Teixeira 137, F. Thomas 52, Delgado 35.

2B � B. Giles 230, Soriano 132: Michael Young only on 21 of the top 250, expect that to change real soon.

3B � Blalock 236, Glaus 155, Ensberg 27: A tale of two schools, USC (Ensberg) and UCLA (Glaus). Glaus missed the first part of this week, but he should be on your hit list if you don�t already have him. It was revealed that Glaus had laser eye surgery in the off-season, and within hours he could see things for the first time in years. That could add 40-50 points to his BA in a hurry, and his power is second to none. Ensberg is already becoming a big drop, as he did not start in three of the Astros first seven games. Ensberg left the team for four days late in Spring Training to tend to an undisclosed personal issue. Have a feeling there�s something going on that hasn�t come to light yet.

SS � K. Matsui 125, Alex Cintron 108, Berroa 81, Arod 61, Bobby Crosby 54: The landscape has changed dramatically from recent years, as more inexpensive players are making an impact here. Expect Rafael Furcal to get a lot of drops with Cintron, Crosey, and San Diego�s Khahil Greene getting some action.

OF � Pujols 201, Cabrera 179, Crawford 164, M. Ramirez 147, V. Wells 133, Beltran 103, Drew 95, V. Guerrero 91, J. Gonzalez 79, Patterson 77, Dunn 72, Podsednik 64: Pujols being #1 on this list despite his 1760 salary a true testament to his abilities. Expect Cabrera (HR�s in four straight games) and Carl Crawford (5 SB�s last week) to be on virtually every roster soon. Also look for Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, and Jermaine Dye (5 HR�s) to be big movers as they appear to be bouncing back in a big way.

SP - (ownership out of top 250, not starts): K. Wood 242, Beckett 240, Schilling 209, Vazquez 192, Oswalt 188, Brown 157, Webb 146, Halladay 140, Pedro 121: Still looking for the cheap bargains to emerge. First time in recent memory that Pedro has not been on nearly all rosters.

On Friday night, Josh Beckett takes his 0.67 ERA to the mound in Atlanta, as the Marlins attempt to extend their streak of 30 shutout innings against a team that was shutout themselves in their previous game. What a great decision I made benching Becks this week. And then there�s my Dontrelle Willis sophomore jinx prediction. Not only has the D-Train been unscored upon in 12 2/3 innings so far, he is also a perfect 6-6 at the plate, including a three-run shot blasted completely out of expanded Bithorn Stadium!!! Willis needs a hit in his next AB to tie the franchise team record for consecutive hits, currently held by Gary Sheffield and Preston Wilson. That�s heavy company, we�re going to need a ruling soon on whether D-Train can be used in the utility position on offense. Then there�s Miguel Cabrera who leads the majors with six home runs, maybe he IS the next Albert Pujols. Of course the burning question is are the Marlins really that good or the Expos that bad??? I say a little of both. Did I warn enough a couple weeks back against taking Mark Prior??? Prior and manager Dusty Baker spent the week shooting down a report indicating that Prior is headed towards Tommy John surgery.

Milwaukee�s Ben Sheets appears to be making a serious bid to become an elite starter. Sheets is throwing in the upper 90�s so far this year. Sheets struck out 10 Astros in six innings last week, then recorded his eighth consecutive win over Houston on Thursday. The only negative is that his back acted up and they�re not letting him pitch deep into games. You know that Field-Turf, the grass-like artificial surface that football players supposedly love??? Well, the Twins lost phenom catcher Joe Mauer (knee surgery, out 4-6 weeks) along with fellow catcher Matt LeCroy (15-day DL) and Torii Hunter (15-day DL) in their first three games playing on the new surface. Others have described the turf as �trying to run on jello�. The Rockies Preston Wilson also had surgery for a trick knee and is out 4-6 weeks, joining teammate Larry Walker on the DL � but in yet another example on how playing in Colorado can turn nearly anyone into a fantasy superstar, Jeromy Burnitz went 5-9 with 6 RBI in a three game series. Other wounded warriors include Troy Glaus (expected back Friday), Atlanta�s Rafael Furcal (back, d-t-d), and J.D Drew (hammy d-t-d), Mark Teixeira (side, possibly back this weekend), the Expos Carl Everett (out 3-4 weeks, a true shocker).

Not much to offer in turns of two-time starters, the best bests are Kevin Brown, Dontrelle Willis, and Pedro Martinez. KB gets the Patriots Day game (11 AM start) so you can pull the ripcord if things aren�t going well and you have a Noon or 1 PM deadline that day. In all the Red Sox and Yankees butt heads four more times this week. Colorado gets the whole week at home, LA and Houston provide the opposition.