FanHouse TammyThomas

We now interrupt our playoff programming to bring you an update on baseball's greatest villain: Barry Bonds.

In case you forgot about it, Barry Bonds is getting ready to go to court as part of that whole BALCO investigation we used to hear so much about. Bonds faces possible jail time if he's found guilty of perjury for lying to the grand jury during the investigation, but he did get some good news on Friday.

Tammy Thomas is a former bicyclist who was on trial for the same crime in the same BALCO investigation, and she won't have to serve any prison time even though she was found guilty.

In U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Judge Susan Illston sentenced Tammy Thomas to six months of home confinement on her four felony convictions for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Some experts said the decision was a hopeful sign for Bonds. He is scheduled to go on trial in Illston's court in March, accused of the same offenses as Thomas and facing the same prosecution team. He has pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutors had asked for Judge Illston to sentence Thomas to 30 months in prison, but the judge said that would be incredibly unfair considering that Victor Conte -- the man who ran the BALCO lab -- only had to serve four months in prison.

Of course, as some legal experts point out, this doesn't necessarily mean that Bonds will be dealt the same fate. Thomas is essentially a nobody -- had you heard of her before reading this? -- while Bonds is a very well known athlete. Sentencing Bonds to jail time would send a very loud message to anybody thinking about lying to a grand jury in the near future.

We now return to our regular playoff programming.

A verdict was reached Friday in the first trial related to the BALCO investigation, and Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas has been convicted of three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury about her steroid use.

Testimony in Thomas's trial drew attention for the changes that steroids had on Thomas's body, including facial hair, chest hair, a beard and male pattern baldness.

The feds' investigation of BALCO cast a wide net, with eight of the accused already pleading guilty. Thomas was the first to fight the charges at trial, and her conviction is bad news for Barry Bonds, whose case closely resembles Thomas's.

Among those who have taken guilty pleas are BALCO founder Victor Conte, former Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson and chemist Patrick Arnold.

Female Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas is the first athlete to face a criminal trial on charges related to the BALCO investigation, and testimony in her perjury trial reveals odd side effects of her alleged steroid use. Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Thomas seemed to be in the midst of shaving her face when an Olympic drug tester paid her an unannounced visit. ...

Prosecutors have called Thomas a "hard-core" steroid user who underwent a physical transformation while using banned drugs. On Monday, a Colorado endocrinologist who examined Thomas in 2000 said the cyclist's use of the steroid depo-testosterone had caused "severe virilization."

Thomas had a deep voice, full beard, chest hair and even signs of male pattern baldness, Dr. Margaret Weirman testified.

Thomas told the grand jury that investigated BALCO that she never used banned drugs. She is now charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for those statements. Seven people have pleaded guilty to crimes arising from the BALCO case. Barry Bonds is expected to face trial on charges similar to Thomas's late this year or early next year.