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Jury convicts Barry Bonds on one count

SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 (UPI) -- A federal jury Wednesday convicted former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds of one count of obstruction of justice.

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The jury agreed with prosecutors that Bonds in 2003 impeded a grand jury investigation of a California lab that provided banned steroids to athletes.

Jurors determined Bonds hadn't been sufficiently forthcoming with the grand jury when asked if anyone other than a doctor had ever injected him, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The San Francisco panel of eight women and four men, however, could not reach a verdict on three perjury charges that dealt with whether Bonds had lied about never knowingly using steroids during his career.

Jurors told the newspaper they had deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting Bonds on a count charging him with lying about whether he had been injected by Greg Anderson, his personal trainer.

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Jury members said prosecutors hadn't proved their case on two other perjury counts -- that Bonds lied when he testified he never knowingly using steroids and when he similarly stated he never used human growth hormone.

Bonds, baseball's all-time home run leader, could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in federal prison. It is considered very unlikely, however, that he will draw that much prison time, if any at all, The New York Times reported.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag told the Mercury News prosecutors will decide whether they will seek to retry Bonds on the three deadlocked counts or settle for the single felony conviction.


Fleury opens playoffs with shutout

PITTSBURGH, April 13 (UPI) -- Marc-Andre Fleury turned in his fifth post-season shutout Wednesday in carrying the Pittsburgh Penguins to a playoff-opening 3-0 victory over Tampa Bay.

Fleury's shutout came in his 63rd playoff appearance and got the Penguins off to a solid start in their bid to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years. He played in 24 games without a shutout during Pittsburgh's title run in 2009.

Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson matched Fleury through two periods but Pittsburgh dominated the final stanza while outshooting the Lighting 12-7.

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Alexi Kovalev broke up the scoreless tie 6:05 into the third and Arron Asham scored 18 seconds later on a wraparound shot.

Chris Kunitz put the puck into an empty net with 42 seconds remaining. Fleury made 28 saves overall and Roloson stopped 37 shots.

Pittsburgh will host the second game of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Friday.


Johnson flirts with no-hitter

ATLANTA, April 13 (UPI) -- Josh Johnson took a no-hitter into the eighth inning Wednesday and combined with two relievers to bring the Florida Marlins a 5-1 victory over Atlanta.

Johnson (2-0) walked three and struck out nine before giving up a double to Freddie Freeman with one out in the eighth, one of only two hits the Braves had for the entire game. Johnson has allowed just three earned runs in 20 1/3 innings this season over three starts.

Ryan Webb came on after Johnson surrendered the double and recorded the next two outs. Randy Choate gave up a homer to Chipper Jones in the ninth.

Johnson helped his own cause with an RBI single during a two-run second inning. Chris Coghlan drove in two runs in that inning with a base hit to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead.

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Logan Morrison added a solo blast in the third to help Florida snap a two-game skid.


Big 12, Fox announce football TV deal

IRVING, Texas, April 13 (UPI) -- The Big 12 Conference has signed a 13-year deal with Fox Sports to televise the league's college football games on cable, officials said Wednesday.

Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe called the pact a "landmark agreement" that nearly doubles the number of games to be shown on regional FSN networks as well as on Fox's FX network and its other cable platforms.

A minimum of 40 football games per year will be carried on FSN under the deal, Beebe said.

"This landmark agreement positions the conference with one of the best television arrangements in collegiate sports," he said. "It exceeds the benchmarks as we move forward with our 10 members by providing significant revenue growth, increased exposure while allowing institutions to retain selected rights."

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Sports Business Daily reported it is worth $90 million per year.

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