As alleged serial steroid abuser Barry (Hey, My Head’s Not That Big) Bonds stands in the dock for lying to a grand jury, it’s instructive to remember that none of this would have happened without the dogged (and daunting) efforts of San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada – efforts that were, er, chronicled in a 2007 episode of PBS’s America’s Investigative Reports.

From the AIR blog:

“Becoming the Story” premieres online today. Follow veteran sportswriter Mark Fainaru-Wada and longtime investigative journalist Lance Williams as they reveal the link between high-profile athletes and a Bay Area laboratory that distributed performance-enhancing steroids. Personally congratulated by President Bush for what he called “a service” to the public, Williams and Fainaru-Wada faced spending 18 months in prison for refusing to divulge the identity of a confidential source that had provided them with key evidence.

>> Read Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada’s original reporting in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, including the reporters’ first story to cite verbatim leaked grand jury testimony obtained from a confidential source to their most recent story on former BALCO prosecutor Kevin Ryan. Check out THE CHRONICLE’s special page on the BALCO investigation for the paper’s complete coverage of the doping scandal and the reporters’ plight.

The AIR video is no longer online, but the trailer is available via YouTube:

Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada never did go to jail.

But Barry Bonds just might.