Fool me once, shame on you. Twice...?

Victor Conte is back and working with major athletes in three sports. And all he wants now is a shot at redemption.

Do you believe that? Neither do I.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel aired a story showing what Conte has been up to post serving prison time over the BALCO mess he created. And you couldn't be more wrong if you thought Conte's last days in the world of sports ended with him downing the careers of legends like Marion Jones, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Conte has managed to land a gig training baseball all-star Marlon Byrd, boxing world champion Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire and UFC fighter Kyle Kingsbury. On the Real Sports episode, Conte is shown mixing supplements into a bottle of water and essentially creating his own drinks; the contents of which no one has verified. He insists that its contents are entirely legal, and he has learned his lesson after serving time. But is he telling the truth? Your guess is as good as mine.

Byrd was a journeyman ball player prior to hooking up with Conte. Now he's an all-star. Donaire has knocked out his opponents in the two fights he's had since joining forces with Conte. Maybe in some fluke kind of way this is all legit, but are we really sure of this? Your guess is as good as mine.

Making matters worse is Conte's decision to re-hire his old cohorts, disgraced track coach Remi Korchemny and ex-Barry Bonds trainer Greg Anderson. If you somehow slept through the entire BALCO scandal, Korchemny was stripped of his coaching privileges for supplying drugs to a number of his track athletes, notably Kelli White and Dwain Chambers. Anderson served time for refusing to cooperate in the federal case against Bonds, also tied to the Balco case.

So why would any one on this planet work with this team? Your guess is as good as mine.

Not even Byrd or Donaire could answer the question, choosing to avoid it with the customary response stating that they were clean and not afraid to get tested. They don't get it. Neither was Jones, who famously declared she had never tested positive in more than a 1,000 tests. The purpose of "the clear" was to go undetected during testing. So how do we know Conte isn't up to his old antics and cooking up the next revolutionary cheating supplement? Because he says so. In fact, he says the USDA should consider hiring him to help weed out the cheats. I suppose he imagines how well the FBI hiring convicted fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr. turned out. Sorry Conte, your services aren't needed.

But for these three athletes working with Conte, and who knows how many more once that temptation to join the elite starts itching, staking your career and reputation on someone who's known mostly for his deception is a typical case of the saying, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," and a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. The remainder of your career will be clouded with suspicion. So how long will this marriage last? Your guess is as good as mine.