Beef Roids

MLB wins in battle against the government

2010-09-14T10:56:00.000-04:00

Major League Baseball is on a winning streak...at least, in the courts. While the popularity of the sport has crested, MLB can point to the fact that the courts have ruled that the government did not have the right to grab the steroid data MLB collected in 2004. It's the fourth time the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled on the issue during six years of litigation.

Why MLB did not destroy the data in anonymous testing is still not known, but apparently the 104 players who tested positive will not be found out...at least for now. The data siezed will now be turned back to the lab unless an appeal is made to the U.S. Supreme Court. The latest rulings of that court would likely leave the government losing again.

The data was going to further the government's investigation into doping in the sport. Apparently all non investigative parties involved do not want to learn more about doping in sports. It's a great message to send to the public.

Armstrong playing same defense

2010-08-03T15:31:00.000-04:00

Federal authorities are closing in on Lance Armstrong. The investigation stems from doping claims made by former teammate Floyd Landis while both were riding for the United States Postal Service. By riding for the USPS, federal authorities can explore whether the team used their funding for PEDs.

Armstrong and his team have done what they always do: deny and shun his accusers. When it comes to Landis, Armstrong says that he lied previously so has lost all his credibility. The first athlete to profess using PEDs while competing and not failing a test has yet to emerge. Athletes cheat and deny it because they lose all credibility once found out.

Cycling has been found to be one of the dirtiest sports with blood doping and transfusions in order to get an edge. The governing body of cycling has been active in trying to prevent doping, but the cheaters are always ahead of the testers. Are people really supposed to believe that Armstrong did not dope, but everyone else in cycling did and still weren't able to beat Armstrong?

The government's investigation should shed some light on whether that assumption is correct.

Canseco blew the whistle, but never saw it when it came to Clemens

2010-06-04T13:25:00.001-04:00

Best-selling author Jose Canseco who blew the whistle on steroids in baseball through his tell-all “Juiced,” never saw Roger Clemens use steroids according to his grand jury testimony.

Interesting how the guy credited with producing real reform in a troubled sport has now been characterized as a shady soul only looking out for his financial interests. Rumors had circulated earlier that Clemens made a financial payment to Canseco to keep his name out of the book. Whether true or not, Canseco has maintained his story stating that he only talked about steroids with Clemens. While this could just appear to be semantics, it is an important distinction.

By saying that they talked about steroids provides some doubt to the grand jury. If Canseco, the kingpin of roids, did not supply or inject the Rocket with rocket fuel who did? That answer is easy enough: Brian McNamee who admitted to administering several steroid injections.

When was the last time you discussed any topic with multiple people to help make up your mind? Did you purchase that product or make that decision with everyone you discussed it with present? No, and is probably the same situation with this courtroom battle.

Canseco does have some credibility issues. While praised for turning the tide of drugs in baseball, he has been short of fully truthful. He held back additional names in order to write a sequel, “Vindicated.” While that was a money grab, he was correct in naming Alex Rodriguez.

It would have been shocking if Canseco admitted to providing Clemens with PEDs. His roundabout way of answering questions was just an attempt to muddy the waters for the grand jury. Hopefully, they can see they through the muck.

The joke is on the AP after Cushing revote

2010-05-15T13:56:00.000-04:00

The latest doping revelation in the NFL raises some serious concerns. Brian Cushing, the Houston Texans linebacker, violated the NFL’s anti-doping policy last September. His suspension was announced earlier this week and after playing the entire season (after his positive test), he was voted the Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press.

First off, what caused the delay from the failed test in September to the announced suspension in May? There should be due process, but to the point where a cheater can play the entire season and then be punished does not seem right.

Secondly, after playing the entire season, Cushing was voted the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Associated Press didn’t like being duped so they decided to have a revote for the award. After the revote was taken, Brian Cushing was still the Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Having a revote makes sense. However, the voters in the AP made a mockery of the system by praising and rewarding a cheater. When Marion Jones admitted to cheating, she was stripped of her medals. There was no revote or determination of her worthiness. She cheated and was properly disciplined.

Apparently that is not how the voters of the AP feel. Their vote in essence rewards cheating. If Cushing was suspended for a quarter of the season and didn’t have the numbers he had, he would not be the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Yet, after knowing he was dirty, didn’t sway the needle to a clean player.

Maybe next time the AP voters will take their vote seriously and reward a clean player rather than a dirty one. If not, message is heard loud and clear: performance over values. My grades: A for effort, but F for execution.

Finally, a win for animals

2010-03-11T11:10:00.005-05:00

Some trainers have been doping horses as mentioned in previous posts and the main argument besides whether it’s right or wrong boils down to the fact the horses have no say in the matter. Unlike baseball players who make a willing decision to cheat and can discontinue use at a given moment, animals do not have that same luxury. They are at the mercy of their trainers and owners.

One owner is paying the price for his mistreatment of horses. Ernie Paragallo, a thoroughbred breeder and owner, was convicted on 33 charges of animal cruelty Wednesday for starving and neglecting his horses on his New York farm. As many as 177 horses were mistreated. At least Paragallo is taking responsibility. After a raid on his farm, he said in a videotaped interview, ““I’m not denying it; if they want to lock me up, maybe they should. Whether it’s my fault or not, it happened and it’s my responsibility.”

How many times does an athlete caught with his hands in the cookie jar issue some veiled statement about being a good teammate wanting to get back on the field or not knowing what a trainer gave him. Knowing your body is the business of an athlete. It’s how they make their living so these excuses are pathetic and weak.

Paragallo now faces up to two years in prison and $33,000 in fines. He will be sentenced May 18th.

For the first time in a long time, the focus has been on the health of the horses. The next step is to include using PEDs as a form of mistreatment.

Mark McGwire’s buddy act on ESPN is a poor show by both parties

2010-02-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

Watching ESPN’s SportCenter for the first time in a long time, I was surprised to see Mark McGwire holding a mike and laughing it up with a baseball analyst. The emotion and setting reminded me of the farcical summer of 1998.

That year, ESPN’s coverage of the home run chase never hinted that something might be amiss. They were part of the baseball machine drawing monster ratings as Americans checked in to see who hit a home run on Baseball Tonight. Why should they, a news gathering organization and provider of content, question something that was so good for business?

Integrity is one reason. Even after that summer and people started to question baseball players accomplishments as being legitimate, ESPN and their baseball experts stuck to their guns and toed the baseball line: there’s no drug issue in baseball.

Turns out they were wrong. Whether they were wrong intentionally is another issue, but with the Mitchell Report, Game of Shadows and other revelations emerging that many players were cheating (including McGwire), ESPN then turned a different tune.

With that about face, ESPN should just cover McGwire returning to baseball as the hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals and move on. Instead, he’s being buddy-buddy with the analysts like the good old days. There’s a simple reason for this: he wants to get back in the good graces of baseball and possibly end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame. It should also be questioned whether McGwire is even qualified to be a hitting coach. He was known as a home run hitter with a less than mediocre average. His home run strength came from PEDs. It doesn’t appear to be a good fit.

McGwire's brother has even come out and said that Big Mac used PEDs to get bigger according to SI.com. This would contradict his previous explanation to heal from injury why he cheated the game.

McGwire can chum it up with ESPN as much as he wants, but we know the real Mark McGwire and he’s not that guy on ESPN.

Jockeys revolt against owner

2010-02-02T13:45:00.001-05:00

Horse racing doesn’t have issues; it’s a great sport…riiiight.

In a rare show of solidarity jockeys in Pennsylvania are revolting against any horse owned by Michael Gill. Since October 1st, six Gill owned horses have had fatal breakdowns. It’s an unusually high number given the short time period which led to the other jockeys uniting to protect their safety. If an unfit horse has an issue during the race and falls the chain reaction that would ensue would likely harm other horses and jockeys.

In an interview with the New York Times, Gill claimed the racing surface at Penn National was the culprit for the fatal breakdowns. The jockey boycott started January 27th when a Gill owned horse broke down after crossing the finish line and had to be euthanized. Afterward, the Penn National jockeys told management they were boycotting all future races that included a Gill horse.

Whenever a dispute erupts in horse racing, whether it be doping or not caring for the animals, there is always a ready explanation. No one ever says that I was doing whatever it took to win. Instead, it’s the surface. The jockey rode the horse too hard. It’s never the drive of the owner to increase his winnings and stud fees.

Good for the jockeys to take a stand. Unlike the horses they ride, they are the only ones who can.

ESPN's conflict of interest

2010-01-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

The worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, was not the network that aired Mark McGwire’s first interview. When Mark McGwire came clean (or as clean as he was willing to go) on television, he did so on the MLB Network with Bob Costas.

When Alex Rodriguez admitted to cheating, he was interviewed on ESPN by Peter Gammons. The interview and Gammons were mostly panned by critics since Gammons did not ask probing questions or follow up when necessary.

McGwire and his PR firm, the same firm that represents the reprehensible Bowl Championship Series, learned from A-Rod’s mistakes in admitting PED use. McGwire conducted a full court press with interviews to the AP, multiple newspapers, ESPN (via phone) and concluding with the television interview.

ESPN missed the boat on the steroid era. Their reporters never did any investigative reporting as to how these athletes were achieving these herculean results. Viewers were told countless times that these athletes are not cheating, rather it was an improved nutrition and workout program. The pundits always went back to the line of PEDs “don’t help you hit a fastball.”

No one ever doubted that. If I were to inject beef roids, I wouldn’t suddenly be able to launch moon shots in Yankee Stadium. If you believe that, I might need to confiscate your driver’s license. Where PEDs help baseball players is turning warning track power into home run power. Apparently, Mark McGwire didn’t get that memo by claiming he would have been able too hit all those home runs without the PEDs.

Did ESPN miss the story on purpose? It’s possible. After all, they are both a news gathering organization and partners with many sports when they produce and televise various events. Is it possible to do both and maintain one’s integrity?

It’s doubtful. ESPN’s fortunes were tied to the popularity of baseball. Why put a dark cloud on the sport by reporting that what the public was seeing was a sham? It would ultimately hurt ESPN financially if it was reported that were roids were rampant. Like the ad went, “chicks dig the long ball.” Apparently, everyone dug the long ball and there was no need to find out what caused the long ball.

Same song for Mark McGwire

2010-01-06T16:50:00.004-05:00

The baseball writers have spoken. Once again, Mark McGwire was not deemed worthy of enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

McGwire finished with 23.7% of the vote. A player needs 75% to enter the hall. Apparently, the writers are either waiting for McGwire, the recently appointed hitting coach for the Cardinals, to address the issue of his PED usage to change their minds or they are content with excluding him. The writers and I are still waiting for McGwire to address the elephant in the room.

What's interesting to note at looking at the official results, David Segui received one vote. Segui was a main character in the Mitchell Report since he was a client of Kirk Radomski and spread the "good word" of PEDs throughout baseball since he was on several squads. Segui did not hide his usage. He was direct and honest with investigators. That behavior, while wrong to cheat, he is at least trying to make amends. Apparently, only one voter thought that was commendable.

Would the Tour have Tiger's back if he tested positive?

2009-12-08T19:08:00.003-05:00

Doug Barron, a fringe PGA Tour golfer, is the only one to run afoul of the PGA Tour's drug testing program. Barron lost a motion that would have allowed him to compete in Qualifying School with the hopes of earning his PGA Tour card.

Barron had a reason for failing the drug test and had alerted the PGA Tour earlier about various medications his doctor had prescribed. The PGA Tour denied his therapeutic use exemption and told him to get off the drugs. By not following the Tour's advice earlier, Barron paid the ultimate price.

With only one golfer ensnared by the drug program, would the PGA Tour suspend Tiger Woods if he tested positive for a banned substance? Magic 8 ball says, "Not looking likely."

It's a classic example of where doing the right thing, financially cripples the organization. Could the PGA Tour afford to suspend Tiger for a year? The LPGA has lost events for the past two years. The statistics show that ratings and attendance are up when Tiger is playing. With that in mind, the Tour knows who butters their bread and would be hard pressed to do the right thing if a sample came back positive.

Who knows, maybe Tiger, like Jordan before him, will decide to pick up a new sport while at the peak of his career. Conspiracy theorists would have a field day.

Why A-rod will never be Sportsman of the Year

2009-12-02T14:19:00.000-05:00

Derek Jeter was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated earlier this week. That’s not all that surprising given Jeter being a class act. He’s the captain of his team, been with the same team since he started his career and comes through in the clutch.

The same cannot be said for his teammate, Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod admitted before the season that he used PED’s earlier in his career. After returning from an injury, A-Rod performed at a high level. It appeared that admitting his drug use, freed him from his performance anxiety he suffered from earlier in his Yankee tenure.

Jeter does things the right way while A-Rod is more concerned with how his behavior will be perceived by the media. During an All-Star Game, Jeter cheered on his teammates until the end of the game while A-Rod checked out early to host a party. Further proof that A-Rod will never be a Sportsman of the Year, but A-Rod thinks the media is out to get him.

Reports of jealousy between A-Rod and Jeter have been circulating for years. A-Rod must deal with the perception, real or imagined that for all his missteps, Jeter handled himself with class and dignity. There could have been an infomercial on when certain situations arise; this is how not to behave (A-Rod) contrasted with the appropriate behavior (Jeter).

Sports Illustrated should be commended for making the right choice in honoring Derek Jeter with the award. Meanwhile, it’s just another stab that will upset A-Rod. He might be the highest paid player in baseball, but he has a lot to learn from the captain of his team.

New York area loves their cheater

2009-10-10T13:42:00.000-04:00

Last night Alex Rodriguez delivered in the postseason for the New York Yankees, tying Game 2 of the American League Division Series with the Minnesota Twins in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run home run. The crowd at Yankee Stadium went nuts. The crowd at the Connecticut sports bar I saw the game also went nuts. Chants of “Let’s go Yankees!” ensued as A-Rod rounded the bases.

What differences several months makes and for that matter, a couple of years. Time really does heal all wounds. In February it was revealed that A-Rod used PEDs while with the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez confirmed this report. During his tenure as a Yankee in the postseason, he has not come through in the clutch. While he has won MVP awards and delivered the team to the postseason, he never truly delivered in the postseason until now.

Could his newfound production in the postseason be a result that he has “come clean” with the public and admitted that he cheated previously? If what he admitted was true, only using PEDs while with the Rangers, could he have doubted his ability to perform in the clutch without the benefit of PEDs?

What last night’s reaction proves, both at the stadium and the bar, is the public will tolerate cheaters…as long as they are our cheaters.

How many people are unknowingly using PEDs?

2009-09-24T12:08:00.002-04:00

This month, I suffered a number of setbacks. From a freakish running injury to a serious bout with pneumonia, it has not been a productive month for fall marathon training. As a result of these issues, the fall marathon is in serious jeopardy. Having a time goal for the race and missing weeks of training is leaning towards choosing a race later in the year.

The freakish injury is possibly for a later time. At first, I thought I was suffering a severe cold with major congestion in the lungs. Sleep it out over the weekend and I should be good to go. Like the ad says, not exactly.

Still experiencing problems breathing, racing heartbeat going to bed, wheezing cough I went to the doctor. I told him I thought I had pneumonia. Ran through my symptoms, he ran a few simple tests and said my diagnosis was spot on.

He prescribed amoxicillin and gave me an inhaler. Before telling me what it was, he showed me how to use it and excitedly encouraged me to take a pull. I did as I was told and after looking at the box I recognized the drug. I’m neither a pharmacist nor a doctor, but Symbicort is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. This drug falls under WADA’s Beta - 2 Agonists.
Was the doctor obligated to advise me of this beforehand? What if I requested an alternative that is not banned by WADA, could he have obliged or is their a relationship between the manufacturer of Symbicort and this doctor? Several doctors I visit seem to have only one drug sample or prescribe only one drug – why is that?

Athletes are famous for going to the “I never knowingly used PEDs” card. My experience lends some credence to that excuse, but with one major exception: elite athletes need to question everything given to them – period. Dara Torres uses Symbicort to treat her asthma.

If my doctor freely gave me a banned substance by WADA, how many other people are using banned substances unknowingly? It’s scary to speculate. ADD, Viagra and other asthma medications just to name a few, but unlike elite athletes, these average joes and janes are using those meds to treat their illness or enhance their life, not get an unfair edge against the competition.

The good old days of passing drug tests

2009-09-15T12:35:00.000-04:00

Stop the presses! According to the New York Post, Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor submitted a teammate’s urine sample when he failed his first drug test in 1987. Taylor disclosed this information on the YES network’s “Centerstage” program.

Is this revelation shocking? Absolutely not, Taylor has had repeated run ins with the law and displayed erratic behavior throughout the years attributing most of that behavior to drug use. He also explained to host Michael Kay that after he retired, he wanted to “do recreational drugs again.”

Mission accomplished LT. It would appear that LT didn’t just jump back into recreational drugs half ass. He pursued it like Joe Montana in the 4th quarter of the NFC Championship Game. While he didn’t admit to using PEDs, it’s amazing how the evolution of avoiding detection has transpired since the days of LT.

Back in LT’s day, someone else provided “clean” urine. ..or so that was the plan. Then it evolved to Whizzinators and once that was discovered as a way of passing drug tests, officials then had to witness athletes provide samples. Why the need for officials to witness a sample being provided? Athletes will do whatever it takes to get an edge: real or perceived. They have been doing so since the dawn of time.

The evolution will continue. The cheaters are always ahead of the enforcers. Eventually other cheaters will admit to how they were caught or evaded authorities, but while these athletes might eventually come clean, they still will have their moment in the sun when they achieved greatness through artificial means.

Pro wrestling takes another hit

2009-09-02T14:12:00.004-04:00

Another pro wrestler has been linked to painkillers. This time Rey Mysterio, real name Oscar Gutierrez , was brought down for not providing a valid prescription for painkillers, in violation of the WWE's Wellness Program.

Give World Wrestling Entertainment credit: they have a wellness program in place and enforce it. Their main competition Total Nonstop Action (TNA) does not. Even though the company's announcement of the suspension was only 26 words and did not specify how Gutierrez violated the program, putting one of their most popular stars on the sidelines for 30 days furthers the argument that there are no favorites under this policy.

The real test will be when the main character is caught red handed; will the company suspend the employee that brings in the most money for them?

Why Louisville should fire Rick Pitino

2009-08-13T16:20:00.000-04:00

Imagine a high school baseball player being instructed not to take PEDs by a player who took PEDs and made it to the big leagues. Would the high school athlete listen to coach’s words or follow his past actions?

The University of Louisville has a similar situation on their hands in how they deal with Rick Pitino who admitted to having sex with a woman six years ago in a restaurant who then allegedly attempted to extort $10 million dollars. His latest book, Rebound Rules: The Art of Success 2.0, might have been foreshadowing things to come in his personal life. Pitino has had a second career as an author, motivational speaker and preaching leadership skills to whoever would scratch him a check. Now that this development has come out, will his players and recruits and corporate followers, listen to him when he teaches them the art of success?

Pitino is paid millions of dollars to lead the transformation of kids into men. Can he do that now? Pitino will try to spin this as a “learn from my mistake” lesson. Unlike the evangelical leader caught with a male prostitute who claims to be swayed by Satan, Pitino can’t spin it like that. When you represent the university and arguably are the face of the University of Louisville, you can’t be caught up in those situations, ever. Blaming it on an “indiscretion” is not a valid excuse. Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was not allowed to slide based on his “indiscretion.” Also, unlike Pitino’s spinning, the University of Louisville president, James Ramsey, implied that Pitino was not entirely truthful in his dealings with the university. Ramsey said in a statement, “Several months ago, Coach Pitino informed me about the alleged extortion attempt. I’ve now been informed that there may be other details which, if true, I find surprising.”

Shouldn’t the university president expect the same from Coach Pitino as Pitino expect from his players, or is that asking too much?

Phelps loses. Is it the suits?

2009-07-29T16:26:00.000-04:00

Of course it's the suits. Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all-time and most famous person to rip it off a bong, came in second in the 200 meter freestyle yesterday at the World Championships in Rome. This was the first individual race that Phelps did not win in four years.

He lost to German Paul Biedermann who set a world record with 1 minute 42.00, shattering Phelps’s year-old world record of 1:42.96. At the Beijing Games, Biedermann finished fifth with a time of 1:46.
Biedermann said, “It was amazing to swim against Michael Phelps. I was there when he won his eighth gold medal. Just to live this moment and now I’m actually faster than him — I feel absolutely great about it.”

Don’t kid yourself Paul – you’re not actually faster than Michael Phelps, based on your more buoyant swimsuit, you were assisted in your victory over Phelps. What would happen if both swimmers competed in cotton boxers? Would Biedermann still be faster than Phelps?

In the first three days of competition, 63% of the races witnessed a world record, or 15 out of 24.

Phelps was unable to “level the playing the field” and use a similar swimsuit since he is sponsored by Speedo. Speedo’s swimsuits are not made entirely of polyurethane like Biedermann’s. FINA has banned these suits startining January 1, 2010, but is now unsure when the ban will take place. The lack of a definitive date has irked Phelps’ coach who has threatened removing him from international competition.

Initially, the goal was to have these swimsuits banned before the World Championships so the record book would not be skewed out of proportion. Unfortunately, with FINA’s lack of progress, they damaged the sport’s biggest stars credibility and now made these current world records that much more difficult to break for future swimmers. Have the decision makers at FINA have been drinking the Kool-Aid from Major League Baseball? If so, time to switch to a new beverage.

High-Tech Suits Are Banned

2009-07-25T07:44:00.005-04:00

In a move that did not surprise anyone, FINA, swimming’s governing body, has banned high-tech swimsuits. However, like most sound decisions, the ban will not start until 2010, allowing swimmers one last hurrah at this weekend’s World Championships in Rome.

When Speedo introduced the LZR Racer swimsuit seventeen months ago, more than 130 world records have fallen. Some swimmers supported the measure including the sports biggest star, Michael Phelps. FINA’s new proposal is that the suits be made of permeable materials and that there be limits to have much the suit covers one’s body.

Now the debate has begun as to whether these swimmers were cheating by using the enhanced swimsuits. One swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, said she would never take a drug so why should she be considered a cheater for swimming in LZR Racer. Mark Schubert, the general manager of the United States national team, suggests that the records from this era should be wiped out because they were achieved through artificial assistance.

This debate has many parallels to the steroid era in baseball. Athletes claiming that they would never knowingly cheat. However, as long as what they are doing is not against the rules, they will take whatever edge they can find. Previously, Italian freestyler Federica Pellegrini wore two swimsuits on her way to a gold medal in Beijing to make her more buoyant. Like baseball dealing with the steroid era, swimming will be debating how to deal with the swimsuit era and those who are unable to maintain their prior levels of accomplishments will be forced to admit that it was a result of the suits.

Karma at the All-Star Game

2009-07-16T23:20:00.000-04:00

This year's All-Star Game was actually exciting and watchable...a rare combination indeed. What I found most telling was how it ended with Miguel Tejada making the last out for the National League.

When Tejada first came to the plate, he crushed a fly ball that actually elicited an emotional response from Joe Buck, but alas, the power was not there and the ball landed in the outfielder's glove.

Miguel Tejada earlier this year was sentenced to one year of probation for misleading Congressional investigators during the 2005 steroid investigation. Tejada was also mentioned in the Mitchell Report being linked to two purchases of PEDs. When he came to his last at bat, Buck mentioned his AL MVP award in 2002 and was the MVP of the 2005 All-Star Game, yet failed to mention his ties with PEDs or his recent sentencing.

I thought it was another strikeout on the part of MLB to award a player with "All-Star" recognition who lied to investigators and has been linked to PEDs. Neither of the two biggest stars to be linked to PEDs this year, Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez, were selected by their respective managers to be a reserve on the team like Tejada.

Perhaps Tejada not coming through in the clutch and Buck failing to address the elephant in the room, still illustrates that baseball does not have the foresight to make smart business decisions to promote their game. Karma is real.

Power Outage in Minor League Baseball

2009-07-07T01:28:00.001-04:00

Recently, I attended a triple A minor league game in Portland, OR. The stadium was beautiful. The price ($9 day of, $8 in advance) was right. Yet, something was amiss and I'm not talking about the fact that a beer cost more than an advance ticket ($8.75).

As each batter came up, the statistics were downright dismal. Batting averages constantly below 300, only two batters out of both teams had double digit home runs with their All-Star Game a little more than a week away. These players are supposedly the future of their respective ball clubs and they are not lighting it up? What gives?

Stay tuned, this will require some more research.

Timing of the Donald Fehr announcement

2009-06-23T13:49:00.001-04:00

It was announced yesterday that the head of the baseball players' association, Donald Fehr, will be stepping down from the post no later than the end of March. His legacy and what that announcement means to the role of PEDs in baseball has already started to be debated.

The timing of the announcement is suspect. Normally, an announcement would take place at the end of the season. The next collective bargaining agreement is in 2011 so there will be plenty of time for his successor, Michael Weiner, to get acclimated with the process.

Most speculation about the timing of his resignation has to do with last week's leak of Sammy Sosa's positive test in 2003 to the survey test results. Those results were to be anonymous. However, all 104 positive test results from the 2003 survey tests were seized by the government. The union, under Fehr's leadership failed it's membership by not destroying the results. Is it possible more names will leaked? Will there be pressure for the other 102 names to be released rather than have a small trickle of information every couple of months?

The reason why the results were not destroyed was Fehr was trying to protect his membership. If he was able to find false positives amongst the 104, he could possibly lower the number of positive results to below the 5% threshold. Under the agreement reached between the union and baseball, if more than 5% tested positive in 2003, mandatory testing would be implemented with penalties for positives. Looking back, this all seems relatively straightforward and common sense, but the union argued that drug testing violated a player's right to privacy.

It's too early to tell if Fehr's resignation had anything to do with the recent Sosa leak, but it would immensely clear up the air if they were able to state for certain that the union has any knowledge where the leak is coming from. Time will tell.

DWM in NASCAR

2009-06-17T00:03:00.000-04:00

DWM – Driving while on meth? Reportedly that is what Jeremy Mayfield tested positive for and resulted in his suspension according to ESPN the Magazine.

Previously, Mayfield and NASCAR had two very different stories explaining the failed drug test. Mayfield stuck to his mixture of a prescription drug with over-the-counter allergy medication Claritin-D defense. NASCAR’s drug testing administrator rejected that explanation.

Reading between the lines, this story was not going to end with a fairy tale ending: prescription drugs combined with Claritin? How many possibilities are there that one would test positive for with that combination? However, Mayfield can salvage his reputation with NASCAR fans by owning it, making some amends and promising to be a better man. It’s a country song cliché, but those themes are universal and appealing to most people.

Denying and lying just make you look sleazy and any hopes of a future career in the sport have officially come to a screeching halt if Mayfield continues this course of action.

Baseball Fans Taking a Moral Stand?

2009-06-16T15:36:00.000-04:00

With the release of the fans’ current NL All Star standings yesterday, Manny Ramirez is slipping fast. He is now sixth. When these rankings were first released in late May, he was fourth. Only the top three vote getters will start the All Star Game.

Why the change of heart? Are MLB fans tired of players roiding out of their minds and cheating to get ahead? It’s possible, but highly unlikely. Some players including Jimmy Rollins and even Ramirez’s manager, Joe Torre, came out against Ramirez being an All-Star since he tested positive for a banned substance. The substance he tested positive for was a woman’s fertility drug, human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG. HCG is used by roiders to regulate their testosterone levels after coming off a steroid cycle.

Respective parties involved in this dispute will fight for their positions such as the Player’s Association will rightfully say that they have a collectively bargained agreement that allows Ramirez the right to participate in the game, but let’s use some common sense. Using banned substances and cheating the game whether intentional or not should not be rewarded with a trip to the All-Star Game. It’s that simple. The longer the fans vote and reward this behavior, the union fights for their right and MLB remains passive on this issue, the more likely fans will start to drift away and parents will look elsewhere for true role models to show their children right from wrong.

Player v. Blogger

2009-06-12T15:17:00.000-04:00

This week saw a new trend emerge in sports: a player responding to a blogger.

Earlier this week, Midwest Sports Fans blogger Jerod Morris, questioned how 37-year old Raul Ibanez was able to get off to such a hot start after flying under the radar for most of his career. At the time of Morris’ post, Ibanez had 19 HR, 54 RBI, 46 R and .329 BA through 55 games. In 2006, Ibanez had a career best 33 HR, with the Seattle Mariners.

Morris analyzed factors such as home ballparks, quality of pitching faced and the new lineup in Philadelphia. He then went on to “acknowledge the elephant in the room.” The elephant being that when an aging player comes out of nowhere to put up unusual numbers, doubts are raised…especially after all the repeated denials of players past and present later to be found out to have cheated.

Ibanez was not a fan of the insinuation, looking into the possibility of taking legal action. Taking a page from the roider’s handbook, he came out firing saying, "I'll give back every dime I've ever made.”

I have endorsed that idea in the past. Contracts need to be tied to the athletes behaving ethically. If you are caught using you PED’s you would need to return all monies earned in your current contract. These guys are still role models, right? If you’re cheating, you shouldn’t be rewarded. A change the incentives will lead to a change in behavior.

As faith should have it, Ibanez hit a 3 run home run in the 10th inning to beat the Mets last night. It’s his 21st of the season, one behind MLB leader Adrian Gonzalez with 22.

Another Call for Manny to Sit Out the All-Star Game

2009-06-09T15:26:00.007-04:00

Bill Rhoden of The New York Times is calling for MLB and the players union (MLBPA) to change the rules of the All Star Game in light of Manny Ramirez’s 50 game suspension of using a banned substance. Sentiments that were first echoed here at Beef Roids 9 days earlier.

Rhoden takes his ban one step further to include any postseason award. Ramirez’s manager, Joe Torre, has publicly said Ramirez should not be allowed to play in the game even though he is entitled to play based on the current collective bargaining agreement between baseball and the players union. Other current players feel strongly that it sends the wrong message. Jimmy Rollins said it best: “If you get caught in the first half of the season, no matter who you are, what you mean to the game, you shouldn’t be an All-Star. It shouldn’t really be a question. Even if he’s leading in the voting or is second, he’s basically taking a spot for somebody else who is more deserving.”

It should be noted that other sports have similar rules preventing athletes who test positive for banned substances from participating in postseason awards or all-star type events.

Rhoden was also able to speak with the executive director of the MLBPA, Donald Fehr, to get his opinion on the topic. “We have an agreement. This situation was considered during the time the agreement was negotiated. If the suspension takes place during the time the All-Star Game is played, the player is not eligible. If it’s over, and he has completed the penalty, then he’s like any other player.”

An amendment to the current contract will only be added at the time of the next agreement. I’m all for two parties collectively bargaining an agreement. What I’m against is idiotic behavior and baseball is once again going down that path. What both sides fail to realize that clinging to the “agreement” argument is that it turns off fans. There was an “agreement” collectively bargained for that allowed baseball to dope and roid out of their minds (even though it was illegal to have without a prescription) until Congress intervened and forced both sides to reopen the “agreement.”

Commissioner Selig and Donald Fehr: Do the right thing and use some common sense before you alienate even more fans.

The Next Radomski?

2009-06-07T12:37:00.003-04:00

Late last month, a central Florida man was arrested with thousands of steroid pills and other PED's in his home. Upon his arrest, he was eager to speak to the police.

Richard Thomas said he sold PED's to professional football, hockey and baseball players before he was arrested last month. He specifically mentioned the teams Washington Capitals of the NHL and the Washington Nationals of MLB. Authorities do not have any information to verify these claims.

Thomas said, "You name the sport, and I've sold steroids to athletes who play it."

What's interesting about these allegations involving the Capitals is that the team passed three rounds of drug tests during the past two seasons. Either the drug dealer Thomas is lying or the drug testing program in the NHL needs a major overhaul. Should be interesting to see how this development plays out.

Just when one thinks the issue of PED's in professional sports hits a lull, a major story breaks alleging teams from multiple professional leagues. Now, it's a matter of time to see who is lying: arrested drug dealer or members of the alleged teams.

Dara Torres Tested for PED's

2009-06-04T14:44:00.005-04:00

According to Dara Torres' Twitter page, she was subjected to an unannounced drug test by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) yesterday. In her words, “Nothing like getn ready 2 jump in the pool and USADA (drug testing) shows up! Tried to hold it all practice, got 3/4 of the way!!”

At least we know USADA is doing their job and are apparently making unannounced visits to athletes out of competition. If Torres is still taking her medications, the test will come back positive, but she has a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for asthma, so it’s all good. Athletes without the TUE would come up positive and be subject the sport’s governing body regarding violation of their doping rules.

For Torres to be all bubbly about testing seems a bit insincere. An examination of the facts reveals that she was diagnosed with asthma a little over two years ago. She spends over $100,000 on support for her training and supervision of her child, benefits that younger swimmers do not have. Again, it begs the question, someone with the financial wherewithal to see the best doctors and trainers being diagnosed with asthma at 39 seems strange. After being the recipient of the TUE, she then goes on to post times that were faster than when she swam 20 years ago. We have learned that some of the explanation comes from changes in swimsuit design, but using drugs that would have a teammate suspended does not seem that noble. If she was experiencing significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance, how come this issue was not discovered at an earlier time?

While it’s a great story that she was able to come back and break records, a closer look reveals some questionable actions taken on her part to achieve those results.

Fallout from Danica Patrick

2009-06-02T10:38:00.005-04:00

Danica Patrick's comments to Dan Patrick regarding PED's have drawn some heat.

Now Danica says she was "joking" when she said that using PED's would only be cheating if caught. She also said she would take an undetectable PED if it would allow her to win the Indy 500.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) wasn't buying it calling her comments "totally irresponsible." USADA CEO Travis Tygart said, "In one interview, she undercut what millions of parents try their best to teach their kids everyday in this country, that winners never cheat and cheaters never win."

Danica Patrick said in an interview with USA Today, "It was a bad joke. There is a lot of sensitivity in our culture about (performance-enhancing drugs). With all the baseball stuff, I've followed it and this is a real problem. It's a shame kids think they have to do this to get ahead. It's very dangerous."

The USADA reaction is a typical knee jerk one. However, we can't have it both ways; we're disappointed when the athletes let us in like Danica did and then we're disappointed when players don't own it like Mark McGwire. If anything, the USADA should use this as a learning opportunity and address the issue at hand: she admitted she would cheat if she knew she wouldn't be caught. Therefore, improve testing and impose stricter penalties such as a one and done policy. If the penalties are so great, the chances of people taking the risks to cheat will diminish substantially.

Danica Patrick Would Use a PED

2009-05-30T17:31:00.003-04:00

In a revealing interview with Dan Patrick of Sports Illustrated, Danica Patrick revealed the inner workings of a competitive athlete when it comes to the temptation of using PED's and why they chose to use.

From the interview:

Dan: If you could take a performance-enhancing drug and not get caught, would you do it if it allowed you to win Indy?
Danica: Well, then it's not cheating, is it? If nobody finds out?
Dan: So you would do it?
Danica: Yeah, it would be like finding a gray area. In motorsports we work in the gray areas a lot. You're trying to find where the holes are in the rule
book.

Apparently many athletes were and still are "trying to find where the holes are in the rule book." Her personal morals and ethics are off the charts if she does not consider using PED's cheating, as long as no one finds out. It's easy to see how this is the mindset of the modern athlete, always looking for an edge anyway possible. These athletes always have a justification for their actions when questioned. After all, that's how a majority of competitive athletes got to where they are today, doing whatever it took to get to the top.

Thank you Danica for allowing us into the mindset of the modern athlete and the thought process of deciding whether or not to cheat.

Heyman's Vote on Roiders

2009-05-29T08:48:00.010-04:00

Jon Heyman, Hall of Fame (HOF) voter and columnist for SI.com, recently wrote how he would vote for the HOF for several current and former MLB'ers suspected of roiding up and cheating the game.

In his article, he stresses how difficult voting for the HOF is. Do voters simply go by the statistics of a player or by the impact that player had on the team? If one was to go by statistics alone, how does one judge the current crop of players who played during the steroid era? Heyman writes, "These calls won't only be about numbers. There are value judgments to be made about cheating, and possibly about how much the cheating helped particular players."

Heyman admits that some voters will simply eliminate all the cheaters from their ballots while others will take it on a case by case basis. He is the first writer that I have encountered to admit his own culpability in being slow to uncover the widespread use of PED's in baseball. A majority of writers need to own this. It's part of the inherent conflict of interest in being a sportswriter. You need to be "friendly" and close to the players and organizations and do not violate that trust by exposing the sport you cover or writing about it in a negative light. Heyman hypothesizes that some writers might feel tempted to block a majority of these players from the HOF since the writers were slow to cover the truth about their PED use. Voting them into the HOF would be continuing the trend of looking the other way, wink-wink, and implicitly endorsing cheating by using these substances.

Now to analyze Heyman's ballot:

Mark McGwire: Didn't vote for him because of suspected PED use led to HOF numbers.
Barry Bonds: Yes, he believes he was a HOF'er before he took any PED's.
Roger Clemens: Yes, like Bonds, he was a HOF'er before he roided up.
Sammy Sosa: No, productivity and expanded size suggest PED use.
Rafael Palmeiro: No, failed drug test (Stanozolol) after protesting innocence before Congress.
Gary Sheffield: No, ties to BALCO and admitting to intentionally throwing balls away hurt.
Mike Piazza: Yes, numbers wise he's there, but increasing suspicions raise some doubts, but Heyman needs more proof.
Ivan Rodriguez: Yes, never been caught even though he shrunk dramatically.
A-Rod: Yes, Heyman needs more proof of add'l doping even though admitted to PED use.
Manny Ramirez: Yes, he was great since the start and never got "big"

Interesting takes on these players by Heyman. In some instances he needs more proof (Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez and A-Rod) while others his visual proof was enough (Sammy Sosa). Yet, visual proof of a shrinking Ivan Rodriguez was not enough for him to pass on voting him in the HOF. Of the three players (Palmerio, Ramirez and A-Rod) that failed a drug test in MLB testing, he has two going to the Hall of Fame (any coincidence that both are current players, possibly his reasoning is self-motivated by generating goodwill down the road when he needs a story).

Unfortunately, the rules for election to the HOF do not specify "character" attributes. Aren't you supposed to be rewarded for doing the right thing and not cheating? Is that the proper message you want displayed in Cooperstown?

It's up to the baseball writers to decide.

Potential All Star Error

2009-05-28T09:12:00.003-04:00

MLB appears headed to make a colossal error in judgment. The NL All Star ballot standings were released earlier this week and Manny Ramirez is fourth. The possibility of Manny Ramirez starting the All Star Game is deplorable.

Only in Major League Baseball can a player serving a 50 game suspension for using a banned substance and missing more than half of the regular season games before the All Star Game be rewarded and deemed an All-Star. The starters are voted by the fans, so it appears that the fans do not care if the athletes roid out of their minds. What an excellent message to convey to all the Little Leaguers out there.

What an awful, misguided message and one only MLB could pull off with such aplomb. Here's a simple solution: if a player is caught using a banned substance, he cannot participate in All Star related activities for the next twelve months. Again, use of banned substances should not be rewarded at all. Sending these current mixed messages to the public will shift the onus to parents having to explain why a superstar has to use banned substances in the first place and then why his league considers that type of behavior All Star caliber.

Congratulations MLB, you've done it once again.

Kentucky DE Fails Test, College Career Over

2009-05-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

Jeremy Jarmon, who has the third most sacks in Kentucky history, will not be allowed to add to that total following a positive test for a banned substance. The defensive end was tested in February and appealed the positive test result; the NCAA denied his appeal.

Jarmon claimed he inadvertently took a banned substance found in a dietary supplement bought at a nutrition store. After taking the supplement for 15 days, he inquired with the training staff and they advised him to cease taking it.

Jarmon did not identify the substance or take any questions during a press conference announcing the results. He read from a prepared statement that said he was unaware that the supplement contained the banned substance and that he does not need to cheat to get ahead.

The university was very supportive of Jarmon, filing an appeal on his behalf with the Athletic Director, Mitch Barnhart, hoping that the NCAA would make an exception in Jarmon’s case due to “extenuating circumstances.” Barnhart said, “The NCAA rules are the rules that we all live by and they're consistent, based on precedent and we've got to honor this. It may not always feel right, but there is precedent and it is consistent."

Every time one of these stories breaks, there’s always someone else to blame: a teammate, the store clerk, the coaching staff or the training staff. Enough is enough. Take responsibility for yourself. You are on the cusp of entering the big time: the NFL and earning some serious scratch. Make it an unofficial elective to know what you can and cannot put it your body. If you are not sure, ASK. As that advertising campaign said, there’s sure and then there’s not exactly. The risks are too great to be anything other than sure.

An Ethicist’s take on Manny Ramirez

2009-05-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

An interesting piece popped up in the news regarding right and wrong and the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. The article came from Randy Cohen’s piece in The New York Times Moral of the Story column, The Ethicist’s take on the news, where he asks the question whether we are right to “condemn such players (as a positive Manny Ramirez) as unethical?”

Cohen writes that the boost that athletes receive from PED’s is significant, but limited. He cites the change in the single season home run record from Babe Ruth’s 60 (Roger Maris actually had the record at 61 before Mark McGwire broke it with 70 prior to Bonds) to Barry Bonds’ 73 and specifically mentions that the record didn’t jump to 500. 60 to 73 is a 22% increase; 60 to 500 would be a 733% increase. Roger Maris surpassed Ruth's home run record by one home run, not thirteen. Let’s keep this argument in reality.

Cohen gives many of the same arguments that baseball elders gave in explaining how aging sluggers were hitting more home runs: modern training programs, better nutrition, smaller ballparks. Even though steroids were prohibited from baseball in the early 90’s, there was no mandatory testing in place. To further his change in technology and sports, Cohen cites cycling illustrating how the bikes have transformed from being made out of the heavier steel to carbon fiber. The sport of cycling has one of the biggest doping cultures. Another example Cohen cites is Tiger Woods’ Lasik surgery to improve his vision to 20/15, better than normal. In both examples, bike makeups and eye surgery, there is nothing in the rules of the respective sport that says a bike needs to be made of a certain material or your vision cannot be altered. Hence, these athletes are not doing anything wrong.

Cohen suggests that rather than increase penalties for bad decisions, cast the image as one of workplace safety. “Baseball authorities must prohibit actions that are unduly dangerous, whether taking drugs or playing after a concussion, or that mar the beauty of the game, not because such things are unethical but because they are unwise.” Why is taking drugs unwise for ballplayers? Using PED’s in the first place is what led these players to get to the big show, get the big money contracts and get that extension. The only remedy that will make it unwise to cheat and use PED’s is to implement an immediate lifetime ban from the sport and a requirement that the cheat would need to return all monies earned. Since the “honor code” didn’t work too well before, when the player’s money and right to earn a living are on the line, they will learn quickly how unwise it is to take the spike and will call MLB to confirm that the supplement that they picked up from GNC is legit.

NASCAR Drug Suspension Fallout

2009-05-22T08:29:00.002-04:00

The Jeremy Mayfield v. NASCAR battle continues.

Mayfield was suspended May 9th for failing a random drug test. Neither NASCAR nor Mayfield’s attorney, Bill Diehl, identified the substance. Diehl hinted that legal action might follow regarding the validity of the drug tests.

Mayfield and NASCAR have two different explanations for the positive test which NASCAR considers a “serious violation” of their substance abuse policy which was categorized as a performance enhancer or a recreational drug. A person familiar with the results said Mayfield did not test positive for performance enhancer.

Mayfield claims the positive test stems from a mixture of a prescription drug with over-the-counter allergy medication Claritin-D. Dr. David Black, administrator of NASCAR's drug testing program and CEO of Aegis Sciences Corp., has repeatedly rejected that explanation.

Mayfield’s best course of action is to own it and move on. Make amends, get the proper help he needs and then get back out on the track. If anything, a stint in drug rehab would make him more appealing to NASCAR fans that his current persona. The longer everyone lets this substance remain a mystery, the more people speculate, further harming Mayfield’s reputation.

It’s not like the driver had a lot going for him recently. Mayfield, who turns 40 next week, has been out of steady work since his 2006 firing from Evernham Motorsports and self financed the creation of Mayfield Motorsports this season. This latest development could spell the end of Mayfield Motorsports.

Radomski Suspected Piazza Roided

2009-05-21T13:34:00.000-04:00

Kirk Radomski does not like Mike Piazza.

That said, according to his book, Bases Loaded, Radomski was asked by Mitchell investigators what he knew about Piazza. Radomski has no first hand information whether Piazza used roids, HGH or other PED's. Radomski writes that "Piazza is one guy I would have been happy to give up."

Radomski's opinion in analyzing Piazza's body visually was that he looked like someone who was roiding. Again, he has no firsthand knoeledge, just stating his opinion. After the fallout from Piazza's return to New York to open Citi Field and relectuance to address the media, Radomski's opinion could very well be spot on.

FINA Bans Some Swimsuits

2009-05-20T09:14:00.006-04:00

In the debate as to whether swimsuits are performance enhancing, a decision has been made and the answer is...yes.

FINA, the international swimming federation, has moved to reject 146 types of the high-tech suits. 136 of the suits have been offered the option of modifications within 30 days. This timeline would accommodate the world swimming championships in Rome that begin July 19th.

Grant Stoelwinder, a leading swim coach from Australia, said many swimmers were fooling themselves thinking their abilities were improving when it was due to the technology of the suits. He said minor benefits were achieved through added buoyancy, reduced surface drag or compressing a swimmer’s body, into a streamlined and efficient position.

One company that came out relatively unscathed from this development was Speedo and their top swimmer, Michael Phelps who wears one of their LZR swimsuits. Fifteen versions of the LZR line were approved by FINA.

Aaron Peirsol beat Phelps in the 100 meter backstroke this past Saturday, but was wearing a suit that has now been banned by FINA. We'll see who performs better when the two meet next on a level playing field.

Bodybuilders Flee Testers Prompting Event Cancellation

2009-05-19T11:18:00.004-04:00

Bodybuilding did it again.

With the Belgian bodybuilding championships taking place in Netherlands this year due to several prior doping busts in Belgium, the bodybuilders thought they were safe. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Doping official Hans Cooman and two other officials obtained the proper paperwork to test in the Netherlands. When they identified themselves all 20 bodybuilders left the event rather than submit to doping tests.

Last year there were 22 failures out of 29 tests, a 75% failure rate. Failures were for either steroids or refusing to take a test.

The strangest thing about this story is not that all competitors fled the scene once doping officials arrived, but that there were a few hundred fans that were going to watch the competition. Fans watch bodybuilding competitions...that's not at all weird.

It's one thing that a body builder's family and friends will attend, but people without a connection attending under their own free will, that's just not right. Watching oiled up men in banana hammocks and women in bikinis who could take out a DII football team is not appealing to me...and you want me to pay to see this freak show? No word on whether those in attendance got refunds.

Oxymoron Alert: Cyclists Protest Over Safety

2009-05-18T10:56:00.005-04:00

File under: Are you freaking kidding me (AYFKM)?

After Pedro Horrillo suffered near fatal injuries from crashing into a ravine during stage 8 in the Giro d’Italia, the cyclists still competing were understandably on edge. When the cyclists saw the conditions for the 9th stage, they decided to not race at full speed and then most quit entirely when race leader, Danilo Di Luca, with Lance Amstrong by his side, addressed the crowd as to why they were not racing that stage due to safety concerns. All riders were given the same time for the stage per an agreement reached between race officials even though some riders went on to finish the 9th stage in a move that angered some of the protesting cyclists.

Di Luca said, "We’re sorry, but the course is too dangerous. We don’t want to risk our health. The circuit is not safe enough. We hope the fans understand.”

Apparently some of the fans didn't understand, prompting racer Michael Rogers to respond to the criticism on his Twitter page with the following post:

"Maybe on TV it didn’t look dangerous but believe me, IT WAS! No one wants to see a repeat of yesterday’s disaster with Horrillo. Funny that everyone is blaming the riders for our protest today. No one mentions the parked cars on the circuit, the oncoming traffic.”

I can't believe the gall of these cyclists. They have a conscience...now? They now "don't want to risk their health?" This is one big failed marketing stunt because after all the blood doping and testosterone injecting cyclists out there, are now concerned about their own health and safety is laughable. These guys are willing to take the spike to get on Tour and in the most elite races, but then are going to invoke moral standards on what is considered safe? Every year, there is some doping scandal that rocks the sport, so where is the unity in concern over risking their health then?

The Roid Question Not Asked

2009-05-16T19:27:00.003-04:00

In Kirk Radomski's book, Bases Loaded, Radomski breaks down the typical list of questions that potential customers would ask regarding roids and HGH such as:

How frequently should I be taking this stuff?
Is there anything I can do that would help more?
How much weight am I going to put on?
When I come off am I going to lose everything?

The question that no one asked Radomiski during his time supplying PED's to athletes was, "Is it safe?" None of these athletes cared about their health, they just wanted results and PED's to help them either get to the show or get that one last contract that would set them up for life...long term health be damned.

When you've spent your entire life playing ball, you only know one thing...that's playing ball. For some players, they did whatever it took to make the show or stay on the field. Whether it was right or wrong, is something only they can answer.

Joe Torre: Baseball Man Until the End

2009-05-14T13:04:00.000-04:00

Joe Torre is in the middle of another steroid blowup. This time involving his star player in Los Angeles, Manny Ramirez, who was suspended for 50 games last week. Steroids and a Torre press conference aren't new, since he was by Jason Giambi's side during Giambi's New York PED "apology." As before, Torre knows nothing of roids in baseball. Odd, he seems to be the only one who thinks that way. The incredible and truly unbelievable coincidence is that Torre never suspected that anyone was using roids on any of his teams, even though 8 members of his 2000 World Series Yankee team were named in the Mitchell Report.

In numerous appearances promoting his book that he "co-wrote" with Tom Verducci, The Yankee Years, Torre claimed he didn't know that any of his Yankee players were roiding out of their minds. However, David Cone, in Torre's book said that most players knew that some players were using PED's, especially the ones working with trainer Brian McNamee. That's an odd discrepancy and one a reader would like addressed, but it never happened.

Further making Torre's naiveté on this issue the more puzzling is the fact that he was a former player. He earned the MVP award at the age of 30 and then saw his statistics take a sharp decline. How could some of the players he manged get better as they aged (Ramirez and Roger Clemens) while he did not? His career stats are below:

In his latest roid episode, in a Sports Illustrated article Torre said, "There's a human being (Ramirez) there I'm concerned about." Are you kidding me? Torre concerned about a human being? Where was the concern for his players who were roiding out of their minds back in the day? How about taking a stand and telling his players to stop using? Reminding his players that PED's are harmful to your bodies long term.

The reason Torre never asked questions or took a stand looking out for the "human beings" in his clubhouse is because he likes baseball. He likes managing. He wants to continue making millions of dollars (reportedly his deal with the Dodgers was $13 million for three years). If he were to question his players, make them stop using PED's, his team would lose games, potentially costing Joe Torre his job and millions of dollars.

A baseball man through and through...a roll model for the kids, that's a different question.

Clemens Comes Out Throwing Heat in Response to Book

2009-05-12T12:24:00.004-04:00

Another Roger Clemens book hits the shelves today, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime, by The New York Daily News investigative team of Teri Thompson, Michael O'Keeffe, Nathaniel Vinton and Christian Red and Clemens was ready for it.

He made his first public comments since his interview on “60 Minutes” today on the “Mike and Mike” ESPN radio show. He decided to speak out since he “and Deb” were heading out of the country later this week and wanted to address these latest allegations rather than appear that he fled the country. During the interview, Clemens maintained his position that he never took PED’s, that friend Andy Pettite “misremembered” their conversation and he does not know why Brian McNamme would tell the truth about Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch, but lie about him.

Clemens is a pro’s pro, referring to each host by their nickname: Greenie and Golie (rather than Golic). When asked about DNA evidence, Clemens said he had provided a sample to investigators but the McNamee syringes would not link him to PED’s. Clemens said, "It's impossible because he's never given me any."

He maintained his innocence and said that he has been outspoken in his crusade against PED’s when he speaks to kids and other players. Clemens was working with new advisers on how to get his message out to the public. The flaw of this appearance came when he said it would be "suicidal" for him to use PED's because of the family history of heart conditions, specifically mentioning his brother and step father. How his step father's genetic makeup would impact him is tragically laughable. Yet, this appearance went over better than his appearance on Capitol Hill, but what Mike & Mike failed to ask him was how did his performance increase, specifically gain mph in his fastball as he aged? This does not happen and is not natural. Once testing was put in place, the days of the productive aging slugger and pitcher seem to be fading fast.

The NBA & PED's

2009-05-11T11:19:00.006-04:00

One sport that is under the radar regarding PED's is pro basketball. Most of the NBA drug issues relate to marijuana and are shrugged off by most of the media. The most serious and recent drug offense occurred several years ago and involved a player who is currently playing in the postseason. The charismatic Chris "Birdman" Andersen of the Denver Nuggets served a two-year ban for violating the league's anti-drug policy, using a "drug of abuse." Marijuana does not fall under this category.

In Kirk Radomski's book about how he became the central figure in the Mitchell Report, Bases Loaded, he writes that he supplied PED's to a NBA player for several years. The player told Radomski that other players were using as well. Specifically, he provided anabolic steroids. He does not name the player.

I'm surprised Radomski supplied anabolic steroids rather than HGH. After learning about all the benefits of HGH, I'm shocked more NBA players aren't using it to recover from injuries. After all, that was the MLB player's association repeated line when all the names came regarding the Mitchell Report: "I only used HGH and it was only to help my teammates. I used it to recover from an injury and get back on the field quicker." It's a great line, sounds noble, but if it was a legit form of recovery, it wouldn't be banned by the World Anti-Doping Authority. It's still looking to get an edge that other competitors don't have.

Since there's no test, who is to say that everyone or most injured NBA players aren't using HGH? In baseball, it's safe to assume that players are still using and will continue to use HGH until there is a test or a stiffer penalties, but that will be the day.

The Manny Ramírez Fallout

2009-05-08T16:19:00.001-04:00

Yesterday it was announced that Manny Ramírez failed a drug test and was suspended 50 games by MLB. How this information trickled out was truly amazing.

It was first reported that he was suspended for violating the drug policy, but it wasn't a steroid. Ramírez issued a statement where he placed the blame on his doctor where he prescribed a medication that was banned per the drug policy. Several hours later, it was revealed to be a sexual enhancement medication. Only later, the drug was revealed to be a woman's fertility medication, human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG. The details of the drug were provided anonymously to The Boston Globe, yet there seems to be no controversy regarding the Globe's use of anonymous sources in this case opposite the backlash Selena Roberts received in her latest book.

HCG is a drug that roid heads sometimes ingest to regulate their natural testosterone levels after coming off a roid cycle. This was not a positive development for Manny Ramírez. Making matters worse, Ramírez rather than owning the transgression and explaining himself went into hiding leaving manager Joe Torre to address the media. Torre is familiar with this type of press conference since he had a similar one in New York with Jason Giambi.

Per The Boston Globe, Ramírez failed a drug test twice before MLB took action. One would think that any failed test would result in an immediate 50 game suspension. Since he failed two tests, shouldn't that count as two failed tests and be suspended for 100 games? Was he contacted after the first failed test? There are many questions after reading this article.

The fallout isn't confined the West Coast. Boston, Ramírez's former team, has remained quiet on the latest developments. It's interesting to look at some statistics of Ramírez and Boston teammate David Ortiz to see how their performance has progressed over the years.

Below are Manny Ramírez's career statistics through last year. Interesting to note is the number of AB's per HR. Once he was traded to the Dodgers last year and playing for a contract, he averaged a HR every 11.0 AB's, his best pace ever, at the age of 36. The only other time he averaged a HR less than every 12 AB's was in 1999 and 2000 when he was 27 - 28 with the Clevland Indians. His power numbers surged in 1998; the same year that McGwire and Sosa were chasing the home run record. Could doping suspicions be one reason why not many teams were seriously considering offering Ramirez a contract?

Here are David Ortiz's career statistics. Looking at the same metric, number of AB's per HR, it is evident that his power only really emerged once he joined forces with Manny Ramirez in Boston in 2003. Prior to joining the Red Sox, he never hit more than 20 HR's and his best average number of AB's per HR was 16.8. After joining Manny and the Red Sox, Big Pappi became Big Pappi in 2006 when he hit 54 HR's and averaged a HR every 10.3 AB's that season. After the 2005 season, he signed an extension with the team. His production has started to diminish from that 2006 season.

Manny being Manny has left bodies in his wake as others are left to answer questions for how we find ourselves in this position. The vague answers will not satisfy anybody.

Continued Vindication for Jose Canseco

2009-05-07T14:00:00.004-04:00

New York Times best selling author Jose Canseco's second effort, Vindicated, didn't have the same impact as his first, but id did offer some additional insight into the world of PED's in baseball.

Today's big story that Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance and will serve a 50 game suspension starting today further leads credence to Canseco's claims. I'm waiting on additional information before commenting on the Manny situation. Other teams are already looking to take advantage of this development. Per Barry Zito's twitter page: "Manny's gone for 50 games. time for the Giants to capitalize."

In Vindicated, Canseco explains why players turned to PED's during a speech he gave at the University of Florida.

"Why then do athletes choose to expose themselves to the risks and
uncertainties? I wish the answer was simple. In most cases the
answer is surprisingly not for the fame and the money. While some may
take them hoping to get an advantage, the plain answer is that most do it
just to survive their sport."

That explanation is summed up later when Canseco describes the options that some players felt: roid up and have a job or you can be clean and toil around in the minors. What would you do in that position?

In describing his own personal use with PED's, Canseco writes, "I had been taught to strive for greatness, and I certainly did, but maybe wanting to be the best, at any cost, wasn't the smartest approach. That phrase is what kills you: at any cost. You have to ask yourself if the price is going to be too high."

Canseco eventually comes to some type of grips with his past decisions admitting that roiding up was a shortcut, but he states that he had to work just as hard to develop his body and still make contact with the ball. He also mentions that roids led to a "me focus" rather than team focus. Some players were more concerned about getting on Sportscenter then on advancing the runner or helping the team win the game.

I don't really buy the argument that Canseco took a shortcut, but wasn't "cheating" since others were doing it. Also, the notion that a player still needs to hit the ball is true, but if you're roided out of your mind, you have an unfair advantage over a clean player. Canseco should be applauded for coming forward and shedding light to baseball's dark secret and not be treated as the pariah he is often portrayed as.

Why All the Hate for Selena Roberts?

2009-05-05T11:28:00.006-04:00

With yesterday’s release of Selena Roberts’ book on Alex Rodriguez, "A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez", the reaction has been fierce and for the most part, one-sided: backlash towards Roberts from the media and others in baseball.

New York Yankee manager Joe Girardi questioned why the book was even written in the first place this past Sunday. Girardi said, “From the excerpts I have read, I have heard that there are other negative things about his lifestyle. I’m a firm believer that what we do off the field is our personal life.”

Monday morning in a promo for the book, Roberts appeared on the Today show and was interviewed by Matt Lauer. Rather than discuss the book’s findings, Lauer attacked Roberts for her reliance on anonymous sources. During the Mitchell investigation into PED’s in baseball only one active player cooperated with the investigation. Given this history and that there really is a “code” in the locker room, it’s not at all surprising that there are many anonymous sources in the book. When she uncovers information and goes to verify that information, people respect and understand the “code” and do not want to “rat” out a former teammate so they go off the record.
Let's be honest with the uproar over Selena Roberts book. It's because it's written by an outsider, a woman and someone who is not a favored reporter by the sport. Would Tom Verducci be getting roasted like Selena Roberts? No. Would Jayson Stark or Buster Olney get any heat - no because they wouldn’t write an investigative book like this and violate the "code." Those two ESPN “personalities” sat by and said all the performances we saw during the roid era were natural. Why? One reason is that they work for an outlet that televises the sport and can't cause any controversy that would possibly hurt their employer's ratings.

So now the sport and the hard liners are doing what they do best: unifying a front and supporting a liar and a cheater while questioning a reporter and her methods. Kill the messenger and ignore the message.

Eventually the tide will turn. Fans will wake up and realize that a fraud and a liar is the highest earner in the sport and will stop going to the games, buying jerseys and ultimately, the owners will have no choice but to lower wages, hurting all the players who remained silent during this era.

Long Shot Wins Derby - Too Good to Be True?

2009-05-03T13:25:00.006-04:00

50 to 1 long shot, Mine That Bird pulled off a giant upset yesterday at Churchill Downs in the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby.

Costing $9,500 and coming from dead last to win the race by 6 and 3/4 lengths is an incredible story....possibly an unbelievable one. When pre race favorite, I Want Revenge, trained by now suspended Jeff Mullins, pulled out of the race earlier in the day, Friesan Fire then became the favorite. However, that horse would finish second to last. How could the so-called experts be so wrong?

Earlier in the week, The New York Times inquired with the 20 owners what medications, if any, their horses were using. Only three owners responded. One reason given for not sharing their veterinary records was to protect the horse's privacy. 15% of the owners responded - this after a year in which the curtain was removed from the general public's eyes with the secrets of horse racing: steroids, legal, yet morally questionable, injections and a Congressional hearing. After all that, one would expect more transparency. Apparently, the owners in this year's Derby did not get that memo.

Of course the owners of Mine That Bird did not disclose any information to the NYT. Is this story too good to be true or the fairy tale ending the sport needed to get over the death of Eight Belles?

A-Rod Visual Evidence: Man Boobs

2009-05-01T11:15:00.000-04:00

According to The New York Daily News, the visual evidence that led Yankee teammates to suspect A-Rod was still using PED's were his large breasts, aka "man boobs". Males develop large breasts as a result of steroid use when the body increases production of female hormones to offset the increase in testosterone. This medical condition is called gynecomastia.

A-Rod was not the only Yankee great who suffered from the condition. Roger Clemens did also. The Daily News investigative team writing a book on Clemens, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime, write that Clemens must have been embarrassed by his condition based on his grooming patterns.

Roger Clemens had man boobs, and he must have been embarrassed because he was often the first Yankee out of the shower and the first to get dressed after the game.

The article points to A-Rod's visual evidence when he went to the park as the shirtless park tanner that the general public picked up on. If this condition is prevalent in the locker room than perhaps George Costanza's father was on to something when he was designing the "bro" and the "manissiere".

More A-Rod Roid Allegations

2009-04-30T08:33:00.000-04:00

According to The New York Daily News, Selena Roberts’ upcoming book, A-Rod, will add to the speculation surrounding Alex Rodriguez and his suspected use of PED’s. Besides being characterized as a needy personality and having his ego stroked constantly, characterizations that were confirmed in Joe Torre’s book, The Yankee Years, Roberts reports that A-Rod was using back in high school and with the Yankees. Previously, A-Rod has admitted to using PED’s, but only prior to joining the Yankees.

The high school allegation comes from a former teammate. The teammate also said that the coach knew A-Rod was using. The coach denied the allegation. So much for the “baseball code:” what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room. This former teammate might have an ax to grind or might simply be jealous…or he could be telling the truth. We’ll need to wait until the book comes out to form an objective opinion on the validity of this information.

The Yankee allegation is a bombshell since his pr people determined that it’s best to make it appear that his NY legacy and tenure has been clean when he apologized in February. Allegedly, that is not the case. The Yankee information, like the high school allegation, also comes from unnamed sources. Two unnamed teammates based their opinions based on visual side effects. The report does not say what those side effects were. Also according to the report, another unnamed major leaguer says he saw A-Rod and former Yankee pitcher Kevin Brown with HGH back in 2004.

Now I’m intrigued; anyone suffering from back acne will now accused of using PED’s. Previously, reporters didn’t ask athletes what might have caused that skin condition or other visual side effects. Now, there might be a legitimate reason to start and be objective rather than be the athlete’s friend.

Houston: Gateway to Easy Roids?

2009-04-27T13:59:00.000-04:00

Another interesting tidbit in Jeff Pearlman’s Roger Clemens book, “The Rocket That Fell To Earth” is the notion that playing in Houston allowed members of the Astros easy access to PED’s.

Per Pearlman:

The Astros were known throughout the league to have lots of players benefiting from performance enhancers. “It was a joke,” says one opponent. “All you had to do was look at them. It was beyond obvious.” From the ballplayer’s standpoint, the beauty of Houston was the close proximity to Mexico, where most of the steroids originated. With its border only 353 miles from Houston, Mexico served as a 24-hour CVS where $50 was accepted in lieu of a prescription.

Pearlman goes on to question the plausibility of a 42 year old man (Clemens) being able to throw 96 mph while working out four to five hours a day. Other media members had commented on grooming patterns of players as a tip off to whether a person used PED's. One potential side effect of taking PED’s is altering the facial structure and as a result some players felt the need to grow beards and goatees.

Previously, other media members had speculated on Astro Jeff Bagwell. Looking at his historical statistics, Bagwell averaged a home run for every 17.4 at bats. At his peak in the 1994 season, Bagwell hit a home run every 10.3 at bats during the 110 games played. What’s odd about that stat is that two years prior, when he played in 162 games, Bagwell hit a home run every 32.6 at bats. His last season was 2005, two years after drug testing was put in place by MLB. After survey testing occurred in 2003 without any punishment or threat of being identified, he had his last productive season playing in 160 games and hitting 39 home runs (an average of one HR per 15.5 AB). In 2004, his numbers fell off dramatically, playing in 156 games and hitting 27 home runs (an average of one HR per 21.2 AB). This rate was one Bagwell had not seen since his third year in the majors when he averaged a HR for every 26.8 AB.

Houston, we have lift off. Can this production be explained by Pearlman’s explanation? It’s for the reader to decide.

French Clear Armstrong for Tour

2009-04-26T11:51:00.000-04:00

The French antidoping agency has cleared Lance Armstrong of any wrongdoing stemming from a rules violation during a doping test last month. This decision is a stark contrast after comments stating that there was “a very high likelihood” that Armstrong would be barred from the Tour de France.

Per The New York Times:

The agency said it “decided to take into consideration the written explanations of the athlete” that came in a letter from Armstrong dated April 16.

Unfortunately the statement did not elaborate on why the agency made the decision, but did reiterate that Armstrong’s urine and blood samples from that drug test came back without abnormalities. The agency said that his hair sample, also taken that day, has not been tested.

The drug test in question occurred on March 17th. The tester arrived and Armstrong’s assistant checked for the tester’s credentials. Armstrong left the tester for 20 minutes to take a shower even though the tester warned Armstrong that he must be in view of him the entire time of the test.

Armstrong commented on the latest development from Aspen, CO, where he has been training, via his Twitter page: “Just got the word from the French agency AFLD on the shower gate incident. Case closed, no penalty, all samples clean. Onward.”

The self described “most tested athlete” needs to be smarter than this....and accurate. When any tester shows up, don’t leave their sight for a prolonged amount of time and then provide samples. For someone who claims to be transparent, he is not acting in a transparent manner. Also, not all samples were clean since the hair sample hasn't been tested yet. The hair sample test results will put this incident all to rest…whenever that takes place.

Polo Horses Deaths Caused By Supplement

2009-04-24T09:28:00.002-04:00

The mysterious deaths of 21 polo horses are starting to unravel. The horses all received injections of a banned vitamin supplement used to fight off exhaustion and polo team members believe a tainted dose led to the deaths. There were five horses that did not receive injections and are fine.

The captain of the Lechuza Caracas polo team, Juan Martin Nero, told the Argentine newspaper La Nación, that all of the horses received injections of Biodyl before getting sick and dying.

"We don't have any doubts about the origin of the problem," Nero said. "There were five horses that weren't given the vitamin and they are the only ones that are fine."

Biodyl is a French-made supplement and is banned by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its sale or use in the United States is generally illegal, an FDA spokeswoman said. Selenium is a substance in Biodyl and can be toxic in large quantities. B12 is also in Biodyl.

"Compounded" generic versions of the supplement may sometimes be bought with a prescription, FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said. Compounding is the process of creating the supplement from basic ingredients. There is a greater likelihood of a tainted supplement through compounding then purchasing the commercial product.

"Compounding is allowed under very specific circumstances, but the purpose of compounding is to provide for an individual animal," DeLancey said. "You can't compound things just to sit on the shelf."

The horses had been injected with a compounded version produced on order by a pharmacy.

"For us, the suspicions are that there was something bad in the laboratory," Nero told La Nación. "They're common vitamins that aren't given to improve performance but rather to help them recover from exhaustion."

Nero is putting all the blame on the lab. Yet, his team hasn’t provided any samples of what was given to the horses on game day to investigators. Nor has the team’s veterinarian been available for comment. If there is nothing to hide, be forthcoming and transparent. Others in the polo community are questioning why vitamins were even administered on game day.

Neil Hirsch, who co-owns the Bridgehampton Polo Club on New York's Long Island, said, "Everybody gives their polo horses vitamins, but they're given on a Monday or Tuesday when no one's playing. You just don't give them the day of a match."

The death of these horses is tragic. Hiring a pharmacy to mix their own drugs because you can't obtain it legally here? Is the drug really that essential to your operation...it seems like it and I would consider it a PED if you are contracting out the manufacturing of it and then administering it on game day. An injection to fight exhaustion before the match when others are questioning that practice raises concerns about animal cruelty. Are the horses being overworked leading to exhaustion? Is the only way to compete in that sport with drugs? If so, why aren’t other teams doing so? Mr. Hirsch raises a valid point in stating that vitamins are given early in the week, when no one is playing, their bodies can fully benefit from the medicine, not hours before competition.

Rocket Fuel in the Summer '01

2009-04-21T14:13:00.007-04:00

Jeff Pearlman's book on Roger Clemens, "The Rocket That Fell To Earth," earning his sixth Cy Young award with a 20-3 record while topping out at 98 mph at the age of 38 wasn't that spectacular when put in its proper context.

Per Pearlman, the Rocket was fueled by anabolic steroids. He was alternating between Sustanon 250 and Deca-Durabolin. In '01, the Rocket received these types of boosts a dozen or so times that helped reverse time and add extra mph to his fastball. All of these injections in '01 took place inside the Rocket's apartment with the exception of one at Yankee Stadium before the final game of a July home stand. Unfortunately, the Rocket developed a blood stain that had oozed through his slacks after he changed into street clothes. A teammate, Mike Stanton, noticed.

Per Pearlman:

Clemens felt compelled to answer when Stanton quietly asked whether he had
turned to drugs.
"Hey, man," Clemens replied, " whatever I can do to get
an edge."

If that really occurred as reported, that is pretty remarkable, but not surprising. After all, "whatever I can do to get an edge" was the mindset that many of the guys had back then to compete at the highest level or just to get to the big leagues. I suspect that mindset is still prevalent today, but with drug testing in place, players will be a little more careful in how they go about obtaining that edge.

Trainer of Derby Favorite Suspended

2009-04-20T15:13:00.006-04:00

Kentucky Derby favorite, I Want Revenge, will have the services of trainer, Jeff Mullins. Mullins was suspended for seven days and fined $2,500 yesterday by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. The suspension will start May 3rd; the day after the Kentucky Derby...very convenient. Apparently, the timing of the suspension was negotiated since Mullins agreed he would not appeal the decision.

Mullins was seen injecting Gato Go Win with a cough remedy substance in the detention barn before the $200,000 Bay Shore race. Giving any medication to a horse while waiting in the detention barn is against the New York racing rules.

The suspension timing is odd, but there was no way a Derby favorite would be without the services of its trainer leading up to the first leg of the Triple Crown. Mullins misstep was injecting a horse with a cough remedy several hours before a race. If a horse is suffering from a cough, should it even be racing? Is that animal cruelty? Horse racing needs to step their game up in protecting the animals, but like other sports, the money is too great and everyone is benefiting...everyone except the horses.

Cyclist Retires After Another Positive Test

2009-04-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

Tyler Hamilton, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist and once one of Lance Armstrong’s top lieutenants on the US Postal Service team, announced his retirement from cycling after testing positive for a banned substance. Hamilton served a two year ban after testing positive for blood doping in 2004 at the Vuelta a Espana. A second positive test at the minimum is an 8 year ban and can lead to a lifetime ban from the sport. Hamilton said his retirement had nothing to do with his failed test.

Hamilton tested positive on February 9th for the substance DHEA, an over the counter dietary supplement that is on WADA’s banned list. He took the substance before the Tour of California to fight symptoms of depression. Per The New York Times, “DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, converts to a steroid in the bloodstream and its benefits, including as a muscle-builder and antidepressant, are widely debated.”

Hamilton said, “Was it stupid? Absolutely yes. Was I wrong? Absolutely yes. But the people who suffer from depression know that sometimes you make drastic decisions to make yourself feel better. Yes, I took a substance that was on the banned list for my mental health. Did I take it for performance enhancement? Absolutely not.”

Some background regarding Hamilton’s first positive in 2004. Hamilton claimed innocence and denied that he transferred blood from another person, boosting his red blood cells and his endurance. Hamilton’s appeal to the highest court of international athletics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was unsuccessful and when he returned to the sport in 2007 his name was linked to a big blood-doping ring in Spain. The investigation into that ring is ongoing.

Hamilton has said winning the gold medal at the ’04 Olympics was one of the greatest achievements of his career. A month after his gold medal victory, he was accused of doping. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) deemed Hamilton’s initial blood sample from the Games positive for blood doping. However, the IOC could not strip him of his gold medal because Hamilton’s backup blood sample had been frozen leaving too few red blood cells to analyze.

Cycling has some drama, what else is new. Suffering from clinical depression or not, there is a banned list for a reason. All competitors in the sport know the consequences if they are caught using a banned substance. I applaud Hamilton seeking treatment for his illness, but if he wanted to compete into his 40’s, he should have done the right thing and met with a coach or doctor and pursued treatment that would have allowed him to continue to compete professionally. Hamilton had too many shady dealings in the past to know this was going to blow up in his face. I take him at his word: this last positive test had absolutely nothing to do with his retirement.

Is There a Double Standard in Determining "Cruelty" for Horses?

2009-04-16T15:30:00.008-04:00

Last Friday, New York thoroughbred breeder and owner Ernie Paragallo was charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty for neglecting the horses on his farm. Each count carries up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. More charges could be on the way.

Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in Climax, NY has been taken over by the State Police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after more than 170 neglected horses were found on the property. The New York Racing Association has informed Paragallo that he will no longer be welcome at their racetracks nor allowed to transfer his operation to family members or current employees.

This is a tragic story. The good news is that Paragallo's negligence on the farm was caught and is being remedied.

I want to explore the issue of animal cruelty from the sense of a breeder and owner using steroids to make his horses look more fit and thus more valuable. Should this be considered animal cruelty? The animal has no say in the matter. Can a certain minimum level of injections be considered "healthy" and not "deceitful?" If so, at what point and who would make that determination? At the end of the day, why would an animal need an injection in the first place?

I agree not feeding an animal is cruel. I consider injecting an animal with non essential substances that shortens its life cruel. Do you?

Good vs. Bad Guys in the Roid Court of Public Opinion

2009-04-15T09:46:00.008-04:00

In the roid court of public opinion there are good guys and bad guys. Some guys seem to get a free pass while others can't seem to talk about anything but roids. Why the discrepancy?

The bad guys include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Floyd Landis. The good guys include Jason Giambi, Lance Armstrong and now apparently Mike Piazza.

I have fallen victim to my own bias. Whether or not I liked a guy rather than looking at the facts clouded my judgement in the past. A prime example was Mike Piazza after the allegations raised in Jeff Pearlman's book on Roger Clemens, "The Rocket That Fell To Earth.".

Piazza is beloved in New York. He was a part of closing down Shea Stadium and opening Citi Field. More importantly, he was a part of the post 9/11 healing process. In New York's first game after the tragedy, Piazza hit a monster home run starting a Mets rally. I don't recall if the Mets won the game, but I remember the significance of that game and the HR and how it made me feel. Could one man and a home run lift the spirits of a grieving city...hell yeah. It was an unreal moment for a baseball fan in New York and one that earned Piazza tremendous goodwill in the community...even amongst Yankee fans.

Awhile back, someone raised doubts about whether Piazza played clean. Back then, I was flabbergasted. I had Piazza's back. At the time, I was telling people the overwhelming evidence is out there against Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. This was during the height of "Game of Shadows." There was nothing at the time to raise any doubts over Piazza. Yet, there were whispers.

Now one can openly ask questions and look at the actual data. How does an unheralded prospect get drafted in the 62nd round as a favor by a family friend, Tommy Lasorda, and then go on to be the greatest hitting catcher in major league history. Could everyone have missed the boat on this talent?

When one looks at the numbers, it's even more striking. After his first 470 minor league at bats (AB) over two seasons, Piazza had 14 home runs (HR), an average of one HR per every 33.6 AB. When he moved on to Bakersfield, CA he reduced that number in half to 15.5 AB. Throughout his minor league career, he had 1,390 AB's and 66 HR's for an average of a HR every 21.1 AB.

Once he made the leap to the majors and faced better pitching, he averaged a HR every 14.7 AB from 1992 - 2002. When MLB instituted the first form of steroid testing with survey testing in 2003, Piazza's average HR per AB plummeted for the remainder of his career to a HR every 22.4 AB. Coincidence, old age, injuries and / or wear and tear from catching all these years...you be the judge.

Piazza Avoids Media After Citi Field Opening

2009-04-14T17:09:00.004-04:00

Last night the New York Mets broke in Citi Field with a first pitch from Tom Seaver to Mike Piazza. It was Piazza and Seaver who left arm and arm to close Shea last fall. After the ceremonial first pitch, Seaver went up to the press box addressing the media while Piazza headed for the exits.

Piazza was escorted by security from the field to the stadium tunnel and avoided most queries from the media with the exception of two stadium related questions.

Piazza’s reluctance to engage with the media could be explained by the allegations of steroid use in Jeff Pearlman's Roger Clemens book, “The Rocket That Fell to Earth.” Pearlman writes that Piazza confided to unidentified reporters during his career that he had used PED's. Piazza has declined several requests for comment since the book's publication.

According to the the Mets’ vice president for media relations, Jay Horwitz, there is a simple explanation. “He wasn’t looking for any attention. He said, ‘I’m a private person now, I have a family, I’m raising my kids, my wife’s having a baby and I want to stay in the background.’ ”

If Piazza wasn't looking for any attention, he shouldn't have been a part of the opening of a new ballpark. The incredible thing with Piazza is no one seems to care (except for the media and a small minority of people) whether he cheated. Being a "private person now" and "wanting to stay in the background" sounds very similar to someone who "wasn't here to talk about the past." What do we think about that guy these days...

MLB Opening Day Analysis: 2009 vs. 2002

2009-04-14T13:43:00.002-04:00

Many of the old school baseball honks, still in denial of the widespread use of PED’s earlier this decade, would like to see some of this analysis.

Opening day home runs were up 18% in 2009 compared to 2002 while the number of strikeouts decreased 4%. The baseball establishment would likely point to this HR data as evidence that the players were not roiding out of their minds back in ’02. I beg to differ. The 15 games that made up opening day 2009 consisted of 40 home runs compared to 34 in 2002. The game with the most HR’s in ’09 was the Colorado v. Arizona game with 8 while in ‘02, the game with the most home runs was Minnesota and Kansas City with 5. Interesting to note that 47% of all opening games played in ’02 had at least three home runs hit compared with 40% in ’09. A contributing factor to increased home runs is the 7 new ballparks since 2002. The trend in new ballparks has been smaller, hitter-friendly parks where fans can see more home runs.

The baseball establishment would not like to see the decline in strikeouts. In 2002, there were 202 strikeouts in the 15 opening day games. In 2009, that total decreased to 193. In ’02, there were two games that had 20 strikeouts; in ’09, the highest strikeout total was 17. The lowest K total in ’09 was 6 compared to 9 in ’02. This data would lead one to conclude that PED’s benefited pitchers more than hitters.

While analyzing home run data is difficult because of the changes to stadiums, analyzing opening day strikeout totals can shed some light on what was going on back in the day. Opening day pits each team’s ace against each other and its power vs. power. From the pitcher’s perspective, they lost some power from ’02 to ’09.

Armstrong’s Vanishing Act Might Force Him to Vanish from the Tour de France

2009-04-13T14:49:00.001-04:00

After Lance Armstrong vanished to take a 20 minute shower before providing doping samples when French doping authorities showed up last month, Armstrong now feels that there is a “very high likelihood” he will not be allowed to race in this year’s Tour de France.

Looks like the comeback couldn’t go any worse for Armstrong. He announces the most comprehensive and transparent testing program in conjunction with his comeback to cycling only to abandon the testing without a single test, breaks his collarbone and disappeared for 20 minutes when doping authorities requested hair, urine and blood samples. Now, he appears to be using the only argument left: it’s the French. They are out to get me, always have and always will.

If you know you are a perceived target, don’t disappear for 20 minutes during an unannounced drug test. Do not violate the rules of the sport and expect not to be punished. Public outcry can only help so much, but at the end of the day, rules are rules and violators usually get punished.

Will Piazza Address Allegations at Citi Field?

2009-04-12T09:17:00.000-04:00

With the New York Mets opening Citi Field tomorrow, Mike Piazza is scheduled to be part of the opening celebration in a first pitch ceremony with Tom Seaver. This will be a nice complement to how Shea Stadium closed its doors last fall with Piazza and Seaver walking out of the stadium arms around each other. However, tomorrow should add a little more drama to the festivities with the latest controversy surrounding Piazza and PED’s.

Per The New York Times, Piazza has not commented on the allegations nor held a press conference discussing tomorrow’s activities like Seaver. Besides the normal fanfare and hoopla surrounding a home opener in a new stadium, this one could have additional fireworks.

But I wouldn’t expect any earth shattering details. If history is any indication for how these types of stories play out, it will be par the course: deny, deny, deny. It’s only until there is a smoking gun or documented evidence that someone eventually needs to come clean…belatedly.

Armstrong Evasive During Test

2009-04-08T14:04:00.003-04:00

When a French tester requested a sample from Lance Armstrong March 17th, Armstrong hit the showers…literally before providing blood, urine and hair samples.

Armstrong’s assistants reviewed the tester’s credentials while Armstrong took a 20 minute shower. The samples that were eventually provided were found to be drug free. This behavior is in stark contrast from when Armstrong announced his return to competitive cycling when he stated that he would embark on “the most advanced anti doping program in the world.” As we all came to learn, that ambitious testing program he announced in conjunction with his comeback resulted in zero tests.

Armstrong said, "I had no idea who this guy was or whether he was telling the truth. We asked the tester for evidence of his authority. We looked at his papers but they were far from clear or impressive and we still had significant questions about who he was or for whom he worked."

Once the identity was confirmed, the samples were provided. France’s anti-doping authority was not pleased with Armstrong’s act. They sent a report outlining Armstrong's behavior during the test to cycling's governing body and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Armstrong has said he has been tested 24 times without incident prior to this episode.

Everyone wants to believe Lance Armstrong. The man has raised awareness and countless funds for cancer research like no one before him. Being discovered as a cheat would cripple his image and those efforts; no one wants to see that. At the same time, people want to know the truth. For someone who makes a big splashy announcement coming back to racing and appears to do the right thing by embarking on an aggressive testing program only to never be tested once, raises flags. The zero tests under his new plan combined with suspicious behavior, leaving a tester for twenty minutes, and then providing samples is odd. I understand the need to validate the testers, but when will this end?

If you want to be on the forefront of transparency in testing, you don’t go off for 20 minutes and then provide samples. Lance Armstrong knows that; if he didn't, he does now.

A Minor League Roid Perspective

2009-04-07T14:32:00.001-04:00

In his very entertaining book, Odd Man Out, Yale graduate Matt McCarthy describes his year in the minor league system between 2002 and 2003. The intellectual wasteland, living in Provo, Utah and the shenanigans that occur in the clubhouse are explored fully as well as the pressure that some minor leaguers felt to make it to the big leagues.

The pressure to make it included roiding up. After all, he was in the minors during the height of the roid era. While McCarthy does recount a drug test, the players know that there are two tests per year and can roid out their minds once the unannounced test comes and goes.

In describing the ongoing dilemma with PED’s, McCarthy writes:

“His reaction reflected the dilemma that many players in baseball faced at the time, when the whiff of steroids was always in the air. What might have been nothing more than an innocent suggestion from a coach that a player needed something extra to make the big leagues could be misinterpreted as a coded message to look for chemical assistance.”

The players get into a debate as to whether or not one should juice. The argument to juice is simple: take this product, perform better on the field. The argument against: side effects are worse and unknown. The counter to that discussion is that I chew tobacco, smoke and drink; activities that are all bad for my health, but this product, also bad for my health, will help my game. To that line of thinking, it’s a no-brainer.

Perhaps it's his Yale background coming out or giving the baseball lifers a free pass when he implies that only players are hearing "coded messages" to seek out PED's. Only players are to blame for the PED problem? Management needs to share some of the blame during this period since they were more concerned with what kept the turnstiles moving than doing the right thing.

Horse Trainer Raises Suspicions with Injections

2009-04-06T14:01:00.005-04:00

A year after the fiasco with horse trainer Rick Dutrow and roiding Big Brown, a new trainer is causing concern with similar questionable practices. His timing is perfect with the Kentucky Derby.less than a month away.

Trainer Jeff Mullins was busted Saturday giving Gato Go Win a cough remedy substance in the detention barn before the $200,000 Bay Shore. Per state racing rules, New York racing officials removed the horse from the race. The syringe and substance were confiscated and an investigation is underway. Joseph Mahoney, the spokesman for the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, said giving any medication to a horse while waiting in the detention barn is against the New York racing rules.

“If a horse needs a product of this order to get to the finish line, then we have a problem with that,” Mahoney said.

According to The New York Times, the substance was labeled as Air Power, an over-the-counter cough formula manufactured by a company called Finish Line. On its Web site, the company claims that one dose will usually stop a horse’s cough all day and that “nothing manufactured and sold by Finish Line will test positive in any race or show jurisdiction in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, England or Saudi Arabia.”

Unfortunately, for the sport of horse racing, the Mullins-trained I Want Revenge won the Wood Memorial later in the day and is a favorite to win the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby in May.

This is not the first time Mullins has run afoul of the rules of the sport, similar to Dutrow. Turns out, Mullins has a history of medication violations in his base of California. Last spring, he was suspended for 20 days by the California Horse Racing Board for use of the Class 2 drug mepivacaine. Per the NYT, “in 2005, one of his horses tested positive for exceeding the limit of total carbon dioxide, which indicates the horse had a ‘milkshake’ — a concoction of baking soda, sugar and electrolytes that helps a horse ward off fatigue. His horses were put under 24-hour surveillance for 30 days.”

A California Horse Racing Board complaint said another horse of Mullins’s had exceeded the regulatory threshold for total carbon dioxide in a blood sample taken before a race at Del Mar in August.

Michael Iavarone, who heads the International Equine Acquisition Holdings (IEAH), which bought 50 percent of I Want Revenge last week, understood that Air Power was not a PED, and that his Derby contender was not part of Mullins’s violations. IEAH, you’ll recall, was the owner of Big Brown last year trained by controversial Rick Dutrow.

IEAH needs to get a clue. Even though they claimed to be roid free last October and "unnecessary medications," are we supposed to believe that IEAH will police themselves? Two years in a row that they have a major stake or outright owned the Derby favorite / winner, but it has come with a considerable price. The scrutiny and the "win at all costs" mentality with a complete disregard for what trainers and others involved with the horses could be doing to get those wins. Why is it that every trainer who is busted with one horse gets a pass with all the other horses he trains? Ignorance really is bliss.

Bling Training Winding Down

2009-04-04T18:47:00.001-04:00

This weekend marks the end of spring training and the start of the regular season for MLB. At the beginning of spring training, Doug Glanville provided excellent insight into what spring training is like from a player’s perspective in a piece for The New York Times.

As he recounts how the amenities and the stadiums improve with each step up the major league food chain, Glanville also tells of a similar phenomenon occurring off the field as well. Glanville writes, “What you covet as you advance is determined in part by the people ahead of you.” This jealousy or insatiable appetite of coveting what the people ahead of you have could explain the “whatever means necessary” approach some ballplayers took earlier this decade to land those fat contracts and give them the financial resources to acquire those goods.

Glanville does not speculate that this desire to acquire goods and be equal in the minds of one’s peers would lead some to make less than ideal moral decisions. Greed is the overriding factor that led many athletes to cut corners and not rely on their natural abilities alone. There could be other factors at play, but greed is the driver influencing these decisions.

Mike Piazza: Allegedly Roided Up

2009-04-01T11:33:00.000-04:00

When it rains, it pours. Recently, there have been articles raising doubts about whether Mike Piazza used PED’s during his playing days. In Jeff Pearlman’s book on Roger Clemens’, The Rocket That Fell to Earth, two players said Piazza was on the juice. Reggie Jefferson and an anonymous player told Pearlman that they believed Piazza was roiding back in the day.

Jefferson said, "He's a guy who did it, and everybody knows it. It's amazing how all these names, like Roger Clemens, are brought up, yet Mike Piazza goes untouched."

Over the past two months two longtime baseball writers raised doubts about Piazza. Murray Chass, formerly with The New York Times, writes on his blog that he wanted to write an article describing his back-ne, but that two or three editors of the NYT would have nothing to do with the piece stating Piazza was never accused of roiding up. Joel Sherman of The New York Post interviewed Piazza in late Feburary regarding this issue, but failed to inquire about the back-ne. When Sherman asked whether Piazza was a clean player, Piazza responds with an “absolutely.” When asked whether his name is on the list of 104 players who tested positive in 2004 that ensnared A-Rod earlier this year, he said, “No, not that I know.”

No one gets the benefit of the doubt these days including “good guys” like Albert Pujols. Sports fans have been lied to repeatedly and burned one too many times to believe that everyone is "clean" when they claim that they are. Unfortunately for Piazza, his denial about the 2004 sample testing is not as forceful as his plea that he was "absolutely" a clean player. "Not that I know" I'm on that list doesn’t leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling that he has nothing to hide. If he was clean throughout his career, he would be absolute in knowing he was not on that list - he couldn't possibly be on it because he wasn't doing anything illegal. Also remarkable is that he was drafted in the 62nd round as a favor by Tommy Lasorda for his godson and then this player drafted 1,390th overall in 1988 went on to lead the majors in home runs by a catcher…pushes the envelope on believability.

Caffeine...A Legal PED

2009-03-26T16:31:00.005-04:00

According to The New York Times, "caffeine, it turns out, actually works. And it is legal, one of the few performance enhancers that is not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)."

According to the article, the benefits of caffeine are relevant to all athletes whether you are an endurance athlete or one involved in anaerobic activity. Previously, researchers thought the benefits of caffeine only entailed helping muscles use fat as a fuel, sparing the glycogen stored in muscles and increasing endurance.

Turns out, that caffeine increases the power output of muscles by releasing calcium that is stored in muscle. This effect can enable athletes to keep going longer or faster in the same length of time. Caffeine also plays tricks on the mind's sense of exhaustion, that feeling that it’s time to quit, and you can’t go on. The improvement in performance using caffeine may average about 5 percent, still significant if you goal is to obtain a personal record (PR).

A former sculler who competed nationally and internationally, Mike Perry, only knew one athlete who used caffeine. He said, “People would have psychological issues with using it (caffeine). They would see it as against the spirit of the law, even though it’s not against the law.”

Well said, against the spirit of law even though not against the law. At marathons across the country, there are several people crushing coffees before the start. I doubt any of these weekend warriors have any qualms with the spirit of law even though caffeine is not against the law. The problem with caffeine is that it is so prevalent in our culture. To expect a competitive athlete to give up coffee seems incredulous. If one's motives are looking for every shortcut to optimal performance and is popping Mountain Dew's before a 7am race, then one would have to question that individuals decisions.

But the question remains the same: Is doing something legal wrong in the pursuit of greatness? Mike Perry and his teammates seemed to think so.

Are Swimsuits Performance Enhancers?

2009-03-23T12:08:00.002-04:00

In 2008, 108 swimming records were broken. Many were looking for an explanation as to how all the records were falling. During the Beijing Olympics, much attention was given to the new swimsuits created by Speedo. Some swimmers were wearing multiple swimsuits to increase their buoyancy during competition as Italian freestyler Federica Pellegrini wore two on her way to a gold medal in Beijing. It has been reported that some competitors have went with as many as three swimsuits looking for that competitive edge.

In an earlier post as to why athletes dope, athletes are always looking for an edge, real or perceived, legal or illegal, right or wrong. Even the average Joe is looking for an edge. Take Joe the Plumber from the 2008 presidential campaign. He didn't pay his taxes; whether right or wrong, he wanted to keep more of his money because he was greedy similar to these athletes' greed in driving them to take a "whatever means necessary" approach to “make it.”

In the world of swimming, the international governing body, FINA, has had enough of these shenanigans. On March 14th, they released a charter providing clarity on new international rules where technology and the number of suits will not be a factor in determining one's accomplishments. According to the charter:

• Swimsuits may no longer cover the neck or extend past the ankles or the shoulders.

• Swimmers may wear only one suit and will follow the body shape to avoid recent compression methods.

• Buoyancy and thickness will be measured by an independent testing team in Lausanne, Switzerland, led by Professor Jan-Anders Manson.

• All swimsuits, even those previously approved by FINA, must be submitted to the independent testing team by March 31.

The executive director of FINA, Cornel Marculescu, summed it up best when he told The New York Times, “Definitely the focus got to be too much on the technology instead of on natural development. The most important thing is we keep our values, and our values are the values of athletes, which is their physical preparation and effort."

The values of all athletes and the common Joe are what we, as a society, have been getting away from as we pursue what we think is going to be greatness. When others see what decisions these athletes made to achieve that greatness, only then will people have to reexamine their own values and allow us to experience the great moral awakening.

3 Breakdowns a Day Since the Derby

2009-03-20T11:44:00.000-04:00

According to Nancy Heitzeg, a professor at St. Catherine’s University in Minnesota, that's how many horses are breaking down daily since Eight Belles was euthanized on the track at last year's Kentucky Derby. The question that people need to be asking is why?

William Rhoden of The New York Times attempts to address this issue in his column from today's paper. In it, he looks at whether or not legal medications are allowing race horses the ability to perform when in another era they would not be out on the track.

Rhoden cites that since January there have been seven fatal breakdowns at New York's Aqueduct Race Track. The breakdowns are not reserved to race conditions at the Aqueduct, a dirt surface; Santa Anita in California, a synthetic surface, has also seen seven fatal horse breakdowns since late December.

Paul J. Campo, the vice president and director of racing for the New York Racing Association, believes there is no rhyme or reason for the recent surge in fatal breakdowns. “I don’t think there is any explanation to it. It’s an unfortunate part of our industry that we don’t like. But we try to minimize any type of breakdowns we have using all the policies and procedures we have in place.”

I think I’ve heard that type of thinking before from other sports leagues in the past. Deny, deny, deny and think that all protections and procedures are in place when in reality they are not. Far from it, especially in a sport like horse racing when the horses have no say in what goes in their bodies. Rhoden lays out three types of legal drugs that should be curtailed. They are: Lasix (race-day drug used to prevent bleeding of the lungs), nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (i.e. phenylbutazone, flunixin and ketoprofen since they mask deficiencies in certain horses) and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (used to decrease inflammation).

If more fatal breakdowns occur on horse racing’s biggest stage, look for more outcry leading to even more change for the sport. Hopefully, the leaders will look at the numbers and instead of citing bad luck, realize that there is something bigger and more pronounced going on and that they have the ability to curtail more horse breakdowns in the future. Perhaps policies and procedures will need to change…again.

You Know Roids Are Prevalent When...

2009-03-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

This guy admitted to roiding up in the early 80's.

Chuck Nevitt, who was a NBA player from the 80's, admitted in a Sports Illustrated column to experimenting with roids after graduating from college. He stopped juicing after he didn't see any of the benefits that were advertised.

Nevitt was known more for his height at 7'5" rather than for his basketball ability. He didn't set the league on fire with blocked shots or scoring. Yet, he still felt the need to roid up. Granted this was during a time when the NBA did not ban the use of PED's, but why did a 7'5" giant feel the need to cut a corner?

If he was willing to juice, how many others have and are doing so? There are many athletes in their quest to make it to the big time who are looking for any edge to get them over the hump. It's this greed and unchecked ambition that comprise an individual's morals and they will pay for their short term decisions in the long term.

Mark McGwire is Back in Baseball...Still Not Talking About the Past

2009-03-17T13:16:00.069-04:00

On the fourth year anniversary from when Mark McGwire testified before Congress and refused to "talk about the past", he has finally come out from hiding and is once again participating in baseball. Over the winter, he worked as a hitting instructor to four current ball players: Matt Holliday, Bobby Crosby (both of the Oakland A's) and Chris Duncan and Skip Schumaker (both of the St. Louis Cardinals).

In an interview with The New York Times, McGwire refused to talk about the past invoking specific stipulations in order for the interview to occur. "In this instance, McGwire agreed to an interview with the understanding that it would focus on his work as a hitting tutor, and not on other issues. But at one point, McGwire did address the criticism he has received for being linked to performance-enhancing drugs."

In addressing the PED issue and what others can learn from him by tutoring, McGwire said, "I’m such an easygoing guy. I don’t need to sweep away any bitterness. I believe I have so much knowledge to give and help people improve as baseball players."

According to the article McGwire focused on strengthening their minds which McGwire considered "as the batters’ most powerful and least developed muscle". I wonder if this observation came from personal experience that the mind was Big Mac's least developed muscle back in his day. Did he not have the self confidence or the inner strength that he could perform at the highest level without the assistance of PED's?

Matt Holliday doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks about his association with McGwire. "I wouldn’t ever not want to have somebody in my life that could be a good friend or somebody I could really enjoy or learn from based on what other people might think about it,” he said.

Bobby Crosby echoed what the other players' and McGwire felt throughout the experience. "You can definitely tell he loves teaching, and he loves baseball.”

Crosby's quote aside, reading the article, one could feel the passion burning in McGwire while he talked about the game; it jumped off the page. This is why his current situation is so sad. His exile is self-imposed. If he wants to get to the Hall of Fame, get into coaching, he needs to own up to what he did and talk about the past. Only then will the public be able to move on as will Big Mac.

Why Athletes Roid Up

2009-03-16T08:42:00.004-04:00

Why do people decide to use PED's?

Baseball players so far have never given a straightforward answer. Most recently, A-Rod claimed naivete. After the release of the Mitchell Report and names were named, typical responses were "I didn't know what I was taking" or "I wanted to get back on the field faster and help my team." We never got an honest answer such as "I was lacking self confidence and didn't think my natural abilities alone would take me to the MLB level and land me that fat contract."

After watching Christopher Bell's documentary film, Bigger, Stronger, Faster*: Is It Still Cheating if Everyone's Doing It?, some plausible answers emerge and more questions arise. People use PED's because they see it's the only way to get ahead and be more like their "heroes." In one scene, a mother asks her son, why he had to use PED's; what was wrong with his body as it was naturally. Other questions that emerge from the film, a scene where members of an orchestra are using attention deficit drugs to maintain their focus during a performance. This is deemed "normal," but not in sports. Why the discrepancy?

One pro athlete to chime in on the A-Rod debate put the question of why athletes roid up in proper perspective. Pro wrestler (whether pro wrestling is a sport is a post for another day) Rob Van Dam said on his radio show in February, "You have to sacrifice everything to make your dreams come true. You got a chance to enhance your odds, (expletive) yeah. If you don't go for it, you're just not dedicated."

This quote is telling. If that is truly the mindset of the modern athlete then more people are using PED's and will continue to use PED's and look for every conceivable shortcut...because if you aren't roiding, your competition is and will beat you out of your contract, endorsements and fame.

Cashman Allegedly Wanted Giambi to Roid Up

2009-03-13T13:58:00.003-04:00

According to The New York Times, Jeff Pearlman's new book, "The Rocket That Fell to Earth" recounts an incident that Brian Cashman, the general manager of the Yankees has taken issue with.

According to the book, in 2002 when Giambi went through a slump during his first year as a Yankee, Cashman was heard yelling at a television in the Yankees’ clubhouse during a game. Citing “one New York player,” the book said that Cashman screamed, “Jason, whatever you were taking in Oakland,” get back on it. Per the book, Cashman then added, “Please!”

Cashman strongly denied the incident ever took place. Cashman said, “That is completely false. This guy (Pearlman) never even called me and asked me if it was true. You think he would have done some fact-checking.”

Pearlman stands by his account, but acknowledged he should have reached out to Cashman. He said, "The source was a Yankee player who was an eyewitness and in whom I have 100 percent confidence. He (Cashman)’s totally right. I didn’t call him for comment and I should have. But that doesn’t mean the story isn’t correct.”

What's most interesting is the timing of this incident. The year was 2002. Jason Giambi's BALCO grand jury testimony was leaked to the media in 2004, a full two years later. If what is alleged is true, how did Brian Cashman know Giambi was roiding in Oakland? Who else knew? This flies against all general managers and baseball executives who have been on record as saying they didn't know anything about anyone. Seems as if someone is not being completely forthright in this matter.

Clemens Allegedly Injected at Yankee Stadium

2009-03-12T12:30:00.007-04:00

In the latest episode of the Roger Clemens - Brian McNamee saga, McNamee was quoted in detail to the Web site sportsimproper.com explaining how he injected Clemens and where.

McNamee was quoted in an item posted Wednesday, "One of the needles I gave the government was used to inject Clemens with steroids in either July or August of 2001. The place was his high-rise apartment, which is located off the corner of 90th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan. ... "

"That day, he laid out the drugs, dropped his trousers and I did as he asked, that is, inject him with steroids. Afterwards, he told me to get rid of the needle. I went into the kitchen and found an empty Miller Lite can in a wastebasket under the sink. I put the used needle into the can because it was actually hazardous material at that point and I didn't want anyone to get hurt by sticking themselves. He told me to throw it away but I kept it instead."

In addition, he told the Web site: "Sometimes it was in the Jacuzzi at Yankee Stadium."

During the Mitchell investigation, McNamee described injecting Clemens at the pitcher's apartment. The new details to emerge this week are that some injections took place at the stadium and that the Rocket drinks Miller Lite.

Brian McNamee, by laying out more details of the case to less well known media outlet, has put more of his chips in the center of the table. The Rocket and his legal team have matched his call by going with the "duh" blast when it was reported that PED's were found on the materials McNamee provided.

Again, Brian McNamee has no motive to lie. It's been understood that all of his previous information provided to investigators has been truthful. Why lie now? Taint evidence and keep needles for 8 years? This theory makes absolutely no sense. The Rocket on the other hand might be tempted to portray his accomplishments and legacy as one that was done the "proper" way and that he didn't "cheat to win, a similar tact A-Rod took until he was called out.

It will be interesting to see how this drama plays out in the upcoming months.

Nailed: PED's Found on Mac's Materials Linked to Rocket

2009-03-10T20:23:00.013-04:00

The New York Times reported today that the drug paraphernalia Brian McNamee submitted to federal authorities and was found to have Roger Clemens DNA on it has now been confirmed to have PED's on them as well. Not good news for the Rocket.

Last month, federal prosecutors had linked Clemens’s DNA to blood residue in at least one of the syringes that McNamee handed over to authorities. Upon this latest discovery, the Rocket's attorney, Rusty Hardin, fired off this response. “Duh. Do you really think McNamee was going to fabricate this stuff and not make sure there were substances on there? The fact is Roger never used steroids or H.G.H.”

Going with "duh" is an epic response Rusty! Was "liar, liar pants on fire" overused? Again, these two men are buried deep in their respective foxholes, but the question remains: why would Mac tell the truth about Andy Pettitte, but lie when it comes to Clemens? It makes no sense. Mac had no incentive to lie to the Mitchell investigators, and every incentive to tell the truth or face prosecution.

Also interesting to note in the article is the reemergence of Dr. Don Catlin. He was going to oversee Lance Armstrong's drug testing during his return to cycling, but both parties mutually separated ways and Catlin never tested one sample.

Catlin is conducting the tests on these materials. Since 2002, Catlin has been the lead drug-tester for federal prosecutors which is one reason Armstrong possibly wanted to associate with him. Last month, federal prosecutors said that Catlin had found PED's in a 2003 urine sample from Barry Bonds. The feds are hoping to use this retest in the Bonds' perjury trial which has been delayed until the summer.

Too bad we'll never know what Catlin would have found if he worked with Armstrong.

USA Track to Pay for Performance

2009-03-10T11:30:00.001-04:00

After USA Track & Field laid an egg at the Beijing Games this past summer winning only seven gold medals, Doug Logan, the organization's CEO, has a plan to bring glory back to the team: pay for performance.

Logan recommended paying a $15,000 bonus to those who achieved personal bests (PR) at the Games and a $5,000 bonus to those for a PR during the season. If those athletes win medals at the Games, those payments are assumed to be in addition to awards the United States Olympic Committee already hands out: $25,000 to gold-medal winners, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

Will this new financial incentive lead to more doping in track & field? Probably. This new financial incentive for optimal performance has increased the temptation to dope and collect a possible $40,000 payment. Athletes may be swayed to load up on PED's. Previous World Fastest Men have come under scrutiny and Marion Jones has admitted to being a fraud...in chasing the all mighty dollar.

Selig Still in Denial about Role in Roid Era

2009-03-09T14:49:00.005-04:00

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig still does not get it.

Speaking to the media last week in Arizona, he defended his role in the roid era that will ultimately define his tenure rather than implementing a wild card, inter league play and other clever marketing ideas to keep the turnstiles spinning after the 1994 work stoppage.

"It's been an interesting experience for me in the respect that we've cleaned the game up. I'm proud of where we are.''

Selig said, if there's work still to be done, it's in being able to test for human growth hormone. He said, "there's not a test, regardless of what people say. If there's a test we'll use it. I can't wait to sit down and tell you that we now have a test for HGH.''

Selig's frustrated with this topic, however. "If I sound frustrated it's because you get into revisionism 15-20 years later and it's the wrong set of facts you're revising,'' Selig said. "My frustration is we started (steroid education) in 1998. Where were we sleeping?''

You were sleeping from 1991 until drug testing was put in place. Steroids have been banned in baseball at the MLB level since 1991 when Fay Vincent added them to baseball's then drug policy. After the 1994 strike and the public outrage that ensued, MLB needed something to get the fans back on their side and into the ballpark. The first year was Cal Ripken hitting the streak and then it was the gradual assault on the home run record that generated the buzz. How could the Commissioner, a former owner, put the halt on a booming business, falling records and an insatiable appetite following his game? The Commissioner could have done the right thing if he had a moral compass, questioned what was going on (he prides himself on being a baseball historian), but instead he chose the path of least resistance and the game has suffered as a result. Bud Selig is not the only one to blame; the MLBPA fought drug testing every step of the way as Selig is found of reminding people. Clean players also did not speak up.

Other areas that show Selig doesn't get it: he states he's cleaned up the game, but then admits there's no test for HGH. Bud, it can't be both ways! The job of cleaning up the game is not finished nor will it ever be: the cheaters will always be out in front of the testers. Cleaning up the sport is not a task like cleaning your car; the latter can be accomplished, the former needs to be constantly monitored and can never be deemed "finished" because someone will always be looking for an advantage. Other than those points, you should be very proud of your accomplishments on this issue.

Tony Mandarich Owns It...After the Fact

2009-03-08T22:06:00.009-04:00

In this week's Sports Illustrated, Rick Telander, follows up on the Tony Mandarich cover story he wrote in 1989. Mandarich comes clean and admits to steroid and HGH use back in the day both while playing in the NFL and college football for the Michigan State Spartans (MSU). He also admits being hooked on painkillers throughout his NFL careear. All of this is detailed in his book, My Dirty Little Secrets-Steroids, Alcohol and Painkillers: The Tony Mandarich Story.

It was primarily Mandarich's size and SI's initial coverage that led NFL scouts to drool over him at the 1989 NFL Draft where the Green Bay Packers selected him second, ahead of Barry Sanders, Derek Thomas and Deion Sanders. He lasted three years with the Pack, considered one of the biggest busts until Ryan Leaf hit the 1998 draft and redefined the word.

Mandarich in his book alleges that 15 members of the MSU Rose Bowl squad were on the juice. Similar to the crisis in baseball where no one knew that anyone was using roids, the former coach at MSU, George Perles, has a similar recollection: "I wouldn't know about steroids. The NCAA did all the testing. They're the ones you should talk to." Perles is now a member of the school's board of trustees.

In the article, Tony states how he essentially created the Whizzinator in eluding the NCAA from detection after roiding up before the 1988 Rose Bowl. Per Mandarich: "[For] the Rose Bowl in 1988, we were tested two weeks before on campus, and then we heard there was going to be a second test [in Pasadena]. I'd already gotten back on Anadrol-50 (brand name for oxymetholone), a steroid which makes you significantly stronger within a day or two, and now I'm freaking. I'm in this large 24-hour store, about midnight, brainstorming, thinking how am I going to beat this test?

"In the pet area I see this rubber doggy squeaker toy. I get that, then I go to another area and get a small hose, and in the medical area I get some flesh-colored tape. I'm like the Unabomber getting supplies. Back home I rip the squeakers out of the toy, tape the hose into one end and experiment by filling the thing with water. At the Rose Bowl I taped the toy to my back, ran the hose between my butt cheeks, taped the end to my penis, and covered the hose tip with bubble gum. I had gotten some clean urine from somebody else. The tester stood behind me, couldn't see anything, and when I removed the gum everything worked fine."

Mandarich improved upon his Rose Bowl invention at the Gator Bowl the following year by customizing a squeezable glue bottle to replace the doggy toy. "A quarter twist of the cap, no leak, no moving parts—it was almost too easy," he says.

At least Tony is being honest now. Let's ignore for the moment that he lied all throughout his career and as recently as 2003 when he was quoted in article as not living up to the expectations on the football field. I'm sure this admission had nothing to do with selling a book.

Kentucky Derby to "Super Test" Winning Horses

2009-03-06T11:00:00.008-05:00

It's been awhile since my last two posts on horse racing, but the sport is making news two months before the Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs in a release this past Monday said it will implement new safety measures for this year's Derby and all of its tracks. All winning horses will get a "super test" for more than 100 types of drugs exceeding the previously required amount. Other safety measures included are extending the safety tests for track surfaces, banning certain types of whips and prohibiting horses younger than 24 months old from racing.

Good for Churchill Downs for instituting the "super test", but one has to wonder why not provide the test for all participants? If the goal is to prevent all the cheats, super test everyone, not just the winners.

Any good news is a step in the right direction for this sport after the year horse racing had. Since last year's Derby, there was a Congressional hearing, another suspension for trainer Rick Dutrow, the euthanizing on the track last year of Derby runner up, Eight Belles, and the realization that Derby winner Big Brown was roided out of its mind on Winstrol and didn't win the Triple Crown when he wasn't on the juice.

This racing season will probably have its share of drama, shocking revelations and a suspension or two. In other words, business as usual.

2 Weeks of Baseball Roid Issues

2009-03-04T20:30:00.007-05:00

I've been away for a couple of weeks and was passing through San Francisco on Tuesday looking forward to get the latest blow by blow details of the Barry Bonds trial, but when I picked up my copy of the San Francisco Chronicle, not one mention of the trial; an appeal delayed the start of the trial until the summer.

In other roid related developments during my break, the A-Rod alibi unraveled further. Memo to all: tell the truth the first around. You'll feel much better and not come off as such a dimwit.

His cousin, Yuri Sucart, who allegedly supplied the banned substances was identified. The explanation did not hold water since A-Rod said the substances were purchased over the counter in the Dominican Republic, yet during that time period, 2001 - 2003, one could not obtain the substances he reportedly tested positive for over the counter in the DR back then. It was also revealed that A-Rod was associated with the trainer Angel Presinal. If one wants to be associated with roids, work out and hang out with Presinal. He has been accused of distributing steroids to major league players and has been barred from major league clubhouses since 2001. He was also mentioned in the Mitchell Report. That checkered past didn't appear to bother A-Rod since he trained with him as recently as 2007.

Derek Jeter stepped up to the plate and came to the defense of his teammate while at the same time professing his innocence at the beginning of spring training. Jeter said, “One thing that’s irritating and really upsets me a lot is when you hear people say that everybody did it. Everybody wasn’t doing it.”

Unfortunately for DJ, his calls of "playing the right way" are falling on deaf ears. Why? Because his teammates have said similar things in the past such as A-Rod, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Jason Giambi only to have their assertions either be false or seriously questioned. DJ can tell me all about how not everyone was cheating and that your father was a drug counselor, but all the lies from your teammates who have uttered the same exact thing have made all players guilty until proven innocent.

Lastly, it was being reported that many players are reporting to spring training much smaller. George Vecsey labeled this phenomenon, The Incredible Shrinking Baseball Player, reporting that players are now turning to yoga, athletic video games, nutritionists, getting more sleep and giving up beer and or soda to be more nimble and athletic. Sceptics would say it's the polar opposite of five years ago when players were showing up bulked up claiming that they were cranking the weights.

Don't be shocked when home run totals dip this year at least the players will be more nimble and athletic stretching singles into doubles.

No Surprise: Straw Would've Roided Up

2009-03-04T02:40:00.004-05:00

In an admission that shocked absolutely no one, Darryl Strawberry told the news media in Florida this week that if he was presented with roids during his playing days, he would have taken them. His comments came about when the topic of A-Rod was discussed.

Straw elaborated his position on the issue by saying, “I’m not saying that was the right thing to do, but somebody asked me, if I’d faced it, what would I have done? If that was going on in the ’80s, it definitely would have been in my system, too.”

“I was stupid, too, when I was 24, 25,” he added, referring to Rodriguez’s comments that he was stupid during the time he used steroids. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things.”

Darryl Strawberry saying he's done a lot of stupid things is in the running for understatement of the year. but that's why the public will be clamoring for his tell-all book about 80's excess in the NY Mets' clubhouse.

Armstrong Bails on Transparent Testing Program

2009-02-13T10:55:00.004-05:00

When Lance Armstrong announced that he was coming back to competitive cycling five months ago, he also stated that he would embark on “the most advanced anti doping program in the world” to silence the doubts that have persisted throughout his career.

All of that changed Wednesday according to the New York Times, when it was announced with much less fanfare that the testing program has been abandoned without ever starting. Don Catlin, the former chief of the U.C.L.A. Olympic Analytical Laboratory who was supposed to run Armstrong’s program, said that they decided to mutually part ways, without Catlin’s analyzing a single blood or urine sample from Armstrong due to the program's complexities and costs.

Armstrong would still be tested by the internal anti doping program of his professional cycling team, Astana. This abrupt change is startling since Armstrong made his private anti doping program one of the cornerstones of his comeback and had Don Catlin with him in announcing his return.

Perhaps misspeaking or "misremembering" like the plague that has struck many baseball players, Armstrong said that his customized anti doping program was under way, but did not publish all of his biological data online as he said he would, before the Tour Down Under in Australia last month. A news release by Astana on Jan. 18, the first day of the race, said that Armstrong would be tested about every three days by Catlin’s program. Per the NYT, at that point, Catlin said, Astana had paid him a “small contribution” to begin taking samples. Asked about the program’s details, Armstrong said that Catlin would answer all the questions.

With a lack of transparency about the program, criticism ensued. Dick Pound, the former chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said last week: “Armstrong made all the big announcements, and the testing has dropped right off the radar. No sign that anything is actually getting done.”

Making matters worse, was Catlin's silence after Armstrong pushed all the questions regarding the program on him. Catlin remained ominously quiet since the September news conference announcing Armstrong's return to cycling, not returning or responding to more than a dozen phone calls and e-mail messages — until Wednesday.

Lance is a shrewd marketer; he knew that "the most advanced anti doping program in the world" would hit the right buttons with the media. At some point, the media will need to ask about these broken promises. You can never escape the suspicion of doubt if you make these grandiose proclamations of stringent testing and then slink away from it and hope no one calls you out. So far, it's a plan that has worked to perfection.

Apology Fallout: S-Rob v. A-Rod

2009-02-12T09:52:00.008-05:00

In his Monday interview with ESPN, Alex Rodriguez claimed that the Sports Illustrated reporter, Selena Roberts, was stalking him and tried to break into his home while his daughters were asleep.

"What makes me upset is that Sports Illustrated pays this lady, Selena Roberts, to stalk me," Rodriguez told Gammons. "This lady has been thrown out of my apartment in New York City. This lady has five days ago just been thrown out of the University of Miami police for trespassing. And four days ago she tried to break into my house where my girls are up there sleeping, and got cited by the Miami Beach police. I have the paper here."

Shocking accusations for sure during his confessional, if only they were true. According to the New York Daily News, there is no record of Roberts' alleged crimes. This latest development further diminishes A-Rod's credibility for being completely honest during that interview. Only used PED's during a three year period? About as likely as a reporter "breaking into" your house.

Per the Daily News, "I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that she has tried to break into his home," Detective Juan Sanchez of the Miami Beach police said. "I haven't been able to find anything that corroborates the statement Alex Rodriguez made to ESPN.".

Regarding the trespassing at the University of Miami, police Sgt. Janette Frevola added that none of the recent trespassing reports from the university matched the description provided by A-Rod. All UM incidents are recorded and then passed to the Coral Gables police. She added that it was possible that the reporter was asked to leave, but the incident didn't warrant filing a report.

Scoreboard reads Roberts: 1, A-Rod: 0.

The A-Rod Apology

2009-02-10T10:38:00.007-05:00

Give A-Rod credit, yesterday, Alex Rodriguez did the right thing and admitted to using PED's from 2001 - 2003 in an interview with ESPN. However, he did not go far enough and all his admission did was lead to more questions.

In admitting his use, he framed it this way:

"When I arrived at Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure, I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day. Back then it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naïve. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance, and for that I am very sorry and deeply regretful.”

First and foremost, per SI, he tested positive for two banned substances (primobolan and testosterone) not one raising doubts on this confession. He also took a page straight from the juciers manual stating he didn't know what the substance was (one of the PED's was primobolan aka methenolone, a more expensive steroid that was able to leave your system faster than the more commonly used roids of the preceding years). The highest paid player in baseball not knowing what he's putting in his body? Doesn't quite pass the sniff test. What also doesn't pass that test is if he thought the pressure in Arlington, Texas was intense, what about New York freaking City? He felt less pressure moving to the Big Apple playing alongside Derek Jeter, switching positions and ultimately getting even a bigger contract? Tough pill to swallow A-Rod.

A-Rod decided to stop using PED's in 2003 after suffering a neck injury in spring training , he explained:

“I realized, ‘What am I doing? Not only am I going to hurt my baseball career, I’m going to hurt my post-career.’ It was time to grow up, stop being selfish, stop being stupid and take control of whatever you’re ingesting. And for that I couldn't feel more regret and feel more sorry, because I have so much respect for this game and the people that follow us. And I have millions of fans out there who won’t ever look at me the same.”

Crisis of confidence occurs when MLB institutes drug testing, yet allegedly you were tipped off by the union of an upcoming test in 2004? Why would the union need to tip you off if you weren't using? Too much respect for the game and the fans...then why roid up in the first place? I, for one, am not buying.

As for lying on "60 Minutes": "And in my mind, as I did my interview with CBS last year, I felt I haven’t failed a test, I haven’t done a steroid. And that was my belief. Whether I wanted to convince myself of that, that’s just where my mind was.”

That response was well crafted, but again, he doesn't fully admit to his mistake. He lied on national television: admit to it and move on. Earlier he says he used a banned substance and then later goes with the dopers credo of "since I didn't fail a test, I haven't doped". Are you kidding? You can't have it both ways, my man. Marion Jones thinks that line of reasoning is played.

Finally where the admission fails is in the timeline: it's as if there is a small chapter in his life that has been examined and his professionals have crunched the numbers, saw the spikes and said this is the period that we want you to address and only this period. No need to address Jose Canseco's allegations or when you were first exposed to PED's. Being evasive of how he was introduced to roids and how he obtained the PED's in the interview did not bolster his credibility or the strength of his apology. Come spring training, when reporters have additional questions, he'll fall back on this interview as being the only time he'll address this subject.

Total transparency is always the best policy, just ask Marion.

A-Rod is Truly A-Fraud...Allegedly

2009-02-08T10:03:00.009-05:00

Apparently, Jose Canseco was right again. This time, it was Alex Rodriquez and using PED's.

According to SI.com, Rodriquez tested positive for 'roids (primobolan aka methenolone and testosterone) in 2003 when the tests were supposedly anonymous and there were no penalties for a positive test. MLB issued a statement in response to the SI story stating that it could not comment on the accuracy of the report since it was an anonymous test, but did raise the concern of union officials tipping off players of upcoming tests back in 2004.

During the survey testing in 2003, 104 samples were positive. For reasons not yet known, the samples were not destroyed to ensure confidentiality. In 2004, all 104 samples were seized by the government relating to the BALCO investigation.

Initially the government requested just the 10 samples relating to the players who testified during the BALCO investigation including Barry Bonds; the players union refused and the government secured search warrants for the 10 samples and then gathered the samples for all positive tests from two different labs.

A-Rod can't catch a break. The tests were anonymous and should never have been made public. A serious breach of trust, but at the same time, if A-Rod was using, he lied when he appeared on "60 Minutes" and said he never used PED's and didn't need to. He needs to admit to his mistake and move on.

The timing is horrendous for Alex since it's a week after being called "A-Fraud" by his former manager, Joe Torre, in his new book, "The Yankee Years", co-written by Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci. Now A-Rod has to maneuver through both firestorms as spring training approaches. Were the players calling him A-Fraud because they knew or suspected he was on PED's? Is there a Sports Illustrated conspiracy against A-Rod? Let the suspicion begin.

Barry Bonds perjury trial begins March 2nd. When evidence was unsealed earlier this week, Bonds was tied to four positive tests among other damning pieces of evidence. Roger Clemens' DNA has been linked to the syringes provided by former trainer Brian McNamee. Joe Torre has now had an epiphany by seeing the Clemens 2000 World Series bat throwing incident at Mike Piazza in a new light, speculating that the incident could have been roid rage. In his book, "The Yankee Years", Torre does not openly suspect any players of using PED's.

And now A-Rod...Down goes another mythic hero.

Current HGH Test Has Caught No One

2008-11-13T14:33:00.006-05:00

For the past eight years, the current blood test for HGH has caught a whopping zero people using the banned substance...that's correct, zero positives. Either no one is using the product or the test is ineffective in it's current state. I'll go with the latter.

In an article in the NYT, over 8,500 athletes have been tested for HGH since 2000 yet not one has tested positive. Osquel Barroso, the senior manager of science for the World Anti-Doping Agency, believed that out of competition testing would lead to positives. The current test will only come up positive if the user has used HGH about 30 hours after it is taken, a serious limitation on the effectiveness of the current test. "Barroso also said that another reason more athletes had not tested positive was that the threshold for a positive test was fairly high. When drug tests are first implemented, the level of detection is often high to avoid false positives, then lowered after thousands of tests have been conducted." The anti doping experts have said that athletes receive the most benefit from HGH when they use it several times a week while training.

Per the course, the MLB baseball union is feigning ignorance. Gene Orza, the general counsel for the players union said, “We are not going to jump to that conclusion that there is a test today. At best, the science is murky today and there are people invested in the test’s development.” Not jumping to the conclusion that there is a test today...a test that is administered at the Olympics?I've heard that rational thinking from the MLBPA before...we do not have a drug problem, etc. It's time to stop the "deny, deny, deny" game and be proactive. You might actually turn some fans back on to the sport.

Marion Jones Seeks Sympathy on Oparah

2008-11-04T16:45:00.006-05:00

Marion Jones recently made an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" seeking sympathy and admitting that she made a mistake when she did not tell the truth. She probably still is not telling the truth when she claimed she could have won the medals even without using PED's.

If you really believe that, why would you cheat? So you could beat the competition by an additional one-one hundredth of a second? Fans of track and field are not that neurotic: either you win the gold or you don't. They don't care or remember what your margin of victory was. Quick: anyone know Usain Bolt's margin of victory in either the 100 or 200? I thought so.

The reason she gave for not telling the truth in a tearful letter written to her children while in prison was "because I didn’t love myself enough to tell the truth". Great statement and better yet, excellent audience and the tears definitely helped sell the whole story. However, at the end of the day, you cheated. You lied about it and denied it for years, going so far to write a book and claim that you were clean.

What would have worked better for a comeback, would have been to take full responsibility and say you were a misguided person attracted to the fame and fortune of athletic greatness and would do anything necessary to achieve your goal. Now, older and wiser, you see the error of your ways and seek the public's forgiveness. That would have went over huge with the Oprah crowd. Once again Marion, you blew it.

Conveniently, there was no mention of the check writing fraud that led to her incarceration.

Carl Lewis Doubts Usain Bolt

2008-10-13T19:06:00.006-04:00

In a revealing interview with SI.com, American Olympic icon Carl Lewis isn't buying what Usain Bolt's selling when he said, "for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don't question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you're a fool. Period. "

Lewis then went on to praise the best random and most comprehensive drug testing program (the U.S.) and contrast that with Jamaica. "Countries like Jamaica do not have a random program, so they can go months without being tested. I'm not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field."

Lewis goes on to say, "No one is accusing anyone. But don't live by a different rule and expect the same kind of respect. They say, "Oh, we've (the Jamaicans) been great for the sport." No, you have not. No country has had that kind of dominance. I'm not saying they've done anything for certain. I don't know. But how dare anybody feel that there shouldn't be scrutiny, especially in our sport?"

Reflecting on the 9.8 threshold that Bolt surpassed this year. "Let's be real. Let me go through the list: Ben Johnson, Justin Gatlin, Tim Montgomery, Tyson Gay and the two Jamaicans. Six people have run under 9.80 legally, three have tested positive, and one had a year out. Not to say [Bolt] is doing anything, but he's not going to have me saying he's great and then two years later he gets popped. If I don't trust it, what does the public think?"

Lewis addressed one issue I raised in an earlier post questioning when Jamaica became the sprint capitol of the world when he questioned how the women's world 100 champion cannot make the Olympic team. "I look at someone like [Jamaican track star] Veronica Campbell-Brown, who lives in the United States, and has been transparent and consistent. She won the worlds last year in the 100 meters and this year she can't even make the team? And you're going to tell me that shouldn't be questioned?"

Lewis is also not a fan of how admitted cheaters are still able to influence young athletes. "Here's what angers me: Antonio Pettigrew [a North Carolina assistant track coach who testified in federal court that he took human growth hormone and EPO between 1997-2001 while winning the 4x400 relay gold in the 2000 Olympics, a medal he returned in June] kept his job and he's coaching young athletes. This is wrong. There have to be consequences for your actions."

I agree with Lewis that Pettigrew should not be coaching young athletes, especially at a public university. He is an admitted doper and the line of athletes "learning from his mistakes" doesn't fly. Carl Lewis in this interview has done the impossible: by invoking five variations of "not saying anyone is on anything", Lewis essentially said Usain Bolt cheated without saying he cheated! If you're not saying anyone is anything, doubting Bolt's accomplishments and advocating a level playing field, then what the hell are you saying Carl?

You were on the forefront with Ben Johnson, be out on front again...but you have to say it.

Jamaicans Receive PED's through Mail

2008-09-12T16:27:00.012-04:00

While not answering my last post, how did Jamaica become the sprint capital of the world, apparently, PED's helped fuel some track athletes' performance. While not the big sprinters from the Beijing Games, two members of the Jamaican track team, hurdlers Delloreen London and Adrian Findlay received PED's through the mail. The information discovered only pertains to the receipt and not confirmed actual use of PED's. Yet, when MLB discovered similar information, they took disciplinary action on the player receiving the PED's even though there was no positive test.

According to SI.com, London received two shipments of Somatropin (HGH) and one shipment of Triest (Estrogen) at a Texas address that traces to her along with a matching birth date. The only conflicting information: gender. The document lists the person's gender as male. In Beijing, London was .01 seconds behind the bronze winner in the 100 meter hurdles (which saw American Lolo Jones trip on the second to last hurdle). London was unavailable for comment, but her husband, Lincoln, "confirmed she ordered the drugs in June 2006 after consulting a physician over the phone about vaginal hemorrhaging she was experiencing. He said the shipment arrived when she was away at competition and that she never opened the package. He added that the 2007 package arrived unsolicited and also was never opened." The prescriptions written for London were obtained through the Anti-Aging Group, a network of clinics that advertise HGH and testosterone treatments on its website. The prescribing physician was Victor Shabanah who advertises himself as a "hormone therapist."

Going to a "hormone therapist" for a vaginal hemorrhaging problem...not too many others would have gone that same route. Speaking of the alleged health issue at hand, are we supposed to assume that the vaginal hemorrhaging just cleared up by itself without using what was recommended by the physician? Why even go with the prescription by mail route? A busy world class athlete couldn't cruise down to her local CVS? A mysterious package arrives unsolicited a year later and one can clearly recall that it was "unopened." How many packages does the average resident receive in a year? Regardless of the number, it's human nature to open the package, even if we don't know what's in it, who sent it, etc. We just go wild receiving and opening packages - it brings out the kid in all of us. To be adamant that one remembers specific packages from more than two years ago and that they remained unopened does not pass the sniff test. Nice try Lincoln and Delloreen.

Moving on to Adrian Findlay, an alternate in the 400m hurdles, in November 2006, he received a shipment of Testosterone Aqueous (Testosterone) and Oxandrolone (an oral steroid) to a North Carolina address that traces to him along with matching birth date. Unlike London, Findlay came out swinging in his denial. He said, "I've been running stable all my life. Trust me, I don't use steroids. I guarantee you it wasn't mine and I didn't order it. I have a theory how this was sent."

According to the article, Findlay's prescription was obtained through the South Beach Rejuvenation clinic by physician Daniel J. Hauser. This clinic ensnared MLB'er Jay Gibbons in December and he was suspended by MLB for violating their drug policy.

I would like to believe Findlay, but in his denial, I have a couple questions. Would I know if an athlete is running "unstable"? If you don't use steroids, why did you allegedly order an oral steroid and testosterone? Please provide payment records so you can validate that you indeed did not pay for the drugs. If you have a theory, by all means, share it now or are you waiting until this controversy dies down?

This issue will probably get worse for the Jamaican track athletes before it gets better.

When Did Jamaica Become the Sprint Capital of the World?

2008-08-30T13:59:00.004-04:00

After having time to digest the Beijing Olympics, I'm left wondering the same thing: when did Jamaica, a nation of 2.8 million people, dominate both men and women sprinting?

When Jamaica swept the women's 100 meters the night after Jamaica's Usain Bolt become the World's Fastest Man (WFM), something didn't feel right. It didn't help that the Shelly-Ann Fraser, the winner of the 100m with a time of 10.78, didn't have a time under 11 seconds until this year. Another flag that came up: Fraser was sporting braces. High levels of HGH use include teeth gapping. Fraser is 21, comes from the inner city in Kingston and it's clear that she's going through braces later on in life. She is also a member of the Stephen Francis coached MVP Track Club based at the University of Technology.

The defending world champion in the 100m, Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, did not even qualify for the Olympics, yet ran the fastest 4th place qualifying time in the 100m. Campbell-Brown is not coached by Francis nor is part of the MVP Track Club. Another development that makes Fraser's performance in Beijing so unbelievable, is that per The Jamaica Observer in August 2007, she was "really looking ahead to the 2012 games in London, England, where she is picturing herself winning the 100m gold medal." The '08 games were not even a possibility less than a year ago. What changed so quickly in that time period for Fraser?

Looking at the world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown's yearly progression in the 100m, the biggest yearly decline was .37 of a second when she was 17 going on to 18. Since achieving a yearly personal best under 11 seconds in 2004, it has wavered .14 a second between 10.99 and 10.85 seconds. Her progression appears normal while Fraser came out of nowhere and was targeting the Olympics four years from now.

Jamaican women's sprinting history begins and ends with Merlene Ottey, the "Queen of Track." She has won medals at the Olympics for Jamaica in the 100m starting in 1984 through 2000. How is that longevity possible? No male had such a streak. During that period, there was some controversy involving PED's. In 1999 at an international meet in Switzerland, both "A" and "B" urine samples were positive for the steroid nandrolone. She claimed she was innocent of knowingly taking steroids. Eventually, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) cleared Ottey of all charges in the summer of 2000. In 1998, she already had moved to Slovenia and began training with Slovene coach Srdjan Djordjevic while still representing Jamaica, but started representing her new country in 2002.

As for the men and Usain Bolt, everything has been said that needs to be said: unbelievable. When comparisons are being made to Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, we're getting way ahead of ourselves...easy Stephen Francis, coach of MVP Track Club. Everyone wants to believe they saw history on the track, much like in the summer of '98 when McGwire and Sosa were chasing "history." We're a society of suckers. The X-Files was right: We want to believe.

The problem occurs when Ben Johnson, Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones amazed us with their superhuman accomplishments, vowed that they were clean and then ended up serving doping suspensions. A reporter from the New York Times reported that the way to beat the urine test is to drop a grain of powdered laundry detergent since it will destroy EPO and HGH in the sample. With the positives not nearly matching the expectations, it looks like the cheaters are once again ahead of the testers.

Will the Jamaicans continue to dominate sprinting on the world stage or is this a temporary blip? When the women's world champion doesn't even qualify for the Olympics and then the country sweeps the 100m, I'd say they have the women's side locked up for the near future. With Bolt, everyone else is racing for second. Will other sprinters be tempted to dope to bridge the gap to catch up to Bolt? Wait and see.

Olympics: Another Arguement for Roided Athletes

2008-08-15T18:24:00.010-04:00

It seems every 4 years at the Summer Olympics, someone will come out and support athletes having the freedom to roid out of their minds. If that ever does happen, bad news for the maker of the Whizzinator.

This year that argument comes from the New York Times' John Tierney. In his article, "Let the Games Be Doped", he describes the evolution of the Olympic athlete from the amateur to natural athletes, "untainted by technology". The amateur myth died and the natural myth "is becoming so far-fetched — and potentially dangerous — that some scientists and ethicists would like to abandon it, too". He also points out that anti doping authorities have created a culture of suspicion and claims that some tests, specifically for synthetic testosterone, are unreliable. He also warns that if athletes have moved from normal doping to gene doping, the authorities will have more problems catching these types of cheaters.

What would happen if athletes were allowed to do anything to excel? If athletes were allowed to shoot beef roids into their eyeballs, professional sport leagues and the Olympics would turn into pure entertainment. The athletes would look like professional wrestlers. Instead of being amazed by Michael Phelps's 12,000 caloric intake days, the media would be following his roid regime.

Would athletes even honestly discuss what they were taking and where they obtained their drugs? Doubtful, why level the playing field - that's one of the reasons athletes roid up, to get an advantage over the competition. Now the real race occurs off the field - who has the best roid connection. Imagine if Bob Costas chose to interview Dara Torres' chemist rather than her. The scientists and chemists would love to see this happen, because then they, not the athletes, would get all the attention. Rather than MLB's slogan back in the day, "Chicks Dig the Long Ball", the new slogan will be: "Chicks Dig the Chemists".

Olympic PED Preview

2008-08-07T13:50:00.012-04:00

With the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics a day away, a PED preview is in order.

According to the Chinese Anti-doping Agency, China has conducted over 5,000 doping tests on its Olympic candidates in the past several months. At the same time, the State Food and Drug watchdog has increased their control over the production, use, distribution, import and export of prohibited substances according to officials last week. This is a step in the right direction for the host country, but will the outside world believe everything and/or anything from the government controlled press?

This Olympiad will mark the first where testing methods are in place to detect the use of human growth hormone (HGH). The benefits of HGH include boosting strength and speeding recovery. The new test will track HGH use beyond 48 hours.

At the Sydney Games in 2000, there were 12 positive doping violations out of 2,500 urine tests for a 0.48% positive instance per test. In 2004, at the Athens Games, the most doping violations in Olympic history occurred with 26. There were an estimated 3,375 tests conducted for a 0.77% positive instance per test. The positive instance occurrence per test jumped 60% from 2000 to 2004. If this trend continues, there will be a 1.23% positive instance per test or approximately 55 athletes testing positive at these Games.

In a poll on this blog, the highest number of athletes to be busted for PED's at the Games (8.8 - 24.08) were 21-25 (12% of respondents). The highest possible answer was greater than 25. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge expects up to 40 athletes to be caught doping at these games. 40 athletes would represent a 54% increase in the number of athletes caught doping from the Athens Games. Rogge's prediction is based on the increased testing and improved quality of urinalysis.

Already doping has ended the Olympic dreams of 20 athletes from all over the world and from sports as diverse as race walking, swimming, middle distance running and weight lifting. Notable athletes banned from competition include:

Yelena Soboleva, Russian world record holder and favorite in the 800 and 1,500 meters

Jessica Hardy, American swimmer tested positive for clenbuterol

Song Hongjuan, Chinese race walker

The entire Bulgarian weight lifting team (11 members in total male and female)

The Olympic doping testing period began July 27th and runs until the Games end. Let the Games begin.

Big Brown is Back...Will be Clean before Breeders’ Cup

2008-08-04T16:22:00.008-04:00

Big Brown came from behind to win at the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Sunday beating 20-1 long shot Coal Play by one-and-three-quarter-lengths.

A victory is a victory, even though it was unlike any of Big Brown's previous wins where he"destroyed" the field according to trainer Rick Dutrow. Like any good salesman, Dutrow spun the unimpressive victory by playing up the competition. "The other horse (Coal Play) ran a huge, huge race. That’s why maybe it looked like Brown didn't look like himself. But, man, in the last eighth of a mile, he really got himself together. He showed us that he’s back in town."

A week earlier, Representative Bobby L. Rush, chairman of the congressional subcommittee that investigated horse racing and performance-enhancing drugs during hearings in June, sent a letter to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority (KHRA) asking why Dutrow only received a 15-day suspension for a positive test when the rules appeared to dictate a harsher penalty. The KHRA could have suspended Dutrow up to 60 days for a first offense and one to six months for a second offense. Dutrow has been fined or suspended at least once for the past 9 years. Apparently, the KHRA did not feel that Dutrow's previous missteps did not take place under their jurisdiction or simply were not relevant when netting out their current punishment for this transgression.

Look for more Congressional involvement in the sport after inconsistent enforcement of doping violations and look for a bit more skepticism from the public when it comes to Big Brown's earlier Winstrol-aided feats. The next confirmed race on Big Brown's schedule is the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25. Big Brown's owners (IEAH) have said all their horses will be PED-free by October 1st. If Big Brown wins at Santa Anita, don't expect him to "destroy" the competition.

Jessica Hardy Fails Test for Substance that Ensnared Trainer

2008-07-28T15:19:00.011-04:00

U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for the banned stimulant clenbuterol last week and is in the process of expedited arbitration proceedings to see whether she can swim at the Olympics next month. Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator belonging to a class of drugs known as beta-2 agonists. It is similar to albuterol which is one medication that Dara Torres currently uses legally by having a therapeutic use exemption (TUE). Unlike albuterol, no TUE's are permitted for clenbuterol because clenbuterol and zilpaterol are considered anabolic agents.

Clenbuterol has also been mentioned here when Big Brown trainer, Rick Dutrow's horse, Salute the Count, tested positive for two times the allowable amount back in May. The drug is an approved medication in horse racing used primarily as a bronchial dilator, which increases lung capacity.

I'll float two possible scenarios to explain Hardy's positive test:

One, Hardy has asthma, a TUE and accidentally grabbed the "wrong" inhaler which led to the positive test on July 4th while tests on July 1st and 6th were negative.

Two, as Gary Hall Jr. said earlier that the sport was adopting "entertainment morals" perhaps Hardy could speculate that a teammate sabotaged her asthma medication with the banned stimulant. If that type of reality tv shenanigans occurred, that would draw more interest to the pool and provide a whodunit element ensuring everyone on the team received their 15 minutes of fame...Now that would be entertaining.

You Know You're Doping When...

2008-07-24T10:33:00.006-04:00

You flee anti-doping officials. That's what two stage Tour de France winner, Riccardo Ricco chose to do when anti-doping officials were looking for a sample after the fourth stage on July 8th.

Pierre Bordry, the head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), gave this description of the failed great escape, "When he knew he was going to be tested, he went off, and it is the escort who caught him. He found himself blocked off. There was a traffic jam of cars and he could not get through the cars."

The AFLD asked Ricco and his team, Saunier Duval for an apology. The AFLD decided to test Ricco everyday after his erratic behavior. Ricco was expelled before the start of the 12th stage after test results came back positive for EPO and his team quit the race. Ricco and fellow teammate Leonardo Piepoli were then fired.

One has to wonder what Ricco was thinking? If he avoided the doping officials in stage 4, would he have tested clean for the remainder of the race? Did he think officials and the media wouldn't be suspicious if he suddenly wanted to get another ride in after a grueling time trial? Here's a novel, inexpensive testing method: if an athlete flees at the site of doping officials, that counts as a failed test.

Marion Jones Asks President Bush to Commute Sentence

2008-07-22T13:13:00.004-04:00

Marion Jones is one of the hundreds of convicted felons who have applied for presidential pardons or sentence commutations from President George W. Bush. She is seeking Bush to commute her six-month prison sentence. The Justice Department will review her application and make a recommendation to the president. A pardon removes a conviction from a person's record while a commutation only reduces or eliminates the person's sentence.

Jones entered a Fort Worth, TX prison on March 7th and is currently serving six months for lying to federal agents about using PED's and her involvement in a fraudulent check writing scam that ensnared the father of her older son (and a former WFM) Tim Montgomery. The check writing scam involved cashing millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged checks.

In January, Jones was sentenced to six months in prison and 400 hours of community service in each of the two years following her release. She was sentenced to six months relating to the steroids and two months relating to the check fraud, but allowed to serve both sentences concurrently.

Marion: don't expect W. to do you any favors. You get an "A" for effort, but really what are you thinking? Do you think being a former Olympic hero will grant you a favor with the president? Tonya Harding didn't have the gall to ask for a pardon when President Clinton was leaving office for her role in attacking fellow figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

The president invoked the evils of steroids in his 2004 State of the Union address when he said, "The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football and other sports is dangerous and it sends the wrong message: that there are shortcuts to accomplishment and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough and to get rid of steroids now."

Marion: You sent the wrong message that there are shortcuts to accomplishments and now you're looking for W to provide you with another shortcut! For you, performance was more important than character and apparently still is...you did the crime, do the time...all of it. I'd be shocked by your audacity, but shock and awe, when it comes to athletes went away a long time ago when they professed their innocence for years only to be forced to tell the truth...or face a longer jail sentence. Bad play, Marion.

Dara Torres is on PED's...Legally

2008-07-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

NBC is pinning its ratings hopes for the Beijing Games on the momentum surrounding the unbelievable story of 41-year old swimmer Dara Torres. After her World Record performance at the Olympic Trials, it is now speculated that she will be the flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies on 08.08.08.

Skeptics have questioned how it is possible that she swam faster this year than 20 years ago. Other recent athletes whose performance improved in their 40's were aided by PED's, most notably Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.

This performance is made possible by the financial resources available to an ex-model and the daughter of the one-time owner of the Aladdin casino (along with Wayne Newton) combined with her Type A personality devotion to training, according to a piece in the New York Times. She reportedly spends over $100,000 a year on a bevy of coaches (head, sprint and strength) and receives additional support from two stretchers, two masseuses, a chiropractor and a nanny.

It turns out, this performance is possible in part (and what NBC and the rest of mainstream media fails to inform the public) by performance enhancing drugs. Torres' has a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for Symbicort (active ingredient formoterol) and Proventil (active ingredient albuterol) to treat asthma which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's 2008 Prohibited List under Beta - 2 Agonists. Unusual in Torres' case, her asthmatic condition was diagnosed only 18 months ago.

Amy Van Dyken, a former gold medalist swimmer, suffers from asthma. In a 1999 CNN online chat, Van Dyken admitted to using a "Ventilin (active ingredient albuterol) inhaler every day as needed. I'm on a Flovent (active ingredient fluticasone) inhaler twice a day; I'm on Serevent (active ingredient salmeterol) inhaler twice a day and a bunch of other stuff." She went on to win two Gold Medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Two of the medications mentioned are beta 2 agonists, but these drugs were not banned until September 2001. Van Dyken was also forced to testify to the BALCO grand jury in 2003. Gary Hall Jr., a former teammate of Van Dyken, recently questioned the validity of her accomplishments by comparing her to Marion Jones. Hall also doubts that the sport is clean. He is aware that the dopers will always be in front of the testers. Hall said, "This sport has become entertainment and it has taken on the morals of the entertainment industry where you can cut corners - and cheaters do prosper." Van Dyken has never tested positive for any PED.

Asthma and sports is a topic that no one wants to address. Why do more Olympic athletes suffer from asthma than the general population? Among athletes surveyed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 10% took asthma medications yet only 1% of the general population suffers from asthma. The number of Australian Olympians calling themselves asthmatic jumped from 10% to 21% in 12 years. In the Winter Olympics the number of people using asthmatic drugs is much greater. According to the late International Olympic Committee (IOC) medical chief Alexander de Merode, 70 to 80 percent of the athletes are using asthmatic drugs. The question is why this abnormality when it comes to Olympic athletes and the logical answer is that the substances used to treat asthma improves performance.

Changes to the asthma assessment regarding the use of beta - 2 agonists were made in 2001 by the IOC after some disturbing trends were discovered at the 2000 Sydney Games. There was a large increase in the number of athletes notifying the panel of the need to inhale a beta-2-agonist at the 2000 Sydney Games and ironically enough the notifications were predominantly requested in endurance sports. It was at this time that TUE's would be granted for beta - 2 agonists.

Per the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) website, the criteria for granting a TUE include an athlete experiencing significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance and the use of the substance would not produce significant enhancement of performance. In Torres case, was she really experiencing "significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance" 18 months ago? What about two, five, ten and twenty years ago? Given her unlimited financial resources, one would think that a proper diagnosis of asthma would have been detected years ago. It would appear that the use of the substance did factor into her Olympic Trials performance. Now it is up to WADA to determine if the substance was a "significant enhancement of performance."

I raised both these issues with an official at WADA, but never received a response. In addition, I inquired whether WADA periodically reviews TUE's and has the ability to revoke a TUE during the year.

Everyone wants to believe in the unbelievable - that's entertainment. However, we are discussing international athletic competition, not entertainment. The public is under the impression that what it witnesses is pure and genuine. Lately, the public's trust in the pure and genuine of sport has crumbled with the fall from grace of Marion Jones, Barry Bonds and Floyd Landis. Before we get sucked into NBC and mainstream media's hype machine, let's analyze the facts: Torres admits to using banned substances, but has in essence a "doctor's note" by having a TUE saying that she needs the medication. In order to qualify for a TUE, one needs to demonstrate that significant health problems would occur without it and that her use of it is not performance enhancing. This condition developed 18 months ago despite having the financial resources to see the best doctors and receive the best treatment throughout her life.

If that's all she's using then legally she's clean, but morally is another story.

1st Bust Unoffically Signals Start of Tour de France

2008-07-13T14:56:00.006-04:00

For mainstream media in the U.S., the Tour de France strated on Friday with the doping bust of Spanish rider Manuel Beltran. For those not paying attention, the Tour de France officially started on July 5th.

Beltran was suspended from the Liquigas cycling team and kicked out of the Tour de France after testing positive for EPO on July 5th after the first stage. If Beltran was using EPO on the first stage, his chances of winning the Tour were never that good to begin with. Beltran was a teammate of Lance Armstrong helping him win the Tour in '03, '04 & '05. Beltran is the fourth former Lance Armstrong teammate to test positive for doping after Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton and Roberto Heras .

Pierre Bordry, leader of the French anti-doping agency, said Beltran had been targeted after his "parameters were abnormal" during pre-Tour blood testing July 3-4.

Let's give the Tour some credit. Race organizers know their sport is in dire straits and have constantly raised the bar for combating doping. This year the Tour employs 8 specially trained chaperones who shadow riders after each stage, going as far as climbing onto team buses, to ensure cyclists go to post-stage anti-doping checks. Tour officials are realistic enough to know they won't eliminate the problem, but at least they are being out in front of the issue.

Curlin Off Roids...Looking for 4th Win Roid Free

2008-07-12T12:13:00.001-04:00

Today Curlin will look to win it's 4th race in a row, roid free.

After being named the 2007 Horse of the Year, it turns out, Curlin might have been aided during his impressive run by Big Brown's roid of choice, Winstrol. His owner Jess Jackson, has acknowledged Curlin's past roid usage and now wants to prove that Curlin is a roid-free champion.

In January, Jackson "discovered" that Curlin was roiding up from trainer Steve Asmussen and advised him to stop its use. Since cycling off the juice Curlin is undefeated, and crushed the field in a seven-and-three-quarter-length victory over an impressive field at the $6 million Dubai World Cup in March. Dubai has the some of the world's toughest testing standards in horse racing.

In today's Grade I $500,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park, Curlin will try to keep the roid free winning streak alive. This race is important for Curlin and Jackson because their sights are set on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 5 at Longchamp Race Course in Paris. If Curlin can win today and in October, Jackson hopes that he can bring back some much needed credibility to the sport of horse horsing.

“I’m trying to prove that Curlin is a real champion, and that we can race horses into their 4-year-old years and beyond,” said Jackson, 78, the founder and owner of Kendall-Jackson Winery. “I want to show the industry that we can breed horses with stamina and durability, and race them clean.”

Last month, Jackson put all his trainers on notice (he has more than 60 racehorses) that he would take the step to independently drug test his horses after each race. The owners of Big Brown, IEAH, have also said they will do this starting in October. Unlike most professional sports, Jackson has instituted a one strike and you're out policy: the trainer would be fired for any positive test.

Ironically enough, Texas racing officials said that a horse trained by Asmussen tested positive for the anesthetic lidocaine, the same drug that Roger Clemens said Brian McNamee injected him with and not the PED's that McNamme alleges.

What is it with baseball players and horses taking the same drugs? Isn't there something inherently wrong if the same drugs that Barry Bonds allegedly used to fuel his assault on the home run record is being used to fuel Big Brown's assault on the Triple Crown? If anything, this disturbing development leads credence to the claim that pets should be able to take psychotic drugs that humans take - apparently animals and humans are reaping the same benefits.

In this specific instance, Asmussen took a page from the "tested positive athlete" playbook and has denied wrongdoing, claiming that the test was "faulty" and that he was not allowed to send the samples to a lab of his choosing. Isn't the purpose of having independent testing so that the possible cheat doesn't have the option to send it to a "friendly" lab? Lucky for Asmussen, Jackson is buying his story! Jackson will take a wait and see approach before any discipline. I'm sure today's race had nothing to do with altering his stance on the one and done strict discipline policy.

The Problem with MLB

2008-07-09T23:11:00.001-04:00

Over the 4th of July weekend, MLB unveiled Stars & Stripes caps for all 30 MLB teams as part of a "Welcome Back Veterans" program created by New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon. Though the Stars & Stripes program is not relevant to the Toronto Blue Jays, fortunately for Blue Jay fan, they were not left out of the program (their cap had the Canadian flag).

According to the AP, Wilpon hopes to raise $100 million. MLB will donate a portion of the cap sales (retailing at $34.99 each) to the program. The majority of the revenue not going to the vets will go to MLB, Mr. Wilpon himself and the other MLB owners. This is another classic example of MLB trying to do the "right" thing, but once again, coming up short. MLB's recent stances regarding uniforms, PED's and "staged moments" indicate that there needs to be a change at the top, specifically Bud Selig.

Regarding uni's, in March 2007 MLB instructed Craig Biggio to remove a cancer pin he had worn on his hat during spring training games for the previous 20 years. Biggio was the national spokesman for the Sunshine Kids foundation. Baseball card photos are usually taken during spring training and during his involvement with the cancer stricken kids, he knew how important it was for them to see the pin on his baseball card. However, baseball didn't give a damn about kids with cancer. MLB sent a fax to the Astros advising management for him to remove the pin. The umpires working the next spring training game were advised that he was not allowed to take the field with the pin.

MLB didn't support Biggio's charitable work for cancer and forced him to remove a pin during meaningless exhibition games. One year later, MLB is dictating to all players that they need to wear a Stars & Stripes cap and appear as if they support the veterans whether they personally do or not. Most educated fans see this for what is: a publicity stunt and another way for MLB to milk the fans of their money by making them purchase yet another "special" cap. Using recent history as a guide, MLB does not support children with cancer, but whole heartily supports the veterans. A bit of a hypocritical stance for MLB, but that's how they roll under current leadership.

If only MLB was as vigilant with PED's as they were with uniform violations, perhaps MLB will not be questioned by Congress every six months. It is nice to know that their response time was about the same for uniform and PED violations: 20 years after the initial violation! After 20 years of wearing the pin, MLB decides to "crack down" which is approximately the same amount of time it took for a steroid testing program to be implemented after the drugs first started appearing in the sport. Excellent work, MLB - way to be enforcing uniform violations rather than players using illegal drugs - that's keeping your eye on the ball.

The reason why MLB was not out in front on both issues comes down to the same issue: money. When Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire brought baseball back from the brink, ownership and the Commissioner were not at all going to ruin a good thing. Attendance, ratings and interest were all up. That was not the time to "do the right thing" and set the right example for the kids who looked up to these juiced up ballers. Going as far to incorporate benefits of the Roid Era into marketing campaigns ("Chicks Dig the Long Ball") is proof that the people in the home office knew what was selling and they were going to ride it to the bank.

Uniforms too were changing about every three years for every non historical team (Devil Rays to Rays, different logos, etc.). MLB and ownership trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the public by constantly parading new merchandise for the fans. A fan of the New York Yankees is not going to buy a new Yankee lid each year, but a fan of the Brewers might buy the new uniform lid, retro lid and/or the Sunday home lid to mix it up with his old lid. Ownership will say that they have to change uniforms every 3 to 5 years in order to compete with the traditional powers because of the economic inequalities. Merchandise revenue is just another source of revenue that would allow a small market team to compete with a traditional, big market club.

The other issue with this Stars & Stripes event is it has the same feel as other "staged events" recently held by MLB. Usually these events occur at historical moments such as Barry Bonds passing Hank Aaron or at the All-Star Game, where an icon from the sport will be brought out and the current stars of today will race out to slap five with the "old school" player. This took place at the 1999 All-Star Game when Ted Williams rode out of center field on a golf cart and was then greeted by the current all stars at the pitcher's mound. The fans appreciate the spontaneous historical moments, like when Aaron passed Ruth and the two fans ran out on the field to congratulate him. These forced celebrations have the sincerity and feel of a forced smile at a disgruntled family reunion. Stop banging us over the head and making the public feel like they are witnessing something "special" or "historic". They (and time) will make that determination.

Personally I haven't seen too many people rolling in their team's Stars & Stripes lid so I think Mr. Wilpon will have to revise his goal of $100 million downward. Either that or hope fans have buyers remorse when MLB busts out the S&S lids on Sep. 11th.

Owner Advises Dutrow He's on Short Leash

2008-07-03T13:47:00.008-04:00

Michael Iavarone, co-owner of IEAH which owns Big Brown is tiring of trainer Rick Dutrow's act, but is still is impressed with his results.

He told a reporter for ESPN that Dutrow is on "a short leash" in the aftermath of his handling of his latest drug offense. Salute the Count, Dutrow's horse he was training, tested positive for having more than two times the amount of clenbuterol after finishing second in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 2nd. Dutrow faces a 15 day suspension.

Dutrow took the high road stating that the media has overblown the situation and that he had not intentionally broken any rules saying, "It's my responsibility, but it's not my fault."

Iavarone did go on to praise his trainer for an impressive win at the Belmont when 40-1 long shot Frost Giant won the Grade I Suburban Handicap this past Saturday.

At some point IEAH will have to make up their mind regarding Dutrow: either they are a results driven organization no matter what tactics are employed or they take a stand and break a trainer off who has been suspended at least once per year for the past nine years. Mr. Iavarone, ball is in your court.