Steroid Nation

German speedskater on thin ice: Claudia Pechstein begins PED suspension

Olympic speed-skater Claudia Pechstein starts a two year ban based on blood doping, devined from her blood indices.  Considering Germany's awful past with doping, it is entirely  disconcerting for an elite German athlete to dope.  (AP)

Olympic speed-skating great Claudia Pechstein of Germany was banned for two years because of blood doping Friday and will miss the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The International Skating Union said Pechstein's blood profile indicated abnormal changes in a series of tests, in particular after the World Allround Championships in February. The governing body ruled after a two-day hearing.

The 37-year-old skater is a five-time Olympic gold medalist. She is banned until Feb. 9, 2011 and can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Pechstein was stripped of her results in the 500-meter and 3,000-meter races Feb. 7 at the World Allround event, where she finished fifth and fourth, respectively.

Pechstein had hoped to compete in Vancouver for her sixth straight Winter Games. She won her first gold medal in the 5,000 in Lillehammer in 1994, and won at the same distance in Nagano in 1998 and Salt Lake City in 2002. She also won the 3,000 in Salt Lake City and was part of  Germany's winning team in the pursuit in Turin in 2006.

She also won two Olympic silvers and two bronze medals, including a third-place finish in the 5,000 at the 1992 Albertville Games, along with six world championship titles.

Manny Ramirez sneaks back from steroid suspension

As arguably baseball's biggest steroid suspension, Manny Ramirez accomplished an uneventful return to the LA Dodgers lineup on this 4th of July, 2009.  Appears that steroid and PED abuse is so prevalent that a large segment of the population just either doesn't care about cheating the game, or worse even encourages the bloating of players.  From Reuters:

Manny Ramirez made a low key return to the Los Angeles Dodgers line-up after serving a 50-game ban for a doping offense on Friday, the slugger going 0-for-3 during his team's 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres.

Playing for the first time since the suspension was handed out on May 7 for violating the Major League Baseball drug policy, Ramirez brought the Padres home Petco Park to its feet during his first at-bat, a first-inning walk.

The right-hander also grounded out twice and popped out before being replaced in left field by Juan Pierre in the bottom of the sixth.

"It was great. I was nervous at first but it was fine," Ramirez told reporters.

So many athletes abused PEDs and AASs that Ramirez should not become the poster boy for 'roiders; on the other hand it is amazing that baseball gave up a premier player...something the sport could not effect for Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds.

"It was great. I was nervous at first but it was fine," Ramirez told reporters.

"I want to thank my fans. I think they drove from (Los Angeles) just to watch me play and it was unbelievable. This team can do a lot of great things without me. I'm just trying to follow those guys."

With a large contingent of Dodger supporters making their way to the sold-out stadium of 42,217 fans, Ramirez was welcomed warmly for the most part with the applause drowning out the boos.

His much anticipated return included a pre-game news conference in which he apologized to fans and team mates but refused to answer questions about the banned substances that evoked his suspension.

"I don't want to get into (that)," Ramirez told reporters.

"I don't want to talk about my record. I just want to talk about the game. It was tough but it's over.

"I'm moving on."

Manny should move on, but baseball shouldn't.

Boston police involved in steroid scandal

Police everywhere appear to abusing steroids.  New York, Florida, Texas, Phoenix, Cleveland to name a few municipalities.  Now Boston police are involved in a steroid, drugs, and hooker scandal.

Police officers, like everyone else, sometimes behave badly. Eight officers were suspended after a three-year investigation into steroid use by the BPD, FBI and the U.S Attorney. Four other cops were suspended for visiting the "Boom Boom Room", a Hyde Park brothel. The steroid-related suspensions range from 5-80 days. The Herald said Commissioner Ed Davis confirmed a grand jury is investigating the "Boom Boom Room". Extensive details on both matters are available at BPDNews.com. [Boston Herald]

The Boston Herald carries more info:

The stepbrother of murder victim Imette St. Guillen is among seven decorated officers suspended without pay for admitting they previously abused steroids as far back as 2001, Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis somberly announced yesterday.

“There’s an emerging trend in law enforcement regarding the use of steroids,” Davis said in culmination of a three-year internal probe. “Unfortunately, we were on the leading edge of this. Luckily, it’s not very widespread.”

2003 Major League Baseball steroids list: fact or fiction

Apparently a list of 104 players testing positive during the 2003 MLB preliminary steroids testing, surfaced on the net yesterday.  There is no way of knowing the authenticity of such a compilation of names.  It could be fantasy, or it could be a leak -- which did not find outlet through a credible source.

If such a list were available, then why did Senator Mitchell not discover the document during his well-financed, thorough investigation?

Links are found here (Rotoworld) and here (The Big Lead)

Play the Game 2009

We are in Coventry England to present papers at WADA's Play the Game Conference.  We apologize for the lapse in coverage of the steroid and doping scene; however we can tell you that Prime Minster Gordon Brown is in a bit of a predicament.

Catch up with things later.

Greg Lemond is on the podium today...should be interesting.

Tampa newspaper reports on teen bodybuilding

Tampa Bay Online carries a piece on teen bodybuilding, which at face value should present an activity for health, self-esteem, and socialization.  Obviously there is some risk, as with sports in general.

One risk is the exposure to PEDs and steroids.  Among the problems delimited in the story were the troubles with adolescent steroid use.

...Camona, of the American Council of Exercise, said supplements don't have a lasting effect, so competitors looking for an edge could turn to banned performance enhancers such as steroids.

In some bodybuilding circles, steroids are the ultimate answer. In May, a national professional bodybuilding competition in Belgium was abruptly canceled when every contestant withdrew to avoid dealing with the arrival of random drug testers. Two weeks ago, Polk County sheriff's investigators seized an enormous steroid stash. Among the items confiscated: amateur bodybuilding trophies won by husband-and-wife defendants.

Baker said it's much more likely to hear talk about steroids in bodybuilding than other high school sports. "Bodybuilding is that, probably, times 10," he said.

Another risk to teens, would be a morbid interest in physique, leading to body dysmorphia.

That doesn't surprise Ennis, who said he considered shutting down the Mr. and Miss Falcon event at Leto in the mid-1990s because he suspected students were using steroids. Instead, he said, he redirected the bodybuilding contest and made it less competitive.

It's about looks

Entering a high school bodybuilding contest is no easy decision. Female students have to be willing to go onstage in no more than a bikini or sports bra and micro shorts; boys wear compression shorts or less. They perform a routine in front of their peers, flexing all the major muscles, from abs to the gluteus maximus.

Samantha Hensley, Durant's Miss Cougar 2008, thought she had the nerve even though she weighed just more than 100 pounds. She loved working out before the competition and seeing her muscles develop.

But when Hensley hit the stage, some in the audience booed. Text messages and jeers from other students after the win were ruthless, as were the comments she discovered on Facebook, where someone posted an unflattering picture from the event and called her anorexic.

"I don't know if it was worth it. It's so hard when everyone's so mean," said Hensley, now a student at Florida Southern College. She attended this year's competition, and was disappointed to again hear boos targeting some contestants.

No matter the sponsors' healthful intentions, the high school bodybuilding contests "amp up" the pressure for teens to focus on body image, said USF's Professor Thompson.

"You can pitch this as fitness, but what they are being judged on is not their heart rate. It's about how they look," said Thompson, co-editor of "The Muscular Ideal" (American Psychological Association, 2007).

Doping suspension hits University of Calgory Dinos linebacker Duncan McLean

A University of Calgary Dinos football player will be suspended for doping the next two seasons.  That's right, the Dinos are officially dopers.

University of Calgary Dinos football player has been removed from the team and deemed ineligible for play in Canadian Interuniversity Sport for two years after a positive doping test. Linebacker Duncan McLean tested positive for Oxymetholone metabolites, an anabolic steroid on the 2009 World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List, following an out-of-competition urine test March 20.

McLean completed his third-year with the Dinos in 2008, playing in seven regular season and two playoff games.

"The University of Calgary is unequivocally opposed to the use of banned substances by our student-athletes," said Dinos Director of Athletics Kevin Boyles in a Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport press release May 27. "We have a zero-tolerance policy both at the U of C and in CIS. We are fully supportive of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program and hope that this unfortunate situation sends a strong message throughout the league."

Drug and doping testing varies by sport in the CIS. Because of cost, the CIS focuses their resources where there's strong concern there will be doping. Hockey and football players are tested more than other athletes. Football players are commonly tested five or six times a year, Boyles told the Gauntlet.

All CIS athletes can be tested 365 days a year, any day, both in season and out of competition, and up to 18 months after they finish their CIS career. Testing is done randomly and via a sample of players.

McLean's violation ends his CIS career. He will be suspended for his two remaining years of eligibility, but will be allowed to continue pursuing his degree at the U of C, Boyles said.

"We're always concerned and this just reminds us we need to continue to be very diligent with our education process," he added. "We're stepping up our efforts with providing our athletes with tested and screened supplement alternatives that we know are clean and that we know they can take. ... We need to put those efforts in to make sure it doesn't happen again. But at the end of the day, each individual athlete is in control of what they put into their bodies, you just can't prevent it from happening if they make that bad decision."

Dude took Anadrol, which caused the positive.

Lest you berate the Dinos football program, they have had 3 players drafted by the CFL.

Summary of recent Texas steroid bust

For more complete coverage of the large Texas steroid bust last week, and much more comprehensive than we can offer, go to this site --- Mesomorphis.

Operation Farmacia de Juicy Phruit is the code name for the major steroid bust in Houston led by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department involving the arrest of 73 defendants. The “largest narcotics operation in the history of Fort Bend County” primarily involved the arrest of personal trainers, their clients, bodybuilders, a professional bodybuilder and a gym owner in the Houston area. Many of the arrests only involved steroid possession. The steroid network was characterized by Sheriff Milton Wright as a “loose knit” network of individuals involved in fitness/bodybuilding who distributed steroids through “word of mouth”. The total amount of steroids sold over a period of about six years was estimated to have been $643,924 (”Authorities round up drug suspects,” May 27).

California physician Ramon Scruggs pleads guilty

The US District Attorney received some PR, and California steroids doctor Ramon Scruggs copped some pleas it was announced yesterday.  As readers recall, Scruggs was a major supplier of steroids and PEDs to professional athletes, and apparently normal people too.  To the Imperial Valley News:

United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams announced that Dr. Ramon Scruggs pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to illegally distribute anabolic steroids and illegally smuggle human growth hormone into the United States, and one count of money laundering, in violation.

Dr. Scruggs, 61, of Tustin, California, was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 6, 2008.  He was charged with conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, specifically, the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids and the illegal smuggling of human growth hormone into the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; the distribution of anabolic steroids, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841; misbranding drugs held for sale with intent to defraud and mislead, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 331(k); conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956; and money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A).  Under the plea agreement, Dr. Scruggs is pleading to the counts charging him with conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and to bring human growth hormone into the United States and one count of money laundering.

In pleading guilty, Dr. Scruggs admitted that between 2000 and 2003, he distributed anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (“HGH”) to individuals in a manner outside the usual course of professional practice while operating his medical practice at New Hope Health Center in Costa Mesa, California.  Dr. Scruggs further admitted that he knew that such distributions were not for a legitimate medical purpose, and that they were instead for non-legitimate purposes,  including performance enhancement.

Dr. Scruggs admitted that he illegally distributed between 250 to 1,000 10cc vials of anabolic steroids.  He further admitted that on or about May 17, 2003, he illegally distributed the anabolic steroid testosterone to a person in Santa Clara County, and that he caused this distribution of anabolic steroids without a medically adequate examination.

Dr. Scruggs further admitted that he asked others to assist him in the illegal distribution of steroids.  On March 11, 2003, an individual under the authority of Dr. Scruggs wire-transferred $3,605 from a bank account under Dr. Scrugg’s control at that time, Bank of America Account #02020-01935, from San Francisco, California,  to the People’s Republic of China.  The purpose of this transfer was to make a payment for HGH Dr. Scruggs had prescribed for patients without a medically adequate reason or a medically recognized need.

So the Scruggs book appears closed.  Scruggs supplied dope to athletes like Troy Glaus.  Although no one would condone Glaus's actions given the widespread use of PEDs, Glaus might have thought he was cautious going to visit a doctor who apperaed to use PEDs in his practice.  In this case, the doctor is more at fault than the patient...and  problaby liable to a lawsuit too.

Danica Patrick gets caught in typical thinking" "It aint cheating unless you get caught"

How many times have we heard it?  It ain't a foul unless the ref blows the whistle.  It ain't cheating unless you get caught.  It ain't illegal unless you get arrested.  Danica Patrick knows it.

Not to advocate a world of obsessive rules, bureaucratic entanglements, and snitches, but really can we ever expect to make a dent (to coin a phrase) in cheating and drug-cheating if this attitude permeates the world?  Don't hold your breath waiting for change.  To the Seattle Times:

The CEO of U.S. Anti-Doping Agency isn't amused by driver's comment in Sports Illustrated: IndyCar driver Danica Patrick insists she was joking when she said using performance-enhancing drugs would only be cheating if she got caught.

Not so funny, said the leader of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Travis Tygart, USADA chief executive officer, said Patrick's comments, printed in Sports Illustrated, were "totally irresponsible."

"In one interview, she undercut what millions of parents try their best to teach their kids every day in this country, that winners never cheat and cheaters never win," Tygart said Monday.

In an interview with Dan Patrick published in Sports Illustrated, Danica Patrick was asked if she could take a performance-enhancing drug and not get caught, would she do it if it allowed her to win the Indianapolis 500.

"Well, then it's not cheating, is it? If nobody finds out?" she said.

Dan Patrick responded: "So you would do it?"

Danica's answer: "Yeah, it would be like finding a gray area. In motor sports, we work in the gray areas a lot. You're trying to find where the holes are in the rule book."

Danica Patrick, 27, later said she was joking and apologized in the event her comments came across differently.

"It was a bad joke," she said in an interview that appeared in USA Today.

Right, Danica, a joke.  Like we believe that.

Note this Patrick add.

Big Poppy, David Ortiz, enmeshed in controversy

Pity David Ortiz, Big Poppy of the Boston Red Sox, crowd pleaser, slugger magnificent, and humble star appears welled in a nasty slump that has led to talk and suspicion about steroids.

Ortiz has never admitted steroids or other PEDs.  Ortiz's name never showed up on an Internet list of PED buyers.  Ortiz has not even incurred the wrath of Jose Canseco.

Because Poppy shows no pop in his bat this year, at age 33 Ortiz is hitting .185. The talk in 2009 is that Poppy came down from steroids.

Of course there is no real evidence Ortiz is suffering steroid withdraw.  Does anyone know what a year after steroid withdrawal looks like?  We don't.  To the Eagle-Tribune:

It was about 1:20 p.m. yesterday when Red Sox "slugger" David Ortiz stepped into the batter's box.

Five barbers and five customers, all Dominican men, watched intently on the big screen TV in the back of the busy Flow Barber Shop on Lawrence Street.

Flow Barber Show was a place I expected the last bastion of believers.

I was wrong.

From 2003 through 2008, would have brought silence to Flow's.

But only one of the barbers, Cristian Felipe, cared to stop cutting and look up at the TV.

"It's sad, really sad," said Felipe, through an interpreter, shaking his head. "He's always been the best."

So what's wrong?

What's wrong with Ortiz?

There were almost as many theories as there were men at Flow's.

"He might be all done," said barber Christian Flores. "I'm just glad they moved him out of the third spot (in the lineup). He can't hit. And the Red Sox need a great hitter in that spot."

Felipe says Ortiz hasn't looked the same since Manny Ramirez was traded last July.

"People can say Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay are great hitters, and they are, but they're not Manny Ramirez," said Felipe. "Manny was the best protection Ortiz ever had. He's one of the best hitters ever. Ortiz just hasn't seemed the same."

The steroids rumor — could he have been taking them and stopped? — was also tossed out there. That brought an interesting response.

"I wouldn't doubt that for a second," said Tejada. "I honestly believe about 80 percent of the Dominicans that play in the major leagues probably have tried steroids. In our country, they are easy to get. If you have money to pay for them, you can go to a drug store or a doctor and get them.

"Our country has a lot of poor people and we aren't as educated when it comes to steroids and that other stuff. I know people that have taken steroids. It's different here. Maybe he is off them now and maybe that's the problem? You don't see guys drop off the way he did."

Tejada said the pressure of playing for the Red Sox and being one of the most beloved athletes in the Dominican Republic has become too much.

"I was in the D.R. when Manny was traded and people there jumped ship and traded in their Red Sox caps for Dodgers caps," said Tejada. "Ortiz is really the only Dominican left on the Red Sox and the country depends on him. I know he feels that pressure."

Carlos Nunez, who stopped in for a lunch time haircut, said Ortiz needs to be treated like every other player, Dominican or not.

Nunez said, "If you're not going to produce, you're not going to play. And he's not producing. I would bench him. And if he doesn't hit, I'd find someone else."

Other explanations than steroid withdrawal.  However, those whisper are not likley to be silenced soon.

Busted steroid dealer in Florida says he supplied Washington Capitals and Nationals players

A drug peddler in Florida says he supplied steroids to professional athletes including Washington Capitals and Washington Nationals players.  What might be significant would be a connection to the Caps and steroid use in the NHL.  Never hear much about PEDs in the NHL.

Original report here. To the Washington Times:

Law enforcement officials in Lakeland, Fla., on Tuesday arrested two people on charges of steroid possession who claim they sold the illegal substances to players on the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals teams.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said officers arrested Richard and Sandra Thomas on 10 counts of steroid possession with intent to distribute, 10 counts of importing the drugs and one count of maintaining a dwelling for drug sales.

Judd said Thomas bragged about being one of the largest sellers of steroids in Florida, obtaining the drugs from suppliers all over the world. In making the arrests, the Sheriff's Department seized several loaded weapons, including an AR-15 assault rifle.

Thomas did not name specific players but mentioned the Capitals and Nationals by name in specific interviews, Judd said.

"Richard Thomas told Sheriff's narcotics detectives when he was asked if he had sold steroids to professional athletes, 'Name the sport - if they played it, I sold it,''" Judd said in a statement Wednesday morning. "Then Richard Thomas went further and specifically mentioned two  professional sports teams from the Washington D.C. area whose players he had sold steroids to - the DC Nationals baseball team, and the Washington Capitals hockey team. While he stated to detectives that he sold steroids to professional athletes on those teams, he did not mention any specific players' names."

Judd said that Polk County detectives have yet to uncover any evidence to support Thomas' claims that but that an investigation is ongoing.

Now besieged by problems, Autrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl crashes career

Once close to the top of cycling world, Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl retired from the sport, apparently eschewing the dope-for-wins philosophy in pro cycling.  Kohl is currently mired in a professional,personal, and legal quagmire of doping, and doping allegations.

Reflecting on this event, one cannot but help to think about the twisted culture of pro cycling.  Ostensibly based on an activity that promotes health and fitness, all too often pro cycling promotes drug-cheating, dishonesty, and death from doping drugs like EPO.  Kohl apparently tired of this nonsense, calling his career kaput.

It might be easy to drawn down on Kohl and individual athletes.  Much of the disdain may be merited because no one should absolve these dopers of responsibility.  However the system of management, doctors, trainers, personal managers that promotes doping should also be highly implicated.  The athletes (in Europe) often are punished while the doctors behind the dopers simple get rich.  From the Examiner:

Bernhard Kohl of Austria, the disgraced former rider for the former Gerolsteiner team, has retired from cycling and said Monday he will not return to the sport after his doping-related suspension ends.

"I don't want to continue leading a double life which is based on lies," Kojhl said at a press conference in Vienna, Austria.

Kohl originally finished third overall in the 2008 Tour de France, 73 seconds behind race winner Carlos Sastre. But Kohl, 27, tested positive for the EPO derivative CERA during the Tour de France and later confessed to having used illegal doping products and methods for most of his career. He was given a two-year suspension.

Kohl's dismissal from the Tour improved riders below him in the overall standings one position, including American Christian Vande Velde from fifth to fourth.

"Without doping there is no equal opportunity in the top international field," Kohl said. "This is absolutely the end. I have voluntarily doped – in a system in which you can't win without doping. Talent, training and iron discipline just aren't enough at some point. Doping becomes the rule. A clean sport is unfortunately an exception."

Kohl said that he would now dedicate himself to doping prevention, by speaking on the subject and organizing cycling camps.

MLB fan opinion: High salaries are more problematic for baseball than steroids

The American Chronicle carries a piece on baseball, and the problems fans perceive.  Apparently salaries -- which are set by supply and demand -- are perceived are more problematic than steroid-cheats.

I was watching Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN 2 today (March 2009), when they discussed an interesting survey conducted with baseball fans. The question: What is the one thing that is most responsible bringing Major League Baseball down? Both Mikes thought the majority would say high ticket prices, but this was only 23%.

Even the steroids abuse was only 22%. The answer that received 51% was the high salaries being paid to baseball players. Interesting is it not? Despite all the media exposure of big name ball players exposed as hypocrites and liars about their steroid use. Despite high ticket prices directly affecting their family economics. Exorbitant salaries are what tick fans off the most.

Perhaps this should not be such a surprise. After all, exorbitant salaries and bonuses have been getting even more media attention than steroids as of late. The public is quickly losing their taste for those being paid ridiculously high salaries and bonuses. We see so many examples of pay far exceeding the value that any one person could offer. If you are the owner of a business, then I say that this is an entirely different matter, but if you are an employee (and even a CEO is an employee), of a publicly help corporation, there should be a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders for reasonable wages.

One argument for high CEO pay is that they are being paid according to their peers. If you do not pay, they will leave and move on. The self serving argument has produced a situation in the USA where a CEO makes over 400 times the earnings of the average worker. The next highest country is 29 times the average worker. The boards of directors that are supposed to oversee companies are composed of CEOs. Why wouldn't they participate in the escalation of salaries and bonuses?

If you argue that the business increases and they deserve these extravagant amounts, I would argue the businesses might be charging too much. If we cut baseball player's salaries then this money flows back to the owners. We then put pressure on the owners to reduce the price of attending a ball game. If we cut executive pay, then shareholders, employees and customers should all benefit.

As a nation, we need to make better judgments as to when enough is enough. Why is it that we so envy power, money and fame? Where has it gotten us? Why are we so concerned about what we have rather than who we are as a human being? What would our daily life be like if we were all more concerned with being good people rather than rich people? All we have to do is establish a mindset of sharing the wealth rather than stealing the wealth.

Interesting comment.  We noted the fan survey which rates salaries a problem.  On one hand, salaries are determined by the market o supply and demand.  Ticket prices too.  This is what baseball fans will pay.

On the other hand the high compensation drives the cheating to a degree.

Korean baseball players juice too: Ma Hae-Yeong

A top Korean professional baseball player leaked the juice: Korean pro ballers 'roid up too.  Mae Hae-Yeong's new book on his time in the Koren leagues reveals some juice, which has caused quite a stir.  To Donga.com

Xports’ commentator Ma Hae-yeong, who once played for the Lotte Giants, unleashed harsh criticism yesterday through his newly published memoirs, “The Original Character of Baseball (Those Who Have the Future).”

The slugger made his debut for Lotte in 1995. After being traded to the Samsung Lions in 2001, the Kia Tigers in 2004, and the LG Twins in 2006, Ma returned to Lotte and retired last year.

He has a career hitting average of .294, 1,609 hits, 260 homeruns, and 1,003 runs scored.

In his memoirs, Ma said around 10 pro players in Korea have taken steroids, mostly foreigners, but that certain Korean players were asked to take banned substances by the foreign players.

“Out of curiosity, certain Korean players took banned substances for a while. The number of Korean players who did is under 10 and most of them have retired. I cannot name them since I don’t want to injure their honor,” he said.

“When I was demoted to second string, I almost yielded to the lure of banned substances. But baseball players no longer took banned drugs. I hope you don’t exaggerate my statement. I wrote this book to prevent young players from falling into a trap.”

The Koreon also comments on cheating by giving away signals (?A-Rod)

Ma also said certain players exchange signs with players on opposing teams, usually friends. “When my friends on the opposing team were about to be benched and asked me for my team’s signs, I couldn’t reject the requests. But these kinds of events happened only after the results were determined,” he said.

Like America's MLB, the Korean organizations were quick to react:

The Korea Baseball Organization and the pro league’s eight teams were quick to hit back at Ma’s accusations.

The league’s director of operations Lee Sang-il said, “We introduced drug testing in 2007 in a first for a professional sports league in Korea. Ma’s claim on banned drugs has significantly damaged the reputation of Korea’s professional baseball league.”

The league conducted two dope tests last year and will conduct three this year. All foreign players are subject to drug testing from this year.

Ma’s criticism of the Giants as “a miser” also angered the club. Team President Lee Sang-gu said, “Ma was misinformed. For example, we couldn’t sign Choo Shin-soo (Cleveland Indians) and Baek Cha-seung (San Diego Padres) since they kept asking for more money.”

Other critics say Ma’s memoirs could cause misunderstanding. A source from one team said, “When certain players suddenly gained weight, we suspected possible use of banned drugs. But we found no evidence. It was rash of Ma to write a book based on his suspicions.”

Steroids, the universal language.

Catch me if you can: Did world class cyclists -- including Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen -- engage in doping conspiracy?

It's one thing to run afoul of the press and the fans using PEDs as a drug-cheat as we saw with Manny Ramirez.  Manny lost a few million dollars, and lost some face with the fans and the Hall of Fame voters.  However, it is quite another thing to be charged in a criminal prosecution.

World class cyclists -- elite competitors  --  Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen appear to be targets of Austrian prosecutors as part of an international doping conspiracy.  To Monsters and Critics:

Vienna prosecutors said Monday that they had started criminal proceedings against cyclists Bernhard Kohl from Austria and Denmark's Michael Rasmussen, as well as Austrian Nordic skier Christian Hoffman, for allegedly running a blood doping operation.

The three are suspected of having invested in a blood centrifuge which they not only used for themselves but also made available to other athletes, Austrian news agency APA reported.

Having just watched "Catch Me if You Can", the video with Leonardo DeCaprio and Tom Hanks, we don't think we would want to see the inside of a European prison (or any prison for that matter).

The third 'co-conspirator -- Christian Hoffman -- is no slouch as a gold medalist in skiing.

Hoffmann, who won a gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, denied the accusations.

'That's absolute nonsense, that's a smear campaign against me,' the Austrian daily Die Presse quoted him in its Monday edition, after his name was the first to be confirmed by prosecutors on Sunday.

Kohl has publicly admitted having used blood doping and having bought the machine together with others. He has been stripped of his third place in the 2008 Tour de France for using the blood booster CERA.

The cyclist's former manager Stefan Matschiner was conditionally released on May 7 after several weeks of detention, as he was heavily implicated by Kohl. The centrifuge was found in Matschiner's apartment in Budapest.

Rasmussen is currently banned for lying about his whereabouts at the 2007 Tour in connection with doping tests.

Blood doping is mainly used in endurance sports. Athletes are injected blood that has been enriched with performance-enhancing red blood cells.

Sounds like these boys were very heavily involved in the doping process.

In the USA, doping obviously carries much more rewards than risks.  If being a drug-cheat were risky would athletes like A-Rod and Manny dope?  There are few legal consequences.  The law trouble that dopers run into tend to occur when their egos run into a grand jury, ala Barry Bonds.  If Bonds had been truthful (according to legal charges) he might have been exposed as a juicer or he might not have been embarrassed.  Embarrassed or not, Bonds would never have seen the inside of a courtroom as defendant; the USA's legal machine looks the other way for athletes. No sports fraud, no conspiracy, etc. -- although there are exceptions (Marion Jones).

However, sounds like Kohl and Rasmussen are in a bit of trouble...btw, someone tell Rasmussen (photo left) to lift some weights...

Nonotechnology for PED/HGH detection?

Interesting concept: use of nanotechnology to monitor doping, even those compounds difficult to assay.

A Virginia-based biotechnology company, Ceres uses its patented Nanotrap™ -- a spherical, carbon-based nanoparticle designed to collect, concentrate, isolate and preserve the smallest and scarcest of molecules found in body fluids -- to pursue a range of applications in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, as well as uses in sports doping screening, homeland security and environmental remediation. 

Ceres and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency have partnered to study the potential for a viable urine-based test for the detection of human growth hormone (HGH). Laboratory findings recently published in NanoLetters and Nano Research strongly suggest that development of this screening tool is highly probable, a move that would revolutionize the way college and professional sports organizations monitor potential drug use by athletes.

The Nanotrap technology also is being reviewed by SAIC-Frederick Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Science Applications International Corp., to determine the feasibility of developing diagnostic tools that detect cancer at the earliest possible stage when treatment is most effective.

Lab testing for a peptide (protein) hormone like HGH is always vexing.  Whereas the anabolic steroids either show a long half-life, or slowly seep out of muscle, HGH exits the body relatively quickly.  A sensitive way of trapping the molecule would be a boon for dope testing.

Ryan Theriot and Rick Telander meet: No steroids, no HGH, no bull

ESPN carries a story of reporter/columnist Rick Telander meeting Cub shortstop Ryan Theriot to talk about the column where the reporter discusses the cloud hovering over baseball since the steroid era came to town.  Theroit knew he was not under steroid suspicion, rather his May outburst (5 home runs) was used as a point of discussion about why everyone is under suspicion in the MLB.

The writer and the player met on the field after Sunday's game to discuss the Sun-Times' article and headline that attached Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot's latest power surge to baseball's performance-enhancing drug problem.

Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander waited for Theriot to finish his post-game duties, then talked to him along with myself and two Chicago camera crews. I asked Theriot what his response was to Telander's article and the attending headline, which Telander didn't write.

"I didn't like it very much," Theriot said. "My response would be, it's unfair and kind of hurtful for me just because of the work I've put in and the way I've gone about my business and the way I've lived my life up to this point. To have something like that come out, to me, is just not fair."

Theriot and Telander were very respectful of each other, and Theriot has always answered all the questions asked of him. Sunday was no different. Again, I asked the Cubs shortstop his main contention with the story.

"I understand the article itself and the article had a lot of validity to it, but the lead, headline and even the first few sentences of the story, to me, were a little irresponsible," Theriot said.

The remainder of the article documents the meeting between reporter and ballplayer, an intelligent introspective discourse.  More of what is needed to address the PED problem in the MLB.

Ex-San Jose State Spartan, ex-American Gladiator reveals steroid secrets

Former San Jose Spartan football player, and American Gladiator regular discusses steroid and PED use in an insightful manner.  Dan Clark discusses steroid use in his new book -- the effects and the side effects.  The problem is that Clark talks from a position of success: he made himself with the use of steroids.   How many sad tales of embezzlers in jail stops future embezzlers from stealing money?  Few.  The lure of success and fortune appears to be too strong.  To the San Jose Mercury-News:

Dan Clark can tell you all the things that steroids did for him.

They helped get him a football scholarship to San Jose State, where he was a defensive standout and media guide cover boy. They allowed him to suit up briefly with the Los Angeles Rams during the 1987 NFL strike. They were the secret ingredient that made him a Spandex-wearing star of the "American Gladiators" television show two decades ago.

But that's not all steroids did.

They nearly caused a heart attack, left him with shrunken testicles, made him urinate blood and resulted in surgery to remove excess tissue from his breasts. There were unprovoked explosions of anger, too, yet Clark couldn't give up the drugs because of the addictive feeling of power they provided.

That's the story of self-inflicted hell Clark tells now in his unflinchingly raw autobiography, "Gladiator: A True Story of 'Roids, Rage, and Redemption."

In an era when the shadow of steroids has darkened modern sport and made fans increasingly skeptical of what they see, Clark wants the book to be a catalyst for a more realistic discussion about performance-enhancing drugs. Steroids work, Clark says flatly. But they exact a terrible price.

"That's the conversation we're not having with young adults," Clark, the father of a 21-year-old son, said. "You know how teenagers are. You tell them: 'Don't you do this' and it's only going to make them do it more. So you have to tell them that you do get bigger, but you pay for those gains with a pound of flesh. It's a Faustian bargain."

The current spate of self-revealing books regarding steroid abuse will amount to nothing...and almost never have changed anyone's mind.  The irony of Clark's friend at San Jose State -- baseball all-star Ken Caminiti -- dying at 41 of drug abuse obviously means nothing to the current crop of drug cheats like A-Rod and Manny.  Deleterious outcomes of steroid abusers like Caminiti and Jose Canseco and CHris Benoit will stop no one from drug-cheating.  Did Ivan Boesky's financial demise stop Bernie Madoff?

At SJSU he was a well-liked big man on campus and fraternity brother to rising baseball star Ken Caminiti. (Clark is well aware of the terrible irony in how Caminiti, who would go on to win the National League MVP award, later would admit his own steroid use before dying, in 2004, of a heart attack at age 41.)

Thanks to Jay over at the Wizard of Odds for the story.

Jim Rice issues a shallow opinion: Steroids are dumb

Jim Rice readies himself for the Cooperstown Hall of Fame by talking some baseball.  The ex-Boston Red Sox slugger who smashed 382 home runs reveals an astonishing lack of thought when he called the use of anabolic steroids 'dumb'.

Jim Rice, if there were not revelations of steroid era juicing your rather paltry (compared to juicers) career sum of 382 dingers might get you a free beer at the Dew Drop Inn;  382 home runs is about a 5-6 year total for 'roiders.  Jim, your best year was 49 homers at age 25; in your best late career year was 39 at age 30.  In your waning days you hit 27 and 20 at 32 and 33 years of age.  Your last years power totals would be considered banal for even a shortstop these days.  You have very little in the way of post-season achievement.  Come on man, if you think taking PEDs is dumb, you don't realize that the PED generation buries your stats.  That is the point.

Take Maany Ramirez.  at age 33 when you hit a paltry 20 home runs Manny hammered 45.  At the age you should have retired (36), Manny whacked out 37 home runs and 121 RBI leading to a 20 million dollar contract (and no obviously it was the brilliant new era of sports conditioning...just look at Manny).  At that age you, Jim Rice, hit 2 home runs with 22 RBI.

Using PEDs may be cheating, but in terms of productivity and in terms of salary it sure aint dumb.

Jim Rice said he doesn't get the Steroids Era.

The owner of 382 career home runs over 16 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, Rice said Friday at the National Baseball Hall of Fame that steroids aren't worth it.

"I don't understand why guys think they need steroids," said Rice,  specifically addressing a reporter who asked the 2009 Hall of Famer whether Manny Ramirez's recent 50-game suspension for using a banned substance tarnishes the legacy of Boston's left fielders.

Ramirez played left field for Boston from 2001-08 before the Red Sox traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July. Major League Baseball suspended Ramirez on May 7 for testing positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a female fertility drug that can lessen side effects such as decreased sperm counts and testicle shrinkage that may coincide with the end of a steroids cycle.

"Babe Ruth didn't need it, Lou Gehrig didn't need it, and now Manny is going to lose about $8 million dollars," Rice continued. "It's just dumb."

The only dumm thing, Jim Rice, is that you and the other baseball players who didn't use PEDs and steroids stood by while your game was cheated.  We understand that it is never easy to speak out against fellow players, especially powerful cheaters with big stats and big money.  However, keep in mind your election to the Hall of Fame is essentially a sympathy play for a clean player...because your stats are mundane when compared with juiced era stats.

Chicago Sun Times writer Rick Telander points out Ryan Theriot epitimizes MLB steroid problems (but is NOT under steroid suspicion)

The Chicago Cub's shortstop Ryan Theroit hit one home run last year.  Sure the winds were always blowing in against him, and the mound was elevated only when he batted, but one home run is not impressive.  The slugger has banged out 5 this May alone.  What is this...Brady Anderson revisited?

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander points out that the Theriot power outburst now comes under suspicion in 2009 MLB times.  In time past, fans might conclude Theriot spent more time working out over the winter, or matured as a hitter this year.  No more: the juice is in.

Sorry, Ryan Theriot, you're a suspect. Forget Manny Ramirez and Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire and all the other hulking, accused performance-enhancing drug users.

You, sir, all 5-11, 175 pounds of you, are doing devious things.

To wit, Theriot -- no disrespect, but if he's 5-11, I'm 6-12 -- hit two home runs Wednesday night at Wrigley Field against the Padres, giving him five times more home runs in 33 games this year than he hit all last season.

Brrinnnng! Eee -- ah! Eee-ah! Zzzt! Zzzzt!

That rings the steroid/HGH/ whatever-designer-drug-is-in bell, doesn't it?

Well, yes, ''The Riot'' hit only one dinger in 2008 and only five so far this year.

But if he were, say, Manny Ramirez (37 home runs in 2008), he would have just hit his 185th homer of 2009.

Really, Theriot is not a serious suspect for juicing.  Apparently his bat found a sweet spot or two.  However, this is 2009 and post-Clemens, post-Bonds, post-A-rod, Post-Manny, post-McGwire...it goes on and on and on.

But this is what baseball has wrought.

This is what we tried to tell Bud Selig and Donald Fehr and all the head-in-the-sand executive clowns for years and years would happen if Major League Baseball and its union left athletes to their own devices, acting as though crazy numbers came about just because eating and lifting had become trendy...

  What's the old saying -- you reap what you sow?

When you plant cheating, Major League Baseball, cynicism will be your crop.

Telander's correct.  Once the slippery slope of enhanced achievement is breached, then it is a long slide down.  Speaking of enhancement,where is Ms. California when you need some positive enhancement?  Or Brady Anderson for that matter?

Justin Gatlin speaks about track and about steroids..a walk through someone's reality

Let's Run anchors a section on Justin Gatlin talking about track and roids.  Gatlin's recent interview, found here, meanders around a number of subjects, none of which include responsibility for Gatlin's positive testosterone test.

What was your immediate reaction when you found out the "A" sample was positive?

Shock. You’ve heard of somebody saying they were so in shock they fell out of their chair? That’s what really happened. I was in my house in my office, I was on the computer. I got the call and I remember breaking down and crying right there.

How long were you upset?

I was upset for almost a straight week. I was trying to get everything in order, trying to figure out why this is happening to me and if this is true. I remember breaking down in public at some points. This was my life. I feel like I’m a victim to the situation.

Worst moment of your life?

Worst moment of my life...

What do you feel bitter about?

A lot of misquotes from the press. Nike not standing up and saying anything. I fell they rode the fence and they still ride the fence until this day. I had a great rapport with Nike past a business relationship. I felt that when everything happened they kind of put themselves back into the crowd, slunk into the shadows. They suspended me while they fired Trevor and fired Chris Whetstine. That was their way of saying, ‘hey, we’re gonna hold this guy. And we’re gonna jump back on the bandwagon and if anything bad happens, we’ll just let him go’. Instead of saying ‘Justin, we believe in you, you know what the contract is, this is what it is.’

I was very upset with the sport about a lot of things. When everything was going good, everyone was patting me on the back. When things started going bad, everyone was shaking their finger in my face saying, see I told ya.

A lot of blame goes to Chris Whetstine and Trevor Graham as well. Obviously, they were there to be my inner circle and protect me. You discover a lot of things about different people. I found out Chris Whetstine could not get a credential to the (2004) Olympics because he had a criminal record.

Chris was more of a renaissance masseuse. He understood biomechanics, alignment of your body, muscle therapy, trigger points, how to stretch you, acupuncture. This guy had the total package.

When you have someone like that who has those kind of credentials to understand the body wholly, that eliminates you from working with three other masseuses or chiropractors. Though Nike wouldn’t do anything to hurt any of its athletes, if they’re going to pay this guy they knew he had some kind of record. That’s when I felt really upset. They put this guy on the payroll and they have got to do a background check on everybody you’re paying.

Gatlin appparently continues to blame his masseuse and Trevor Graham with sabotague.  In fact it was a conspiracy..somneone or oragnization was out to get him.

Do you thing it will ever come out how you tested positive?

I don’t know.

Do you think you should be looking into this more yourself?

I’ve been doing that from day one. I feel like (rappers) Biggie (Smalls) and Tupac (Shakur, both who were murdered in the late 1990s). Maybe I’ll never find my killer. That’s how things are.

Come on, man, do you really think people buy that you have no idea of PED use?  The referrals to Smalls and Shakur are unbelievable.

Roger Clemens: Over and out...legal and literary

Roger Clemens makes the news again.  Apparently he cannot stand Manny and A-Rod stealing the headlines.

Roger: Out (US AG)

The United State Attorney General Eric Holder, all busy with torture and such, is calling himself recused from the Roger Clemens investigation going on in DC with the FBI. Apparently the Rocket showed Mr. Holder how to throw a backdoor slider.  From Reuters:

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has removed himself from the criminal probe into whether baseball pitching great Roger Clemens lied to Congress about steroids, a Justice Department spokesman said on Thursday.

The FBI began the investigation more than a year ago after Clemens denied in testimony before a congressional committee that he used performance-enhancing steroids. His former trainer testified Clemens had used steroids and human growth hormone.

Department spokesman Matt Miller said Holder was recused because he previously worked at Covington and Burling, a law firm that had represented Clemens.

Roger, meanwhile continues to maintain that Brian McNamee injected his rocket rear with PEDs.  The Toronto Star carries this one:

Clemens again denied that former personal trainer Brian McNamee injected him with performance-enhancing drugs in a phone interview on ESPN. "He's never injected me with HGH or steroids," Clemens said of McNamee's assertions to baseball investigator George Mitchell...

Clemens said he chose to speak out yesterday because it was the release date of a book about his alleged drug use.

"It's important for me to do that," he said. "I've seen excerpts of the book and they're completely false. ... You know, guys, it's piling on. It's hurtful at times. But I'm moving on."

Clemens must have some reason for fervent denials.  A deal with McNamee "Don't ask, don't tell what you're injecting".

Others are moving on too from the Clemens affair...like the Hall of Fame voters.

Tennis pro Richard Gasquet suspended for cocaine

From the Telegraph, comes the story that French tennis pro Richard Gasquet is suspended after he tested positive for cocaine.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) have suspended Richard Gasquet after he tested  positive test for cocaine.

The sport's world governing body said an anti-doping tribunal should be assembled within 60 days to hear the case.

Gasquet, the world No 23, has admitted to returning a positive sample at the Miami Masters in March.

A spokesman for the sport's world governing body said: "Richard Gasquet is under investigation for a doping-related offence and in line with WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] rules has been provisionally suspended."

"He's suspended until the end of the hearing.

"We're now assembling an anti-doping tribunal. The ideal timeframe is within 60 days, but people have to fly in from all over the world for it."

Gasquet will now attend a hearing in front of the ITF's anti-doping commission on a date yet to be determined.

The Frenchman, who has vowed to prove his innocence, could face a two-year suspension if found guilty.

Lou Merloni: Did a physician inform MLB players how to use steroids?

MLB.com carries a story about Red Sox minor league player Merloni's recollection of a seminar on spring training while he was with Boston.

Former Red Sox utility man Lou Merloni said Saturday on Comcast's "The Baseball Show" that he remembered a Spring Training meeting in which a doctor explained to players how to use steroids intelligently and without abuse, according to multiple reports.

Merloni's exact quotes, according to The Boston Globe, were: "I'm in Spring Training, and I got an 8:30-9:00 meeting in the morning. I walk into that office, and this happened while I was with the Boston Red Sox before this last regime, I'm sitting in the meeting. There's a doctor up there and he's talking about steroids, and everyone was like, 'Here we go, we're going to sit here and get the whole thing -- they're bad for you.'

"No. He spins it and says, 'You know what? If you take steroids and sit on the couch all winter long, you can actually get stronger than someone who works out clean. If you're going to take steroids, one cycle won't hurt you; abusing steroids it will.'

"He sat there for one hour and told us how to properly use steroids while I'm with the Boston Red Sox, sitting there with the rest of the organization, and after this I said, 'What the heck was that?' And everybody on the team was like, 'What was that?' And the response we got was, 'Well, we know guys are taking it, so we want to make sure they're taking it the right way.' ... Where did that come from? That didn't come from the Players Association."

The Red Sox angrily denied the allegation:

Boston's general manager during Merloni's Red Sox tenure, Dan Duquette, responded angrily to Merloni's claims, according to The Globe.

"It's ridiculous -- it's totally unfounded," Duquette said. "Who was the doctor? Tell me who the doctor is. If there was such a doctor, he wasn't in the employ of the Red Sox. We brought in doctors to educate the players on the Major League drug policy at the time at the recommendation of Major League Baseball. This is so ridiculous, I hate to even respond to it."

In fact, there were occasions when physicians presented steroids in a favorable light, in particular Dr. Robert Millman, of Cornell.  Here is what John Rocker said about a presentation:

The loudmouth former reliever said he and then-Rangers teammate Alex Rodriguez, among others, were advised in spring training of 2002 by management and players' union doctors on how to use steroids in a way that is "not going to hurt you."

Rocker said a doctor hired by the Players' Association pulled aside himself, A-Rod, Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro following a spring training lecture and candidly told them how to use steroids.

"Look guys, if you take one kind of steroid, you don't triple stack them and take them 10 months out of the year like Lyle Alzado did," the doctor told him, Rocker said yesterday during an interview on the Buck and Kincade Show on WCNN-680 The Fan in Atlanta. "If you do it responsibly, it's not going to hurt you."

Here is the account from the Mitchell Report"

During baseball’s winter meetings in Nashville in December 1998, baseball executives and team physicians heard a presentation from Dr. Millman and Dr. Solomon on baseball’s drug policy. One attendee, Dr. William Wilder, was then the team doctor for the Cleveland Indians. In a memorandum to then Indians general manager John Hart that he wrote after the meeting, Dr. Wilder reported that the presentation focused on the benefits that could be obtained from testosterone. He was disturbed by the presentation, observing in the memorandum that whether or not testosterone increased muscle strength and endurance “begs the question of whether it should be used in athletics.” He believed there was “no reason that some preliminary literature can’t be sent out to the players concerning the known and unknown data about performance enhancing substances,” and recalled that Houston Astros’ team physician Bill Bryan presented a good overview of these issues with respect to supplements at meetings the previous year.   Dr. Wilder reiterated these observations and views in our interview with him.

Manny Ramirez HCG admission a smokescreen: Tested positive for testosterone

Suspended Manny Ramirez will be serving a 50 game outage for HCG right?  Perhaps wrong. 

According to the astute TJ Quinn of ESPN, Manny tested positive for testosterone -- exogenous testosterone.  The  entered into the equation only later in the chain of events.  Smokescreen?

Obviously using HCG would appear to be less of a sin than a horrible anabolic steroid.  (in our view a drug is a drug; there is no hierarchy of bad drugs or good drugs).  Admitting to HCG would sanitize other PED use, making the situation much more palatable to the regular fan - or the Hall of Fame voter.

Ramirez (and spokespeople) have been promoting the HCG angle.  HCG, a natural hormone of pregnancy that also increase natural testosterone production.  The drug may enhance the strength of one's convictions, but in our view not enhance too much else.

However, there is evidence Ramirez used the much more potent hormone testosterone:

...testing by Major League Baseball showed that Ramirez had testosterone in his body that was not natural and came from an artificial source, two people with knowledge of the case told ESPN's Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn. The sources said that in addition to the artificial testosterone, Ramirez was identified as using the female fertility drug human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG.

The sources said Ramirez was suspended for using hCG because baseball had documentation to prove his use of the drug. A Major League Baseball source said Ramirez's representatives indicated they would fight a suspension for using artificial testosterone.

The 'doctor's prescription' excuse just might go over in an appeal to the MLB fan public.  If Ramirez really has a legitimate use for HCG he needs to get that information out there, along with lab tests, ASAP.

If Ramirez had a prescription he would have been for one of two reasons:

1.  Low sperm count

2.  Someone bought the idea he was low on endogenous testosterone...because he going off-cycle

The Los Angeles Dodgers star said he did not take steroids and was prescribed medication by a doctor that contained a banned substance.

The commissioner's office didn't announce the specific violation by the 36-year-old outfielder, who apologized to the Dodgers and fans for "this whole situation..."

Ramirez, in a statement issued by the players' union, said: "Recently, I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me.

So apparently we will not be privy to what really happened to the Dodger star.  One more deception.

Angry Cleveland fans demand HCG, HGH, steroids, and anti-depressants

Andy Borowitz at the Huffington Post, says angry Cleveland fans demand their players take steroids.

The national pastime suffered another black eye last night when a mob of irate Cleveland Indians fans poured onto the diamond at Progressive Field to demand that their team take steroids.

Displeasure with the championship-starved squad reached a boiling point with the news that slugger Manny Ramirez took performance-enhancing drugs -- but only after leaving the Indians.

When asked by ESPN if he ingested the banned medication while playing for Cleveland, Mr. Ramirez shrugged his shoulders and replied, "What would be the point of that?"

Mr. Ramirez is just the latest in a long line of baseball players who have refused to take steroids while playing for the Indians, says fan Chuck Goulardi, 49, the leader of last night's protest.

"Manny's comment was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back," says Mr. Goulardi, who has seen his 'roid-free Tribe fall to their juiced-up competition more times than he can recall. "These players are paid good money, and all we're asking them to do is take one measly shot in the ass."

Name the best juicier who suited up for the Indians?  Paul Byrd?  Isn't that sad?  Give Cleveland a huge hit of anti-depressants.

Manny Mania: HCG story pregnant with possibilities

A compendium of stories after the Manny Rodriguez HCG story, which is pregnant with possibilities:

1.  Sports Illustrated gives us a time line of MLB steroid use.

2.  I'm back, R-Rod injects himself back into baseball. (USA Today)

3. SI, who must have an army of writers chopping at the bit, surveys MLB cities about Manny.

4.  How does Curt Schilling work his way into this story?

Add you favorites below...

The Dodgers Manny Ramirez: Jacked with HCG, and now suspended from MLB

A zillion media outlets picked up on the Manny Ramirez story today.  AfP carries the outlines:

American baseball hero Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and has been slapped with a 50-game ban, Major League Baseball announced on Thursday.

Ramirez is the first marquee player to be suspended under MLB's stepped-up drug policy which followed the damaging Mitchell Report investigation into steroid use in baseball.

The 12-time all-star Ramirez, who turns 37 later this month, is also the best player in the Los Angeles Dodgers squad who have won 13-straight games at home and have the top record in baseball.

US sports broadcaster ESPN reported that Ramirez tested positive for the drug human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG.

As other reports indicate HCG is used for testosterone support.  The letters stand for human chorionic gonadotropin.  The hormone level rises in pregnancy, which constitutes the urine pregnancy test. Perhaps Manny is simply pregnant?  According to Manny it's a doctor's fault:

Ramirez's ban is effective immediately which means he will not be eligible to return to the Los Angeles lineup until July 3.

Ramirez, of the Dominican Republic, blamed the positive drug test on a doctor, but didn't say whether it was a Dodgers team doctor.

He denied taking steroids and said the problem stems from medication he took for personal use.

"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid," Ramirez said. "I have taken and passed 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

Is it ludicrous to believe Manny?  Not really.  Here are the indications for HCG:

HCG is used to cause ovulation and to treat infertility in women, and to increase sperm count in men. HCG is also used in young boys when their testicles have not dropped down into the scrotum normally. This can be caused by a pituitary gland disorder.

Manny would not be taking the drug for infertility.  Hopefully his testicles have 'dropped down'.  It is concevable (no pun intended) that the hormone was prescribed for low sperm count.  If so, there would be no reason for Manny and his doctor not to obtain a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).

Manny could be using the hormone to boost testosterone after a cycle of anabolic steroids.  If he got nailed in the spring he would have been finishing a cycle in preparation for the baseball season.  Use of an anabolic steroid reduces a man's own natural testosterone production.  Thus the need for a drug like HCG.

Ramirez will lose 50 games and 7.7 million dollars.

As Renault says:  I am shocked, shocked to find that juicing is going on in here!" No one in 2009 should be shocked a star like Manny juices.

What, no Manny Ramirez Post? It doesn't meet Government priorities

As someone asked us once (me) 'Don't you actually have a real job"?  And yes there is a real job.  At the real job our team (which means me basically) has been writing grants all spring.  A much gratifying thing, writing grants: Stay up all night writing; in between all the usual clinical work write all day; document everything you can think of to make it politically correct-- like how we are going to recruit the correct number of native Alaskans for proper demographics in the study -- jump through 5000 bureaucratic hoops only eventually to be told by the bureaucrats in Washington DC we stink and that the grand money will go to the usual old boys network gang who really had an inside deal the entire time.  It's kinda like dealing with organized crime, only the criminals get more sleep.  Academic death is not as sudden as organized crime however certainly as painful, and alot more political.

So we completely missed the Manny Ramirez story.  Completely.  Oh well, we cannot compete with the major news outlets who likely devote entire teams of writers to this story.  Wish we could borrow those writers to put some flair on the grants.  Oh wait, the rejection notices has started flowing like blood from a lance wound...or LH from a pituitary.

And the proposal on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs):  We were told that it doesn't "appear to be consistent with the listed (Government) priorities"" ...go figure.

Austrian cyclist Christian Pfannberger drops out of Giro following positive doping test

Another pro cyclist nailed doping, this one on an unexpected doping test visit.  To the Charlotte observerand the AP:

Austrian cyclist Christian Pfannberger has pulled out of the Giro d'Italia and been suspended by his team after failing a doping test.

A surprise test on March 19 at Pfannberger's home in Austria came back positive. Pfannberger's agent informed the Katusha team of the failed test Wednesday, one day after the rider sent a letter to the Russian team saying he was pulling out of the race for personal reasons.

Katusha spokesman Andrea Agostini told The Associated Press that "we thought it was best to suspend him immediately." He added that it was still unclear what substance the test revealed.