Various and sundry reports on PEDs coming in from the hinterlands.
1. MLB says Jason Giambi will not be beaten with a stick punished. The Philly Inquirer says:
Jason Giambi won't be disciplined by commissioner Bud Selig after the New York Yankees slugger had a "frank and candid" meeting with baseball's steroids investigator.
Selig said Wednesday that Giambi's cooperation with former Sen. George Mitchell and the player's charitable work persuaded him not to take further action.
"He's doing a lot of public-service work, and I think that's terribly
important," Selig said on the second and final day of an owners meeting. "He was, I thought, very frank and candid with Sen. Mitchell, at least that was the senator's conclusion. Given everything, this is an appropriate decision."
Giambi has acknowledged a "personal history regarding steroids." He agreed to speak with Mitchell last month after Selig threatened to discipline him if he refused to cooperate.
What can MLB do? He took PEDs in the past (obviously a super abuser, look at the physical change). His MVP season appears to be artificial. MLB moves on, and nothing changes. Track would dismantle any world records from a tainted event or season. MLB appears not to want to go that far; is the MLB concern about PEDS disingenuous?
2. The Washington Post stoops to analyze steroid abuse in pro wrestling. The article examines Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero's life with 'roids. Not pretty:
Benoit and Guerrero lived in a culture that breeds addicts, that encourages comic-book-hero bodies -- and that in recent years has seen dozens of its members die at conspicuously young ages, at a startling rate.
Dave Meltzer, founder and editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, recently compiled a list of current and former wrestlers who have died since 1997, before turning 50. He said his list ran to about 60 names -- and that was before former wrestler Brian "Crush" Adams died Monday of indeterminate causes.
With papers like the Post taking note of pro wrestling's love affair with PEDs, will Congressional hearings be far away?
3. Dick Pound, head of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) says China better pick up PED testing. Here, (Pound) found in the USA Today Pound beats on China to up the ante in testing:
The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said he'll also call on China next month to "go the extra mile" to persuade the world that it isn't hiding top athletes from drug tests ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics...
China is intent on staging grandiose games to showcase its rising political and economic power. Pound said his message would remind high-ranking officials that one positive drug test for a Chinese athlete could turn the Olympics into public-relations disaster for the communist government.
"The central government, I think, is pretty committed to having an effective anti-doping program," Pound said. "They more than anyone understand the risk, reputational and otherwise."
Perhaps Pound could coerce China into eliminating lead-based paints on the toys they manufacture to send over to the USA.....
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