Steroid Nation

In the "What's Next' categor: Sportscaster's kids bulking up? Craig Sager's son looking big at UGA

We heard of Barry Bond's doctor, Arthur Ting's boys getting juiced at USC.    We witnessed Andy Pettitte's father scoring HGH for his boy.  Roger Clemens's wife Debbie looked pretty youthful in the SI shoot.  And possibly Romo's wife scoring something for him.

Now, Sports by Brooks points out EX-ESPN wild man Craig Sager's son, Craig Sager, looking very buff for UGA football.

 It’s postseason baseball on TBS these days, which means we get to enjoy yet another season of Craig Sager wandering around on our television in his eye-scalding multi-colored horrorcoats, asking athletes and coaches tough questions like “How’s that going out there?” or “Is this game important to you?”

But there’s something you probably didn’t know about him: he has a son - also named  Craig - on the Georgia football team. As in the SEC. And Spawn of Sager is a little unsettling.You’re probably wondering why you hadn’t heard of a Craig Sager on such a high-profile program like the Georgia Bulldogs.

The SEC was made for celebrities, after all! Turns out, he’s a walk-on and on Georgia’s scout team. He, um… he may not have been very  highly recruited, as it turns out.

We noticed on Sager’s player profile page that while it lists a high school and a coach, it doesn’t list any stats. Usually, when players join a D-I team, even as walk-ons, their profiles are full of the best stats the information department can find, even if it’s “260 rushing yards as senior fullback - 4 touchdowns!!!” or “Did not play - injury!” or whatever. But nope. Nothing here.We did some digging, then, and we finally found some high school football stats (pops to .PDF file).

How did Sager Bomb light up the gridiron for the Walton Raiders as a senior? Well… 6 catches, 53 yards, 0 TDs. In Sager’s defense, though, that’s before he went Incredible Hulk on the world. After all, putting a wideout with those stats on a major college’s scout team while he just so happens to have a famous dad might raise some eyebrows if he were still the 6′2″, 170 rail he was in high school. However, as the above pictures (from Sager’s MYSPACE.COM profile) indicate, he’s certainly taking conditioning seriously. Very seriously. Uncomfortably seriously.

It's a family affair...

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.

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.

Clay Matthews: 6-1 165 high school junior to 6-3 246 NFL draftee

Incredible story.  Clay Matthews Jr., once a 6-1 165 pound high school junior whose coach dad didn't even start him at Agoura High in California, will hit the NFL as a 6-3, 246 pound first round draft pick.  In between that the player walked-on at dad's and uncle's alma mater USC to join the incredible line-backing crew as a DE.

There must a few million 6-1 165 pound high school kids walking around out there.  Start lifting weights, eating healthy, and dreaming of the NFL -- although you may not have the genetics of Matthews -- because you too could be a first round NFL pick...if you know the right people.

As a junior at Agoura High, Matthews was 6-1 and weighed about 165 pounds. His body ached from growing pains and his father, the team's defensive coordinator, declined to start him.

"His mom was giving me the business, but he wasn't ready," the elder Matthews said, chuckling. "He wasn't very big and he wasn't very strong."

Matthews continued to grow during his senior season but drew interest only from local community colleges.

Rather than pursuing that route, Matthews told his father he wanted to walk on at USC, where brother Kyle was a walk-on safety in 2003.

Matthews showed up at unknown weight at USC; by 2005 he was listed as 6-3 225.  Not bad gains over 3 years from high school: 165 to 225, although he does sport a 6-3 frame.  By 2008, USC listed Matthews at 246.  That's 81 pounds of weight (muscle) on Matthews since a junior in high school (over 6 years), which is probably not unheard of for college linemen; for a linebacker to retain or increase speed while packing on 80 pounds, that's fantastic.

 What's in the water at USC?  Someone test it, especially in the off-season; those are super-human gains.  Matthews and companion linebacker Brian Cushing overcame false rumors they tested positive at the NFL combine for roids, so they must be clean, right?

Not that we know USC for Mark McGwire, Brian Cushing, the Ting Bros, and other incredible muscle-gaining strories, not at all.

Houston Chronicle debunks Brian Cushing steroids banter

The Houston Texans, long known for their wise draft picks, chose USC linebacker Brian Cushing in the first round of the NFL draft.  As long as Houston has been known as rather vaudevillian organization, Cushing has been rumored to juice.  Today, the Houston Chronicle defends Cushing as a victim of nasty internet rumor-mongering.

Frank Bush didn’t want to go there, tried his best not to, but it was too late.

In discussing why Texans first-round draft pick Brian Cushing was the guy the Texans’ defensive coordinator wanted the team to take in the draft, Bush explained that it was partly because Cushing reminded him of someone.

“His demeanor, his intensity and the way he played the game reminded me of a player I coached at Denver,” Bush said.

The player? Bill Romanowski.

Oops.

The last thing Bush wanted to do on such a special day for the linebacker from USC was initiate a discussion of steroid use, but when you bring up Romanowski. …

Actually, with Cushing you can’t really initiate steroid talk, only join in.

Fantastic Freudian slip.  However, the Chron debunks the myth of Cushing and 'roids.  How?  Taking Cushing's word  (that's never gone wrong before has it?; note the photo on the left was taken when Cushing was rehabbing from shoulder surgery thus it isn't quite 'fair' to be used as a comparison)

But the days when those who succeed simply faced accusations of working hard are long behind us.

Instead, we get “He’s fast. He’s strong. His body is cut. So he must be cheating.”

“I told every team that I never did (steroids),” Cushing said. “I’ve passed every drug test out there.

“I’m not that kind of guy.”

No athlete who juiced ever denied it, right?  Even one who proclaimed himself as part of USC's "White Nation" a couple years ago.

Cushing, who measured in at 6-3, 246 pounds at the NFL Combine, is an admitted health nut who doesn’t do junk food. He has his meals delivered to him by a nutritionist. He has worked with a trainer since high school. And of course he hits the weight room with passion.

To many, that adds up to a steroids user.

After he went from being a 165-pound freshman to a 225-pound terror and the top linebacker in the country at Bergen Catholic (Park Ridge, N.J.), students at rival high schools taunted Cushing with steroids-based chants.

If the report of a high school kid increasing his weight from 165 to 225 form age 14 to 18 doesn't give one pause for thought, nothing does.  True, significant growth occurs in adolescents.  And true, Cushing sports a tall 6-3 frame.  But gaining from 165 to 225lbs, or 60 pounds IN HIGH SCHOOL in 4 years is incredible.  All muscle too we bet.

Are there any McDonalds in New Jersey?

Linebacker U (Southern Cal) started with the 2005 class.  All incredible stories.  All will be alumni of the same school that produced Mark McGwire.  Interesting.  Whats in the water down there?  Test it.

Oklahoma State wide receiver Bo Bowling was a 'possession receiver': To stand trial for felony drug possession

Oklahoma State wide receiver Bo Bowling will be looking at a nasty 7-10 split (and we don't mean pins) if convicted on three felony counts for drug possession.  One of the drugs the OSU transfer possessed was an anabolic steroid.  (Apparently he was a 'possession' wide receiver)  To the Stillwater News-Press:

A judge has ordered a suspended Oklahoma State football player to stand trial on three felony drug counts that now include possession of an anabolic steroid.

Wide receiver Bo Bowling, 21, a Tonkawa native, appeared in Payne County District Court on Friday afternoon for a preliminary hearing. After the two-and-a-half-hour session, Special Judge Phillip Corley ruled there was sufficient evidence for Bowling to stand trial.

Bowling is charged with one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of possession of controlled dangerous substances that include Alprazolam - the anti-depressant commonly known as Xanax - and the anabolic steroid Stanozolol.

Wonder if OSU coach Mike Gundy will reiterate that "I'm a man", during the trial?  That's why your wide receiver had some Winny on hand.

Bowling is a senior wide receiver who played in 13 games last season, and made 10 catches for 200 yards and two touchdowns, as well as two kick returns and one punt return. He transferred to Oklahoma State from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

Been some trouble with 'roids down in Oklahoma these days...

Backlash on Cushing, Matthews, and Raji failed drug reports...which appear to be untrue

Various sites berated NFLdraftbible.com for a report last week that NFL draft prospects -- including USC's Brian Cushing -- failed drug or steroid tests at the NFL's combine.  The Examiner hits the site hard.

The Bleacher Report talks about 'defamation'. 

 NFLDraftBible is shaking in their boots at the moment, after "reliable sources" allowed them to break the story, and now they could possibly face charges for defamation, since there are still going to be some people out there that will attest to the fact that Raji has a drug problem.

Someone should check the definition of 'defamation' of a public figure.  Those are tough criteria.

New Brian Cushing steroid controversy: Site claims positive test at NFL combine

Brian, Cushing the USC monster linebacker who will be eligible in the upcoming NFL draft, needed Pete Carroll, his USC college coach to defend him this weekend.  Carroll -- who has a reputation for closely monitoring things like Reggie Bush's cool house -- defended Cushing and his other monster linebacker Clay Matthews after a report of positive tests were reported on one unverified web site.

The NFL rumor mill is at full tilt this time of year.

So much so that USC Coach Pete Carroll apparently thought it necessary to quell the attention sparked by a blurb that linebackers Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews tested positive for steroids at the NFL scouting combine in February.

A one-sentence report from NFLDraftBible.com, which is not affiliated with the league, started the buzz. The agency representing Matthews apparently responded to the report.

Here's what Carroll had to say in a statement released on USC's website.

"These rumors are absolutely false," Carroll said. "If they were found positive, Clay and Cush would have been notified three weeks ago, which they weren't and all of the NFL teams would have been notified too, which they weren't."

Carroll said he spoke with the NFL testing service and verified that both players tested clean.

"They're both men of outstanding character and they never tested positive for anything here," Carroll said. "This is an [sic] major example of irresponsible reporting, and the site that published this report should be ashamed of themselves."

A (sic) interesting comment from an (sic) Carroll.  Who knows how often athletes are dope tested in the NCAA?  It could be another Tony Mandarich case where steroid use is denied until the player needs a book deal.  Again this report is hearsay.

Cushing addressed this issue:

"I don’t understand where it is coming from," Cushing told me. "I was tested last December at USC and passed, one of several tests I have passed. I was tested this morning here at the combine and those results should be out in a couple of weeks to a month, I believe. I think people are trying to find something, anything, that would detract from what I have done on the field. You learn in life if it’s not one thing, it’s the other. I hope once I pass the test here that this will be put behind me. I’m really hoping for that."

Barking Carnival and Hornfans carried threads on the Cush.

Jocks breaking rocks: Athletes (boosters, trainers) behind bars

Reasononline carries a very nicely researched piece on athletes, boosters, and trainer who walk the line in a prison.  The athletes end up in jail for drug-related offenses, which recently included illegal steroids and PEDs.

 The article sets the stage with the conviction of Logan Young, the 'Bama Booster who bought players for the Crimson Tide:

Before his untimely death in 2006, Logan Young faced six months in federal prison for “conspiracy to commit racketeering” and “crossing state lines to commit racketeering,” both felonies. While those charges made Young sound like a mafioso, his real offense was violating the recruiting rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)...The conviction of Logan Young as “the first college sports booster sentenced to prison essentially for busting NCAA rules” (in the words of ESPN.com’s Mike Fish) is just one example of a disturbing trend: the federal criminalization of private rule breaking in the world of sports.

The authors look at athletes who did time for crimes which include steroid offenses:

Marion Jones:

Former Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones served six months in federal prison last year for making false statements to two grand juries about her personal use of performance-enhancing steroids. As part of a highly unusual plea agreement, unrelated check fraud charges against Jones were dropped in return for her publicly admitting her past steroid use and retiring from the sport...

Barry Bonds:

All-time Major League Baseball (MLB) home run leader Barry Bonds was scheduled to begin trial in March on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, based on his grand jury testimony in a steroid distribution case that closed in 2005 after producing just four minor convictions that netted seven months prison time combined (half as long as Bonds’ personal trainer served behind bars for criminal contempt after refusing to testify about his boss). At press time, yet another federal grand jury was hearing testimony about whether former MLB pitching great Roger Clemens committed perjury when he denied using steroids after being hauled in front of Congress in February 2008.

There are also 'derivative crimes'; as a 'derivative' in finance refers to an instrument that derives value from the underlying entity so do 'derivative crimes.  For instance money laundering, obstruction of justice, racketeering and so on.  Same with jock crimes.

In 1990 Congress added performance-enhancing steroids to its list of banned substances, largely in response to a scandal involving Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his 1988 Olympic gold medal after testing positive for anabolic steroids. Capitalizing on the public outcry, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) held hearings on doping in sports. McCain threatened to introduce legislation that would take away the autonomy of the U.S. Olympic Committee unless it adopted aggressive anti-doping policies.

The article continues with a lengthy discussion of the BALCO derivative crimes, found after the jump..

Did American sprinter Jordan Vaden ride Winny to new personal bests?

American sprinter Jordan Vaden burst on the sprinting scene last year.  He surprisingly finished 2nd at the US Outdoors with a 200M of 19.98, better than his 2007 200M at 20.42.  He also ran a 10.2 100M

However he was busted for stanozolol (Winny, Winstrol).  To Universal Sports:

The IAAF has sanctioned American sprinter Jordan Vaden, who has been suspended for two years for doping violations. Vaden, who starred collegiately at Division 2 Livingstone College, tested positive for stanozolol during an out-of-competition screening on August 19.

Vaden was a surprise runner-up in the men’s 200m at the 2006 U.S. Outdoor Championships with a monster personal-best of 19.98 seconds. He also finished fourth in the 100m in a PR 10.20. In 2007, his best performance was a sixth-place showing in the 200m (20.42) at the U.S. Outdoor Championships.

Iowa Hawkeyes deny juicing during Mandarich's Michigan State Spartan era.

Last week the college football world felt mildly amused rocked that Ex-Michigan State Spartan Tony Mandarich came clean to admit steroids and narcotic use in college.  Ohmygosh, The All-American Mandarich even faked a 1989 Rose Bowl urine test.

The Iowa Hawkeyes lost 13-16 to Mandarich's alma mater Saturday in East Lansing with neither team showing an impressive offensive pop, although Iowa's awesome running back Shonn Greene (right) out-performed MSU's Heisman candidate Jevon Ringer.  (Iowa's passing offense could use an injection of something to wake it up)

The fact is that Iowa's offense during the Mandarich years was not anemic; however that was not due to steroids use according to the Iowa Sports Director.  (Des Moines Register)

Former Michigan State lineman Tony Mandarich says he took steroids during his career as a Spartan, and he’s accusing others throughout the Big Ten of doing it, too.

“I can tell you I knew of guys on more than half of the teams in the Big Ten that were taking it,” he said in an interview with the Detroit News. “At that time, it was no big deal. It was a part of life. It was accepted as long as you weren’t blatant about it.”

Iowa sports information director Phil Haddy said Mandarich’s generalization did not pertain to the Hawkeyes.

“I never heard of anything back then,” he said today. “Back then, I’m not so sure we even knew what steroids were.”

Mandarich talks about his steroid abuse in a yet-to-be-published book, “My Dirty Little Secret – Steroids, Alcohol and God – The Tony Mandarich Story.”

Mandarich played for Michigan State in the mid-1980s.

“This happened 20 years ago, I’m pointing the finger at myself,” Mandarich told the News.

Michigan State’s internal investigation in 1990 found no wrongdoing.

During Mandarich's first two years, Iowa beat the Spartans by close margins (Iowa went to the Rose Bowl after the '85 season, and the Holiday Bowl after the '86 season; records were 10-2, and 9-3).

During Mandarich's junior and senior years -- when he was Big Ten lineman of the year -- MSU defeated Iowa in '87 and tied 10-10 in '88.  Iowa went to the Holiday Bowl in '87 (10-3) and the Peach Bowl in '88 (6-4-3).

If the 300 pound Mandarich juiced for an advantage, then he and his Spartan teammates sure didn't have much over the Hayden Fry coached Hawkeyes (including All-American QB Chuck Long, now coach at San Diego State, photo at right) back then...juice or no juice.

Former high school QB pleads guilty to steroid distribution; Five year suspended sentence

The wheels of justice turn don't they...and sometimes wobble.  A former Mississippi quarterback, who played in JuCo too pleaded guilty to steroids distribution today in a Mississippi court.  He was given a 5 year suspended sentence.  (In contrast, the perpetrator of the largest steroids/doping conspiracy --BALCO -- in the USA received 4 month jail/4 months home arrest) (from the Clarion-Ledger)

A former Madison Central quarterback who lost a chance to play for the University of Mississippi amid accusations he sold steroids pleaded guilty this morning.

Jared Foster was indicted on charges that he sold the anabolic steroid, nandrolone decanoate, to an informant in Madison County on Oct. 5.

Foster was sentenced today to five years at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, with the five years suspended.

He will have to report to Parchman for its Regimented Inmate Program, a six-to- eight-month rehabilitation program. If Foster does not complete the program, his suspended sentence will be reversed, Madison County Circuit Court Judge Samac Richardson said. Foster also was ordered to pay $374 in court costs and a $5,000 fine.

He and his family would not comment this morning.

Five years, although suspended.  Compare that sentence from the state, with Victor Conte's federal sentence.  The mastermind of the largest doping and steroid conspiracy (BALCO) in United State history was given a 4 month prison sentence with 4 months confinement to home, and 2 years supervision.

That's justice...right?  No, it seems more like injustice.  Any thoughts?

Ex-Wolverine Rondell Biggs trapped with steroids

Rondell Biggs's vehicle hid his suspended license and a big bag of 'roids when Michigan cops stopped the former Michigan football player last January.  (MLive.com)  Turns out Biggs was following sprinter Ben Johnson now on his 20th anniversary of Winny use at the Olympics.  "Biggs"...perfect name for a Winny user.

A former defensive end for the University of Michigan football team faces a court hearing next week on a felony charge for illegal possession of steroids, according to Michigan State Police.

Rondell Biggs, 24, was stopped by state troopers Jan. 24 on I-94 near State Street for illegally tinted windows on his vehicle. Biggs was arrested for driving on a suspended license, and troopers searched his car prior to impounding it.

Trooper Craig Ziecina said in a press release that he found 10 yellow pills in the center console of the vehicle in a bag that had a label indicating it contained 50 pills. Biggs told Ziecina they were "post-workout pills" and said he was in Michigan assisting with the training and conditioning of the U-M football team.

Biggs said he coached Michigan players -- under the Lloyd Carr regime.  Rich Rod let him go.

U-M football spokesperson Dave Ablauf said this morning that Biggs was employed as an hourly worker by U-M's football staff under former head coach Lloyd Carr, but was not retained when coach Rich Rodriguez and conditioning coach Mike Barwis took over the program after U-M's bowl game on Jan. 1.

Ablauf said Biggs was likely working out with other former U-M athletes who are either pro players or have pro aspirations and use the Wolverine training facilities in the offseason.

Rich Rod didn't want to be 'Rich Roid'?

The pills later tested positive for stanozolol, a Schedule III prescribed synthetic anabolic steroid. It is commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders to lose fat while retaining lean body mass. Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal in the 100 meters at the 1988 Summer Olympics when he tested positive for the drug.

Hail to the Dopers, huh?

Daily Steroids Injection

If the news isn't about Brett Favre it's about Dara Torres.  Good review of her career. (Orange County Register)

2.  South Africa remember a drug-riddled Marco Pantani, Riccardo Ricco's idol.  (IOL)

3.  Ricco remembers Floyd Landis;  doubts the validity of the EPO test.  (The Guardian)

4.  The New York Times picks up on suspicions about Jamaican runners.  (NY Times)

5.  Missouri's swimmer Max Jaben could be in trouble with the NCAA because of positive drug test.  (Swimming News)

NFL prospect Heath Benedict died of irregular heartbeat; enlarged heart and drugs (Viagra) noted

Heath Benedict, a small college big time football player found dead at his home last March, appears to raise many questions.  At 6-6 and 320 pounds, any NFL prospect draws attention to possible steroid use, An early death compounds the concerns.  At the time this was said (USA Today)

Heath Benedict, a two-time Little All-American offensive lineman at Newberry College in South Carolina, was found dead on a couch in his Jacksonville home.

Jacksonville police said no foul play is suspected in the death of the 24-year-old Benedict, a 6-6, 326-pounder who finished up his senior season in the fall and left school to train for next month's NFL draft. He was nine hours short of a business degree.

Benedict took part in the Senior Bowl in January, the first Division II player to do so since 2004, and was invited to last month's NFL combine.

"He was a big, tough man, but he had a very gentle heart," Newberry president Mick Zais said. "He was a teddy bear."

Benedict, who redshirted at Tennessee in 2002 before moving to Newberry, was a native of the Netherlands. He played high school football at the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J.

More than a gentle heart - an enlarged heart with an irregular heartbeat.  What might cause cardiac hypertrophy?  A congenital condition, or drug use.  Drugs like anabolic steroids or more notoriously HGH can enlarge the heart, thus causing major problems.  And what was found at Benedict's house?  These drugs (The State):

Former Newberry College football standout Heath Benedict died of an irregular heartbeat caused by an enlarged heart, according to the Duval County Medical Examiner’s Office in Jacksonville, Fla.

The report also reveals a syringe and three bottles were found near his body on March 26. One of the bottles contained water, but the other two were labeled “L-Via” and “L-Dex,” liquid forms of the drugs Viagra and Arimidex.

Deputy chief medical examiner Jessie Giles made it clear Benedict’s death was caused by dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart-muscle disease that leads to a fatal irregular heartbeat. However, Giles said the role Viagra, an erectile dysfunction medication, and Arimidex, an anabolic steroid used by post-menopausal breast cancer patients to reduce estrogen levels, could not be determined.

“The role, if any, of anabolic steroid or other similar drug/preparation use ... is unknown and beyond the scope of this office,” Giles wrote in the report.

The newspaper distorted the facts somewhat.  Arimidex (anastrozole) is not an anabolic steroid, however is a masking agent or an anti-estrogen drug.  It acts by inhibiting conversion of androgenic steroids to estrogen, thus reducing side effects like enlarged breasts.

Injections of Viagra and Arimidex is somewhat bizarre.  Was this player attempting to maximize his NFL potential, yet trying to avoid detection at dope testing?

Stories recently centered on Viagra as PED, apparently used by big time drug-cheat Roger Clemens.  (Sporting News).  Listen to this quote attributed to Clemens:

Roger Clemens, among other athletes, used Viagra to improve their athletic performance, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

Clemens got the pills -- which are not banned by Major League Baseball -- from a teammate and kept them in a GNC vitamin bottle in his locker, according to an anonymous source cited by the newspaper. He also reportedly told a friend that the drug made him feel flushed and made his heart race. 

The newspaper also quotes BALCO founder Victor Conte as saying, "All my athletes took it," in reference to a Viagra-like drug.

The drug and its over-the-counter substitutes reportedly have numerous off-label uses. These include helping build endurance and delivering oxygen, nutrients and performance-enhancing drugs to muscles more efficiently.

Researchers at universities across the country are now trying to determine whether anecdotal evidence that Viagra aids in training and improves performance is based in scientific fact.

Heart racing?  Perhaps leading to cardiac arrhythmias in an athlete who might have primed his heart with anabolics?  This isn't good.  More on the topic later...

Add#1We added a continuation of the State article which stated that Benedict showed "two puncture wounds in his arm, which isn't consistent with anabolic steroids.

Add#2:  We found a research study where Arimidex increased testosterone in 'elderly men' from about 375 to 575.  Not a bad increase.  The mechanism appears to be by blocking the negative feedback from estrogen on LH/FSH or GNRH release in the pituitary.

 

Forgetting Bullet Bob Hayes, LSU shaves time off 100M to claim wide receiver Trindon Holliday as fastest football player ever

As pointed out in Brooks for Sports, and in The Nashville City Paper, LSU's football player/sprinter  Trindon Holliday will be completing in the NCAA championships this week in Des Moines Iowa's Drake Stadium.  LSU either shaved time off Holliday's records or added precious 0.01 seconds on to ex-Florida A and M, and ex-Dallas Cowboy sprinter/NFL great Bob Hayes, to conclude the LSU sprinter is the fastest football player in history.

Bullet Bob Hayes  played halfback for Florida A and M from 1960 to 1964, and for the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1974?   Hayes won a Superbowl ring, and an Olympic Gold Medal in the 100M Dash.  Hayes was bigger, stronger, and faster than Holliday...and more accomplished.  To the Nashville paper:

LSU this summer is touting junior wide receiver Trindon Holliday as the fastest player in college football. Ever.

That’s right. Not even Bob Hayes, Herschel Walker or Willie Gault can match Holliday’s speed, according to Tigers football publicists.

On paper, they appear to be right. The 5-foot-6 Holliday, a reserve player last year for national-champion LSU, ran a 10.02 in the 100 meters at last year’s NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Only 69 people have ever run it faster and, according to LSU, none have ever played football or were playing at the time they were clocked.

Holliday, who scored two touchdowns last season, is hoping to make the U.S. Olympic team next month. If you saw LSU play last season, you know how dynamic he can be with the ball in his hands.

“He is a football player with track ability,” Tigers football coach Les Miles told CBSSports.com.

“Just like playing football for LSU is very, very important to him, this is too,” added LSU track coach Dennis Shaver.

Not so fast, LSU....is Holliday faster than Rocket Bob Hayes...who won the 1964 Olympics with a 10.00 100M dash?  Isn't 10.02 slower than 10.00?  Not in Bayou Bengal math.  However, it grows even slower when looking at Bob Hayes's remarkable sprinting career.  Hayes clearly was faster than Holliday; following his track career, Hayes starred in the NFL at Dallas.

1963 started with two blistering long sprint WRs - 20.5 for 200m in Pointe a Pitre on 10 February to equal the World Record, and a 20.5 for 220y (worth 20.4 for 200m) at Coral Gables on 2nd March. Following this came two landmark short sprint times. First, on 27th April, Hayes became the first man to run 100m in under 10.0, with a wind assisted 9.9 at the MSR in Walnut (beating Henry Carr and John Gilbert, both of whom ran 10.0w). Then, at the AAU in St Louis on 21st June he ran 9.1 for 100y in his semi final, the first such time ever. He repeated the time to win the final, albeit wind assisted...

Moving outdoors again (1964), Hayes twice more ran 9.1 for 100y, at Orangeburg on 18th April and at Nashville on 2nd May. Neither was ratified as a WR - a recurring theme during Hayes career. He then won the Olympic trials 100m in 10.1 and placed third in the 200m (he gave his spot up for WR holder Henry Carr, who went on to win in Tokyo).

On to Tokyo in October, the zenith and the final act of Hayes' brief career. He breezed through the heats and quarters in 10.4 and 10.3 respectively on 14th October. The next day, at 10am, he produced an amazing semi final run of 9.91 with a 5.3m/s wind behind him. This was the first time anyone had beaten 10.00 with auto timing, and it remainded the fastest ever run until William Snoddy got on the end of an 11.2m/s wind in Dallas in 1977 and ran 9.87. No one ran faster in the Olympics (aside from Ben Johnson) until, incredibly, the three medallists in Atlanta, 32 years later!

If it is hard to fathom the quality of this run, what he achieved in the final is even more staggering. Hayes drew the inside lane for the final, and the last event before the race was the finish of the 20km walk. Remember, this was a cinder track, and the inside lane was so chewed up it had to be raked! Nevertheless, Hayes won in 10.06. He had a 0.19 gap over Cuba's Enrique Figuerola, who equalled the previous best ever auto time of 10.25 (Hary in 1960). Third was Harry Jerome, joint world record holder! This victory margin was not exceeded until Lewis won by 0.20 in 1984. The winning time was ratified as a WR equalling 10.0, which somewhat understated.

In the Olympics, Hayes ran on a cinder track with borrowed spikes.  And more:

It is always fun to wonder what champions of the past would achieve given today's training methods, nutrition, financial rewards, competition etc. Hayes achieved all of the above before his 22nd Birthday, running in the football off-season, on mostly cinder tracks. He estimated that had he carried on he could have brought his 100m time down by "a couple of tenths." My personal view is that if Hayes had trained full time to his mid twenties, run on today's tracks and had today's social, nutritional and training benefits, he would be running 100m in at least the low 9.70s and maybe even under 9.70.

Consider this sophisticated analysis of the greatest sprinter of the second half of the 20th century (he ran an incredible 8.6 100M leg at Toyoko too):

Consider the advantages Hayes would have had in '68 vs '64. Top competition for a start. A synthetic track. Altitude. 4 more years training. He had already run 9.9w (in '63) and 9.91w (in '64). The hand timing in Tokyo was 9.9 - 9.9 - 9.8. So it's fair to assume that we would have had a 9.9 WR well before Jim Hines managed the feat in the '68 AAU. Considering Hines ran 10.03 in the '68 AAU, just 3/100ths faster than Hayes had run on a cinder track in Tokyo, it's probably fair to assume that at least one auto-timer would have caught Hayes in under 10.00 before Mexico City. So already we've re-written the history of 100m running, with Hayes the first man under 10 seconds with hand-timing (windy and legal) and auto timing (windy and legal) all at sea level. Now, we get to Mexico City. Hines ran 0.08 faster in MC than his sea-level best (9.95 vs 10.03). Assuming Hayes would already have been down to around 9.95 - 9.99 it's easy to imagine him running 9.90 or faster. In fact, I consider that an extremely conservative estimate because I'm ascribing Hayes likely improvements from Tokyo to Mexico City to the track, competition and altitude, without wondering if he might actually have got FASTER with time (not unreasonable, although also not certain).

Daily Steroid Briefing

1.  Ole Miss Quarterback recruit Jared Foster indicted for steroid sales (Sun Herald)

2.  Barry Bonds to be a Tiger?  (MLive)

3. Chris Bell (Bigger Stronger Faster) "What's the big deal about steroids" (Fighthype)

4. Goose Gossage at Cooperstown (Democrat and Chronicle)

5.   A Greek swimmer tested positive for doping (IHT)

Charger linebackers (and linemen) love their performance enhancers: Stephen Cooper repeats

Those pragmatic, optimistic, existential merrymakers down in San Diego have done it again.  This time the gang of frolicking Charger linebackers gulped down some ephedra, leading to a good time for all.  Except, starting inside linebacker Stephen Cooper overdid the good times, getting caught in a urine test.

Cooper will serve a 4 game suspension to begin the 2008 NFL season; gee whiz, if he were in MLB he would be granted clemency.  If he were Shawne Merriman, he would be sentenced to judging a Miss USA pageant.  Which is worse? To the San Diego Tribune:

The NFL has confirmed that Chargers starting inside linebacker Stephen Cooper will miss the first four games of the season after testing positive for a banned stimulant. Neither Cooper nor his agent was immediately available for comment, but sources said Cooper tested positive for ephedra.

Ephedra?  The substance Cory Stringer consumed prior to his death.  Not generally a good idea.  Not a good trade-off for a 4 game suspension.  Maybe better the the 'roids Coop had at Univ of Maine, though.  Cooper says:

“I regret that I mistakenly took a stimulant that I did not realize at the time was banned by the NFL,” he said. “I support the NFL's anti-doping policies, and understand that I must serve a suspension even though the stimulant that I took was not used before any game and was not used to enhance my performance. I apologize to the NFL, my team, my coaches, and to my fans, and I look forward to continuing to help the Chargers toward our goal of winning the Super Bowl in the upcoming season.”

Coop loves his PEDs.  At the University of Maine he collected about 1000 hits an an anabolic steroid, although he never tested positive.  D-2 football rules, man.

Cooper joins mates Shawne Merriman and lineman Luis Castillo on the All-Time-Juiced Chargers Hall of Shame.  Merriman tested for the juice in 2006, and Castillo peed 'roids in college at Northwestern.

If Merriman got to judge "Miss USA", Cooper should at least judge "Miss Plus" or something.   

Daily Steroid Briefing

1.  Marion Jones's teammates to lose Sydney medals; whose crying now.  (AFP)  (How about the San Francisco Giants?)

2.  Michigan's Mario Manningham played 'high'.  The state of NCAA drug testing.  (Freep)

3.  It's all about winning in the USJCA  (US Jock Culture of America)(USA Today)

4.  Scientists admit to cerebral bench-presses and brain PEDs.  (Breitbart)

5.  Cockfighters bribed lawmaker.  [post your own pun here].  (Knoxnews)

6.  New York City cops to submit to steroid tests.  Start boning up on those Tyler Hamilton excuses.  (NY Daily News)

7.  Which celebrities juice? (Cracked.com)

PSU Prof Yesalis and "Game of Shadows" authors Williams and Fainaru-Wada on steroid panel at Penn State; Yesalis says 95% of NFL players use HGH

Steroids expert and Penn State prof Charles Yesalis, and "Game of Shadows" authors Lance Williams & Mark Fainaru-Wada shared a stage in State College PA to discuss steroids and PEDs.  Report here (Pittsburgh and Tribune-Review) here(PSU Collegian), and here (personal blog).  In a startling statement Dr. Yesalis stated that 90-95% of NFL players used HGH (and PEDs).

The title of a Penn State roundtable last week -- "Steroids and baseball: Where is the public interest?" -- spoke to a societal split on the subject.

Authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, whose 2006 book "Game of Shadows" exposed baseball's steroids problem, and two Penn State professors spent two hours probing the issue. Rules of the legal, moral and ethical kind have been broken by steroid-users, yet two years after the book's publication, and with steroid-use revelations continuing in baseball and other sports, there are those who don't even consider using performance-enhancing drugs as cheating.

"It is unquestionably cheating," Fainaru-Wada said, addressing the competitive question. "They are banned for a reason. They work."

Interesting observations that fans under-4o don't consider the use of PEDs as 'cheating'.

"The notion of an athlete breaking the law is problematic -- at least to some people," he (Fainaru-Wada) said.

"Some" is the operative word in that statement, according to Penn State professor Dr. Charles Yesalis, an expert on performance-enhancing drugs.

"I've seen numerous fans say, 'I don't care. I just want to be entertained,' " Dr. Yesalis said. "I've talked to a lot of young people. They aren't bent out of shape about this.

"I think in the under-40 crowd, it's strictly entertainment, and if they use drugs to make it more entertaining, whatever."

(more after the jump)

 

Steroid dealer/former athlete in Buffalo busted: Deron Adams goes down

Interesting story of a former Lackawanna NY (near Buffalo) sports star going down for distributing steroids.  Buffalo outlets report on Deron Adams and here:

A former Lackawanna High School football and basketball star was arrested on federal drug charges this morning after an investigation by Blasdell Police, Hamburg Town Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Police charged Deron Adams, 30, with felony drug possession and conspiracy counts after arresting him around 8:30 a.m. at his home on Marlowe Avenue.

Investigators said they found drug scales, cash, cocaine, guns and a marijuana-growing operation in the house where Adams lives with his fiancee and four children.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office said Adams will appear this afternoon for arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr...

And:

30 year old Deron Adams is arrested on federal drug charges. He was brought down by the teamwork of Blasdell, Lackawanna, and Hamburg police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents. "He's an intimidating fellow. He's very large. He had played football in high school. He's into that Ultimate Fighting," said Nancy Cote, Resident Agent-in-Charge of the Buffalo D.E.A. office.

Besides a stash of marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine police also find steroids, needles and prescription drugs in the house along with a rifle and shotgun. "This is a major dent in the drug operations in the City of Lackawanna. We considered Mr. Adams a high level dealer. Way above a street level dealer," said Lackawanna Police Chief Dennis O'Hara.

Adams played D-3 football pretty well at Rowen.  He ran track at Alfred State.  Later he played some semi-pro football.  Adams was an MVP at the Casino Bowl (an All-Star game).  Lately he decided to become an MMA star.  Apparently at some the time he decided to become a dope pusher.

Did steroids lead to Kelvin Sampson's texting mania?

We demand Kelvin Sampson submit to a urine test for steroids.  Why?  After reading this report in the Evening Telegraph we understand that steroids may induce the psychotic sending of hundreds of text messages.

A MAN who sent nearly 1,200 threatening text messages in two weeks to his former girlfriend avoided a jail sentence after the victim said she wanted to give their relationship another go.

In one of the barrage of messages, Tim Tomkinson, 36, of Whiteford Road, Kettering, told his former girlfriend he would put an axe in her head if she got together with any other men.

Guess that is one way to get recruits, keep your girlfriend honest intimidated.  The girlfriend added up about 1200 text messages (anyone own Verizon stock?)

She said: "After that the defendant started to text her constantly. During this time, in the region of 1,200 text messages were sent. She was very concerned about the defendant's behaviour. The matter was reported to the police."

Tomkinson had admitted harassment charges relating to his behavior.
Val Blow, in mitigation, said: "To a large extent this was fuelled by the use of steroids. He gave up in November which is when the charges end. He has been getting his life back on track."

Former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson also seems to be addicted to texting basketball recruits.  We demand authorities test Sampson for nandrolone which would explain the texting mania or 'phone addiction'.

Lisa Merlo, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Florida who specializes in obessive-compulsive disorders, says the possibility that phone addiction exists is catching the attention of researchers.  Sampson, she says, is merely "the highest-profile person" to exhibit what appears to be a growing problem.

"What we noticed is that a lot of (obsesssive-compulsive) patients were using their cell phones to manage their disorder,'' Merlo says. "They're using their cell phones as a way to manage difficult social situations." Like even breaking up via a text message, making the cell phone a modern-day replacement for the "Dear John" letter.

Forget that, it's steroids-related behavior.  Just pee in the cup, Coach.

Another US Congress committee holds steroids hearings: Uniform testing laws?

The AP publishes this lenghty article on Rep Bobby Rush's "House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection" hearings, which invited America's sports leagues chiefs.

Some members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection used Wednesday's hearing to express doubts that the leagues have done enough since a similar session before the same subcommittee in 2005. Several called for a federal law to legislate drug testing for all the major professional sports.

"Let's get it right this time. ... Let's go ahead and get something into law that is acceptable," Texas Republican Joe Barton said. "It's no fun having this hearing every two to three years."...

There were no players at Wednesday's hearing. Instead, the commissioners sat side-by-side with their sport's union chiefs: Bud Selig was inches away from Donald Fehr; Stern was next to Hunter. Then there was the NFL's Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw, and the NHL's Gary Bettman and Paul Kelly.

The NBA's David Stern disagreed with PED testing mandates:

No, thank you, said Stern, who twice interrupted lawmakers to cite the progress made by all four leagues since the 2005 hearing through collective bargaining with their respective unions. He and the other witnesses also cautioned against a one-size-fits-all law that would apply to their very divergent sports.

"Federal legislation in this area is not necessary for the NBA," Stern said. "Nor do I believe that a uniform, federally mandated approach to drug testing for all sports leagues would be appropriate."

(more on the issues after the jump)

"In spite of the fact that they want to pronounce that they have it under control, I still think that it's not fully under control," said the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. "And we have to do more."

The committee should consider sports frauds law -- that would protect the consumer.

Bring it on: Cheerleaders bulking up on steroids

A new book examines the rough and tumble world of college cheerleading.  Not the sissy universe most think, the author says that male cheerleaders bulk up on anabolic steroids, while the female yell-leaders stay slim with stimulants.

College cheerleading now ranks as an "extreme" sport, no matter what the NCAA might say, argues Lisa Torgovnick, a former Jane contributor who now writes for The New York Times.

For those cartwheels in nandrolone:

Like college and pro sports, varsity cheerleading is developing a substance-abuse problem. Male cheerleaders bulk up on steroids so they can heft more weight. (Contrary to stereotype, Torgovnick writes, cheer-guys are no more likely to be gay than football linemen. Most of them tend toward "weight-lifting, beer-guzzling and head-banging.")

Apparently there is no PED testing in the cheerleading world:

"Flyers," under pressure to stay light - and maintain the usual unrealistic "Barbie" standards of beauty - take a pharmacy of drugs including, occasionally, cocaine. Except for the cocaine, though, almost all this abuse is perfectly legitimate, since the NCAA rates cheerleading as an "activity" rather than a "sport."

Maybe Rep Dan Burton can 'bring it on' to expose this in a congressional hearing.

Mississippi football recruit shows juiced Junior Achievement: sells steroids

Even before he took Econ 101 at Ole Miss, Mississippi quarterback recruit Jared Foster had himself a little enterprise going: selling 'roids.

Ole Miss is not likely to give Foster the Junior Achievement award, although new Rebel football coach Houston Nutt does some goofy things.  To the Jackson Clarion-Ledger:

A former Madison Central High School quarterback who was expected to play at the University of Mississippi next season has been released on $5,000 bond in connection with a steroid investigation.

Jared Foster, 19, was arrested Monday in Oxford by the Madison County Sheriff's Department and charged with the sale of narcotics, jail records show.

Madison County authorities have said the arrest is part of an ongoing investigation but have not said whether more arrests are expected.

Madison County Sheriff Toby Trowbridge, who did not return calls for comment Tuesday, told ESPN.com that Foster was observed selling steroids to a "confidential informant" three months ago, before he enrolled at Ole Miss.

The 6-5 QB has quite a record -- of victories and of law breaking:

He recently transferred to Ole Miss from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, where he was a part of last fall's NJCAA co-national champion team.

He was expected to join the Rebel football team officially in February, but Ole Miss head football coach Houston Nutt said Monday that Foster's scholarship offer had been pulled.

Foster, of 238 Fox Lane in Canton, transferred to Madison Central from Canton Academy his senior year.

At 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, he was touted as a dual-threat quarterback, but he failed to draw any offers from big-name universities his senior year.

As a senior at Madison Central, Foster was arrested on two counts of alcohol possession by a minor and 13 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after police disrupted a party at his home in Madison in November 2006.

Foster was given a mulligan, and a chance to clear himself, but oops:

Madison police and the Madison County Sheriff's Department opened a joint steroid investigation after a controlled substance was found in the home.

Authorities later agreed not to prosecute Foster if he helped in the steroid investigation and stayed out of trouble for two years.

Authorities said Foster cooperated with police, which resulted in the arrest of at least one juvenile who attempted to sell a controlled substance to an undercover officer.

But just three months later, Foster was charged with assault in an alleged altercation with a fellow Madison Central player, and he pleaded guilty in Canton Municipal Court.

Journalist reminds us of Vandy steroid scandal in 1985

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Jimmy Davy, a retired Tennessee sportswriter, reminds us of the Vanderbilt University steroid scandal of 1985.

As a beat reporter for The Tennessean during the Vanderbilt steroids scandal almost 23 years ago, I am not surprised that use of performance-enhancing drugs is a continuing sports story.

I was told back then, in 1985, that if weight room "rats'' were convinced that digesting Brillo scouring pads would allow them to lift one more pound, there wouldn't be a clean pot or pan in Nashville.

The use of steroids and human growth hormones is not as surprising as the names that are being connected with the use of the drugs, particularly in baseball. Barry Bonds, the all-time home run hitter, and Roger Clemens, perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time, are the most recent headliners.

The question for me is why athletes as gifted as these two men, if allegations against them are true, would have risked their reputations as future Hall of Famers for a few more home runs or strikeouts.

There appear to be two groups of athletes who use PEDs:

• The athletes who are tying to just hang on to make the roster
• The stars who wish to extend their achievements into legend

More on Vandy:

In my opinion, if they are guilty of such use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, it is because Bonds wants to make the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run record splurge buried from view along with Henry Aaron. Clemens wants to pitch forever.

A reminder of dark days

Reading the details of the current baseball scandal always takes me back to those dark days in Vanderbilt's football history about which the late John Bibb and I produced weeks of steroid stories of national interest, with an assist from courthouse reporter Kirk Loggins and a daily shove from then-Tennessean editor John Seigenthaler.

Three men were charged in a 97-count indictment handed down by the Davidson County grand jury. The indictment mentioned 34 past and present Vanderbilt football players as unindicted co-conspirators. Two men pleaded guilty and were sentenced to one-year unsupervised probation. The other man indicted was placed in pretrial diversion.

Before the scandal broke, the Vanderbilt weight room was a loosely monitored gathering place of strength and muscle enthusiasts mingling with the Commodore football players. The media, including me, should have seen the warning signs, but we didn't.

The choices the Vanderbilt athletes made were inexcusable. But, with years to think about it, I believe I understand the mindset of those young athletes in that workout facility. Weary of being outmatched in size, strength and aggressiveness on the football field every Saturday in the fall, they decided that payback and competitiveness could be accomplished only by using these performance-enhancing, muscle-building drugs. I often wonder what choices I would have made under the same circumstances.

Puzzling, however, is that the superstars never needed Brillo to make it big. In my mind, they only needed a measure of common sense.

Player alleges Hawaii Warriors juiced before battle

A former University of Hawaii Warrior football player details the fun and games played in Honolulu. ABC Eyewitness News7 carries the report.

Hawaii will investigate allegations of drug use and rigged testing by a former player.  Ian Sample, alleged Hawaii players used steroids and marijuana, drank excessively, enjoyed the services of coeds, and appreciated all the 'academic' aid in college.

HONOLULU -- University of Hawaii athletic officials on Monday said they will look into allegations raised by a former receiver, including the claim that school officials and players manipulated NCAA-mandated drug tests.

  Ian Sample, who recently published a book chronicling the 2006 season entitled, "Once A Warrior," released unpublished material on his blog about excessive drinking, widespread use of marijuana, sex with groupies and rigged drug tests.

  Sample, who now plays professional football in Japan, wrote that he's "convinced the 'random' tests are not random at all."

"The higher ups definitely know what they are doing when they decide who will be tested," he wrote. "However, getting tested doesn't necessarily mean getting caught, every once in a while a player will side step a positive test result by flushing out their system [the real smokers know where to go to get a cleansing elixir]."

Hawaii's AD and the school's head coach -- June Jones -- both distanced themselves from Sample's book:

John McNamara, Hawaii's associate athletic director, said officials are reviewing and evaluating the content of the book and the Internet postings...

Warriors coach June Jones emphatically denied Sample's claim about the drug testing, calling it a "lie."

  "We don't have anything to do with it," he said, adding that the NCAA supplies a random lists of players, not the school.

"These are the greatest kids in the world," he said. "It's a shame someone would throw them under the bus. With the Internet, anyone can say what they want. It's so dishonorable."

Sample himself ripped off a great line about Jone's literacy:

  Sample told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that Jones is entitled to his opinion.

"But when he talks about throwing people under the bus, if he gets really bored one day and goes to the public library and reads the book, he might have some different thoughts," he said.

How about those 'random' NCAA urine tests:

Sample, who had 54 catches for 690 yards and 10 touchdowns for Hawaii last season, wrote that when one of the random urine tests were conducted, "it's amazing that none of our valuable players are ever selected, especially the ones known for smoking weed."

"The players that are selected to go piss in a cup are the ones less valuable and the ones that have become a nuisance to coaches or the team," he wrote.

If the tales about the Warriors weren't included in his book, Sample posted them on his myspace account:

  Sample's omitted passages were posted on his blog at myspace.com.

George Engebretson, of Watermark Publishing in Honolulu, said he decided not to include Sample's more controversial material in the book, even though it may have resulted in more sales...

About those 'roids:

  Sample wrote that marijuana was the drug of choice for the Warriors, but said he believed some players used steroids.

"Have people on the team taken steroids? Yes, they have," he wrote. "Sometimes it's obvious, you see someone improve over a couple months by leaps and bounds -- we all know it's naturally impossible. I think it's known but not really talked about."

Sample said he has never known anyone caught taking steroids, but has known several players caught with marijuana in their system.

As for the boozing, Sample acknowledged times when he attended practices feeling drunk, along with other players who would drink on a regular basis.

Sample wrote about wild groupies, including one female who wanted him to wear his uniform during sex. He said groupies were readily available, including on campus.

The NCAA might be interested in Hawaii's study habits:

  Sample also claimed that people on and off the team would do schoolwork for money.

"If the money is right, and it always is, they will 'help' us write papers; anything from simple response papers to 20-page research papers," Sample wrote. "Their 'help' is unlimited and completely unassisted."

  He said the entire team knows about the services.

  "The best part is that some of the coaches know all about it," he wrote. "I've even heard

Tainted or untainted? Double records in track discussed

Track records became so distorted with presumptive doping, that officials now talk about keeping a set of double records: presumably steroid and then presumably clean. Very good story in the Indy Star today.  (also this link to Track and Field News)

The sport appears to be addressing how PEDs (performance enhancing drugs; or APEDs (appearance +PED) affect the top performances, and how that cheat clean athletes attempting to break those records.

Should the world's oldest sport start anew?

So many records in track and field are implausible, presumably because of undetected doping, that they are out of reach.

Unlike baseball, which is stuck with bloated home run figures from a steroid era, track has the authority to clean the slate. Governing bodies have invalidated records set by athletes caught using drugs.

For instance we carried a story concerning Sanya Richards who ran a 48.7 last year.  The world record -- felt to be tainted -- is held by Marita Koch of East Germany at 47.6.  Can a 'clean' athlete (especially in women's track) beat these old tainted records?

As the AT&T USA Track and Field Championships come to Indianapolis this week, world records are mostly out of the question. Women, especially, have as good a chance of capturing ghosts as they do of breaking world records.

"It is disappointing to step on the track and know for the next year or two, your time probably won't compare to the world record," American sprinter Sanya Richards said.

Richards is aiming at the 22-year-old record of 47.60 seconds in the 400 meters held by Marita Koch. Koch represented East Germany, which had a systematic doping program that was uncovered in files of Stasi, the secret police, and published in Germany.

Several years ago, German officials proposed a bifurcation of records:  tainted v. untainted:

In 1999, Germany proposed that "records of the new millennium" be created. A congress of the IAAF, the sport's international governing body, rejected the idea.

Yet the notion is kept alive by reformers such as Gianni Merlo, chairman of the IAAF press commission, who favors a new list of records. Garry Hill, editor of Track & Field News, supports introduction of old and new millennium records.

"Go to a bifurcated system," Hill wrote in an e-mail. "Give the sport back its thrill of the world record chase, but at the same time, don't disenfranchise all the fair-playing greats who went before."

Records set by women from the former Soviet bloc, or by Chinese distance runners in the 1990s, aren't the only ones to which circumstantial evidence is applied. Florence Griffith-Joyner's 100-meter time of 10.49, set at Indianapolis in 1988, is widely viewed with suspicion, partly because of doubt about the wind reading. "FloJo" never failed a drug test.

There are issues with track records, that need to be considered:

Two issues that shouldn't be lost in the debate are these:

Records are rare in track and field, and always have been. Jesse Owens long jumped 26 feet, 81/4 inches in 1935, and the record lasted 25 years. Bob Beamon jumped 29-21/2 in 1968, and the record lasted 23 years. Sebastian Coe ran 800 meters in 1:41.73 in 1981, and the record lasted 16 years.

As Craig Masback, CEO of USA Track & Field, put it in an e-mail:

"This contrasts to a sport like swimming, where they are still on an aggressive growth curve in terms of adding new participant countries (and where changes in pool and swimsuit technologies have also helped athletes get faster)."

Revising records would be as much an attempt to build fan interest as it would be to make right the marks that were wrongly achieved. For instance, no one else in this century has come within 11/2 feet of Jonathan Edwards' 60-foot triple jump from 1995. No one suggests the squeaky-clean Edwards was doping.

"He landed straight up and down like a pogo stick, with no flexion," marveled Mike Conley, the 1992 Olympic champion in the triple jump. "I would have just crumbled to the ground."

Just as there are ancient and modern Olympics, Conley said, the sport's eras could be divided and have records for each.

"We need a shot in the arm somewhere," said Conley, who is trying to help lure the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. "That is definitely a concept that we should look at."

A convenient way to amend some records is to change weights of implements (shot, discus, hammer) or to raise heights of women's hurdles.

That wouldn't address other events. Moreover, unless drug testing improves, a new record book could still include drug-tainted marks.

Those East Germans, who had the systematic doping machine messed alot of things up:

The International Olympic Committee has made no attempt to strip medals won by East German athletes. The IOC, which has the power to annul results going back eight years, recently opened an investigation into possible doping in cycling at previous Olympics.

Meanwhile, female athletes are stuck looking at records seemingly taken off the Sci Fi Channel. Richards, for one, sounds undaunted in pursuit of Koch's time.

Richards met Koch for the first time last year in Monte Carlo at a gala in which Richards was recognized as the world's Athlete of the Year. Richards' best is 48.70, which would have put her 9 meters behind Koch.

Richards conceded that the issue is "touchy" but said she has examined Koch's race and believes she, too, can break 48 seconds. Anyway, Richards said, that is the record.

"And I'm going to keep my eyes focused on it," she said. "And hopefully, one day I'll be the world record-holder."

Old v. New records after the jump.  This is really a good article.

 

Steve Alford, trying to bleed every last cent from Iowa AD

We missed this when it came out, and now thank the Hair Gel Blog for the tip.  The CR Gazette obtained information about Steve Alford's final daze days at Iowa.  Taking the state for over a $million a year when he under-performed as a coach wasn't enough; Alford wanted the Iowa AD to pay for his trip to the Atlanta Final Four, after he had resigned to take his dream job at New Mexico. 

Former University of Iowa men's basketball coach Steve Alford and the school's athletics department were at odds over his cell phone and e-mail usage in the days after his March 22 resignation, according to e-mails received through the Freedom of Information Act.

Iowa paid for recruiting services which Alford could freeload on:

``Only reason I am asking about that (email) is because all the recruiting services that we have paid for go directly to their e-mail addresses,'' Deutsch wrote. ``... As long as they can get into the University system, they will be able to get into my recruiting database, too. I don't mean to be accusatory, (I) just want to make you aware of how one thing ties into another.''

Assistant Coach Craig Noodle Neal was looking to freeload even more.  What is is about 'resigned' that Neal doesn't understand?  When you resign a job the former employer doesn't pay your vacation any more.

March 23, Neal asked the basketball secretary if the school would pay for his and Alford's trips to the Final Four in Atlanta. Deutsch, in an e-mail to Parker, wrote that she told Neal, ``I (doubt) it.''

Oh yeah, Steve, when you resign, your former employer is not going to keep paying for your cell phone, chump.  Sorry.

Later that day, Deutsch e-mailed Parker that Alford wanted to put a voice mail message on his former cell phone for about a week.

   ``I guess he is now concerned on how people are going to get a hold of
him,'' Deutsch wrote. ``I didn't have the heart to say, call him at the school.''

Thirty-three minutes later, Deutsch relayed the former basketball coach's disgust over the phone issue. ``Craig said Steve was calling or going to call Mr. Barta to complain about shutting down his cell phone (March 23), so let me know if this has changed.''

Let's see now, after resigning Alford wanted Iowa to pay for his vacation to the Final Four, his cell phone, and perhaps keep getting recruiting updates.  Like a spoiled brat, Alford doesn't take 'no' easily

Four days later, March 27, Alford asked again about the Final Four bill.

``Steve is now asking if we are paying for any of his Final Four stuff or NABC membership stuff and I said no, correct?''' Deutsch wrote to Parker. ``I told him I had already asked you for Craig, and you said Iowa would not pay (for) it.''

Steve...You quit, remember?  The taxpayers of Iowa may not be Nobel prize winners, but they sure as heck know they should not pay for a guy who just quit.  Not enough, though.  Alford was back at it:

Alford was supposed to turn in his keys for his two leased vehicles that day.

``He filled out the vehicle paperwork Tuesday indicating he turned in the car, but he obviously did not,'' Deutsch wrote March 28.

Here is a guy who robbed Iowa of 1 million per year in salary, notoriously freeloaded everyone on Iowa City for free clothes, free lawn mowers, free cars, free toilet paper, and he wants to job ask the University to cover his vacation, cell phone, and SUV after he resigned.

What a spoiled narcissistic brat.  An error apparent.

Did the Boz give the Okie players 'banned nutritional supplements'?

As reported here, and by The Wizard of Odds, the University of Oklahoma handed a couple football players 'banned nutritional substances last fall. Oops,  thats an NCAA no no.

NORMAN — Football players at Oklahoma were given two nutritional supplements banned by the NCAA

According to documents obtained Tuesday through an open records request by The Associated Press, Oklahoma self-reported to the Big 12 Conference that it committed a secondary violation of NCAA bylaws last fall by providing "two nutritional supplements that contained impermissible substances.” before the school's compliance department detected the error and stopped the practice.

Nutritional supplements seem to be making the news alot today.

Oklahoma blamed one violation on a nutritional company inadvertently shipping a banned substance it identified as "an identical product bearing the same name” as a legal product that had been ordered by the university. In the second instance, Oklahoma reported that the football program's strength and conditioning staff failed to review the ingredients of a new nutritional supplement that was ordered.

Both supplements were given to athletes before the mistakes were detected during a routine check by compliance staff.

We certainly hope the supplements weren't the type the Boz took when he matriculated at Oklahoma...

Ex-ASU football player convicted of murder

An Arizona jury laid down a murder-2 conviction for Loren Wade, the ex-Arizona State football player we reported on earlier who found with steroids in his blood. Report here by AzStarNet.

PHOENIX — Former Arizona State running back Loren Wade was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder in the slaying of another ex-Sun Devils football player.
The 23-year-old Wade was on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Brandon Falkner, who was shot outside a Scottsdale nightclub on March 26, 2005.
Prosecutors claimed Falkner was shot because Wade saw him talking to his girlfriend. Falkner was 25.
Wade faces a maximum of 22 years in prison when he's sentenced. No sentencing date was immediate.

We went into the case more in depth when we reported that the ex-RB Wade, who shot his teammate in front of many witnesses, showed anabolic steroids on his blood test.  We don't believe this evidence was allowed in court, however.

Wade was angry about a female ex-girlfriend soccer player before the shooting.

The Wizard of Odds report here.  The Wiz also noted that the dead player's (Brandon Falkner) father is suing former ASU coach Dirk  Koetter.

Former Iowa Hawkeye football player, currrent California deputy, on trial for shooting

Ex-Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver Ivory Webb stands trial for voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm in California this week.  Webb, in his job as a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, shot an Air Force veteran 3 times last summer following a high speed chase.  The shooting shocked many who watched an amateur video of the incident.  Reports from the LA Times (reg needed) and the DailyBulletin.com document the trial which began after delays in San Bernadino.   

The Wizard of Odds carried the video last year and these comments on Webb's background (and recently here):

Ivory Webb was tied for third in pass receptions with 16 for the 1981-82 Iowa team that snapped a string of 19 straight winless seasons and reached the 1982 Rose Bowl, where it lost to Washington, 28-0.

Webb transferred to Iowa in 1980 from Long Beach (Calif.) Junior College. He is a Long Beach native. The 1981 Iowa football media guide said his major was broadcasting.

Webb's father is a police chief in Compton CA.  Interview with Webb's family here at PE.com.

The wife of a sheriff's deputy videotaped shooting an unarmed Air Force airman broke her silence Thursday, saying her husband is a caring man who has been unfairly and prematurely judged.  "What he is charged with is not who he is," A.J. Webb said...    

Webb, 45, the son of a retired Compton police chief, is the first peace officer in San Bernardino County to be charged in connection with an on-duty shooting. A resident videotaped the shooting, which received national attention. 

The trial begins, from the Times:

The man who led a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy on a high-speed chase before crashing a borrowed Corvette in Chino last year testified Wednesday that his passenger was following the deputy's orders to "get up" off the ground and had his hands in plain view when the officer shot him three times.

The former deputy, Ivory John Webb Jr., is on trial in San Bernardino County Superior Court in the shooting of the off-duty Air Force airman, Elio Carrion, who survived. The incident was recorded on video by a bystander, providing the evidence on which much of the trial has focused.

The Corvette's driver, Carrion's high school friend Luis Escobedo, testified Wednesday that neither he nor Carrion had made threatening moves and had assured the officer that they were unarmed.

During cross-examination, however, Webb's attorney questioned how Escobedo could have tracked what was happening in the darkness.

Webb, 46, is charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm. Prosecutor R. Lewis Cope has argued that the shooting was unprovoked and unnecessary.

(More from the Times after the jump)

Iowa State football doesn't have a prayer

We primarily focus on steroid and anabolic use in sports and society.  However, we also like to pick up on the local sports scene too.

This story was noted in the Des Moines Register about one week ago.  Iowa State faculty initiated a petition against new Cyclone football coach Gene Chizik's plan to use a chaplain for his band of Davids as they fight the Goliaths of the Big 12.

More than 100 faculty members at Iowa State University have signed a petition opposing the football coach's plan to make a chaplain an official member of the team staff.

Coach Gene Chizik, hired last November, wants to hire a chaplain who would be paid by private donations. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard supports the plan because he contends student-athletes are under a lot of pressure and need access to spiritual guidance.

Faculty members behind the petition said hiring a chaplain is improper at a public university given the separation between church and state. And they said the move would favor Christianity over other religions.

"Are you going to have counseling for Jewish students? Muslim students? There's no such thing as one religion or one version of Christianity," said Hector Avalos, a professor of religious studies at Iowa State.

University spokesman John McCarroll said President Gregory Geoffroy has been traveling but received the petition earlier this week.

Good point by the faculty.  Although the armed forces have long employed chaplains, they assure access to ministrations for soldiers of all faiths.  As they say, there are no atheists when facing death in a foxhole or in an Iowa State huddle when playing at Austin.

Should 'Hail Mary' plays be banned?  How about a Doug Flutie 'Oy Vey' touchdown pass to Gerard Phelan?

Recent news has ISU President Geoffrey turning the issue over to a council, likely not an ecumenical council:

Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy has requested that the ISU Athletics Council review a proposal to provide the Cyclone football team access to a chaplain, according to a statement released by the university this afternoon...

The Council has been charged with drafting in consultation with athletic director Jamie Pollard – for the president’s consideration by Aug. 1.

We suggest that the Cyclones be proactive in this issue.  Perhaps turning over all pregame rituals to Jobu, who performed so well in 'Major League'.  Although we know that crosses sports and religions, perhaps using a baseball icon could make up for the loss of the Cyclone baseball team some years ago.  Other teams use Jobu as their icon.  The ISU players, like Pedro Serrano, might learn to 'do it myself'.

 

Arkansas wild hogs

Deadspin and Loser with Socks asks if this kind of muscular enhancement can be found with a good diet, weight training, and maturity.  Sure, an athlete can gain a great deal of muscle in one year.  Maybe 12 pounds lean body mass by good diet and natural training methods.  That would equal about 25 pounds body weight.

If one adds in some nandrolone, HGH, insulin, T, thyroid, the growth can be phenomenal.  As seen here.  It would be almost impossible to gain raw, complete lean body mass to this degree by natural training.

Does the NCAA test for PEDs?  Do the cops find all speeders?

Arizona football player, accused of murdering teammate, tested positive for steroids

In an ugly episode, former Arizona State football player Loren Wade stands accused of murdering his Sun Devil teammate Brandon Falkner.  The Phoenix trial continues (and here), where the following testimony came last week:

Cale Readis and Tyrone Bowers said they saw Loren Wade punch Falkner with gun in hand and then, in a separate motion, shoot him. "He drew the gun back, chambered it and then he fired," Readis said.

A fight over Arizona State star soccer player Haley van Blommestein might have precipitated the killing.  Wade dated the soccer star.

Wade was impaired by alcohol, according to the police report, and enraged to discover van Blommestein talking to Falkner. Witnesses said he put the gun into the driver's side window and pulled the trigger.

However, in an out of court special hearing, it was revealed Wade tested positive for anabolic steroids the night of the murder.  From the East Valley Tribune:

Former Arizona State University football player Loren Wade had steroids in his system the night he’s said to have shot and killed another former Sun Devil, Brandon Falkner, according to testimony during a hearing Friday for Wade’s murder trial.

Jennifer Valdez, a toxicologist for the Scottsdale Police Department, told Judge Arthur Anderson on Friday morning in Maricopa County Superior Court that analysis of a urine sample taken March 26, 2005, showed it contained seven steroid compounds not produced naturally by the body.

   At the time, the football team’s preseason training was well under way.

This data will rekindle once again for the millionth time, the 'roid rage' controversy.  The use of anabolic steroids may or may not cause the reputed 'roid rage.  The Nation believes that androgens can cause increased aggression in those who central nervous system is primed for aggression.  Testosterone is the fuel for the engine of aggression.  Meanwhile back to the trial:

Her testimony came during a special hearing outside the purview of the jury, in which prosecutor Juan Martinez, defense attorney Ulises Ferragut and the judge discussed whether evidence or testimony about the steroids would be allowed into the trial.

Valdez told the judge that she didn’t have a standard by which to compare the results, so she couldn’t judge the amounts of each compound in his system, nor identify what types of steroids they might be.

Of interest was the the Sun Devil players underwent routine dope testing, which did not pick up the steroids in Wade.

   “The players were being tested regularly at that time,” Ferragut said after the hearing, “and he always tested negatively.”

For the love of the 'U', give us some steroids!

We at the Nation stand, profoundly proud of the American educational system, as we are part of that bastion of independent progressive thought.  But, we can't beat this.

A graduate student in Sports Medicine at the University of Miami, looks at her high tuition, then looks at the rather mundane physiques on campus.  She concludes that for the high tuition, 'U' President Donna Shalala should be handing out gratis 'roids.  The supply should be good in Florida with all the Internet pharmacies, right?

From the Miami Hurricane Online come this (note the gratuitous compliments; and I doubt she has been in J-School):

First of all, congratulations on running the upstanding facility we know as the University of Miami. I have to give you props for what you've accomplished in your tenure thus far. Your ambition in raising millions of dollars for this institution is commendable. And while I appreciate the lovely campus and gorgeous weather, allow me to take this opportunity to suggest to you an alternate campus beautification plan: steroids.

James Ferentz follows brother Brian Ferentz, to play for dad Coach Kirk Ferentz

You can't tell the Ferentz's without a program.  Iowa City is in a Ferentz-y.

Hawkeye Report is stating that Iowa City, City High linemen surprisingly committed to in-town Big Ten Iowa Hawkeyes, coached by his pop Kirk Ferentz. Press-Citizen story here.

Iowa’s first in-state recruit in the Class of 2008 is no surprise, as the head coach’s son, James Ferentz, gave his verbal commitment to the Hawkeyes after receiving an offer earlier this month. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Ferentz attends Iowa City High School, where he plays for head coach Dan Sabers...

Talk about nepotism (smile).  James Ferentz' coach at City High is Dan Sabers, who's son Michael Sabers is a tight end on the Hawkeyes.  James Ferentz' brother is Brian Ferentz, who started 4 years on the Hawkeye line, and whom spent some time with the NFL Atlanta Falcons. 

Here is the Ferentz clan.  Brian is the tall one.  Kirk is the old one.  And young James is on the left;  he obviously has bulked up since then.  The boss --Mary Ferentz-- is sitting next to James.

In between fathering linemen, Kirk Ferentz coached at Iowa, Maine, for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, and currently head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Wonder if there are any more linemen crawling hitting people around the Ferentz house?

Let's hope the Coach hasn't text messaged the recruit too much.....

Mark Perry, Iowa NCAA wrestling champion arrested for public intox

Mark Perry, an NCAA champion wrestler with the Iowa Hawkeyes, developed an unusual way to prepare for finals at the school: party hard.  Perry also enjoyed the fun police ride to the jail.  Story in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

NCAA champion Iowa wrestler Mark Perry Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to public intoxication hours after police arrested him for the crime.

The court ordered Perry to pay $182 in fines and court costs. Perry won the 165-pound title last month at the NCAA Tournament.

According to Iowa City police:

It was about 12:56 a.m. when officers responded to Muscatine and Iowa avenues for a report of a man standing in the street and yelling profanities. Officers arrived to find Perry, 22, of Coralville, standing in the street with his arms crossed and yelling. Perry told officers he was drinking downtown and at multiple house parties.

Police said Perry smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and had trouble keeping his balance. Perry also had a small abrasion on his right foreman and told officers he did not know how he got it. Once in the patrol car, Perry was singing and rambling. A post-arrest breath test showed Perry's blood-alcohol level at .20, more than twice the legal limit of .08.

So what is this public, non-driving  'legal limit' of alcohol, of which they speak?

Wonder what Iowa assistant wrestling coach Dan Gable will say about this?

Dick Butkus wants his award back

For over 20 years the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando awarded the Dick Butkus trophy to their pick of the best linebacker in college football.  Butkus filed suit on Orlando District Court on Monday to sack the club, then recover his award.  Story in the New York Times (which will take registration). Or SI.com

Why does Butkus want to reverse his field?

Butkus and athletic club officials disagree about which charitable organizations should benefit most from Butkus’s association with the award, according to his lawyer, Robert Helfing. By taking control, he said, Butkus hopes to raise more money for charities with which he is affiliated.

Butkus supports the Hooton Foundation to keep kids form juicing:

He also started an educational campaign, called Lean Mean and Clean, to eradicate steroids among high school athletes. Butkus works closely with the Taylor Hooton Foundation, named after a former high school baseball pitcher from Plano, Tex., and a cousin of the former major league pitcher Burt Hooton. Taylor Hooton committed suicide in 2003 at age 17, before his senior year. The family started the foundation because they say his use of anabolic steroids played a significant role in causing severe depression, leading to his suicide.

In seeking licensing control of his name for an award to a college linebacker, Butkus contends, he would be able to use his status to bring more attention and money to organizations, like the Taylor Hooton Foundation. Helfing said Butkus had discussed his concerns with the athletic club, but that the sides had been unable to reach an agreement.

There may be time to drop back in coverage for the Orlando Club, however Butkus' lawyer sounds determined.
“It’s possible that we could still work this out and that Dick could reach an new agreement with the club,” Helfing said. “If not, maybe we’ll present it in Chicago, or somewhere where Dick has closer ties. But we just wanted to confirm with the court that Dick has the right to use his name with a college football award and that Dick was terminating his licensing agreement with the club.”

Sounds to us that Butkus would not be happy with the 1985 and 1986 Butkus award-winner: juicer Brian Bosworth.

Hokie coaches react to tragedy at Virgina Tech.

Update:

Virginia Tech cancels spring football game
Christopher Ritter, CT Online Director

Virginia Tech has canceled the remainder of the spring football season. This includes the Saturday, April 21st spring football game.

Occasionally we step out of the steroid world to examine a story.  This is one of those times.

In an incident reminding The Nation of a tragic shootings on the University of Iowa campus in 1991 when our ex-physics professor was slain (and here), a gunman killed a multitude of students on the Virginia Tech campus in Blackburn VA.  Condolences to the families of the slain students, and murdered teachers.  It will take time for the campus to heal; sometimes sports can help bring people together to aid the healing process.

Hokie coach Frank Beamer reacted at MS NBC:

Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer said he is "in shock" after a gunman shot to death more than 30 students at the campus in Blacksburg, Va., on Monday, ESPN reported.

"How could one person cause so many senseless deaths? I'm in shock," Beamer said. "This is such a caring, friendly place. This is a college town. And now one person has an impact like this?

"We found out this morning and our assistant coaches have been trying to reach all of our players. We're trying to find out if everybody is OK. The players are going to be going home to their apartments and dorms."

Indeed an Augusta GA TV station carried a report of a local QB who recently left high school early to enroll at Va Tech who left the fatal dorm just minutes before the first murders.

Brandon Barden, who played QB for Lincoln County last fall, signed to play football at Virginia Tech next year and enrolled early.

Barden is unhurt, but he lives in the dorm where some of the shooting happened. He left for football practice just a few minutes before it started. He and the other football players are now in the athletic dorm under tight security.

He spoke to his mom, Dr. Becky Barden, earlier today to tell her he was alright.

Other media outlets were reporting local students appeared to be fine, as the Cincy Enquirer reported on  a local prep player, also on the Hokey football team.

Virginia Tech football player Aaron Brown, a Princeton High School graduate, was in class this morning when the shootings broke out at Tech's campus in Blacksburg, Va.

Aaron Brown telephoned his father, George Brown, shortly after news of the shootings today. George Brown lives in the Cincinnati suburb of Woodlawn.

Hokey basketball coach Seth Greenberg said his daughter was in a dorm near the first shootings:

Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg said the shootings happened as he was arriving at his office to interview a job applicant, ESPN said.

"I'm numb right now thinking about the parents coming to campus to identify their children,'' Greenberg told ESPN. "It's hard to put into words. What would drive someone to do this?

"This is the most peaceful, tranquil and safe environment. But this shows that there is nowhere that you're safe from tragedy or this type of senseless violence. It's devastating.''

Greenberg said his daughter Paige, a freshman, was in the dorm next to the one where the gunman shot his first victims, ESPN said. But she quickly left and went to a friend's house off-campus.

Va Tech will find the aftermath of this tragedy will be painful; we hope that the campus can reconstitute to move on. 

Are there lessons here for college campus safety?

Could Dana Altman be the new president of the University of Iowa? Mark Prior as AD?

The former president of the University of Iowa, David Skorton resigned over one year ago to ascend to the same position at Cornell University.  The Board of Regents formed a much publicized search committee led by ne'er-do-well Michael Gartner (owner of the Iowa Cubs).  After hundreds of thousands of dollars, many secret meetings, and the completion of the search, Gartner, royally canceled the search because the result did not match his pre-ordained desires.  Iowa needed to reform a committee and start the search all over again. (long long story here at Nicholas Johnson's blog)

Considering that, The Nation believes that the Univ of Iowa should name Arkansas Creighton basketball coach Dana Altman the new president.  It could be a race to see who rejects whom first.  Gartner calling off the completed search, or Altman backing out of the deal.

Myabe Gartner can charm Mark Prior into pitching for the Iowa team...or could Prior fill either position at Iowa or Arkansas?  Can he be a university president or a basketball coach?  He might then refuse to go down to Iowa City or Fayetteville.

Todd Lickliter to be named Iowa basketball coach

We went over the Iowa search for a basketball coach here.

New information: The Des Moines Register says Iowa will have a coach in the next 24 hours.  More from the Register.

Iowa will name Todd Lickliter, Butler head coach, and 2007 Coach of the Year.  Until recently Lickliter had the same agent as Steve Alford, ironically.  This seems to be coming from multiple sources.

How about Lickliter's record?  From Butler's site:

Butler men's basketball coach Todd Lickliter has been selected as the Division I Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Lickliter received his award on Sunday evening (April 1) at the AT & T/NABC Awards Show at the Sydney Marcus Auditorium in Atlanta, Ga. The program was part of the Final Four weekend activities.

Lickliter, who completed his sixth season at Butler, guided the Bulldogs to a school and Horizon League record 29 victories in 2006-07. He led Butler to a regular season co-championship in the Horizon League and then took the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16 of the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Butler defeated Old Dominion in the first round of the tournament and then beat #18 Maryland in the second round, before falling to defending national champ Florida in the Sweet 16.

Butler was picked sixth in the Horizon League's preseason poll, but the Bulldogs wasted little time proving the predictors wrong. Lickliter's club opened the season with a 40-point win at Tulane and then captured the Midwest Region title of the NIT Season Tip-Off with back-to-back victories over Notre Dame and Indiana. The Bulldogs continued to roll in New York, defeating #22 Tennessee and #23 Gonzaga to capture the NIT Season Tip-Off championship.

Lickliter led the Bulldogs to 10 straight wins to open the season, including a victory over Purdue in the Wooden Tradition. The 10 wins matched the second-fastest start in school history and the fifth-longest winning streak in school annals. Butler cracked the "Top 25" on Nov. 27 and the Bulldogs were nationally-ranked for a school and league record 16 consecutive weeks. Lickliter's club became the first team in Horizon League history to break into the nation's "Top 10" on Feb. 5!

Katz is reporting this now.

It is interesting that up until 2 weeks ago, both departed Iowa coach Steve Alford and incoming coach Todd Lickliter employed the same agent.  Lickliter has since made a change.

Rick Majerus to be new Iowa basketball coach?

Update #4: Iowa to name Butler coach (and Coach of the Year) Todd Lickliter as the new head coach.

Update #1 (3/31 @5:45PM): Despite being offered a lifetime supply of burritos, Rick Majerus told the Des Moines Register he is not interested in becoming the Iowa coach.

Cross off Central Florida's coach Kirk Speraw and former Wyoming coach Steve McLain too.

Chris Lowrey has agreed to a 7 year deal with SIU.

Ernie Kent's name is surfacing in the Iowa search.

The DM Register says Lon Kruger out, as well as Mike Montgomery and no Iowa contract with Butler coach Toff Lickliter.

Update #2a (Monday Apr 2) As everyone is reporting Dana Altman appears to be taking the coaching position at Arkansas..pig sooooeeeee.  Former 'Hawg' coach Stan Heath is headed to Univ San Francisco (gee what a 'demotion' ).

Some feel Iowa is looking at Kirk Speraw.

The Nation, in a 'roid raged manifesto says this:

1.  Mike Brey (Notre Dame), or Al Skinner (BC), unless either one would have problems going to a football school.

2.  Mark Turgeon (Wichita State), if and only if fellow J-Hawk Danny Manning come with.

3.  Reggie Theus, but only if he fails the Steve Alford Personality Inventory.

Update #3: The Des Moines register say Iowa will have a coach in the next 24 hours.  We talked to someone who 'heard' but can't remember.  'Maybe a 't' in the name.  Maybe "Theus, Turgeon, or Todd Lickliter".

Stanford/Seattle farm system baseball player Chris Minaker discusses Cardinal features of steroid use

Steroid Nation covers alot of fluff.  Lighthearted, interesting stories.  This story isn't one of them.  This is a serious thinker with very good ideas.

The Seattle Times carries a story about former Stanford Cardinal, current Seattle Mariner farmhand Chris Minaker.  He played baseball at Stanford, so this is a guy with some brawn, and some brain.  He used his brain at Stanford, as a sociology major, to study steroid use among college athletes.

The well-spoken, 23-year-old infielder from Lynnwood graduated last June with a master's degree in sociology from Stanford University, achieving a perfect score on an 86-page thesis about the social pressures athletes face to take performance-enhancing drugs.

"If the need for steroids is broken down by sport, it becomes clear that baseball has the biggest problem with steroids," Minaker writes, citing results of a confidential, written survey he took of 91 male varsity athletes at Stanford. "It is also baseball that has had the most well-publicized steroid problem of all of the professional team sports. It seems that the problem of the professional ranks has trickled down into the collegiate ranks.

Minaker studied Stanford varsity athletes:

His sample size is admittedly small, with nine of 89 athletes who answered the survey question on steroids admitting they took them — five of those being baseball players. He also points out, in an appendix to the research, that the Stanford football team was largely uncooperative with the survey and "remains shrouded in secrecy" about its supplement usage.

This is good stuff, (not 'groundbeaking' as the Times hype puts it, but good).

But this is still groundbreaking work, done by an "insider" and hardly the type of endeavor typically pursued by active players. Minaker says he was merely intrigued why so many of his fellow athletes took nutritional supplements, including protein powder, amino acids, creatine and — yes — steroids, without really knowing what they were putting into their bodies.

The following statements are insightful, reasoned pieces of inductive thinking.  In other words, impressive.

"I looked at the social pressure to use and the perceived effectiveness of the supplements," Minaker said. "People were most likely to use supplements when told to by two or more of the strongest influences in their life."

Teammates exerted the strongest external pressure by far, he said, followed by coaches. A coach, he writes, "can attempt to use his power to pressure his players into using supplements that he thinks will improve their performance, even if this is against the will of the player." Minaker found that the pressure athletes felt to use supplements, both from within and from external forces, was so great that they'd take products they had no proof even worked...

"In this study, it seems that every athlete is or has been on something," Minaker writes. "The supplement culture has become completely intertwined with the culture of collegiate sports, just as it had before with professional sports. There has been a trickle-down effect from professional sports right on down to the ranks of all athletic levels."

Minaker hit .137, with 4 HRs, and 17 RBIs last year at Wisconsin.  He also has scholarship money waiting for him when his baseball career is over.

Considering at his initiative and his cognitive skills, this guy has a future in medical school, law school, or a graduate program.  Very impressive.

Kevin Durant on Steroids?

It was suggested on a AOL blog here that Texas superstar Kevin Durant  gained 35 pounds last year.  While a 35 pound gain would be impressive in a football player, in basketball, putting on 35 over a logn slender frame, is not impossible.  Interesting that basketball players are almost never linked to steroid or anabolic use.

That ridiculously skinny kid you see here is Kevin Durant, currently the best college player in the country, from his high school days. There's been some talk lately about whether Durant's frame is just too small to withstand the pounding he'll take in the NBA, so let's explore that a little more deeply.

First of all, how much does Durant weigh? In high school he was listed as 6-foot-9 and 190 pounds. That looks about right to me. Texas officially lists him at 6-foot-9 and 225 pounds, and his official biography says he gained 20 pounds during the Longhorns' conditioning program. If a football or baseball player gained 20 pounds during the team's conditioning program we'd be hearing whispers about steroids, but Durant looks more like an anorexic than a steroid abuser.

But if he was 190 in high school and gained 20 pounds, why is he listed at 225? His listed weight at Texas suggests that he gained 35 pounds. My best guess is that Durant weighs about 200 (Rivals probably gets it about right, listing him as 6-foot-9 and 204 pounds) and that Texas didn't want to reveal just how underweight he is. So they bumped his weight up to 225. NBA scouts will weigh him before the draft, and some might shy away from him because he's so skinny. But anyone who has watched him knows he can play, so to me, his weight is just a curiosity

Bond's Doctor's Son Tests Positive: USC's Ting twins testosterone trouble

There is an interesting story out there here in the LA TImes ...(if that link is dead try this one) Brandon Ting, a backup player on the USC football team and his twin brother abruptly left the team last week.  Seems one tested positive for 'roids.

It should also be noted that the twins sport above a 3.8 GPA in pre-med, which is a GPA on steroids. 

Their father is Dr. Ting, Barry Bonds orthopedist.  Dr. Ting has been implicated in several disciplinary actions.  The most recent involved poor records in the delivery of dangerous drugs to friends and athletes.