Sylvester Stallone has apparently endorsed anti-steroid crusader John McCain for President. Sylvester Stallone has been using his Rambo promotional tour to advocate growth hormone and testosterone in age management medicine. Senator John McCain is well-known for his anti-steroid grandstanding in Congress. Nonetheless, Senator McCain’s positive reaction to the endorsement was priceless as seen on Fox & Friends stating “I’m going to Philadelphia and running up the steps.”
Senator McCain has expressed his disappointment with Roger Clemens’ alleged use of anabolic steroids and growth hormone, but that is probably only because Clemens has not endorsed him.
Agents for Roger Clemens at Hendricks Sports Management released a detailed statistical analysis of Roger Clemens’ performance over the course of his career. In summary, the report lists various factors occurring later in his career that contributed to the maintenance of a high quality of pitching by Roger Clemens. These factors include adaptions in “style of pitching” including “mastery of the split-finger fastball,” reduced pitch count, contractually shortened seasons, and a reduction in travel.
The report also uses statistics to show that Clemens’ performance had unpredictable “ups and downs” or “peaks and valleys” over the course of his career. The report asserts that “straight trend lines in performance” simply do no exist in Major League Baseball. Read the rest of this entry »
The short history of steroid testing in public schools has yielded little, if anything. In the handful of local school districts that already test for steroids, no positive test has been reported. The same is true for limited state programs in Florida and New Jersey.
“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Lloyd Johnston, a noted researcher at the University of Michigan. “My guess is that the payoff relative to the cost won’t be high.”
Most people at every point on the steroid regulatory spectrum, from the advocates of steroid legalization to anti-steroid zealots, agree that anabolic steroid use by teenagers is bad. There are a few people who believe steroids are good for children, pre-teens and teenagers. But in general, most people agree with government efforts to reduce steroid use in teenage athletes. Unfortunately, they seem to accept all anti-steroid efforts without question regardless of their efficacy or lack thereof. People seem to be content with “feel good” endeavors that accomplish little. Read the rest of this entry »
The $20 million dollar Mitchell Report on anabolic steroids in professional baseball relied largely on the testimony of two former baseball trainers, Kirk Radomski and Brian McNamee. And the only reason the Mitchell Report contained such such evidence of steroid use by baseball players was because the Department of Justice forced Radomski and McNamee to cooperate with investigators from the Mitchell Report as a condition of their plea agreements. Was this an abuse of the government’s criminal powers? Was this legal? Was this ethical? Read the rest of this entry »
Russia has funded the new Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RusADA) with new equipment and $5 million. RusADA is an independent agency created to test athletes for anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Representatives from RusADA are visiting the United States to learn more about the U.S. doping control program - United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) - and strengthen relationships with their U.S. counterparts. Read the rest of this entry »
Here are the video clips of panelists in the steroid debate that argue for the use of anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs in competitive sports i.e. Norm Fost, Julian Savulescu and Radley Balko. The video of panelists arguing against the motion, Dick Pound, Dale Murphy, George Michaels is available here. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week, I told you about a fascinating debate where panelists argued for and against the motion “We should accept performance enhancing drugs in competitive sports.” Although I thought the panel against the motion was outmatched by Norm Fost, Julian Savulescu and Radley Balko, it was still a very interesting debate. Now video and audio of the debate is available. Read the rest of this entry »
Several observers, including myself, have wondered why surgical procedures such as LASIK laser eye surgery or ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (better known as Tommy Johns surgery) are not considered cheating. After all, they could arguably offer a greater advantage than anabolic steroids. If steroids are considered cheating, why aren’t these surgical procedures?
The answer is quite simple. It is not against the rules. The World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) has no prohibitions whatsoever on performance enhancement surgeries. They are all permitted. Read the rest of this entry »
Many sponsors have pulled out of the sport of professional cycling which has been plagued by numerous steroid and doping scandals e.g. Phonak, iShares and T-Mobile. But the doping scandals have not deterred new sponsors from making large financial investments in cycling. Michael Ball, cycling enthusiast, head fashion designer and CEO of Rock and Republic has committed to a 5-year sponsorship of Rock Racing, a national professional cycling team; the team is also supported by Cadillac, Scott USA and Shimano. (HED withdrew because of doping controversy.) Read the rest of this entry »
