Thursday, August 28, 2008
Too Good to Play?
Has anybody heard of this 9-year old baseball player?
Seeing as most kids that play little league baseball aren't going to make the pros, I'm guessing that at least part of what they should get out of playing little league is effort, perseverance, etc. Is banning this kid that "throws too hard" the solution? What does that teach the other kids? I'm assuming that he isn't intentionally aiming for kids; and, if he is this good, I'm guessing he's also accurate.
Or, could they just move him up to an older age group?
Seeing as most kids that play little league baseball aren't going to make the pros, I'm guessing that at least part of what they should get out of playing little league is effort, perseverance, etc. Is banning this kid that "throws too hard" the solution? What does that teach the other kids? I'm assuming that he isn't intentionally aiming for kids; and, if he is this good, I'm guessing he's also accurate.
Or, could they just move him up to an older age group?
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
LPGA has Balls
How ironic is it that the league with the largest amount of "testicular fortitude" is lacking in the literal possesion of said physcial trait?
I applaud the LPGA Tour for coming out recently with plans for a new policy requiring all memebers with at least 2 years seniority on Tour to be able to speak enough English to conduct post tournament interviews, interact with playing partners at Pro-Am tours, etc. It's an American based tour and they have a right to set a standard of performance to be able to participate.
It's not politically correct from many angles. . . and it's really about money. If the sponsors hadn't complained about the lack of communication ability from players this would never be an issue. Money talks. . and in this case it speaks English. . . or enough to answer a few questions from Bob Costas and the golf channel. The lack of PC'ness, if you will, is one reason I like the move so much. I wish the gates leading into California echoed the same sentiment as past Presidents of the United States when they talked about integrating into American society and learning the language.
Three cheers for the LPGA for setting a policy they think will be good for their league without bowing to outside pressures. . . for now.
Agreed?
I applaud the LPGA Tour for coming out recently with plans for a new policy requiring all memebers with at least 2 years seniority on Tour to be able to speak enough English to conduct post tournament interviews, interact with playing partners at Pro-Am tours, etc. It's an American based tour and they have a right to set a standard of performance to be able to participate.
It's not politically correct from many angles. . . and it's really about money. If the sponsors hadn't complained about the lack of communication ability from players this would never be an issue. Money talks. . and in this case it speaks English. . . or enough to answer a few questions from Bob Costas and the golf channel. The lack of PC'ness, if you will, is one reason I like the move so much. I wish the gates leading into California echoed the same sentiment as past Presidents of the United States when they talked about integrating into American society and learning the language.
Three cheers for the LPGA for setting a policy they think will be good for their league without bowing to outside pressures. . . for now.
Agreed?
Further Proof
This chart is courtesy of Freakanomics. This chart shows how many golds per million inhabitants for the different countries. Not that this is definitively the way to say who "won" the Olympics. But I was wondering does any country appear a little suspicious? Any country standing out? Especially considering Bahrais Olympian says he is a Moroccan (I dont' know if Morocco can't compete or something that he competed for Bahrain).
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sex Symbols
The use of sex to sell sports is obvious (being a sports blog I had to bring sports in somehow), but now it is spreading to education... Just shameless...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Jamaican Juice
Someone had to say it. There is no way. Things don't happen like that for a whole country without it being a little too coincidental.
So first piece of evidence...no one from Jamaica has ever won the 100m. They win the mens by a landslide (we'll get to that) and the women sweep. Suspicious?
Second, the woman who won took second at world championships and that was it. No prior accomplishments in the women's 100.
Third, no country has ever swept the 100 since 1912 (back then only like five countries competed anyways).
Fourth, Bolt jogged the last twenty meters or so and could have posted a much faster time. As it stands he broke the record by 5 hundredths of a second. Since 1990 the most anyone had broken the record by was five hundredths of a second. And they gave it their all. None of this, "oh I'm winning by a full second I better slow it down" type garbage.
Fifth, Bolt has been running the 100 for a year.
So as much as I want to be amazed by Bolts greatness, common sense prevents me from giving any congratulations. This is about as obvious as Bonds blasting homers as he turned 40. In a similar fashion, I can't congratulate China on their women's team medal with the girls fresh out of diapers (although mad props for the men, they were amazing).
I'm not saying Bolt (or rather the country of Jamaica) will get caught, but this is definitely Balco ... on steroids.
So first piece of evidence...no one from Jamaica has ever won the 100m. They win the mens by a landslide (we'll get to that) and the women sweep. Suspicious?
Second, the woman who won took second at world championships and that was it. No prior accomplishments in the women's 100.
Third, no country has ever swept the 100 since 1912 (back then only like five countries competed anyways).
Fourth, Bolt jogged the last twenty meters or so and could have posted a much faster time. As it stands he broke the record by 5 hundredths of a second. Since 1990 the most anyone had broken the record by was five hundredths of a second. And they gave it their all. None of this, "oh I'm winning by a full second I better slow it down" type garbage.
Fifth, Bolt has been running the 100 for a year.
So as much as I want to be amazed by Bolts greatness, common sense prevents me from giving any congratulations. This is about as obvious as Bonds blasting homers as he turned 40. In a similar fashion, I can't congratulate China on their women's team medal with the girls fresh out of diapers (although mad props for the men, they were amazing).
I'm not saying Bolt (or rather the country of Jamaica) will get caught, but this is definitely Balco ... on steroids.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Dolphin Kick Gives Swimmers Edge
Found this on www.npr.org. Interesting stuff about the "dolphin kick" that Olympic swimmers use.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center
I won't fully post because it's a bit long, but if you're interested:
Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center
They interviewed an LDS guy; at least for a bit.
Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center
They interviewed an LDS guy; at least for a bit.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Cougars, Utes expect to compete for MWC title, BCS berth
My only question is: How are the Utes in this discussion?
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview08/news/story?id=3529952
Few football rivalries around the country combine the fierceness of the gridiron with the passion of religion like BYU and Utah, and this year their rivalry could have an impact of national proportions. No Mountain West team has accomplished an undefeated, BCS bowl season since Utah in 2004, but the Cougars and Utes have the rosters and the schedules to be the conference's hope in the BCS standings.
The schools have battled on the football field for 86 years -- or 112 if you go by Utah's records -- but few outside know the depth of the rivalry and the contempt each team has for the other. That could change this season as the finale on Nov. 22 could mean the difference between an undefeated record and BCS berth.
"In the state, [the rivalry] is one of the most fierce things I've ever witnessed of any of the places that I've coached," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "There isn't a gray area here. No in-between. You're either a BYU fan or a Utah fan."
During the early part of the season, Utah has a chance to make a name for itself with games against Michigan and Oregon State, while BYU will face Pac-10 foes Washington and UCLA. Those are important stepping-stones toward gaining momentum and prestige heading into a Mountain West Conference that BYU has swept each of the last two seasons, including dramatic wins over Utah during the final games of the season.
But as great as BYU has been over the last two seasons -- 11 wins in 2006 and 2007 -- the Cougars have never generated as much buzz as they have this preseason. As luck would have it and in true rivalry fashion, Utah, which won eight of its last nine to finish 9-4 last season, returns almost all of its starters and is attempting to wrestle the spotlight away from its neighbors to the South.
It's easy to dismiss this rivalry because it doesn't have the immediate pizzazz of an Alabama-Auburn or a Florida State-Miami, but it's as rich in tradition and as heated as any rivalry in the country.
The game is often referred to as the "Holy War" because of BYU's affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and because Utah is owned by the state, the whole week leading up to the contest tends to take on a church vs. State undertone.
"I think one of the reasons that makes the rivalry so fierce is both teams are having success, No. 1, but the second thing is any time you have religion or faith into any topic, it would be similar to politics, the emotions that it brings out in people are just unreal," Mendenhall said.
During the opening contest between Utah and Brigham Young Academy in 1896 there was a full-scale brawl in the stands. BYU actually dropped football from its program for the next 26 years.
In the 1990s there were more brawls -- some between fans, some between players and some between players and fans. In 1998, BYU linebacker Derik Stevenson attacked a fan in the crowd who was harassing his father. A year later in Provo, a Cougar fan jumped out of the stands and attacked a Utah male cheerleader who was running around the field with a Utah flag after a Utah touchdown. The cheerleader proceeded to beat the fan until police separated the two.
The violence moved from the stands to the message boards and every year each campus braces for the defacing of property by the opposing school's fans. Even Utah coach Kyle Whittingham endures scrutiny because he graduated from BYU, which only adds to the intense nature of this rivalry.
"I don't think there's anything friendly about it," Mendenhall said. "[Utah] Coach Whittingham and I, I think, have a professional relationship and one of respect. But that's the extent of it.
"Both of us have to be careful how we describe [the rivalry] because no matter what we say it will end up with someone taking it out of context. You really can't make the rivalry bigger than it already is."
These teams are 9-9 in the last two decades and 10 of the last 11 games have been decided by a touchdown or less.
In last year's game, BYU quarterback Max Hall found receiver Austin Collie for a 49-yard gain on fourth and 18 with 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harvey Unga rushed for an 11-yard touchdown with 38 seconds remaining to give BYU a 17-10 win.
BYU returns almost all of its offense from a year ago and is ranked No. 17 in the preseason coaches' poll. BYU also holds the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games.
Whittingham said this year's offense is the deepest he's had in his four seasons with the program. The Utes were decimated by injuries last season, but all of those players are back and the young players who stepped in now provide depth.
If these schools are as good as most predict, the game on Nov. 22 could be one that has fans and non-fans alike glued to their televisions, giving the Mountain West a much-needed boost in prestige both by BCS schools and within the non-BCS.
"In a perfect situation, that's the ideal scenario, to have that game come down to the championship every year," Whittingham said. "That's what college football's all about. When you have the opportunity to decide a conference championship against your No. 1 rival, I don't think it gets any better than that."
______________
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview08/news/story?id=3529952
Few football rivalries around the country combine the fierceness of the gridiron with the passion of religion like BYU and Utah, and this year their rivalry could have an impact of national proportions. No Mountain West team has accomplished an undefeated, BCS bowl season since Utah in 2004, but the Cougars and Utes have the rosters and the schedules to be the conference's hope in the BCS standings.
The schools have battled on the football field for 86 years -- or 112 if you go by Utah's records -- but few outside know the depth of the rivalry and the contempt each team has for the other. That could change this season as the finale on Nov. 22 could mean the difference between an undefeated record and BCS berth.
"In the state, [the rivalry] is one of the most fierce things I've ever witnessed of any of the places that I've coached," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "There isn't a gray area here. No in-between. You're either a BYU fan or a Utah fan."
During the early part of the season, Utah has a chance to make a name for itself with games against Michigan and Oregon State, while BYU will face Pac-10 foes Washington and UCLA. Those are important stepping-stones toward gaining momentum and prestige heading into a Mountain West Conference that BYU has swept each of the last two seasons, including dramatic wins over Utah during the final games of the season.
But as great as BYU has been over the last two seasons -- 11 wins in 2006 and 2007 -- the Cougars have never generated as much buzz as they have this preseason. As luck would have it and in true rivalry fashion, Utah, which won eight of its last nine to finish 9-4 last season, returns almost all of its starters and is attempting to wrestle the spotlight away from its neighbors to the South.
It's easy to dismiss this rivalry because it doesn't have the immediate pizzazz of an Alabama-Auburn or a Florida State-Miami, but it's as rich in tradition and as heated as any rivalry in the country.
The game is often referred to as the "Holy War" because of BYU's affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and because Utah is owned by the state, the whole week leading up to the contest tends to take on a church vs. State undertone.
"I think one of the reasons that makes the rivalry so fierce is both teams are having success, No. 1, but the second thing is any time you have religion or faith into any topic, it would be similar to politics, the emotions that it brings out in people are just unreal," Mendenhall said.
During the opening contest between Utah and Brigham Young Academy in 1896 there was a full-scale brawl in the stands. BYU actually dropped football from its program for the next 26 years.
In the 1990s there were more brawls -- some between fans, some between players and some between players and fans. In 1998, BYU linebacker Derik Stevenson attacked a fan in the crowd who was harassing his father. A year later in Provo, a Cougar fan jumped out of the stands and attacked a Utah male cheerleader who was running around the field with a Utah flag after a Utah touchdown. The cheerleader proceeded to beat the fan until police separated the two.
The violence moved from the stands to the message boards and every year each campus braces for the defacing of property by the opposing school's fans. Even Utah coach Kyle Whittingham endures scrutiny because he graduated from BYU, which only adds to the intense nature of this rivalry.
"I don't think there's anything friendly about it," Mendenhall said. "[Utah] Coach Whittingham and I, I think, have a professional relationship and one of respect. But that's the extent of it.
"Both of us have to be careful how we describe [the rivalry] because no matter what we say it will end up with someone taking it out of context. You really can't make the rivalry bigger than it already is."
These teams are 9-9 in the last two decades and 10 of the last 11 games have been decided by a touchdown or less.
In last year's game, BYU quarterback Max Hall found receiver Austin Collie for a 49-yard gain on fourth and 18 with 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harvey Unga rushed for an 11-yard touchdown with 38 seconds remaining to give BYU a 17-10 win.
BYU returns almost all of its offense from a year ago and is ranked No. 17 in the preseason coaches' poll. BYU also holds the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games.
Whittingham said this year's offense is the deepest he's had in his four seasons with the program. The Utes were decimated by injuries last season, but all of those players are back and the young players who stepped in now provide depth.
If these schools are as good as most predict, the game on Nov. 22 could be one that has fans and non-fans alike glued to their televisions, giving the Mountain West a much-needed boost in prestige both by BCS schools and within the non-BCS.
"In a perfect situation, that's the ideal scenario, to have that game come down to the championship every year," Whittingham said. "That's what college football's all about. When you have the opportunity to decide a conference championship against your No. 1 rival, I don't think it gets any better than that."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
2 in 1
To begin, let me just say I LOVE Jonathan Horton. I can’t get enough of this guy, as Jenna observed, I have a serious man crush. Not only is this guy a sick gymnast (he stuck everything yesterday), he’s proud as hell to be an American. This guy was trying to single handedly bring down communism in the gym. Every time the camera is on him he’s yelling “Go USA!” He’s like a GI Joe, minus 9 inches. I’m all about the team/school/country spirit and I’ve never seen anyone who had more of it than this dude.
Next, and completely irrelevant, is China dominating the shooting events. They’ve won 5 medals out of 7 events. First off, I hardly consider shooting to be a sport. It requires no endurance, speed, nor strength. All you need is accuracy. But doesn’t darts and pool only require the same attribute, accuracy? So shooting shouldn’t be an Olympic sport just like darts and pool aren’t. Second of all, how are we not dominating
shooting? Are there not more killings with guns in the USA than in any other 1st world county? And how many gun totting hillbillies do we have running around West Virginia, capable of shooting a bee in flight from 100yards? Not only is the USA gun crazy but China is completely opposite. Guns are outlawed in China! No public citizen is allowed to have a gun. So where on earth are they learning to use these things? I don’t care how embarrassing it might be to have a shooting team comprised of Pacman Jones and Larry the Cable Guy, let’s put the right to bear arms to use.GO USA!
NY Times: "Let the Games Be Doped"
From The NY Times. Nartker wrote on a different angle of doping or PEDs or whatever. No "blueberries in their shorts" analogies. Unfortunate:
__________
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12tier.html?8dpc
Let the Games Be Doped
By JOHN TIERNEY
August 11, 2008
Once upon a time, the lords of the Olympic Games believed that the only true champion was an amateur, a gentleman hobbyist untainted by commerce. Today they enforce a different ideal. The winners of the gold medals are supposed to be natural athletes, untainted by technology. After enough “scandals,” the amateur myth eventually died of its own absurdity. The natural myth is still alive in Beijing, but it’s becoming so far-fetched — and potentially dangerous — that some scientists and ethicists would like to abandon it, too.
What if we let athletes do whatever they wanted to excel?
Before you dismiss this notion, consider what we’re stuck with today. The system is ostensibly designed to create a level playing field, protect athletes’ health and set an example for children, but it fails on all counts.
The journal Nature, in an editorial in the current issue, complains that “antidoping authorities have fostered a sporting culture of suspicion, secrecy and fear” by relying on unscientifically calibrated tests, like the unreliable test for synthetic testosterone that cost Floyd Landis his 2006 Tour de France victory. Even if the authorities manage to correct their tests, they can’t possibly keep up with the accelerating advances in biology. Some athletes are already considering new drugs like Aicar and GW1516, which made news recently when researchers at the Salk Institute used them to quickly turn couch-potato mice into treadmill champions with new, strong muscles.
“There’s a possibility that athletes in this Olympics will be using these drugs,” said Ronald Evans, the leader of the team at Salk, who has been fending off inquiries from athletes about these drugs. He has advised the antidoping authorities on how to detect these drugs, but whether they’ll be able do it competently this Olympics is far from clear.
The authorities will have even less of a chance of catching athletes who move beyond drugs and hormones to “gene doping” — inserting genes in their DNA that could increase strength and endurance without leaving telltale chemicals in the bloodstream.
There’s no proof that this would work, but that won’t stop competitors. As Science News reported, a track coach in Germany was caught looking for Repoxygen, an experimental virus used to insert a gene into DNA.
So what we have now is not a level playing field. The system punishes some innocent athletes and rewards others with the savvy and the connections not to get caught. The more that the authorities crack down on known forms of enhancement, the more incentive athletes have to experiment with new ones — and to get their advice from black-market dealers instead of doctors.
If athletes didn’t have to cheat to win, they and society would be better off, says Bengt Kayser, the director of a sports medicine institute at the University of Geneva. In a 2005 article in The Lancet, he and two bioethicists argued that legalizing doping would “encourage more sensible, informed use of drugs in amateur sport, leading to an overall decline in the rate of health problems associated with doping.”
In the British Medical Journal last month, more than 30 scholars signed a statement supporting an article co-authored by Dr. Kayser calling the current system a failure that needs to be changed. The article also criticized the medical authorities for undermining their credibility with “prophylactic lies” that exaggerate the dangers of drugs like anabolic steroids based “on scant evidence tainted by a misguided moralistic motivation to protect sports.”
No one denies that there are risks in taking drugs like anabolic steroids, and there is wide agreement that minors shouldn’t be allowed to take them (or other performance drugs). But the popular fear of steroid use by adults is based in large part on a few sensationalized cases, like the news articles blaming steroids for the fatal brain tumor of Lyle Alzado, the former football player.
“You’d be on firmer scientific ground blaming his brain cancer on beer drinking,” said Norman Fost, a professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin. “The claims of the common fatal or irreversible harms of anabolic steroids are without any medical foundation. There’s no reason to think the risk of injury or death is as high as the risk from simply playing sports like football or baseball.”
It’s possible, of course, that gene doping or other techniques could turn out to be much riskier. But is that a reason to ban them? Society has always allowed explorers and adventurers to take risks in exchange for glory. The climbers who died on K2 this month ascended it knowing that one climber dies for every four who scale it.
If elite adult athletes were allowed to push the limits of human performance in return for glory, they might point the way for lesser mortals to coax more out of their bodies. If a 50-year-old sprinter could figure out how to run as fast as her 25-year-old self, that could be useful to aging weekend warriors — or any aging couch potato.
I’d like to see what would happen if someone started a new anything-goes competition for athletes over 25. If you have any ideas for how to run it or what to call it — MaxMatch? UltraSports? Mutant Games? — submit them at nytimes.com/tierneylab. Maybe fans would object to these “unnatural” athletes. But maybe not. The fans, after all, include people with laser-corrected eyes, chemically whitened teeth and surgically enhanced anatomies. Not to mention the pharmacopeia coursing through our veins.
We all know the body can be improved. We all know Olympic athletes have the highest-functioning bodies in the world. They can call themselves natural, just as they used to call themselves amateurs, but at some point that claim may seem the most unnatural thing of all.
__________
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12tier.html?8dpc
Let the Games Be Doped
By JOHN TIERNEY
August 11, 2008
Once upon a time, the lords of the Olympic Games believed that the only true champion was an amateur, a gentleman hobbyist untainted by commerce. Today they enforce a different ideal. The winners of the gold medals are supposed to be natural athletes, untainted by technology. After enough “scandals,” the amateur myth eventually died of its own absurdity. The natural myth is still alive in Beijing, but it’s becoming so far-fetched — and potentially dangerous — that some scientists and ethicists would like to abandon it, too.
What if we let athletes do whatever they wanted to excel?
Before you dismiss this notion, consider what we’re stuck with today. The system is ostensibly designed to create a level playing field, protect athletes’ health and set an example for children, but it fails on all counts.
The journal Nature, in an editorial in the current issue, complains that “antidoping authorities have fostered a sporting culture of suspicion, secrecy and fear” by relying on unscientifically calibrated tests, like the unreliable test for synthetic testosterone that cost Floyd Landis his 2006 Tour de France victory. Even if the authorities manage to correct their tests, they can’t possibly keep up with the accelerating advances in biology. Some athletes are already considering new drugs like Aicar and GW1516, which made news recently when researchers at the Salk Institute used them to quickly turn couch-potato mice into treadmill champions with new, strong muscles.
“There’s a possibility that athletes in this Olympics will be using these drugs,” said Ronald Evans, the leader of the team at Salk, who has been fending off inquiries from athletes about these drugs. He has advised the antidoping authorities on how to detect these drugs, but whether they’ll be able do it competently this Olympics is far from clear.
The authorities will have even less of a chance of catching athletes who move beyond drugs and hormones to “gene doping” — inserting genes in their DNA that could increase strength and endurance without leaving telltale chemicals in the bloodstream.
There’s no proof that this would work, but that won’t stop competitors. As Science News reported, a track coach in Germany was caught looking for Repoxygen, an experimental virus used to insert a gene into DNA.
So what we have now is not a level playing field. The system punishes some innocent athletes and rewards others with the savvy and the connections not to get caught. The more that the authorities crack down on known forms of enhancement, the more incentive athletes have to experiment with new ones — and to get their advice from black-market dealers instead of doctors.
If athletes didn’t have to cheat to win, they and society would be better off, says Bengt Kayser, the director of a sports medicine institute at the University of Geneva. In a 2005 article in The Lancet, he and two bioethicists argued that legalizing doping would “encourage more sensible, informed use of drugs in amateur sport, leading to an overall decline in the rate of health problems associated with doping.”
In the British Medical Journal last month, more than 30 scholars signed a statement supporting an article co-authored by Dr. Kayser calling the current system a failure that needs to be changed. The article also criticized the medical authorities for undermining their credibility with “prophylactic lies” that exaggerate the dangers of drugs like anabolic steroids based “on scant evidence tainted by a misguided moralistic motivation to protect sports.”
No one denies that there are risks in taking drugs like anabolic steroids, and there is wide agreement that minors shouldn’t be allowed to take them (or other performance drugs). But the popular fear of steroid use by adults is based in large part on a few sensationalized cases, like the news articles blaming steroids for the fatal brain tumor of Lyle Alzado, the former football player.
“You’d be on firmer scientific ground blaming his brain cancer on beer drinking,” said Norman Fost, a professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin. “The claims of the common fatal or irreversible harms of anabolic steroids are without any medical foundation. There’s no reason to think the risk of injury or death is as high as the risk from simply playing sports like football or baseball.”
It’s possible, of course, that gene doping or other techniques could turn out to be much riskier. But is that a reason to ban them? Society has always allowed explorers and adventurers to take risks in exchange for glory. The climbers who died on K2 this month ascended it knowing that one climber dies for every four who scale it.
If elite adult athletes were allowed to push the limits of human performance in return for glory, they might point the way for lesser mortals to coax more out of their bodies. If a 50-year-old sprinter could figure out how to run as fast as her 25-year-old self, that could be useful to aging weekend warriors — or any aging couch potato.
I’d like to see what would happen if someone started a new anything-goes competition for athletes over 25. If you have any ideas for how to run it or what to call it — MaxMatch? UltraSports? Mutant Games? — submit them at nytimes.com/tierneylab. Maybe fans would object to these “unnatural” athletes. But maybe not. The fans, after all, include people with laser-corrected eyes, chemically whitened teeth and surgically enhanced anatomies. Not to mention the pharmacopeia coursing through our veins.
We all know the body can be improved. We all know Olympic athletes have the highest-functioning bodies in the world. They can call themselves natural, just as they used to call themselves amateurs, but at some point that claim may seem the most unnatural thing of all.
UCLA's Olsen Hurt -- Again
I swear, this guy is more brittle than Samuel L. Jackson's character in Unbreakable.
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3528767
LOS ANGELES -- UCLA quarterback Ben Olson will have surgery on his broken right foot, an injury that's expected to keep him out for at least two months.
The decision was announced Monday -- a day after the left-handed senior learned he had fractured the fifth metatarsal in his foot for the second time in four months. The surgery will be performed Tuesday, when Olson will have a screw placed in his foot to assist in the healing.
Olson is expected to miss at least five games. Kevin Craft, a transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, and redshirt freshman Chris Forcier are expected to compete for the Bruins' starting quarterback job.
UCLA opens its season at home against Tennessee on Sept. 1. First-year coach Rick Neuheisel said the Bruins will need to have a starter in place at least a week before facing the Volunteers.
Olson was injured when he faked a handoff Saturday before taking a misstep. It was just the latest in a long time of injuries.
"I knew something was wrong," he said in a teleconference call. "I was hoping I only tweaked it a little bit. It's definitely been tough. You're not able to accomplish the goals you set. It's very frustrating because it seems every year that my progression as a quarterback has been halted by injury. But whining and complaining about things and asking 'Why did this happen to me?' does no good. You have to push forward."
Olson said he expects to return to action this season.
"It's a crushing blow to the young man," Neuheisel said. "He put so much time and effort into the program, it's just unfortunate. Sometimes you have a hard time understanding why things happen."
Patrick Cowan, who took over when Olson was sidelined by injury last season and was expected to be the No. 1 quarterback, had surgery after injuring his knee in spring practice and will miss the season.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3528767
LOS ANGELES -- UCLA quarterback Ben Olson will have surgery on his broken right foot, an injury that's expected to keep him out for at least two months.
The decision was announced Monday -- a day after the left-handed senior learned he had fractured the fifth metatarsal in his foot for the second time in four months. The surgery will be performed Tuesday, when Olson will have a screw placed in his foot to assist in the healing.
Olson is expected to miss at least five games. Kevin Craft, a transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, and redshirt freshman Chris Forcier are expected to compete for the Bruins' starting quarterback job.
UCLA opens its season at home against Tennessee on Sept. 1. First-year coach Rick Neuheisel said the Bruins will need to have a starter in place at least a week before facing the Volunteers.
Olson was injured when he faked a handoff Saturday before taking a misstep. It was just the latest in a long time of injuries.
"I knew something was wrong," he said in a teleconference call. "I was hoping I only tweaked it a little bit. It's definitely been tough. You're not able to accomplish the goals you set. It's very frustrating because it seems every year that my progression as a quarterback has been halted by injury. But whining and complaining about things and asking 'Why did this happen to me?' does no good. You have to push forward."
Olson said he expects to return to action this season.
"It's a crushing blow to the young man," Neuheisel said. "He put so much time and effort into the program, it's just unfortunate. Sometimes you have a hard time understanding why things happen."
Patrick Cowan, who took over when Olson was sidelined by injury last season and was expected to be the No. 1 quarterback, had surgery after injuring his knee in spring practice and will miss the season.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Future of Cycling
Since there has been a dearth of posts about endurance sports here, I thought I would comment about a great story from the recent Tour de France.
As you may or may not but should know, Floyd Landis won the 06 Tour de France, was found to have synthetic Testosterone in his blood (after an important stage win), and was stripped of his title. A while ago, Floyd Landis lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for sports. Now, Landis has maintained his innocence throughout the process meaning that he is a liar, or that he is the victim of foulplay. Interestingly, the Court of Arbitration has 3 judges, and the 1 dissenting judge noted:
"as this case demonstrates, even when an athlete proves there are serious errors in a laboratory’s document package that refute an adverse analytical finding, it will be extremely difficult for an athlete to prevail in these types of proceedings. Therefore, it is imperative that WADA Accredited Laboratories abide by the highest scientific standards." and "Given the plethora of laboratory errors in this case, there was certainly no reliable scientific evidence introduced to find that Mr. Landis committed a doping offence."
I would not discount the possibility of foulplay given that the French hate americans for dominating their sport, and that the anti-doping police are run by the French and target Americans 25-40% more than anyone else (I just made up that statistic arbitrarily, but it would be hard to disprove! See http://byudalton.blogspot.com/ for more arbitrary statistics). Cycling is holy and beloved to the French. It would be like a French football team beating our superbowl champs each year.
I'm not going to talk about Landis' case. I want to talk about a new American cycling team Slipstream. They were organized and committed to competing cleanly. Most pro teams are tested 10x a year--team Slipstream is tested about once a week. They are tested not only for illict drugs, but their hematocrit and hormone levels are also tracked to make sure there are no abnormalities.
They have been racing around the US and doing very well for years. This year they were invited to compete in the Tour de France, one of only 3 non-ProTour teams to get in. And even more amazingly led by an awesome cyclist Christian Vandevelde, they placed 5th overall, the top American team at the tour.
They are now sponsored by Garmin and Chipotle, and they are a team to watch. They could respresent the future of cycling and endurance sports, which is as much about changing the culture as it is about not doping.
This is a great article from Outside magazine about the team. Take a read:
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200807/cycling-doping-slipstream-1.html
As you may or may not but should know, Floyd Landis won the 06 Tour de France, was found to have synthetic Testosterone in his blood (after an important stage win), and was stripped of his title. A while ago, Floyd Landis lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for sports. Now, Landis has maintained his innocence throughout the process meaning that he is a liar, or that he is the victim of foulplay. Interestingly, the Court of Arbitration has 3 judges, and the 1 dissenting judge noted:
"as this case demonstrates, even when an athlete proves there are serious errors in a laboratory’s document package that refute an adverse analytical finding, it will be extremely difficult for an athlete to prevail in these types of proceedings. Therefore, it is imperative that WADA Accredited Laboratories abide by the highest scientific standards." and "Given the plethora of laboratory errors in this case, there was certainly no reliable scientific evidence introduced to find that Mr. Landis committed a doping offence."
I would not discount the possibility of foulplay given that the French hate americans for dominating their sport, and that the anti-doping police are run by the French and target Americans 25-40% more than anyone else (I just made up that statistic arbitrarily, but it would be hard to disprove! See http://byudalton.blogspot.com/ for more arbitrary statistics). Cycling is holy and beloved to the French. It would be like a French football team beating our superbowl champs each year.
I'm not going to talk about Landis' case. I want to talk about a new American cycling team Slipstream. They were organized and committed to competing cleanly. Most pro teams are tested 10x a year--team Slipstream is tested about once a week. They are tested not only for illict drugs, but their hematocrit and hormone levels are also tracked to make sure there are no abnormalities.
They have been racing around the US and doing very well for years. This year they were invited to compete in the Tour de France, one of only 3 non-ProTour teams to get in. And even more amazingly led by an awesome cyclist Christian Vandevelde, they placed 5th overall, the top American team at the tour.
They are now sponsored by Garmin and Chipotle, and they are a team to watch. They could respresent the future of cycling and endurance sports, which is as much about changing the culture as it is about not doping.
This is a great article from Outside magazine about the team. Take a read:
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200807/cycling-doping-slipstream-1.html
Artificial Exercise?
I know this is a long clip to listen to, but I found it super interesting. Here's the description, at the very least:
Could popping a pill turn you into a long-distance runner? Researchers report that they have identified two signaling pathways that are turned on in response to exercise — and that artificially turning those pathways on in mice produced rodents with much greater endurance.
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93158262
Monday, August 4, 2008
Team Hoyt
I'm not into the marathon/ironman stuff, but this is one of the best stories I've seen in a while.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Let the Games Begin
Let me be clear and upfront with my bias; I don't really care for professional sports. There are some amazingly talented individuals and historic moments in professional sports. But the "love of money" spurns me away from the pros. I don't care to fully define the term now, but let Donaghee, Notre Lame (yes its even in college football but not nearly as much), NY Yankees, Latrell Sprewell, Balco etc. serve as examples of different aspects of it. But again this is not where I'm headed...
For me the summer months are void of sports. Not only are summer sports lame (cue Casey to pipe in about baseball being the purest, most holy form of sport), but summer television is horrible (America's Got Talent is the #1 program..are we kidding?). My bunny ears only get five channels and I try to limit TV time so I'm really not complaining too much. But when the wife is trying to cue up another session of Oprah its nice to have a game to challenge with.
So my sports season runs from the first game of college football to the end of March Madness. But thanks to the Olympics, the sport season starts some three weeks early. And given Chinas handling of things, more drama than a steamy soap opera may be in store... Let the Games Begin!
(photo courtesy of AFP, but I grabbed it from the economist, which begs the question, when is the blog going to send me onsite for photography?)
For me the summer months are void of sports. Not only are summer sports lame (cue Casey to pipe in about baseball being the purest, most holy form of sport), but summer television is horrible (America's Got Talent is the #1 program..are we kidding?). My bunny ears only get five channels and I try to limit TV time so I'm really not complaining too much. But when the wife is trying to cue up another session of Oprah its nice to have a game to challenge with.
So my sports season runs from the first game of college football to the end of March Madness. But thanks to the Olympics, the sport season starts some three weeks early. And given Chinas handling of things, more drama than a steamy soap opera may be in store... Let the Games Begin!
(photo courtesy of AFP, but I grabbed it from the economist, which begs the question, when is the blog going to send me onsite for photography?)
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