Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Swimming This was the last day of competition. Michael Phelps insists it was his last too. Which constrains me to reprise what I wrote in this regard on the last day of competition at London 2012: He insists that he will now rest on his laurels, and who can blame him. But I fully expect… Read more.
Last November, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published a report, which found that Russia perpetrated state-sponsored doping to enhance the performance of Track and Field athletes. It made two major recommendations: The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the sport’s governing body, should suspend all Russian athletes from international competition. The Russian Athletic Federation (RusAF)… Read more.
This headline speaks volumes. Therefore, what follows is mere epilogue. Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion and the world’s highest-paid female athlete, announced Monday that she had tested positive for the recently banned drug meldonium at the Australian Open. The tennis antidoping program confirmed the positive test, which occurred Jan. 26, the day Sharapova… Read more.
I am not a TV critic. And, unlike many on social media, I have no financial interest in recommending anything on this blog. But I watched ESPN’s 30 for 30: Slaying the Badger on Tuesday night. It glorifies and vindicates Greg Lemond. He, of course, is best known as the canary who sounded alarms about cyclists like Lance Armstrong using… Read more.
I suspect Lance Armstrong thought his legacy was secure when federal prosecutors announced a few months ago that, after investigating all allegations of doping against him, they would not be filing any criminal charges. But I warned him back then, in Feds Give Lance Armstrong Reprieve on Doping (February 8, 2012), that popping that champagne cork might be… Read more.
[H]e will be indicted; he will be convicted; and he will go to prison. And, just like Marion, it won’t be for taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), but for lying so openly and notoriously about it. I am equally certain that it’s only a matter of time before the French move to strip him of his seven… Read more.
Superstar athletes invariably vow (early in their careers) to retire at the top of their game. But few of them ever do. In fact only two come to mind: one is heavyweight boxer Rocky Marciano who retired with a perfect 49-0 record, which included an instructive victory over his childhood hero Joe Louis – who… Read more.
Jones admits to using steroids Last week, Marion Jones admitted to being a serial abuser of steroids. I was crestfallen. After all, Jones always denied using steroids – complete with moral indignation. I’m a cynical man, but I bought her denials hook, line, and sinker. She was always so graceful on and off the track. How could she have… Read more.
