The Big Lead » Drugs

Ron Washington of the Rangers Was Alleged Blackmailed About His Cocaine Use

TheBigLead — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:15:40 +0000

Ron Washington claims to have used cocaine for the first and only time on a road trip to Southern California last year. Someone allegedly tried to blackmail Washington about the yeyo use (experiment?), and the manager threw himself at the mercy of the team. “A tearful, yet forced, confession to his superiors swayed any opinion about firing him on the spot in July of last season … it was later determined there was no evidence he was a consistent white line fever abuser.” Next time you fail a drug test after playing in the snow, tears + begging = saving your job. [Star-Telegram]

Ron Washington Tested Positive for Cocaine in ‘09

TheBigLead — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:49:08 +0000

Ron Washington, the manager of the Texas Rangers, tested positive for cocaine in 2009, according to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman. “I did make a mistake and I regret that I did it. I am really embarrassed and I am really sorry … Any attempt to try to explain it is going to sound like excuses. There is no right way to explain something wrong, and I did wrong. Was it tension? Maybe. Anxiety?” The Rangers knew about the positive test, then decided not to fire him. Washington’s star outfielder, Josh Hamilton, is a recovering drug addict. [SI]

Jose Reyes Non-Updates, for the Mets Fans

TheBigLead — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:15:30 +0000

Jose Reyes: “New scrutiny of thyroid hormones and their interaction with HGH has come amid the confusing reports on the health status of Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, who either has an overactive thyroid (as the Mets claim) or is perfectly fine (as Reyes himself claimed on Tuesday) … More tests are forthcoming, and doctors are likely to examine records of blood tests Reyes has undergone earlier in his career … And while those efforts may reveal Reyes has a natural illness, they also come on the heels of his admission that he received treatments from Anthony Galea, a Toronto doctor who has been charged in Canada with several drug offenses and is under investigation in the U.S. for conspiring to smuggle drugs, including HGH, across the border.” [NY Daily News]

Ballin’: JR Smith’s Digusting 360 Alley-Oop Dunk

TheBigLead — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:30:03 +0000

Memphis 111, Boston 91: A humbling home loss for the Celtics, who lost at home to the Nets’ late last month. Boston is once again tied with the Hawks’ for the 3rd playoff spot. You might think the Celtics would be “lucky” to fall into the fourth spot and play the Bucks in the first round … but Boston just lost to them 86-84 the other day. Toronto, currently the 6th seed, has much better talent than Milwaukee. The Grizzlies have won a staggering seven straight on the road, but is still 3.5 games behind the 8th seed in the West, Portland.

New York 87, San Antonio 97: This was the Knicks’ 42nd loss of the season, meaning that will be nine straight losing seasons for the once-proud franchise that went to the playoffs … how many times in a row with Patrick Ewing?

Denver 110, Minnesota 102: JR Rider isn’t walking through that door. Neither is Doug West or Sam Mitchell.

New Orleans 83, Oklahoma City 98: In a battle of UCLA backcourt mates from two years ago, Russell Westbrook (17 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds) outplayed Darren Collison (3-for-14, 8 points, 9 assists).

LA Clippers 97, Miami 108: ” … if Jeezy’s payin Lebron I’m paying Dwyane Wade …” Everyone is aware this isn’t about free agency, but purchasing cocaine, right? It might have been mentioned here before, maybe not: “In Young Jeezy’s song “24-23 (Kobe-Lebron),” Jeezy uses the players’ jersey numbers to articulate the price he’s paying of a kilogram of cocaine. The chorus of that song goes, “I used to pay Kobe [24], but now I pay LeBron [23].” D Wade’s jersey: 3.

HGH Testing: MLB (!) and NFL Commit Support; NBA Yet to React

Geoff Decker — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:00:11 +0000

Michael S. Schmidt scooped another big performance-enhancing drug story ahead of everyone yet again, reporting that baseball has decided to implement blood testing for HGH in the minor leagues this year. The report follows news that a reliable test for the substance might be close:

The decision to move ahead with blood testing comes one day after a British rugby player was suspended for testing positive for H.G.H. It was the first time that an athlete had been publicly identified for testing positive for the substance and was seen as overdue proof that the blood test, which has been in limited use for six years, actually works.

A reliable test, whether sampled using blood or urine, is likely the last remaining hurdle keeping Bud Selig from fully implementing a system in the big leagues. In the past, the Players Union voiced concern over the invasive nature of a blood test, but that would be a weak argument if one proved to be 100% accurate.

The NFL expressed a similar sentiment to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, but NFL’s players union stuck to its opposition line:

“Our position is that HGH blood-testing has advanced to the point where we are taking steps to incorporate it into our program,” said Greg Aiello, the NFL’s senior vice president of public relations.
But the players’ union is maintaining its long-standing opposition to blood-testing.
“At this point, there’s no reason to believe that blood-testing for NFL players will or should be implemented,” said George Atallah, the union’s assistant executive director of external affairs. “We should instead focus on preserving the drug-testing policy that we have in place.”

The NBA has yet to release a statement.

Schmidt, who is a Metro NY reporter by day, moonlights as perhaps the most well-connected journalist covering the steroid era. If you recall, he’s the guy who broke news that Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Sammy Sosa were on the “anonymous” list of players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs back in 2003.

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_s_schmidt/index.html?inline=nyt-per

http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/nflnewsfeed/2010/02/nfl-favors-blood-testing-players-for-hgh.html?referrer=emaillink

Rugby Player Tests Positive For HGH. How Long Until the NFL, NBA and MLB Begin Testing?

TheBigLead — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:30:26 +0000

In what is being called a “major breakthrough” in the fight against doping, a British Rugby player tested positive for HGH, and is the first athlete to be suspended for use of human growth hormone. Doctors are thrilled. Athletes in the three main American sports probably aren’t.

“It shows the people who say that HGH cannot be detected that it can. The sports people who said it can’t be detected are fooling themselves,” a WADA member boasted.

Baseball has banned HGH since 2005, but does not test for it. It will be interesting to see how Bud Selig responds to this breakthrough. The Rugby player in question, Terry Newton, was busted following a blood test. You know how the MLB Player’s Union feels about blood tests. How much longer can they hide behind that excuse following this development?

What does HGH do? “By acting on the liver and other tissues, HGH increases bone growth and plays a key role in muscle and organ growth. That makes it a prohibited substance under WADA’s list of prohibited substances.” [NYDN]

Vancouver’s Drug Addict “Safe House”

Cousins of Ron Mexico — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:40:49 +0000

Vancouver’s Drug Safe House: “Just blocks from the city’s picturesque waterfront, the colorful backdrop for the Winter Olympic Games, is the small storefront where addicts come with their illegal drugs, register their names and substances of choice — heroin, speed, morphine and other injectables — to use all they want.” Addicts inject themselves using clean needles under the supervision of nurses. Its the social programs from Hamsterdam put into practice. (USA Today)

Sean Sutton Arrested

Cousins of Ron Mexico — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:30:57 +0000

Sean Sutton has been arrested on “drug complaints” — The former Oklahoma State basketball coach was arrested by the “Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs on Thursday in Stillwater on complaints of attempting to possess controlled dangerous substances.” He had been receiving shipments of Adderall and Clonazepam from New York and Washington. (Tulsa World)

Roundup: Idol Producers Wanted Howard Stern to Replace Cowell

tyduffy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:30:55 +0000

Good morning, Internet. I’ll be here this morning. CRM will join you in the afternoon. The Sports Hernia is at work, and TBL has been up for three hours planning which media personalities to stalk. Terrorists in Pakistan not only bombed people, they bombed the hospital where the people were being treated. Landmark peace deal in Northern Ireland. You know things are bad when 20,000 people losing their jobs inspires optimism.

This may be the first skeptical Tony Dungy piece on record. (Daily Beast)

American Idol producers wanted Howard Stern to replace Cowell. (NYPost)

Dexter Manley’s friend bought back the Super Bowl ring Manley pawned for drug money. (WaPo)

Madden 10 picks Saints over Colts. (NOLA)

Cambridge girls warned to stop having loud sex. (Daily Mail)

Florida: 200lb pig stolen from 15-year-old girl, returned. (St. Petersburg Times)

Dad sentenced to 15 years for punching kid’s high school football coach. (OSG Sports)

Evan Turner catching up to John Wall in Player of the Year voting? (AnnArbor.com)

Generally a good idea to check your pocket before you call 911 about a lost cell phone, four times. (NWFDailyNews)

Nylon baseball jackets are back in style. (JoeSportsFan)

Banned Super Bowl Ad

Snow-Foot Car, Complete With Porn Soundtrack

More on Mark McGwire’s Well-Crafted Big Steroids Reveal

TheBigLead — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:40:38 +0000

Mark McGwire: “The Cardinals were so paranoid about potential leaks of McGwire’s plans to disclose his steroid use, several team officials had to turn over their cell phones Monday after being informed of the pending announcement. The phones were returned after McGwire released his statement.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]