Trevor Graham’s Trial. Major League baseball’s troubles are nothing compared to what track and field is going through as a result of Graham’s trial. So far we’ve learned: drug tests don’t catch drug cheats, as one world record holder admitted to using almost every PED in the book throughout his illustrious career but never got caught; PEDs are the only way sprinters can break certain time barriers; and that Graham seems to have presided over the largest group of drug-using athletes in the free world. As a result of the testimony the case can be made that athletes using drugs have set every existing track and field world record.
Horses On Steroids. Big Brown, favorite to win horse racing’s Triple Crown, is a steroid user. In light of the tragic end of Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby the anti-steroid forces have been working at full-throttle to get steroids banned from use in horse racing, despite the fact that there’s no indication that Eight Belles used steroids. What’s interesting about this case is that steroids do have a therapeutic purpose - for both humans and horses - and perhaps Big Brown is healthy precisely because his handlers are using the drugs in the correct manner. After all, Eight Belles is the horse that broke down. When discussing this issue I think we should keep in mind that the physiology of a horse is vastly different than that of us human folk and that it’s possible that Winstrol and Equipoise are appropriate to use for competitive horses if properly administered. I’m not saying that overdosing horses on equine steroids is a good thing, but wouldn’t it be something if horses started breaking down after a steroids ban goes into effect? Talk about unintended consequences.
The Dog Days of June. “The dog days of summer,” is a phrase used to describe the tough time that baseball players and teams have when the weather warms up and there is still half the season to play. These “dog days” are the times where the early leaders – both teams and individuals – come back to the pack as the grueling pace of the season starts to have an effect on performance. Since the 2008 season has been one big slump we’re seeing guys struggle earlier than ever, and it’s still only May. Which leads me to believe that things will get worse for a lot of these guys when the warm weather kicks in.
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