Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
The man who turned the Biogenesis clinic from a quiet investigation in Miami into a national scandal says there are at least a dozen more athletes whose names haven’t been exposed and that they come from across the sports world.
[…] Fischer said he and associates have identified athletes from the NBA, NCAA, professional boxing, tennis and MMA, in addition to other professional baseball players who have not yet been identified. As far as he knows, Fischer said, Bosch had no clients from the NFL or NHL.He said the only sports entity he has heard from was Major League Baseball.
ESPN: Biogenesis whistleblower: Not only MLB players
I just happened to address some of this on Crossover Chronicles when I wrote about the NBA’s desire to institute HGH testing by the beginning of the season.
Simply being in amazing physical condition is not a reason to suspect anyone. Their job is to prepare themselves to play basketball for at least seven months, and possibly 10. They have little else to do between the time they wake up and the time they go to sleep.
The difference between the physiques of players past and present can be mostly attributed to the new advances in technology and nutrition, as well as sophisticated facilities in which the team can practice and work out. The strength and conditioning coach is a relatively new position on teams, and Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers has joked about teams back in his day not having their own gyms, and players never suffering injuries like strained abdominals.
But wherever fortune and fame exist, there exists a desire to take whatever means necessary to achieve them.
Someone in the NBA is cheating and taking performance enhancing drugs to do whatever it is he does on the floor.
Do a quick Google search and you’ll see people accusing NBA players of juicing. Two names keep coming up: Dwight Howard and LeBron James simply because they’re two obviously amazing physical specimens. There are people out there who refuse to believe that those bodies can be attained naturally.
This is where it gets dicey. You can’t rule anyone out without actual testing, or in this case, a client list of a clinic known to provide PED’s. So no one can say with certainty at this point that anyone did or didn’t use PED’s to get where he is.
But Dwight, for example, has been in the league 9 years. And these guys have nothing else to do besides play basketball and work out. And like I said before, advances in technology and nutrition combined with the ability to spend hours in the gym with a trainer can really do wonders for one’s body. And that’s especially true for young adult males who have a naturally higher level of testosterone.
He was 19 in the picture on the left. It’s not hard to believe that a couple of years of intense weight training with proper nutrition and guidance would yield dramatic results.
Of course, it wouldn’t be hard to believe that some other “assistance” would be involved either, but that’s more a product of today’s cynicism. That picture is something I found on the internet, not something I made… so there are plenty of Howard accusers out there.
Same goes for LeBron, who was a similarly skinny rookie, but who also had the clear beginnings of an NBA body. He’s been in the league 10 years. He’s had plenty of time to get into the gym and get himself into the shape he’s in (and take ridiculous selfies while doing it).
I don’t know what these guys did or didn’t do. The “NBA body” of today is much more chiseled than it was in the past. Maybe some of these guys got some “help” in getting there, maybe they got there by saying their prayers and eating their vitamins like all the other little Hulkamaniacs out there. Without testing in place, or that client list, we don’t know.
The league definitely needs to take steps to prevent an MLB-type situation where guys are winning MVP’s and then getting busted. Fans deserve to know that they’re paying to watch guys with natural abilities do supernatural things. Cheaters, whether it’s an MVP candidate or a 12-th man who is desperate to make money playing basketball, need to be exposed and eliminated from the game.
Someone out there is doing it. Now’s the time to find out who.
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Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of Reggie Lewis’ death. On Sunday, CSNNE is airing a documentary on his life. Here’s some more information on the show.
The rest of the links:
WEEI: 18 things we learned from the Brad Stevens podcast | ESPN Boston: Where do C’s rank in the East? | MWDN: Filmmaker hopes C’s fans will remember Reggie Lewis fondly in new documentary
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