Steroids in Sports
With word breaking yesterday that Boston Roid Sox, I mean Red Sox, players Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz tested positive for steroids back in 2003, it makes you realize how tainted that sport has become over the past decade (and then some).
The first question that you must be asking is “how come we’re just getting the 2003 results now?” Well, there were 120 some of them that tested positive that year, so with the probable increase every year after that, the people doing the testing are just way too busy to get the results out in a timely matter. Yeah, the situation is probably THAT BAD in MLB.
How about Tiger Woods? Conspiracy theorists said that his “knee injury” last year was just a way for him to get the hell out of the sport for a little while before they started testing for steroids. Now that he has had time to get his body back into a mere-mortal state, look at him. He didn’t make the cut last major, and is looking to miss it again this weekend. No, it’s not that knee.
So what does this have to do with hockey?
Over the last little while there has been speculation in the media about players being supplied with performance enhancing drugs, and even that guy sitting beside you at your favorite sports bar babbling on about “he can’t be that good without roids!”
Hockey has been long time believed to be the sport that would probably least benefit from steroids, unlike baseball and football, but maybe the tide has turned and the boys are starting to juice a little?
Yes the players are bigger, and the game is faster than ever, but does that really mean that the players are cheating? I’m sure there are at least a handful of them, but for the most part I’d say that the NHL is untainted by steroids and will probably stay that way for a while.
What do you think? Think that the juice has its claws (needles) into the NHL? If you were to throw around some guesses, who do you think is most likely to be on roids? And for entertainment value, least likely?
I’ll start!
Most likely on roids: Chris Chelios (late in his career – how do you play that long?)
Least likely on roids: Daniel Briere (Peter Pan on roids? Come on!)
Wayne Gretzky Trade ESPN Documentary
The Great One is about to become one of the stars of ESPN’s 30 for 30. The documentary will be directed by the man behind Friday Night Lights, Peter Berg, and he will focus on the 1998 trade that sent Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings.
The series will air between October 2009 and December 2010, with no exact date set yet for Gretzky.
I can’t believe how long ago this was already. I still remember being in the cool basement during a blazing summer day, playing some kind of wicked game on my commodore 64, when my mom came downstairs and broke the news. I moved over the to couch, and if I wasn’t called to dinner a few hours later, I would probably still be sitting there in shock today.
Here is a clip I found of some fan reaction to the trade, with some people burning and hanging stuffed Peter Pocklington dummies:
Anyone else remember exactly where they were or what they were doing?
30 Teams in 30 Days
NHL.com and the NHL Network will be doing a 30 teams in 30 days thing in August, where they will be doing a team a day, going over their off-season moves, what they need, what they don’t, where they expect them to finish, etc. Here is the schedule:
I imagine this is going to be pretty mainstream, and probably not too exciting. Here are some things that I’d like to see them go over:
- Who will be the biggest cry baby on the team
- Who will catch the most tail on a road trip
- Which married player will catch the most road trip tail
- Who’s famous girlfriend will end up on the jumbo tron first
- Who’s going to get fired first
- Who’s going to get traded first (once the season starts)
- Who’s going to get laughed out of their own arena first
What do you wanna see?
Twitter Hacking
Well isn’t this interesting. About half an hour ago I got an email from twitter saying:
Hey there.
Can’t remember your password, huh? It happens to the best of us.
Please click on the link below our copy and paste the URL into your browser: (cut)
This will reset your password. You can then login and change it to something you’ll remember.
WTF? I didn’t request that… So just now I go to tweet about it, and tweetie said that I’m not authorized… WTF? So I head over to the web interface only to read a message that I’ve been locked out of my twitter account. Looks like someone really wanted to get at my account for whatever reason because they maxed out the password attempts.
Locked out!
We’ve temporarily locked your account after too many failed attempts to sign in. Please chillax for a few, then try again.
So what does this mean? Are people just trying to hit up random accounts and trying to guess their passwords, or is this some kind of targeted attack? Either way, it sucks because I don’t know how long it takes to get un-locked out of twitter, and even when I do, the person might just start guessing passwords again, which will probably lock me out, again.
Gary Bettman’s Salary
Holy crap I had no idea that Gary Bettman was in fact the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase in disguise!
Seriously though, is anyone else as surprised as me to hear that Bettman is pulling in $7 million a year?! I just about fell of the couch when I heard that one.
The million dollar man, I mean Bettman, was making $3.77 million pre-lockout, and is now making serious gravy post-lockout. So let me get this straight, the players are capped as to how much they can make after the lockout, but the head of the league gets his salary almost doubled? That’s a little odd don’t you think? Oh well, I guess when you sleep in your NHL jammies and jump around on your bed claiming to be the champion (of a belt you made yourself, and didn’t win), I guess you have to be a rich bastard.
There are all kinds of theories flying around on various websites as to why Bettman is making so much, but I’ll skip all of those and let the whole Internet know who created the Hey There Iginla video that we were treated to before the playoffs started. None other than Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy!
This isn’t a justification for Gary Bettman making more money than Jarome Iginla, of course. It should be written into the CBA that no NHL suit can make more than Iggy.
I thought I knew a guy here that loved Iggy more than his wife, but I may have to give the belt to Wyshynski for that comment!
One Punch Knock Out
The one punch knockout has always been exciting for fight fans, and hockey fans that love a good tilt at center ice. This morning I came across a post entitled 10 Incredibly Entertaining One Punch Knock Outs, and no surprise that the Downey / Boulerice fight made the list. Here are the videos in no particular order. Some are sport related, others are just some bad fights caught on tape. Which one is your favourite? Read more
Joe Sakic Retires
This Thursday the NHL is set to say goodbye to one of it’s best and most popular players of the last two decades. Joe Sakic, current longest serving captain in the NHL, and the only captain the Avalanche have ever had, will announce his retirement at a press conference on July 9th at 1pm.
Sakic was always a favorite of mine, and I just loved watching him in a Team Canada jersey. He had a lethal shot, was classy, and will definitely be on his way to the hall of fame. We’re going to miss you Joe!
On a side note, Mirtle suggests that Sakic was the best BC born player of all time, but according to this database that he points us to, it looks like he was the second best in goals, assists, points, and games played, to none other than Steve Yzerman. Still, that’s not a bad name to fall behind.
EA Sports NHL 10
Looks like my favourite game ever, NHL 09 is going to see some big improvements in the form of NHL 10. First person fighting, board play, face washing after the whistle are going to be some great additions. Players will also be able to bat the puck outta the air and glove it down to their stick.
I wonder how the after whistle antics will play out. I remember on some of the original NHL games for the genesis etc, if you nailed a guy after the whistle it was pretty much an instant fight. Is that going to happen in this one? Or just a few more body checks to follow? I guess we’ll see, but still this NHL 10 video looks awesome, and I can’t wait for the game!!
-
Twitter
New Puck Daddy: Which wacky ideas from GM meetings do you want in the NHL? http://bit.ly/bb0AOf /via @wyshynski
9 hours ago After 1100 votes the Penguins and Flyers are neck and neck in the race for the presidents trophy http://bit.ly/9UjIi9
9 hours ago Time to vote for the most annoying fans in the league! http://bit.ly/9UjIi9 #nhl #hockey @nhl
1 day ago
