Feds and PEDs

[stotty]

Federer came out today saying there should be more drug testing in tennis. Why would he say/want that? Is he suspicious? He has no reason to suspect anyone outside the top five as he simply never loses to anyone ranked lower, hardly ever has.

Is he directing his suspicion at the top four...must be...can only be.

[johnyandell]

Interesting. I have absolutely no knowledge but I don know looking at Rafa's biceps in the early pro portraits on our site they seem a lot bigger than today.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/tourportraits/RafaelNadal_Emotional/RafaelNadal_Emotional.html

[stotty]

Rafa

There is a rumour that, in the past, Nadal has used steroids to recover from injury - which would be legitimate in my view, though not, I realize, acceptable to others.

I was prescribed steroids to recover from a chronic arm injury which prevented me from working. The treatment worked! I got better, quick. Other anti-inflammatory medication previously prescribed had proved ineffective. Steroids used medically work extremely well.

However, in the past, while perhaps being "legitimately treated" with steroids for injuries, it's rumoured Rafa may have used such injury-forced lay offs to build himself up physically and increase stamina. Steroids of course would dramatically assist this.

It's all rumour, nothing concrete, but it's strange Federer came out with calls for increased drug testing. Why? Despite being 31 he has no one to fear other than the Novak, Rafa, Del Po, and Murray. He must have suspicions.

[johnyandell]

Yeah I've heard those rumors too...did you look at the guns??

[GeoffWilliams]

Soccer/futbol doc has him on his ped list. Hey, Nadal, how would you like to become the Lance Armstrong of tennis? Spaniards sealed the list and did nothing to prosecute him. What a shock. Uncle Tony's contact.

[stotty]

The guilty bleat loudest...

Yeah I've heard those rumors too...did you look at the guns??

You might be right. Those biceps are bigger. He has always been a little too bulked out for a tennis player, more like a sprinter. Djokovic is better built for tennis in my view...extremely lean and toned.

As tennis is a very stop-start sport, there seems little need for PEDs, as there is always 20 seconds between points and even more at changeovers....though many tell me I'm wrong on this one and that PEDs can significantly benefit tennis players. Never having played at anything like that level, it's not for me to make a judgement on that one.

But if the short history of PEDs in sport tells us one thing: it's the guilty who cry loudest they are "clean". I notice Djokovic was first out of the blocks yesterday with that one...with his instant nod of approval for increased drugs testing.

The problem, however, is if athletes are given transfusions to wash all traces out of their system, what are the chances of them ever being caught....zero it seems?

[GeoffWilliams]

Even if they are caught, all they have to do is lie: Gasquet etc., and their record is let go. Look at Korda and the nandrolone incident. Only if caught it the airport with the peds (Odesnik), do they ever have any penalty. The investigative body is a rubber stamp.

There was an article by a guy who took all the common peds, as an experiment, to write about, and how they affected him, and he said, "The only thing that really was great was the hgh, and it wore off soon after I stopped taking it." He took steroids, lots of body builder stuff, hgh dev teva from Israel, and the older Genentech stuff. Sjrogrens disease can be a side effect of ped abuse. The possibility that the endocrine and nervous systems play a role is also under investigation, and these are the ones widely affected by peds. Look at all the football players dying from diseases affecting those areas of their bodies.

Possible Triggers

Scientists think that the trigger may be a viral or bacterial infection. It might work like this:

A person who has a Sjogren's syndrome associated gene gets a viral infection.
The virus stimulates the immune system to act, but the gene alters the attack, sending fighter cells (lymphocytes) to the eye and mouth glands.
Once there, the lymphocytes attack healthy cells, causing the inflammation that damages the glands and keeps them from working properly.

Apoptosis

Fighter cells are supposed to die after their attack in a natural process called apoptosis, but in people with Sjogren's syndrome, they continue to attack, causing further damage.

Scientists think that resistance to apoptosis may be genetic. The possibility that the endocrine and nervous systems play a role is also under investigation.


"My vision improved, my speed improved, and my strength improved." Almost all sprinters take it, and mask it by a variety of methods. Changing one molecule in the strand is common by chemists. Rinsing their blood with their own clean blood is common.. Using clean donated urine is common. Armstrong passed 500 tests. And he was taking testosterone that was allowed due to his missing testicle, but at 17 times the legal dose, which is how his buddy Floyd Landis, (with Armstrong in the chase car and in the trailer over night) overcame an 8 min. deficit the next day in the tour.

Here is a piece about Israels one week injection drug: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...127444098.html

Landis was stripped. Armstrong stripped. How long before our tennis stars are stripped? My fear is that there is too much at stake for that to happen, from manufacturers, and sponsors, etc., for them to care about the athletes who will pay the early death price of peds.

So, all these cheaters, heed this warning: "The star that burns bright, burns half as long.": Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer

We will read about their early deaths left and right. Look how old Mac looks, with all his horse steroid abuse. He will be dead within ten years. The fact that his wife outed him, and he lied about it, and then later copped to it, yet, nothing is done to strip his titles. Why is that? He was one of those guys who didn't pay his stringer bill at some venues. HIs comments on air: "They are millionaires, these stringers.", yeah right, at $25/stick. What a prick that guy was and is.

[johnyandell]

geoff,

That photo isn't real it's a photoshop but if you look at the ones JGreg took you'll see that are still pretty pumped.

[GeoffWilliams]

Not really. It's when he was heavier and more muscular.

[don_budge]

To medicate or not to medicate...?

As tennis is a very stop-start sport, there seems little need for PEDs, as there is always 20 seconds between points and even more at changeovers....though many tell me I'm wrong on this one and that PEDs can significantly benefit tennis players. Never having played at anything like that level, it's not for me to make a judgement on that one.

But if the short history of PEDs in sport tells us one thing: it's the guilty who cry loudest they are "clean". I notice Djokovic was first out of the blocks yesterday with that one...with his instant nod of approval for increased drugs testing.

Short history of PED's?

Given the level of deception in today's world and given the recent revelations in other sports. Given the recent presidential election. Given the "truthiness" of the 24 hour news business in the USA. Given the aptitude of the masses to devour this slop. Only those with "Eyes Wide Shut" can deny the obvious. Tennis may very well be the toughest sport one on one and always has been. Great tennis matches always had a way of turning into epic performances. Imagine what it used to be like before tie-breakers. The fact that it is stop and start is irrelevant. The amount of time that one spends on the court concentrating at such a high level transforms one into a more primal form...any one that has played at a high level will attest to that.

What if they make a drug to enhance these abilities? Ever heard of designer drugs? Lovely world we live in...isn't it? Anybody out there not cheating in some shape or form? Just to get ahead...just to get a little. Not many...I will bet. And I am not a betting man. Last time I checked it was still survival of the fittest and we are not so far removed from the jungle as we have lead ourselves to believe. One week without electricity, food and water will sort of narrow the gap between us and the wild. One week is all that it would take to reveal the beast inside.

Look at some of the bodies...Nadal (The Conquistador), Tsonga (King Kong), Murray (RoboCop), Tipsarevic (doesn't rate a nickname or nothing comes to mind), Ferrer (Energizer Bunny). Some of the behavior speaks of drug use as well. Just because the others may not be as beefed up it means nothing. They may be opting for another drug of choice. The endurance and ability to bounce back is unbelievable...and that is exactly what it is.

Sadly...they are all guilty until proven innocent. Nobody is above suspicion. Where there is smoke...there is usually fire.

[johnyandell]

Look close at those arms--they've be photo shopped in...

[stotty]

Photoshop not on....

Look close at those arms--they've be photo shopped in...

That's not fair if people photoshop the guy...he has to be innocent until proven guilty. All I hear are rumours and rumours aren't enough to convict anyone. If they were, there would be an awful lot more people in prison right now.

Vilas was just as well built as Nadal. In that era no one questioned him...rightly so...some people are just naturally well built.

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" - Freud

[johnyandell]

Yeah but the arms are real if not quite as huge in J.Greg's portraits...not grotesque but way bigger than now. In fact it may not be a coincidence the timing of going away from the tank tops to the shirts with sleeves...

Again just opinion and speculation, but...

[GeoffWilliams]

It's called horse steroids. Talk to Mac about that, from the Vilas/borg/mac era. Nadal is allowed to take steroids due to his knee, but that's the same argument Armstrong used: "I'm missing a testicle, (I wonder what caused that?), so I can use testosterone injections."