Tag Archives: lance-armstrong

Weekend musing…..Lleyton Hewitt, more on the supplements scandal….

Chris Barwin HillsWell Thursday night we saw Lleyton Hewitt bow out of the Australian Open for the last time. I have never been a particular fan,hewitt but you have to admire the guy. He made it to Number 1 in the world at 20, he won two Grand Slam titles and the most singles matches ever for Australia in the Davis Cup. You also have to admire that he has kept playing despite the many injuries he has endured and his falling ranking. A pretty good career and I think he will be good in his role with the Davis Cup.

Let us hope he can harness the potential of the likes of Tomic, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis.

I didn’t want to comment further on the Essendon Supplements Saga, however, some of the comments I have heard from some pundits suggesting that the case is similar to the Lance Armstrong and 1384012800000Marion Jones cases has angered me somewhat. In those cases there was a lot of people who provided sworn testimony that both had used banned substances, that is a significant difference to the Essendon case. I am also constantly angered with people saying they did not know what they took. The club has a spreadsheet on all the supplements that the players signed up to and the comment has always been if they were administered anything else, they were not aware of it and it was not sanctioned. This is a very important distinction.

What I would like to know is who advised the players not to complete the ASADA forms correctly. Clearly they were obligated to completeUnknown
those forms honestly and whoever told them not to cite the supplements they were being administered has a lot to answer for as this omission seems to have played a significant part in the penalty that has been applied.

I now pledge not to make any further comment on this sorry tale.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – WADA wades in with an appeal in the Essendon supplements saga, A League final…

Chris Barwin HillsWell Tuesday morning I awoke from my slumbers to the news that I had not anticipated. WADA had lodged an appeal against the AFL Tribunal’s decision in the Essendon supplements saga. I had not considered that WADA would have much interest in a domestic sport where the team under investigation had not actually won anything, as opposed to the Lance Armstrong/Marion Jones cases.

This seems to be very much driven by ASADA’s Ben McDevitt as it is hard to see why WADA would instigate an appeal without a strong push from him. I must say his comments after the original decision 1427929273480was handed down smacked of sour grapes. In addition, if the case is as flimsy as was reported, it is hard to see why an international body would want to touch it. The big concern is still the very low standard of proof required.

Another confounding issue here is the innocence of the players. I don’t think any one thinks the players knowingly took a banned substance. I am sure the club didn’t sanction banned substances, so if banned substances were administered (and I understand there is no direct evidence that they were) why continue to pursue this matter?

There is no doubt the club should have taken more care to ensure that the records and the substances were all properly approved and documented, but the club has been dealt with by the AFL. What has Unknowncome out this week was that there was a spreadsheet as to what the club believes was administered. This should put to one side the comments that the club didn’t even know what was administered to the players, because clearly they knew what they believed was administered and anything else would have been administered without their knowledge and consent.

It is quite ironic that revelations regarding the use of stem cell injections to aid recovery from injury came out in the same week that WADA decided to appeal. I resolve not to make any further comments on this sorry issue until CAS decide on the appeal.

Moving away from this blight on the local sporting landscape to the A-League grand final, it would have been interesting to see what sort of crowd they may have got if the game was to be played at the graham-arnoldMCG. I have heard suggestions of 70,000 and that would not be out of the realms of possibility and would match the expected crowd for the Richmond -v- Collingwood game at the same venue. Either way you would think that the game would still attract a greater audience than the Western Bulldogs -v- Freemantle game at Etihad Stadium.

I am hoping for a Melbourne Victory win and while a lot of the focus has been on their strike power up forward, I think the key to this game will be the captain, Mark Milligan. Should the Victory win, I think he is every chance to be named the Joe Marston medalist.

Have a great weekend!

Sportzfan Radio show #267.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!14 October 2012 267.1 – David Coutts (Coutta) joins the Panel with the Gambler, Daniel Eade and the Professor. Daniel suggests that there is a moment of silence for Paul Dalligan’s multi which went west when the Washington Nationals lost. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport and kicks off with the Lance Armstrong story. He also looks at the MBL playoffs and discusses Yankees player Alex Rodriguez being benched. He feels the St Louis Cardinals will play Detroit Tigers for the World Series. He believes the NHL is in mortal danger if it can’t resolve the lockout. The Gelding talks racing and the Spring Carnival with racing at Caulfield yesterday. He also discusses the revelations that Damian Oliver allegedly bet $10,000 on a horse in the same race he was riding in. The Gelding awards S-hit rides to Nash Rawiller for his rides on More Joyous and Pierro. Dr Leslie’s CSA makes a return.

Sportzfan Radio show #261.2

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!26 August 2012 261.2 – In the second half of the show, Mark Fiorenti discusses soccer with another star player leaving Arsenal. He also looks at the Premier League round to date. John O’Callaghan provides his insights into the Lance Armstrong decision. Paul and the Professor discuss whether Brett Ratten’s tenure at Carlton is almost over after the Blues loss to the Gold Coast, the Saints mathematical chances of making the eight and how well Nick Natanui is playing for West Coast at the moment. Paul Dalligan talks rugby league and the the close race for the finals between a number of teams.

Sportzfan Radio show #261.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!26 August 2012 261.1 – The Professor and Paul Gamble kick off the program with Sportzfan Stan still out of the side injured. They start the program looking at the parlous state of rugby union with the Wallabies failing to trouble the scorer for the first time in fifty years against the All Blacks. They consider that Robbie Deans tenure must be on shaky ground. Dan Butterly comes on to talk US sport and looks at the Lance Armstrong decision not to contest the USADA charges, the start of the college football season and also the start of the NFL season. The Gelding talks racing and reviews the results from yesterday’s Moonee Valley and Warwick Farm meetings.

Sportzfan Radio #186.1

@SportzfanRadio now available on iTunes!23 January 2011 186.1 – The Panel starts off by talking to Daniel Eade about the Charity Baskets match to be held at MSAC on 30 January 2011 at midday. The event will be covered by Sportzfan Radio with a live broadcast on 88.3 Southern FM. The former players including Gaze, Copeland, Anstey… all say they are still able to match it on a basketball court. Sportzfan Stan takes a look at the recent drug controversy involving Albert Contador and Lance Armstrong.  The Panel then chat with radio personality and former Canterbury Bulldogs premiership player Graeme Hughes who discusses his recently published book “Dogs at War”.  The Gelding reviews the race results from both Flemington and Rosehill where both the Gelding and the Sydney Colt were successful…much to the joy of the ladies at the Tennis club.  Stan adds that his uncle Albert owned a horse El Galea and he learned from a very early age that if you wanted to know whether a horse was going to win or not you needed to ask the trainer first and then the jockey.  There is also a discussion of the NFL selling tickets outside the stadium and counting those attendees as part of the game’s crowd.  Stan says it is a rot and the NFL should be sacked.  The Panel also discuss the NFL Divisional Championships in the NFC – Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears and in the AFC – New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Panel is split as to who will win the Green Bay game but agree that the Steelers will be too strong.  Paul thinks the Packers defence is the least intimidating of the teams remaining.  Dr Leslie’s CSA makes a welcome return and Lanard Copeland comes on to talk about the Charity Baskets basketball match to be played at MSAC next Sunday with all proceeds going to Queensland flood relief.