Racewalking Has A Doping Scandal On Its Hands [Doping]

Aug 7, 2012 7:00 PM  

When Alex Schwazer of Italy won the 50k racewalk in Beijing four years ago, he shaved more than a minute off an Olympic-record time that had stood for 20 years. Schwazer was among the favorites to win the event again this year—the 50k race is scheduled for Saturday—but it appears he won't get that chance: Schwazer was kicked out of the Games yesterday for doping, and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) today confirmed that he had tested positive for EPO. Yes, EPO—a doping agent that increases the body's production of red blood cells. Because racewalkers don't fuck around.

Here's the AP:

Schwazer [...] sobbed on Italian TV on Tuesday. He insisted he won his gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics without the use of drugs. He says he "wanted the gold again at all costs."

Schwazer says he learned how to use EPO via the Internet, and that the last three weeks after the doping test were "terrible" because he knew the results would be positive.

Win at all costs? Doping? Teary-eyed apologies in public for getting caught? Who says racewalking isn't a real sport?

[Reuters/AP]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Penn State Is Making Some Changes To Its Football Uniforms [Penn State Scandal]

Aug 7, 2012 4:30 PM  

Penn State kept its football uniforms remarkably plain over the years (except for the right price), but those famous blue and white duds are getting a slight makeover this fall, the school announced today. Individual players' names will now appear on the backs of the jerseys, and there will also be a blue ribbon to show support for victims of child abuse:

Coach [Bill] O'Brien says after speaking with some members of the team, they made the decision together to add names to the uniforms. Players indicated the names on their jerseys also mean they will hold each other accountable to uphold the traditions of Penn State football, both on and off the field.

"We want our fans to know and recognize these young men," O'Brien said. "They have stuck together during tough times, and I commend them for the leadership they have shown."

Of course, displaying the names on the back also makes it easier to keep track of which players elected not to transfer as a result of the NCAA sanctions.

Penn State Announces Changes to 2012 Football Uniform [PSU]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

And Now The Paterno Family Is Appealing The NCAA Sanctions Themselves [Penn State Scandal]

Aug 3, 2012 4:50 PM  

Onward State has the complete letter the family sent this afternoon to the NCAA, but here's the gist:

The estate undertakes this appeal to redress the enormous damage done to Penn State, the State College community, former, current and future student and student athletes, Joe Paterno and certain others involved, as a result of the unprecedented actions taken by the NCAA.

As will become evident in a thorough and impartial review, the NCAA acted hastily and without any regard for due process.

[Onward State]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Recruiter In UCF Scandal Tries To Clear His Name With Bizarre YouTube Explanation [Video]

The University of Central Florida football and men's basketball teams were hit with one-year postseason bans Tuesday for allegations that both squads conducted under-the-table business, primarily with a man named Ken Caldwell, that basically amounted to shady recruiting tactics between a third party and members of the respective coaching staffs. What proved truly bizarre about the whole scheme was that only one implicated player, A.J. Rompza of the basketball team, ever played a game for UCF and he recently graduated. (The football team does plan to appeal the ban.)

In addition to the postseason bans, the NCAA also handed down other significant penalties. Most interesting is that current players can transfer without having to sit out a year, which affects players like Marcus Jordan (son of Michael).

Now Caldwell, the man at the center of it all, has released some kind of bizarre video that's part confessional, part convoluted explanation, and all kinds of weird. Here's a complete transcript, if you're so inclined:

I find this whole situation to be totally blown out of proportion due to my background. Had I not had a criminal background, this wouldn't even be news. But since I have a criminal background, all of a sudden, anyone that has any knowledge of knowing me in the basketball world, or any other world, is being affected, at — at all — at great lengths.

I find that to be preposterous.

I want to address all of these allegations, and keep it real with you, and everybody else that's out here, to show how the NCAA unfairly, unjustly accused myself and others of being a part of a fold, in cahoots, or whatever you all want to call it, which is not true. Flat out, not true.

Do I have affiliations with agents? Yes I do. Do I know them? I know them all. Yes, I know everyone in basketball. People know me. That is not a crime. That is not an infraction. That is not a violation. What the NCAA has done — they have taken the truths and turned them into what they want to call infractions, allegations, violations.

Now I am going to show what the NCAA, how they had conjured up all of this stuff from these allegations (picks up a tablet computer, which appears to have a redacted letter on the screen) and I am going to tell you the truth about each and every one of them.

Let's start out with the money.

What money?

Oh, the money that I allegedly paid for student athletes. Let's talk about, it was like $11,000 at one time. What that $11,000 was for my — I was the legal guardian of that particular player at the time. (Makes "huh?" gesture.) I was his legal guardian when he came on, a walk-on player, that player on at the University of Central Florida.

Let's talk about the $200, the $400, the, uh, other $200, that, they talk about, A.J. Rompza. Anyone in America who knows me knows that I am like A.J. Rompza's second dad. I'm sure the NCAA didn't want to tell you all about the letter his mom wrote. I'm sure the NCAA doesn't walk to talk about how they did not interview his mom, but they interviewed everyone else around him. Why didn't they interview his parents? His family? People that know him, and my connection? They didn't tell you about that. But she wrote a letter to the NCAA and explained to them that I am like his second father. So if your second father cannot give you money, then who can? It's a violation for someone to give a — someone that you love, or someone that you care about — money? That's a violation to say that you can't, in my world.

Now you talk about — all this stuff, these kids that came up to the school, that had affiliations to me, that wanted to come to Central Florida. Those people's parents reached out to me first. But does the NCAA talk about that? Do they talk about, they have my phone records and how they show that those people called me first? They took all of those athletes' phone records. And those phone records will clearly show those people called me first.

Now you say (mocking tone) "Why did they call you, Ken? What did they — who wanna go to Central Florida call you?" Well, as far as Chicago went, since A.J. went there, everyone would ask me about Central Florida because I had been out there so many times to see A.J. And when I come back I talked about how I liked the place so much. And people was like, "Wow, you'd like a place like that, it's gotta be something."

Don't get mad at me. Because I said I like a place. Don't get mad at me because I promoted something that I like. People out here promote everything that they like. You hear rappers all the time talk about Bentleys. But is that a violation? Not at all.

The other things that I want to address: my relationship with David Kelly. I know David Kelly. Were we the best of friends? No. But did we become friends? Absolutely. Absolutely. But what no one would know that — I talked to David Kelly on the phone, but never had met him. And why did I talk to David Kelly on the phone? Because a parent from Louisiana called me and told me that her kid was interested in the University of Central Florida, from a friend of mine that knew that I knew about the University of Central Florida. All I did was relay a message back to Keith Tribble, because I knew him. And he relayed the message to his coach. And we all became connected that way. It was nothing more or nothing less.

They don't talk about how many times I used to try to call Keith Tribble and tell him about players and how he did not take my calls. They don't talk about that. They act like I had the school on (joins hands together) lock.

I don't like the fact of how the University of Central Florida has thrown myself and others under the bus, and act as if they never knew me, or others. I don't like that. But I'm definitely just not going to sit here and allow the NCAA to go out there and say whatever they want to say, and have everyone out here form an opinion, that I am just a bad guy, that I brought down a program, that I am the center of it all, because I have a background.

I tell you one thing: They need to take a look at those people on (tilts head) that side. So many people leave the NCAA because of their practices. I have nothing to hide. I told you, I have ties to sports agencies. I told you that I know everybody at every level of basketball. I've been out here for over 20 years helping kids achieve their goals in basketball and life. There's life after basketball. That's what I tell people all the time: there's life after basketball, everybody's not a pro.

And do you want to know the funniest thing about this whole allegation? Everyone that they talking about, is not a pro! Everyone they're talking about is not on the lips of NBA people right now.

I got excited about a player. People respect my opinion about what I say about basketball. So be it. It's just like anyone else promoting somebody that they know. "Oh, I saw this kid on the playground, he can hoop." And you tell people about him. If I see a kid that I think can hoop, I'm telling people about him. Many, many, many college coaches call me all the time. They know who they are. They are out here. They're calling me now! Because of my knowledge of the game. They know I understand the game of basketball. Nothing more, nothing less. Have I made a dollar in this game? Absolutely hot. Have I spent my own money in this game? Hell, yeah.

So, I have a lot to say when I have spent my own money helping others than to be out here ridiculed about how I brought down some institution. Which is not true. The NCAA chose to use me as a scapegoat. I'm not going to back down. I have nothing to hide, and nothing to lose. I have everything to gain. Because there's many people out here that are like me, that help others out here. And I'm speaking up for the guys like me. And there's tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of guys like me.

Somebody has to stop the bleeding with the NCAA. And I'm here to stop it.

And though Caldwell talks for nine-plus minutes, he never actually gets around to saying anything, at least nothing that refutes any of the charges that Pete Thamel's original New York Times investigation in April 2011 addressed. Mind you, this video is labeled "Part 1." More truth on the way!

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Don't Blame Badminton Players For Throwing Matches. Blame The Sport's Crappy System. [Black Cocks Scandal]

Four teams of women—two from South Korea, one from China, one from Indonesia—were kicked out of the Olympics after they all attempted to lose their matches in the group stage. It was a farce, bringing boos from the crowd and condemnation from the Olympic and badminton communities. Yet the fault lies not with the teams, who were trying to give themselves better chances at gold, but with the Olympic format that encouraged them to take a dive.

In past Olympics, badminton used a pure knockout stage. Lose and go home. But this year saw a change, in which round-robin group play would decide the seedings for the quarterfinal round. The top-ranked Chinese team of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang naturally wanted to end up on the opposite side of the bracket as their second-ranked countrymen. And they came into yesterday's match against South Korea knowing they'd have to lose to make that happen. So they tried their best to lose—and so did their opponents. Later on, another South Korean time also tried to throw their match, to avoid meeting the top-ranked Wang and Yu in the next round—and so did their opponents.

See the distinction here? These teams weren't trying to lose to make money. They were trying to lose so that they could ultimately win. That's the Olympic spirit of competition if I ever saw it.

Yet the Badminton World Federation decided that all eight players violated the code of conduct, specifically "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."

Nothing, not even deliberately sending the shuttlecock into the net or out of bounds, is as detrimental to the sport as the new tournament format that all but demands players take dives in order to better their draw. It was so obvious that former British badminton star Gail Emms told the Independent that everyone knew it was going to happen beforehand:

"This point was raised in the lunchtime manager's meeting," she said. "All the managers got together with the referee and said, 'look, this has happened, in Group D you will find some very dodgy matches going on in the evening because of it' and the referee laughed and said 'oh don't be silly'.

"And the managers said 'we know the game, we know the players and we know the teams and we know this is going to happen."

She added: "Badminton, in the Olympics and in all tournaments across the circuit, it's never played in a group stage, it's always a straight knockout system and for some reason they decided that the Olympic Games in 2012 should be this group stages.

"And as soon as heard that I went 'it's going to bring up match fixing', that was my first thought, and lo and behold last night that is exactly what happened."

So the system is fatally flawed, yet we're going to punish the athletes who work within it to maximize their chances of success? This is no different than pro teams tanking to get a better draft pick. The absolute worst you can accuse the Badminton Eight of is not doing a good enough job of pretending like they were trying. They're being punished not for embarrassing the sport, but for failing to prevent the sport from embarrassing itself. They failed on that count.

For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Joe Paterno Statue Has Left The Building [Penn State Scandal]

Jul 28, 2012 11:08 AM  

According to reports, the Joe Paterno Statue has been removed from Beaver Stadium. It was loaded into a truck and is en route to a secure location until everyone forgets about it "a permanent location is decided."

Image via Getty
Report: Paterno statue driven away [ESPN]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Penn State "Adequately Covered" For Impending Civil Suits [Penn State Scandal]

Jul 28, 2012 3:40 PM  

Penn State president Rodney Erickson recently sat down with Bob Schieffer of CBS's Face The Nation program for an interview that will be aired tomorrow. The clip below focuses on the looming civil suits against Penn State and the school's preparedness to handle them.

With the recent discovery of the alleged victim from the shower scene witnessed by Mike McQueary, Penn State is snapping into action. In the interview, Erickson basically begs the victims not to take the school to court, making it clear that Penn State is actively trying to settle all claims before yet another jury ever gets to hear all the lurid details of the school's total failure to deal with Jerry Sandusky.

Erickson says Penn State is insured and has "adequate" protection to pay out on the various suits. The school is hoping to settle the claims "as quickly as possible" so as to avoid "drag[ing] victims through another round of court cases."

Such a strategy also avoids dragging the school in front of more angry jurors, this time with a chance to cut a check for someone.

Image via Getty

Penn State president wants to "quickly" settle lawsuits [CBS]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.