HGH Testing in Sports? Lebron to take up Baseball? The End of the MMA glory days?

Earlier in the week, a story squeaked across the wire all about a British Rugby player being suspended for HGH. This shouldn’t shock anyone who’s seen a match. Those dudes are huge. But that’s not the scary part. The fact that there is now a viable test for HGH has the potential to rock the sports world as we know it. Following the recent steriod crack down. HGH has become the go-to PED of choice for many pro athletes. Need examples?

Baseball: World Champion NY Yankees had 6 key players over 35 (petitte, Jeter, Damon, Matsui, Riveria, Posada (Arod's 34)) who all "suddenly" had career years and two who have already admitted to using PEDs (Arod and Petite)



Basketball: 18 year old kids coming right out of high school competing with grown men? Suddenly they put on 30 lbs of muscle onto an already chislded frame? Lebron will be taking up baseball as a hobby ala MJ if this goes mainstream

MMA: Brock Lesner anybody? Ok, forget him, he’s an anomaly from the WWE days. What about Randy “THE NATURAL” Coture. 43 and Still ripping guys up – Now I don’t doubt that he’s a skilled athlete, but just use the “head test” He make Barry Bonds look like Beatle Juice.

The reaction to this teting could just mean that people will move onto other substances, but what if this becomes the next big scandal? Will the NBA go back into a funk when some of its biggest stars are discovered using? What about baseball, its seemed to have successfully moved on from the steriod era, how would this affecct them.

Those two entities are well protected by unions who will invoke 'player privacy' issues to postpone testing as long as they can.


But what about MMA? Theres really no one to protect them (no big network contract, no "fighters" union) All they have is a single entity (the UFC) who's commissioner could likely fall under similar scrutiny as its athletes.


WWE got away with it the same way hollywood did..."Its Entertainment" ...But how does a sport that's desprerately struggling to find legitamacy move forward when something like this hits them? Will this pasts few years explosion be looked at with the same jaundiced eye as the home run chase of the 1990's?

Or, has the public become so jaded, so sick of this story that it just shrugs its shoulders and moves on.

Personally, I don’t really care if pro athletes want to do performance enhancing drugs. I have an accountant who uses Adderol to get through the day and lawyer who takes Ambien to get through the night. Do these help them perform their jobs better? Damn right they do. But as long as there going to be a concern about the use of drugs in sports (athletes have to be role models after all) this is going to be an issue…

And perhaps thats going to be a big part of what keeps mma out of the spotlight. The people who watch it - and more importantly, the people who cover it from a media perspective - "get it." We grew up with steriods in sports, we grew up with ritalin in schools. We're not the 50+ year old sports writers and broadcasters who continue to whine about the heroes of their youth being over shadowed like they have in baseball and football.

I have a hard time envisioning someone saying "remember the good old days before all these punk kids ruined the sport." No one is pining away for the days when Royce Gracie would fight a 400lb sumo wrestler, an aging boxer, and then pull on a guys ponytail for 20 minute to win a tournament.

These are the glory days for MMA, I just hope they realize it and take care not to lose them.

Somebody call in SVU...I just paid a 70% markup on Buffett tickets at Live Nation.

Does that come with a Reach Around?

Ok, never mind why I would go see Jimmy Buffett. That’s my issue. For anyone who’s never gone, it’s kind of like a one day spring break for 30 something’s. That’s the best sales pitch I’ve got. If it’s not for you, then I don’t think ill convince you.

No, my issue here is not about mid-life crises being lived out in a parking lot, it’s about the ridiculous nature of ticket pricing.

If you live in Boston, scalping is just the way things get done. Its been overlooked by cops, the AG and everyone else, so we’re sort of used to paying a fortune for Red Sox and other sports tickets. Its just a way of life (although my friend got arrested last year as one of 5 people for “scalping tickets” on opening day…the reality was that we were trying to sell some extras we had bought on Stub Hub. We paid 200 bucks for them and were trying to sell for 100…the red sox agreed not to press charges and it was dropped…gee thanks.)

Ok, so a lawn seat for buffet is 28.50. Seems reasonable. A little over a hundred bucks to bring my girl and another couple. Then we add in the venue fee…what the F#$% is a venue fee? I mean, I understand that some sort of venue is required, but why do I have to pay to use it? Isn’t that’s like driving through McDonalds for a 99 cent double cheese burger, then finding out that the actual cost is $1.50 because of a “speaker fee” to use the drive up? Whats next? An electicity fee? “We’ll those guitars aren’t going to amplify themselves ya know”

Shouldn’t they just add this into real price of the ticket? (It’s 7.50…per ticket…a 28% markup) Would a $35 dollar ticket really put him out of his “everyman” image? They already have like 140 dollar section up front - You’re not fooling anyone, James.

So that’s a 25% increase over face value. But wait, there’s still more. We have a “convenience fee”…oh yeah…thats only $12.10 PER FREAKIN Ticket.

Now, I remember when that used to be a little something they stuck on the end of a bill to cover the cost of setting up a little shop and actually printing out tickets…maybe a couple bucks a piece. But now, their just insulting us…$12.10 per ticket??? For a ticket you’re going to email to me? Actually a, its a ticket that computer program -- created by a guy in India that you are paying less than 12.10 per hour -- is going to send to me.

Does the price include sending someone to my house to assist me should my laser printer jam up? What if it does get jammed and I get toner on my dress shirt? Can I send them an “inconvenience fee” for dry cleaning? Can I mark it up 7 bucks for a venue fee? (the dry cleaning guys got to have some place to work out of, right?).

Over all, a $28.50 ticket is marked up 42.5% for “convenience” and 26.5% for “venue fees”. Didn’t Pearl Jam start this company a while back to fight against Ticketmaster’s outrageous fees? Nice work. Apparently we are now paying for the legal fees that were incurred during that law suit.

Is it a coincidence that the markup is 69 percent? I think not, I think its just Live Nation’s version of foreplay because in the end they know were the ones getting F-cked.