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Doping in the NFL?

May 10, 2011
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Is the media finally going to pressure American Sports?

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/201...wis-baltimore-ravens-reportedly-connected-ped

"Ray has been randomly tested for banned substances and has never failed a test. We have never been notified of a failed test. He has never been notified of a failed test," Kevin Byrne, vice president of communications for the Ravens, told ESPN.

This should no longer satisfy media pundits at all, if they have any sort of intelligence and especially if they've followed cycling because:

The NFL Players Association said the league does test for IGF-1, the banned substance found in deer-antler extract, but the NFL said it is not detectable with the league's current testing methods.

If this pressure is an affect of what Lance Armstrong has done in cycling, and if the media starts putting pressure where it matters, then maybe, just maybe, some good will come out of what's happened to cycling.
 
Well, they've got the aggressive defiance down and not too bad on the talking points:

"Two years ago, it was the same report. I wouldn't give that report or him any of my press. He's not worthy of that. Next question," Lewis said.

Lewis on Tuesday also said he doesn't want to give the company any publicity and questioned why he should respond to such "stupidity."

Ray has been randomly tested for banned substances and has never failed a test

My understanding is that he's passed every random substance test that he's taken throughout his career.



There's some amazing parallels here, shouldn't have attempted a comeback after his injury. it's arguable he's been more of a liability than an asset anyway.

I don't think this will go anywhere w/ regards to cleaning things up. Most fans probably prefer superhuman over clean in football.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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No! What did you just wake up from some coma? How is this any news.

Next thing you're going to say the top College football players don't go to class and they have other students proxy for them as students. How they are from the poorest of backgrounds and some how own a 2013 top of the line car, humm... :rolleyes: :D
 
May 10, 2011
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Did you even read what I said? It's /not/ news. But it's uncanny how the article parallels the Lance Armstrong defense and my point isn't that "z0mg doping nfl!1111". My point is: are the media finally going to wake up and report on it properly in response to cycling? This is the first time where I've seen an article like this in a long time where someone hasn't tested positive and was on trial, but rather there are just allegations and their word vs someone who was responsible for doping the individual in question.
 
Actually, I think you can draw parallels from Armstrong and his "defense" to numerous other sports and doping cases. From MLB, to swimming, to track & field (athletics), to the NFL, sure.

Play this game long enough and the responses, excuses, denials, deflections, all start to sound similar.
 
Aug 18, 2012
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Fatclimber said:
I don't think this will go anywhere w/ regards to cleaning things up. Most fans probably prefer superhuman over clean in football.

You say that but pro wrestling was the first American 'sport' to be over run with drug users.

Since they (pro wrestlers) have been dropping dead like flies they have come under extensive criticism.

Recently they had CM Punk as the champion a guy who is completely drug free yet has the least impressive physique that they've had as the champion in the last 30 years.

This isn't even in a proper sport there is no integrity of competition to protect.

You can see in this (extremely cringing) promo the difference between the roided up Dwayne Johnson and the clean "CM Punk":

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub591SUohIE
 
Jul 12, 2012
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Deer Antler Spray or whatever is merely a red herring for illicit substance use.

All dopers do it, starting with Mark McGuire and the then "legal" Androstenediol.

Bicycle racers and hypoxic chambers.

Roger Clemens and anti-inflammatories and "vitamin" injections...

No doubt, Ray Lewis used HGH to speed his recovery. Clearly, the NFL does not have the guts to take appropriate action.
 
Jul 12, 2012
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"Team officials, including coach John Harbaugh, defended Lewis, saying that he has never failed a drug test."

How many times have we heard this?
 
May 10, 2011
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Well, I expect coaches and trainers and players to say it. What I also expect is for media pundits and the general press to not accept that as a valid defense anymore. If pro cyclists can take drugs they have tests for and beat them, pro NFL players can take drugs that even the NFL says is undetectable with their current testing, let alone beat whatever small bit of testing that is in place. I think the NFLPA will make it incredibly difficult to do anything about it without a positive test, though.
 
Jan 29, 2013
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apparently IGF-1 would only show up on a blood test and not on a urine test. see if you can guess which league has no blood testing. and then Ray uses the I haven't tested positive defense.
 
Jan 23, 2013
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http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-50s-tim-tebow-would-have-been-an-offensive-lineman-2011-10?op=1

Interesting link that shows the progression of the average height and weight of NFL line-men through the last 90 years.

Notice that the trend towards being heavier took a huge jump from the 1970's (255 lbs) to the 1980's (272 lbs) and 1990's (300 lbs).

Prior to the 1970's the curve was much more level, as it is after the 1990's.

Steroids became widelay available during the same time period that saw the greatest increases in the size of the line-men.
 
TheBean said:
http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-50s-tim-tebow-would-have-been-an-offensive-lineman-2011-10?op=1

Interesting link that shows the progression of the average height and weight of NFL line-men through the last 90 years.

Notice that the trend towards being heavier took a huge jump from the 1970's (255 lbs) to the 1980's (272 lbs) and 1990's (300 lbs).

Prior to the 1970's the curve was much more level, as it is after the 1990's.

Steroids became widelay available during the same time period that saw the greatest increases in the size of the line-men.

There's no doubt that linemen are more muscular, but they aren't afraid to be packing around a huge belly either. Being heavy itself is an advantage. I would be interested to see a body fat % graph along with that.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Mishrak said:
Is the media finally going to pressure American Sports?

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/201...wis-baltimore-ravens-reportedly-connected-ped



This should no longer satisfy media pundits at all, if they have any sort of intelligence and especially if they've followed cycling because:



If this pressure is an affect of what Lance Armstrong has done in cycling, and if the media starts putting pressure where it matters, then maybe, just maybe, some good will come out of what's happened to cycling.

the premise is that testing achieves any nebulous goals it proffers.

need to start from a different point, and ask a question about sport. define an objective, then research what any potential testing can achieve.

all premises skip the crucial point is the testing does not work, it catches few, they are scapegoated and useful idiots, and the show continues.

if folkx cant work out that William Perry, aka The Refrigerator, at the Chicago Bears was the first offensive linseman to tip the scales at 300lb, now we have entire teams, running backs, corner backs, at 300lbs + ***

***hyperbole licenced TM for effect
 
Mar 13, 2009
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TheBean said:
http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-50s-tim-tebow-would-have-been-an-offensive-lineman-2011-10?op=1

Interesting link that shows the progression of the average height and weight of NFL line-men through the last 90 years.

Notice that the trend towards being heavier took a huge jump from the 1970's (255 lbs) to the 1980's (272 lbs) and 1990's (300 lbs).

Prior to the 1970's the curve was much more level, as it is after the 1990's.

Steroids became widelay available during the same time period that saw the greatest increases in the size of the line-men.
I use Perry as my gauge in posts on US pro sport.

And the nba, KAreem versus Dwight Howard. We will never ever have a player the size of Kareem with a pinhead.

heck, look at Lionel Messi's head from his gh supplementation.
 
Aug 18, 2012
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veganrob said:
Simply put , No. Doping will never go away in the NFL. The media will never take it on and the owners are making way too much money. No.

You could have said the same thing about pro wrestling in the 1970's and baseball in 2000.

Fact of the matter is being an NFL player is very unhealthy.

Steroids, painkillers and high body weight are all very unhealthy but necessities as things stand. I think it's much more unhealthy than baseball, fans do not want to see their sporting idols die young.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Briant_Gumble said:
fans do not want to see their sporting idols die young.

but they are appreciative when they die twenty years later and it does not make the obituaries in the NYTimes "as caused by years of sustained ped use".

go, but go quietly. nothing to see here.
 
Briant_Gumble said:
You could have said the same thing about pro wrestling in the 1970's and baseball in 2000.

Fact of the matter is being an NFL player is very unhealthy.

Steroids, painkillers and high body weight are all very unhealthy but necessities as things stand. I think it's much more unhealthy than baseball, fans do not want to see their sporting idols die young.

I would say that the minimal media exposure to PED's in these activities (can't refer to wrestling as a sport) has had little effect in cleaning them up. That's great that wrestling has a supposed clean reigning champion but how clean are the rest? All media exposure does is force users to be more careful. The players union in baseball ensures minimal risk of getting caught.
 
Yes. And with the owners still talking about an 18 game schedule, what will that do. Players will be breaking down faster than they are now and the pressure to return will be greater. In the owners eyes, the players are expendable. One goes out another comes in. The issue getting the greatest amount of attention now is concussions, and they still can't come to a conclusion.
Money.
 
Jan 23, 2013
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To Fatclimber...

I haven't been able to find any data on the body comp of the linemen.

But, the information regarding their 40-yard dash times is available if you have the patience to sift through NFL combine scores form the past decades.

40 yard dash is representative of the players' ability to produce power. While I agree that many line-men do sport a sizable belly, they are still quicker than their counterparts from prior decades. Hence - better power to weight ratio.

Muscle produces that power. So, it can be unscientifically deduced that a large portion of the increased average weight of the linemen is in the form of muscle.

I am too lazy to sift the combine scores, but vertical leap would also be interesting to compare.

If you have the time and energy to get some figures, please share them. They would make for interesting reading.
 

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