Darius Miles, NBA Boston Celtics forward, has been very controversial just at the start of the month of July because of his 10 games suspension without pay. In the report published by AOL Sports last July revealed the alleged involvement of Miles to steroids reason why he received the outstanding suspension. The report also pictured the notion of Henry Abbott of TrueHoop concerning to the future of Miles and his possible impact on the league because of the suspension he received.

Abbott noted on the report that the impetus for Miles suspension can possibly be a performance enhancing drugs really. Jason Quick of The Oregon explained that ten games is a very precise numbers. If this information will be based into the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), it will be revealed that there are only two ways to receive such number of suspension: for a fourth-time marijuana offense or for a first time performance enhancing drugs offense.

Tom Ziller of AOL Sport analyzed the situation of Miles and found out that just before a ten-game suspension will be judged for a fourth-time marijuana offense; a five-game suspension will be put down first for a third-time marijuana offense. Looking back, Miles never had a record of five-game suspension; even the League confirms it. So if people themselves will conduct their own police report, they would already know for the most probable result of Mile’s drug test—nothing else but a first time performance enhancing drug offense.

Unfortunately, the league has never openly announced any PED suspension yet. If record will be reviewed, all of the recent NBA drug suspensions have been caused by marijuana used and DUI range; except for the popular two-year ban of Chris Andersen due to suspected intake of hard recreational narcotics. This condition raises a question from several spectators: does this mean that a player must be playing for two years just before the league take any responsibility to openly announce a failed drug test? Ziller, claimed in his report that the issue is being kept hushed for the NBA interest since steroid issue is not very common to NBA as compared to the other major leagues.

Nonetheless, truth always prevails. On the later part of September, National Post officially reported that Miles really violated the terms of the NBA Anti-Drug Program at the end of 2007-2008 NBA season. National Post revealed the involvement of Miles to phentermine, an appetite suppressant also familiar as a diet pill. Now, the suspension of Miles is said to be effective on the first game of 2008-2009 NBA season wherein he is still physically able and eligible to play. His bond with the Celtics is not yet assured according to some reports until he proves himself in the training camp. But other reports claimed that the Celtics remains open for Miles to help them bag the victory. Tim Grove, his personal trainer, response on these claims by saying that Miles will be able to prove himself once again, especially now that he has regained 80 to 85 percent of his athleticism.

For now, it is not the decision of the Celtics for welcoming him again that truly matters; it is the confirmation after long months of controversy that the violation faced by one of the competitive players of Celtics is actually a performance enhancing drug offense and not of marijuana. 

The New Orleans Saints was affected by the four games suspension of left guard Jamar Nesbit for breaking the policy of NFL on Anabolic Steroids and other similar substances. The suspension of this 10-year veteran Nesbit started immediately. Now, he is no longer allowed to play in any of the team’s game until October 20, the day after the team play against the Carolina Partners. Nesbit’s suspension is the only time that he will miss a game with the Saints for the past five seasons of his stay on the team. He will also remain unpaid throughout the duration of the suspension.

Nesbit defended himself just when the issue broke out by saying that he did not intend to take any prohibited substances by the National Football League (NFL). According to him, his failed drug test was due to his ingestion of over-the-counter product last summer, which was promoted as purely natural body-cleansing product. Unfortunately, the NFL policy states that a player is accountable for whatever drug he takes.

Apparently, Nesbit’s absence seemingly paralyzed the offensive line of the Saints as it coupled with the long injury list of the team’s starters Jeremy Shockey, David Patten, and Jammal Brown. Apart from that, the team also perceived the loss of Nesbit as a double-barreled hit. First, Nesbit is the most experienced guard of the team, having played in 92 successive games already. Comparatively speaking, the other guards of the Saints are all youngsters. Second, he also served as the back-up center of the team; so, whenever Jonathan Goodwin falters, Nesbit moved to center right through a game. But this time, this duty will be handed to Matt Lehr; unfortunately, Lehr was on and off the list for the past weeks.

Michael Loomis, Saints general manager said: “we are disappointed in the suspension of Jamar but we will support him through this process and look forward to having rejoin the team soon.”
Meantime, the spot of Nesbit is temporarily transferred to massive draftee Carl Nicks in the starting lineup. Nicks is claimed to be powerful and agile; however, he still lacks the experience. So, he will be tested bluntly by rivaling defensive coordinators this time. The Saints trust Nicks although with all honesty, the team claimed that it is really hard to start with a draftee lineman. When Nicks start to play the part of Nesbit, he will be the fourth draftee to start for the Saint’s long list of injuries this season, following Tracy Porter, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, and Sedrick Ellis. Overall, the team will currently rely to the exceptional talent of Reggie Bush and Drew Brees to win the coming games of the team.

Evidently, Loomis and saint coach Sean Payton are going to be more creative in the field this time to keep their full 45-man agile roster on the coming games. Surely, the team is exerting all their efforts to make up with their losses. Troy Aikman, Fox Sports Analyst, said during the report of the Saints-Broncos game that he had never seen a team yet with as enormous injuries as the Saints in this season. He said that just before Shockey, Patten, and Brown went down, people might surely wonder what will be his statement towards the Saint this time that Nesbit was also temporarily taken out from the game.

Anyhow, it is not a total wretched for the Saints yet because the team will have three succeeding home games just before they go to Carolina on October 19, a day before Nesbit resumes playing.

The approval for the banning of anabolic steroids for racehorses by the Maryland Racing Commission flooded the news reports released online during the third week of September. This rule is expected to be implemented by January 1 according to the report released by Child Walker of Baltimuresun.com, Maryland’s leading online news source.

Online reports stated that this move had been projected for weeks, which actually followed the same moved made by the Kentucky Racing Commission in late August. This time, Belmont Stakes of New York is also deeming firmer rules concerning to doping. So far, the surrounding states in Maryland such as Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, are executing similar bans in place.

Associated Press Sports also unveiled that the public scrutiny for the doping issue in horse racing marked an increase after the confession of Rick Dutrow Jr., the trainer of Big Brown, to the use of anabolic steroid stanozol on the Preakness Stakes winner and Kentucky Derby. Dutrow is said to receive several suspensions and fines for doping violations from year 2000 according to Walker’s report.

Concerning to this matter, the Executive Director of the Maryland Racing Commission, Mike Hopkins, said: “I think the general consensus in the industry is that these drugs should not be used the way they have been used.” Essentially, the ban covers four anabolic steroids, stanozol is already included. Hopkins uttered that this specific compounds have not been monitored for several years already and the control of them is great for the industry. He also explained that the new policy should be approved first by the administrative panel composed of senators and states delegates before it can finally be implemented. However, since the ban is already approved by the racing commission on an emergency basis; the process of the review would be more advanced. “I am very proud that Maryland has joined the ban,” said by J. William Boniface, veteran trainer of Darlington. “It is better for the sort, the sport’s image and, more importantly, for the horse,” he added.

Because of the ban, horses will be prevented from having excessive amount of steroids in their blood. Boniface testified that steroids are bad for horses. He said, “We have artificially stimulated growth in young horses with steroids to the detriment of the breed.” He further explained his claim by saying that although the racing needs such process for the purpose of public image; it does not look healthy to see a strong yearling that is being pushed along its growth by steroids. Excessive growth leads to fatal bone problems and more dangers. Anyhow, Hopkins still mentioned the beliefs of the veterinarians wherein these banned drugs create no effect to the performance of the horse if they are only given below certain levels.

In essence, the decision of the commission founded its standards on recommendations by the National Organization of Horsemen, the Racing Medication, racing veterinarians and officials that are pushing for measures to significantly progress the integrity of racing.

So far though, the current approved policy does not include sentences for trainers who are guilty of doping yet. But Hopkins stated that racing officials and horsemen will beat out those standards on January 1. But still, trainers who are caught using bute or phenylbutazone, an anti-inflammatory drug, will be suspended and will pay fines that cost $500 to $1,500 for the violations. Finally, Hopkin stated that this move is a mark that indicates Maryland is falling into the right step.

After almost a month since the torch was lit in Beijing Olympics, almost dozens of athletes from different countries were also banned after testing positive for steroid. Gina Kolata, a science reporter, published an article on online news website of International Herald Tribune saying: “during the second of August, there were three athletes who were tested positive for steroids and were immediately banned from their respective games. One of whom is the North Korean medalist, Kim Jong-su.”

Sports officials said this only demonstrates their new anti-drug attack is effectively working. Director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), David Howman, said: “The gap between regulators and cheaters has narrowed, and it will continue to narrow.” The featured news published last September 14 in Baltimoresun.com, Maryland’s online source for news, says that Wada including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will carry out over 4,500 doping tests during the Olympics; approximately, there was only 1,000 doping tests for the past four years. The Beijing lab of IOC is operating 24 hours a day with 180 staffers and scientists. Also, it has added two new tests for erythropoietin and growth hormone, formerly two of the untraceable drugs that have been extensively used by elite athletes.

But the question posed is, are those enough? According to the Sun reporter, Davin Kohn, more and more knowledge observers said that cheating is still widespread. They also claim that athletes, trainers, coaches, and including doctors and scientists have discovered new ways to outsmart present tests. More cleverly, they have also built up new technologies for doping wherein no tests exist yet. Hence, they concluded that there can be hundreds if not thousands of athletes today who have safely escaped WADA’s chemical dragnet.

“They are like ostriches, hiding their heads in the sand,” Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale speaks of WADA and other agencies that overlooked testing. A sports medicine specialist from Toronto who achieve decades of experience working along with elite athletes estimated that almost over 11,000 of Beijing Olympians have used a banned drug in the year or so before the Olympics began.

According to him including to the others, several of the keys tests have great limitations. One of which is the Human Growth Hormone test (HGH), this test can only trace the substance within 24 to 48 hours after the injection of the drug. So, for an athlete to avoid getting a positive test, he only needs to stop the injection few days before being tested. This will also not create any interruption on the athlete’s performance because the benefits brought by HGH, which is to boost strength and muscle mass, can last for a week or as long as a month.

Therefore, timing is the solution said by Victor Conte, nutrition and training expert. “Most of the athletes use performance-enhancer drugs months before the competition starts. These are trailing drugs,” he said. He also added that these drugs are used during the off-season for the purpose of better training. So, when the day of competition comes, the tests will be ineffective. “The athletes are not dumb, “he emphasized.
Anyhow, Pasquale confidently declared authorities will always hunt the cheaters. “If the demand is there, you will always be able to get it. It’s just like cocaine and heroin. It will never be under control. WADA will be behind every time,” he said.

Track coach Trevor Graham was permanently banned by the Anti-Doping Agency of U.S. last July 15 of this year. Graham was laid down with such decision because of his part in helping his athletes acquire performance-enhancing drugs, which are officially banned in the games, reported by the Associated Press (AP).

According to the report, Graham violated the rule and is therefore outlawed now from joining in any event sanctioned by the USA Track and Field, IAAF, and U.S. Olympic Committee, including the other groups that play a part in the World Anti Doping Agency Program.

This is not the very first time that Graham gets involved in the issues of steroids in Olympics. His name also resounds during the time when his former athletes were facing the issues concerning to their involvement on steroids use. These athletes are the disgraced Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, and Tim Montgomery. These former track stars shared the same coach, Graham, reason why they also shared the same fate. Now, Graham is also joining the fate of his former athletes. He is formally turned as an exile in his sport; also a disgrace to the field.

Travis T. Tygart, USAAD chief executive, further explained why this harsh sanction for Graham in Los Angeles’ leading online news source, Los Angeles Times: “While drug use by athletes is a serious wrong to be addressed with stiff penalties, in involvement in doping by a coach is even more reprehensible and must be dealt with through the most severe of all sanctions. It is truly disgraceful when a coach uses his position to assist athletes under his care in doping.”

Tygart also said that coaches, physicians, and other people who are supporting athletes are believed to be at times involved in violating the rules somehow. This is why he emphasized in a phone interview with Associated Press that they will hold these people, coaches specifically, as accountable when they are discovered to help and aid their athletes in doping.

Graham is guilty of the same case that was explained by Tygart. He was the one who anonymously gave out a vial of “the clear,” an untraceable steroid to USADA before, to his athletes. This vial is now known as the BALCO case. During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Graham also admitted his involvement in delivering performance-enhancing drugs by saying: I was just a coach doing the right thing at the time.” Although he did not explain why he opted for the syringe and as to how he got the stuff.

Presently, the case against Graham was further strengthened by the testimony coming from his own athletes; one of them is Michelle Collins. Collins has just returned after her three years and up BALCO-related suspension. Her ban was lessened when she cooperates with federal investigations and USADA.
At the present, some of the athletes of Graham can still be seen in the game. One of the known survivors is Shawn Crawford, the 200 meter’s defending Olympic gold medalist. He is now under the training of Bob Kersee, the same coach of Allyson Felix. Good thing, Crawford was never yet involved in any doping scandal. His name was just included in the issue because he was a previous key player of Graham.

Crawford said that he never really worry as to what Graham did to anybody else. “I know what I did. I can’t hold that against a person. People make mistakes,” he said.

Two Jamaican members in 2008 Olympic track team involved in steroid anomaly according to Sports Illustrated (SI), the website of a popular American Magazine. Hurdlers Delorin Ennis-London and Adrian Findlay are said to receive deliveries of performance-enhancing drugs, which were ordered from the Internet according to the documents acquired by SI.

SI’s collected documents show that Ennis-London received two deliveries of Somatropin (Human Growth Hormone) and one delivery of Triest (Estrogen) in late 2006 and early 2007. These performance-enhancing drugs were shipped at a Texas address tracing to Ennis-London. The indicated birth date on the document also matches to the athlete although the document shows a male recipient. Another document obtained by the SI shows that a delivery of Testosterone, Oxandrolone, and Testosterone Aqueous were also sent to the substitute in 400-meter hurdles on the Jamaican Olympic team, Findlay, in November 2006. The drugs were delivered to a North Carolina address tracing Findlay. Similarly, the birth date indicated on the documents also matches to the athlete.

In the report made by CNN network site, SI were said to make several attempts to contact Ennis-London through different links but organizations and even family members were unsuccessful. The sole person that was successfully contacted after sometime was Ennis-London husband, Lincoln. He explained that his wife was unreachable because she was racing in Switzerland at that time. However, he confirmed that she really ordered the drugs in late 2006 after she consulted a medical doctor over the phone for the vaginal hemorrhage she was experiencing. He explained that the shipment came when she was away for a competition so she was not able to open the delivery. He also explained that the 2007 package were not actually ordered and was also never opened.

Ennis-London clarified the matter by herself through Jamaica Gleaner News Online. She affirmed what was explained by her husband. She said her local doctor was not able to find a solution for the female disorder she was experiencing so she looked for an alternative opinion. She also added that she had explained to the medical doctor whom she consulted over the phone about the strict guidelines she is following in ingesting drugs; but the medical doctor assured her that the medicine was legal and safe so she bought the product.
Findlay similarly denied the allegations of his involvement to the use of performance-enhancement drugs by saying: “I’ve been running stable all my life.” “Trust me, I don’t use steroids. I guarantee you it wasn’t mine and I didn’t order it. I have a theory how it was sent,” he said defensively to SI.

Both Ennis-London and Findlay are not yet winning any medal from Beijing; however, their anomalies will still bring an impact to the success acquired by the entire Jamaican track team. In fact, their stories can pose a question to the Jamaican’s star, Usain Bolt. It is a common mindset for people to review the credibility of one according to his colleagues. Now, knowing that these two Jamaicans were tied to steroids, some may also be thinking that Bolt may have also done the same. Whether this notion is fair or not, Bolt will surely be disturbed by this and he should prepare good answers to counter the doubt.