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Report: Names will be named in HGH probe

By Zach Arnold | March 14, 2007

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TJ Quinn in the New York Daily News is reporting on Wednesday that Albany (New York) district attorney David Soares will give names of athletes involved in buying drugs from two online pharmacies to the leagues that those athletes compete in. Furthermore, those named athletes may be asked to testify in court.

The big question is will we see high-profile names from the UFC, IFL, and Elite XC get named in the investigation. If so, how will these leagues respond to the revelations? Will it be kept completely hush-hush or will the various state athletic commissions get involved in this and suspend the accused fighters (or try to make life difficult for the accused)?

Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

6 Responses to “Report: Names will be named in HGH probe”

  1. The Gaijin says:

    Wouldnt suspending the fighters who were “accused” without an investigation, further testing etc. pretty much fly in the face of being innocent until proven guilty and a few Constitutional rights??

  2. The Citizen says:

    Gaijin — if you live in America currently, then why on earth would you question wether or not constitutional rights actually apply to the citizen’s of this country any more? Some of the athletes here might have actually needed the drugs to stay active and compete. When it is your job to use your body, and it is all you have, then I really can’t blame these people from trying to feed themselves, or their families. Not every athlete has learned a backup skill to work at when they retire. Doing illegal things in the right way is the cause for many people to obtain sucess, and this might be what we will see here once the names are revealed. Illegal drugs should not be the part of any sport. Perhaps there was an order to make a public example out of these athletes.

  3. Zach Arnold says:

    I don’t think Gaijin is American, but I could be mistaken.

    Some of the athletes here might have actually needed the drugs to stay active and compete.

    In the case of the athletes so far named (John Rocker, David Bell, Jose Canseco, Kurt Angle, Evander Holyfield, etc.) the HGH drug was obtained through a doctor’s prescription, which of course leads to the question about fake prescriptions and everything else that entails.

    In the case of Rocker, he first denied the report and then his publicist in the same day admitted that he took it via prescription after medical absence (injury).

    In the case of Kurt Angle, he said that it was a doctor prescribed deal as well. Of course, it doesn’t explain why one of the drug variations he took is a horse growth builder.

    The ‘biggest’ name so far in the US media has been Gary Matthews Jr., who has hired both Robert Shapiro (in California, since Matthews plays in Anaheim) and a second New York-based attorney since the drug probe is happening in NY.

    You’re trying to argue a bigger issue here, which is whether or not steroids and HGH should be legal. That’s a debate for another day. The current standard is that HGH is illegal in America without a doctor’s prescription. This is the basis for which this investigation of the online pharmacies is occurring.

    As far as the HGH probe itself, initially it was stated that names wouldn’t be named and that the investigation wasn’t to target the customers but rather the dealers themselves. If TJ Quinn is right, we’ll see what kind of shift happens here then.

  4. GassedOut says:

    Think about this in terms like Ben Johnson, stripped of a gold medal at the 1988 summer olympics.

    It turned Track and Field Athletics upside down in Canada for nearly 5 years. Of course, Canadians have a record for over-reacting to what is seen as dishonesty in sport, but this could be interesting to watch here.

    What I think the bigger concern is here is that this would turn into a McCarthy-like witch hunt of professional athletes. That happened here in Canada. For the sake of sports and of the athletes I hope it does not happen here.

  5. The Gaijin says:

    You’re correct Zach – I’m Canadian. That’s why I was somewhat vague in my question (broadly stating “Constitutional Rights”) as I’m not exactly sure what rights are afforded to American citizens – especially given all the rights stripped away under Patriot Act I & II. I know as Canadians with our very liberal Constitutional rights and Charter of Rights and Freedoms but as “Gassed Out” pointed out – we’re not without our own witch hunts either.

    From my understanding of the story – isn’t it basically some online pharmacy that was involved with another group of doctors (mostly from out of state) that were prescribing performance enhancing drugs and then the online pharmacies in Florida were filling the prescriptions?? In all honesty it DOES sound pretty illegitimate…but the fact that they’re crucifying these people before anything has really been figured out is pretty ridiculous!

  6. The Gaijin says:

    Obviously this is a case that the New York DA wants to use to make himself famous. How do you make yourself famous: going after the people that you really should be going after (the large scale drug dealers and doctors writing phony ‘scripts for hundreds/thousands of people for profits) or the individuals with the biggest “celebrity draw” that will ensure the story is in the news for months – and of course your name will be mentioned every single time its in the news????

    It’s the same everytime, total political powerplay.

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