Thursday

2 and I had a nice night over at Augie. The home team won in their first game without their senior-captain, leading scorer who blew out his Achilles last weekend. He's toast for the year. A freshman off-guard stepped up for 18. A very good sign for the future.

The big news in sports today is the doping report on Major League Baseball. This has all the combined trappings of a Hollywood scandal and a mudslinging political campaign. Popular figures are accused of headline-grabbing activities. Holier-than-thou reporters are out there "representing" the public's need-to-know. I am probably more troubled by the righteous angst being expressed by the investigative media than I am by the alleged drug use. Kieth Olberman's moralizing on NBC's Nightly News was enough to make me wretch.

Sports have become largely entertainment businesses. Movie stars, musicians, artists and other people in various spheres of entertainment don't have the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) dropping by unannounced to take a syringe of bodily fluids. Why is it that athletes are held to this uncompromising standard? I suppose that it can be traced to an Olympic connection where "sports" are, in the IOC's mind, not tainted by the unpleasantness's of life on the street.

Science has made the whole matter of diet and health an evolving landscape. Gatorade is OK. Red Bull too, I think. But don't take too much Benadryl or Claritin so that you can breathe. My guess is that there are science-geeks out there now who are working on the next generation of supplements that will enhance athletic performance. Supplements that will line up the atomic structure to conform to the rules. If it looks like a duck. And walks like a duck. And quacks like a duck. Is it a duck?

All for tonight. Good luck with your Friday.

BCOT