Robert Mathis: Please shut up about your positive test
Late last week Indianapolis Colts defensive end Robert Mathis earned a four-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, but instead of accepting the punishment he and his agent launched a media counterattack. Over the weekend they explained Mathis flunked a drug test not because he knowingly embarked on a doping program, but because … Continue reading
Doping in Sport: Are non-White Athletes Born to Cheat?
A couple years back I took a blood test, and after reading the results the doctor asked me if I had been taking statins without telling her. I hadn’t, and asked why she asked that question. She said my levels of low density lipoproteins (aka bad cholesterol) were astoundingly low, and registered at levels usually … Continue reading
Sprinting, steroids and questions we don’t want answered
Drugs that enhance performance aren’t exactly rare in high-level sport — or in recreational gyms for that matter — and I state the blatantly obvious because we still insist on taking it personally every time a pro athlete is ensnared in a doping scandal. Then we slit the throats of our sacrificial lambs, allow the … Continue reading
2012 in review: By Morgan Campbell, By The Numbers
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 23,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals Click here to see the complete report.
Manny Pacquiao falls, questions arise
With a single, thunderous right hand at the end of round six Juan Manuel Marquez sent the legend of Manny Pacquiao crashing face-first to the canvas. With his nose broken and his left leg seemingly injured, Marquez delivered a knockout so definitive referee Kenny Bayless didn’t even bother to count. And with the entire boxing … Continue reading
Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez’ mountain of muscle
Friday afternoon Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez stepped on the scale in Las Vegas, bringing us a step closer to (what we hope is) the final chapter in their career-defining series, and tying together several compelling storylines that have developed in the eight years since they first fought. Can Marquez ever get a fair … Continue reading
To Answer Your Questions…
1. WHAT DID I THINK OF THE CONTROVERSIAL DECISION IN THE LAMONT PETERSON-AMIR KHAN TITLE FIGHT? Like many of you, I thought D.C. native Peterson dined on some home cooking served up by referee Joseph Cooper. While the letter of the boxing law says Cooper had the authority to penalize Khan two points for repeatedly … Continue reading
Food for thought as Andre Berto enlists Victor Conte
If the stakes of the April 16 welterweight title bout between Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz were ever in question, consider not just the result of that fight but the outcomes for the two men involved. The gutsy, thrilling 12-round decision win earned Ortiz the WBC belt and propelled him into a Sept. 17 pay-per-view … Continue reading
Building Brand Bautista and addressing “the question”
Heading to the office Monday morning I noticed a poster of José Bautista on a wall inside the Cooksville GO station. In it he’s pitching Booster Juice, which is a sort of Smoothie King of the north — 300 outlets nationwide peddling fruit smoothies and a healthy lifestyle. Besides being impressed at the poster’s linguistic … Continue reading
Morgan Campbell: A Writer on Sports and More 