London 2012 Mascots

Posted by admin at 12:34 am

The London 2012 Olympic Mascots were revealed today. What in the %$#@ were they thinking? The official website can be found HERE. Pictures below are of the Mascots….Thoughts?

According to the site the mascots names are Mandeville and Wenlock.

Madeville goes on to say

“How did I get my name?
My name is inspired by Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games. On the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann held his own sport competition in Stoke Mandeville for World War II soldiers with spinal injuries. The Stoke Mandeville Games grew and grew until they became the Paralympic Games.

Obviously, I love the Paralympic sports and I think Paralympians are amazing! I love finding out about people, what makes us all different and also what links us together. I’m also always ready for action. With so many people to meet and challenges to try there’s no more time to fill this in! Sorry!”

According to Wenlock:

“How did I get my name?
My name is inspired by Much Wenlock in Shropshire, a town that is at the heart of Olympic history. In the 19th century, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was invited there to watch the Much Wenlock Games, which were inspired by the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. De Coubertin was inspired by the Much Wenlock Games, too, and went on to found the modern Olympic movement. The Much Wenlock Games are still held to this day!

I love sport (especially the Olympic ones) and I want to be as good at them as I can. I also love making friends who show me exciting new things to try and help me achieve my personal best. If they can make me laugh along the way… even better!”

Twas the Day Before Christmas…only thing stiring was drugs…

Posted by admin at 3:13 pm

Blood vs. urine? USADA clears up fuss over Mayweather-Pacquiao drug testing feud

By Josh Slagter | The Grand Rapids Press

December 24, 2009, 11:55AM

Cory Olsen | The Grand Rapids PressFloyd Mayweather has never failed a drug test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and neither has Manny Pacquiao. But Mayweather’s camp wants tougher testing standings for their March 13 fight.The notion of bad blood interfering with the negotiations between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s representatives wasn’t far fetched. Neither camp gets along with the other.

But with Tuesday’s announcement from Mayweather’s camp that Pacquiao has refused the Olympic-style random drug testing, tensions have reached a new high.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission uses urine tests before and after fights to check for steroids other and performance-enhancing drugs. A blood test is required to earn a one-year license to fight in Nevada, too.

Mayweather’s camp is demanding the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency conduct random blood tests during training. Pacqiuao’s promoter, Bob Aurm, has said his fighter has agreed to be blood tested three times: in January, 30 days before the fight and then right after the fight.

Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA, told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports that both urine and blood tests are needed to determine if a fighter is clean.

“There is no urine-based tested for human-growth hormone,” Tygart said. “It doesn’t show up in the urine. It’s only a blood-based test. That’s true of a number of prohibited substances, particularly those that would enhance and aid a boxer.”

Tygert also added the schedule Arum is proposing won’t work, because a fighter would have the advantage of knowing when he’d be tested.

“That kind of window is totally unacceptable,” Tygart said. “It would provide a huge loophole for a cheater to step through and get away with cheating.”

Dr. Gary Wadler, an internal medicine physician and chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List and Methods sub-committee, supported Tygar’s position.

“The fundamental principle is that the time and place of testing is in the domain of the governing body, not of the athlete,” Wadler told Yahoo! Sports. “It would lose all its validity if the athlete could pick and choose when he is going to be tested and for what he’s going to be tested for and how he’s going to be tested. They’re sophisticated enough now that if someone wanted to, you could play the calendar to your advantage.”

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And to Arum’s notion that Pacquaio will feel “weakened” by getting his blood drawn close to the fight? Victor Conte, the founder of Bay-Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), said the tests would have no physical effect on either fighter.

“That amount would be less than one-half of one percent (of the total blood in the body),” Conte told Yahoo! Sports. “It’s not going to have any effect, the drawing of blood. Could it have some mental effect? That’s the only down side of that. It’s certainly not going to have any physical effect, giving blood before a fight.”

The implementation of drug testing remains the only sticking point on negotiations for a fight that could break all of boxing’s revenue records.

Will either side blink in time for the fight to happen? It doesn’t sound like Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe plans to back off on his demands.

“They’re backed up against the wall. Either they’re going to step up to the plate and do this, or my guy’s not stepping up into the ring and fighting,” Ellerbe said on “The Huge Show” on Wednesday. “If you have nothing to hide, why not subject yourself to this testing?”