Tree of Life

03 Feb

Why Pull the Plug on Performance Enhancing Drugs? @Tori_TribLive by Victoria Atkinson

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 – 11:03 am

The controversy of athletes using Performance-Enhancing Drugs, PEDs, makes me beg the question, what's the big deal? Steroids are prescribed to people to help them gain muscle and enhance stamina. These athletes who are using steroids are most likely getting them from knowledgeable health professionals and not attaining them in some dark alleyway.
In the past few months a parade of respected athletes have been rumored to be pumping these drugs into their systems instead of pumping more iron.
Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, and professional cyclist lost all 7 of his champion titles due to his doping allegations. Last month, Armstrong confessed of his steroid use to Oprah and made his first public remarks about the stripping of his records.
MLB star, A-Rod, has admitted to using PEDs in the past in order to stay healthy. More recently, a report came out alleging he has been using these drugs during the time he was a Yankee. Rodriguez denied the accusations, but now the Yankees are pressed to investigate into his career.
Adrian Peterson's historic comeback to the Vikings this season raises some questions. How did his knee heal so miraculously in such a short period of time and then rush an astounding 2,097 yards and almost break a record? Some are pointing to potential PED use.
Super Bowl 2013 linebacker for the Ravens, Ray Lewis, is the newest victim of accusatory supplement use. He tore his triceps in October and rebounded quite fast for a 37 year old. Lewis denies any steroid use but some people are still skeptical. But what does it matter? It's too late for him to be suspended from the Super Bowl and he is more than likely retiring afterwards.
In college, I knew many students who were taking prescription Adderall for the sole purpose of keeping them focused and awake to study. Does that make their test scores invalid because they used a supplement to aid them?
Athletes are paid millions to be at a top performance level so I don't think using these substances is what the media and sports officials should be focused on.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates

 

01 Feb

Win Auto Show Tickets

published in category: Sports Talk Radio on Friday, February 1st, 2013 – 8:42 am

E-mail us at sportstalk@tribweb.com with AUTO in the subject line and your name and address in the body of the e-mail to win two tickets to the 2013 Pittsburgh International Auto Show Feb. 15th at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

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Posted in Sports Talk Radio

 

31 Jan

Secret for the power play: It's the plan not the personnel by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Penguins, Wrestling Reality on Thursday, January 31st, 2013 – 9:32 am

After scoring just one goal in their last fourteen power play opportunities, the Penguins decided to change things up yet again.

Evgeni Malkin will now play the point while James Neal will command the half-boards. Anyone whose watched more than five games with Malkin on the point knows he's not comfortable in that position. When you consider how pass-happy both he and Kris Letang (playing on the other side of the blue line) are while on the man-advantage, it's amazing this idea has found its way back into the minds of the coaches.

This whole debacle, people think, is based on the fact that Dan Bylsma cannot run an effective power play unit with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the ice at the same time. The real question is, why do they have to be on the ice at the same time? Is there a rule that says a power play goal is worth two when both 71 and 87 are on the ice? Obviously they are both world class players, but what difference does that make when they share the same strengths on the power play?

If Dan Bylsma can make the power play work with both players on the ice, excellent. If he finds a way to make it work with Crosby and Malkin split onto separate units, great. Both scenarios work better than having both players on the ice for an ineffective power play. And that's where the Penguins stand right now.

The Penguins finished last season with the fifth best power play in the league. They played more than half of their games without Crosby and saw their power play numbers improve in the playoffs once Crosby and Malkin went to separate units; a move that had to be made after the Flyers scored two shorthanded goals early in the series.

The truth is, the amount of talent doesn't necessarily determine the success of the power play. Obviously, the more talented your team is, the more chances they SHOULD be able to produce; however, it means nothing if the plan of attack is in shambles. Need proof?

Who had the highest power play percentage last year?

The Nashville Predators.

That's right, the team whose top two scorers that year (Martin Erat and David Legwand) combined for just two more points than Evgeni Malkin, had the most effective power play in the league. Shea Weber certainly had a lot to do with that success, scoring ten goals with the man advantage. But the Preds also got eight PP goals from Patric Hornqvist and five each from Mike Fisher, Martin Erat, David Legwand, and Colin Wilson. All because they have a plan and they are confident in their ability to execute that plan.

The Penguins, by the looks of things, have no plan. After taking 45 seconds to gain the offensive zone and establish their positioning, there's very little movement and too much hesitation. Passes are bounced back and forth between James Neal, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. You would like to see shots, but they can never get a lane open because of how stationary everybody is both with, and without, the puck.

Side note: this actually hurts the team's penalty killers too because they have to face this freak show in practice. It's no wonder Matt Moulson and John Tavares picked apart the box configuration the Penguins were showing Tuesday night.

Honestly, I can't break it down piece by piece. If you're looking for that, go to Face-off Factor.

This is on Dan Bylsma. He needs to come up with a comprehensive plan and utilize the right combination of players to execute it; whether Malkin plays the point, the half-boards, or on the second line (same for Crosby). It doesn't matter who is on the ice as long as there are consistent results. Otherwise, Bylsma's seat will get hotter at the boos at Consol will get louder.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Penguins, Wrestling Reality

 

30 Jan

Searching for

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 – 9:15 am

Athletes have been trying to gain a competitive edge over their opponents since the beginning of competitive sports. During the time of the original Olympic Games, Greek participants were said to have used opium to boost their performance. Roman gladiators took opium before their fights to the death to increase their intensity and stave off fatigue. Performance enhancing drugs have always been a part of sports, and will continue to be as long as the human competitive nature exists.
Today, in American professional sports leagues, PEDs are strictly regulated, and athletes are tested frequency to try to make sure everyone is playing on an even level. Now, players must be more creative in the ways they try to gain a competitive edge in order to avoid sanctions from their sports for using illegal substances. This is precisely what Ray Lewis is currently in hot water for, according to an article written by David Epstein and George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated.
According to Sports Illustrated, Ray Lewis contacted a company called Sports with Alternatives to Steroids or S.W.A.T.S., after he torn his triceps muscle earlier in the year and requested recovery aids from S.W.A.T.S. Mitch Ross, one of the two men who run S.W.A.T.S., recorded a phone call Lewis made to to the company on the night he injured his arm and asked for products that would help him get back on the field as fast as possible. Most of the suggested methods to aid Lewis in his recovery were harmless, some say hopeless, and included untested remedies such as; holographic patches, "negatively charged" water, a "beam ray" light bulb and deer antler spray.
The deer antler spray is what has Ray Lewis in trouble. The spray, which Lewis was instructed by Ross to use under his tongue every two hours, contains IGF-1, which acts as a growth hormone and is banned by all major professional sports leagues in America.
The spray, along with the other treatment aids "prescribed" to Ray Lewis by Mitch Ross, are commonly referred to as "quack" treatments, meaning they have no medical evidence backing their effectiveness, and are hardly a new phenomenon. In 1961, while Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were battling head-to-head to pass Babe Ruth's single season homerun record, Mantle became sick with some type of virus and turned to a "quack" treatment to return to the batter's box as quickly as possible. Mantle was injected with a "cure-all" medicine which actually ended up creating an abscess on the slugger's hip, causing him to miss the last two weeks of the 1961 season. He would finish second to Maris in homeruns, and would not break Ruth's record.
As of now Ray Lewis denies ever using the antler spray. The Ravens' vice president of communications, Kevin Byrne, issued this statement from the team: "Ray has been randomly tested for banned substances and has never failed a test. We have never been notified of a failed test. He has never been notified of a failed test."
Dr. Andrew Green, a surgeon at Brown University Hospital who is Board Certified in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, questions the relationship between real treatment and what companies like S.W.A.T.S. are selling, "Is sports medicine a science, something that really pays attention to evidence? Or is it a boutique industry where you have a product and sell it?" Although there is not scientific or medical evidence products like "beam ray" light bulbs or holographic patches aid in athletic performance or not, players will continue to try to find a way to gain a competitive edge, as they always have.

REFERENCES:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130129/the-strange-lab-that-lured-numerous-athletes/#all
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/8894127/super-bowl-2013-ray-lewis-baltimore-ravens-reportedly-connected-ped
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/health/05treatment.html?_r=2&hp&

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Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 

28 Jan

High School Hockey Athlete of the Week

published in category: Sports Talk Radio on Monday, January 28th, 2013 – 9:20 am

Congratulations to Hempfield's Channing Gorscak for being voted the TribLIVE Radio High School Hockey Athlete of the Week. He leads his team in goal and assists this season.

Listen to Inside High School Hockey every Wednesday 3pm to 4pm on TribLIVE Radio.

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Posted in Sports Talk Radio

 

25 Jan

End of the line for Eric Tangradi by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, January 25th, 2013 – 8:23 am

Eric Tangradi has had his chances to be a top six forward, but those days appear to have come and gone. After a turnover led directly to Toronto's first goal in last night's loss, head coach Dan Bylsma took Tangradi off of the second line, replacing him with Tyler Kennedy.

Tangradi would finish the game with 4:27 of ice time.

Today, it was announced that the 23 year old Philadelphia native would be relegated to the fourth line while Kennedy would move up to the second line to play with Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. Tanner Glass will move to the third line to play with Brandon Sutter and Matt Cooke. Bylsma praised Kennedy's skating and ability to shoot the puck as a reason to move him up.

And that's where Tangradi's journey ends as a NHL prospect.

Everyone in Pittsburgh jokes that their dog could play on the same line as Malkin and Neal and still net twenty goals. But in the case of Tangradi, not only is he unable to score, he actually drags down the production of his line mates. He doesn't have the speed to keep up with Malkin, nor does he have the skating ability or skill to take a hit in the corner, stay upright, and win a puck battle to a teammate. It took less than three games for Dan Bylsma to figure this out and now the search is on for another winger.

But it wasn't always like this. Flashback to 2009. The Penguins send Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks for Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi, then, the second ranked prospect in the Ducks' system. Kunitz makes an immediate impact as a top-line winger, while Tangradi is seen as a project, hoping to become the next power forward ala Ryan Malone/Kevin Stevens. At the time of the trade, Tangradi was in the midst of finishing up his final season in the Ontario Hockey League. Playing for the Belleville Bulls, he racks up 88 points in 55 games.

At 6'4, 220 pounds, the size is definitely there for a physical forward. Unfortunately, the new NHL requires speed and quickness, skills Tangradi lacks. He spends time in the AHL with Wilkes-Baare scoring 17 goals and 22 assists in 65 games. The following season (2010-2011), he gets called up for fifteen games and scores his first career goal en route to the Penguins' first win at Consol Energy Center.

Since then, Tangradi has zero goals and just three assists. He's playing on a line with arguably the best player in the world, and a forty goal scorer. Yet, he cannot even touch the puck for a brief moment, before a goal is scored. He's been promoted during a time when injuries ravaged the roster, forced into a top six position as a means to jump start his career, only to massive underperform. To put it plainly, he's overmatched by the speed of both his teammates and the opponents.

Tangradi can move to the fourth line, but it's doubtful he'll dress on most game nights. The Penguins already have solid fourth line players in Craig Adams, Joe Vitale, and Dustin Jeffrey. Tangradi's best shot to see more ice time is to move to another team, a deal that may not happen until April when the Penguins are shopping for a serious top six forward. If he is included in the deal, it will be only as a throw-in player. Maybe he'll find success, but all signs point to the end of Tangradi's tenure as a top six talent.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Penguins

 

22 Jan

Providence Coach Ed Cooley With Some Whine After Pitt Win

published in category: College Sports on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013 – 10:00 pm

The Pitt men's basketball team won their third straight Big East game on Tuesday with a hard-fought 58-54 win over Providence.

After the game Friars' head coach Ed Cooley took the podium and took a shot at the officiating in the contest while only grudgingly giving the Panthers credit for the victory. Here is the postgame transcipt:

"Another Big East tough game. I think it's first and ten on the fifteen yard line. A couple of field goals kicked. A couple of holding calls that weren't called. We had some incredible un-timed mistakes. We're making a lot of bad mistakes that are costing us games. A free throw here, a throw out-of-bounds there. They made their shots and we didn't. Credit them coming in and getting the win. Right now I've got to teach our guys how to win in this league, and right now I've got to do a better job of doing that. We're close, we're just not there. We found a way to lose today, we really did. Credit them, they earned it. I've got to do a better job with the group."

On whether Pitt had great offense or they had poor defense:
"They've had guys, everybody on the floor other than Adams that have learned to play in Big East games. We have some young guys that haven't. They had decent offensive execution and they passed the ball really well. They're a good basketball team. I think they were very, very, very fortunate to get a win in here today. And a lot of that was our lack of execution. Were there even any fouls called in the game? Seriously? Were any fouls called. That was a football game out there, that was the Patriots and Ravens in basketball uniforms. "

Reporter: "The Patriots don't hit that hard, Ed."

Cooley: "Well the Friars didn't either. We've got to earn our respect, that's just the nature of building the program. Everybody's human. I think the more you win the more respect you get, it's just human nature."

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Posted in College Sports

 

18 Jan

Kevin Colbert on Trib Live Radio

published in category: Ike Taylor, Pittsburgh Steelers, Wrestling Reality on Friday, January 18th, 2013 – 4:14 pm

Steelers GM Kevin Colbert was a guest on Trib Live Radio today with me and Guy Junker. Here is a transcript of that chat:

What are you and the staff doing now?
"There's really four phases of where you are. The first phase is a season review. You've got to look at your [salary] cap situation and work on that. Then you've got to work on the free agency that will be coming up starting March 12th and then of course the draft is something we're working on year round, but everything starts to come together right now. After the season ends, coaches will do their evaluations, myself and Art Rooney and Coach Tomlin will sit down and put those thoughts together on where we might be cap wise and what we've got to do."

Do you know for sure that Todd Haley and Omar Khan will be returning to the team?
"I'm assuming Coach Haley, obviously they hired Coach Arians out in Arizona so that fills all the head coaching vacancies so I'm sure Todd will be back and we're happy that he is back. I don't know if Omar has heard definitively what's going on in New York yet or not. I know there's some rumors to the effect but I don't think a final decision has been announced that I'm aware of."

On Omar Khan's GM readiness:
"He observes, he's been here at least ten years, so he observes what we do, how we do it. I think he understands the role. And his role has been to handle the salary cap issues for us and contract negotiations and he's been great at that. He also has had some other duties inside the organization with travel and some of the business areas. But he's always paying attention to the player management side of things, and he gets it, he understands that. If he were to become a general manager it would be more from that aspect of things and he'd have someone working with him for the personnel end of things. But he certainly understands it and when he gets his opportunity he'll be very successful."

On Marcus Gilbert or Mike Adams vying to be the team's starting LT:
"I'm sure it's still to be determined because both unfortunately missed a lot of time last year with injury. Of course Marcus was put on reserve/injured early in the season. And the Mike, we kind of held him back because of the ankle and he didn't quite recover from that in time. He tried to get ready but it just didn't respond and he needed more time and of course we ran out of time. Both of those guys will come back in and be healthy and be ready to compete. But what mix of offensive linemen we'll have I couldn't even venture a guess yet because it's too early in free agency and whether we're able to keep a guy like Ramon Foster or Max Starks is yet to be determined."

On judging players coming off of injuries:
"I think it goes together. The only way you can judge health is where they are, if an injury occurs, and how they rehabbed and how the prognosis is that the doctors give you for their full recovery and ability to participate. You hope for the best. I think you can look back at Max Starks who had a neck issue and then a knee issue and this year he came back because the prognosis looked good. He came back and was able to play sixteen games. You have to trust your medical people, and you do have to guess to a certain extent. But even when you talk about the running game, sure it would have been great to have five guys together but still it's my job if the sixth guy or the eigth guy, whoever has to go in, if they don't perform then I didn't provide the right depth. We constantly have to make educated guesses not only to the health of the players but should that player progress or regress. There's a lot of factors that weigh into it and that's what we have to try and figure out."

On CB Keenan Lewis:
"I really wouldn't say late-bloomer because it was his third year. He was more of a [special] teams guy early, he moved into a nickel role and got his opportunity and did play well for us. So that's encouraging, but again as any of the free agents we don't know what their market is and probably don't know what it will be until free agency starts because it only takes one team to set a market. So usually an agent will be reluctant to do a deal until he has that information. I'm pretty sure that's going to be the case with Keenan and I'm sure he will attract some interest because he's a young corner that played pretty well for us last year. We anticipate him having interest, of course we'll have to look at our interest and what we're going to be able to do once we collectively put all these pieces together. It's always about plusses and minuses. We can sign any player we want, but what's it going to cost us on the other end to make it fit from a cap standpoint."

On how you fix a poor turnover ratio:
"When you think of a turnover offensively, it's never just a quarterback throwing an interception or a running back fumbling the ball or a receiver fumbling the ball. Did the offensive line give the quarterback enough protection to get the ball off? Did the receiver run the correct route? Did the running back see the defender that's going to hit him or was a block missed up front. It's never as clean as it looks. The same thing defensively, if we're not getting enough pressure guys have more time to run routes, it's harder to intercept the ball. Or if we do get pressure and we're there do we play the man instead of the ball. There's a lot of different things that go into it and we have to examine all of that. In the end it's still about the bottom line. When you lose seven out of eight and that differential is higher than the margin of victory it's a glaring consistency that you're not real comfortable with."

On why the team kept Alameda Ta'amu but cut Chris Rainey after legal incidents:
"It does aggravate me because just like when a player doesn't work out from a talent standpoint, I was the one that signed off and said it would. Really I can't address each of the incidents because they're still open legal cases. But if we choose to remove a player from the roster you have to assume that player has lost the trust of the organization. And that's really it. It's an individual situation, an individual determination by myself and Coach Tomlin and Art Rooney. Sometimes we'll decide to move on. It's not always a second-chance type scenario, it might be a first-offense type scenario. It all depends on the circumstance and the offense. A lot of thought goes into it, it's not a knee-jerk reaction. People will say it's based on talent more than it is the offense and I disagree with that. And the only thing I can point to is in our draft preparations we do homework on players and we will reject significant players. And I'm talking about first-round talents that we decide we don't want to assume the risk if they do have a character issue. But when we do assume the risk sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Obviously we had two cases this year that didn't work for us, and again that falls on me because I was the guy to say, OK, we can assume this risk. Going forward does that mean that you're not going to look at guys that have risk? No, I think that's unrealistic because a lot of the guys that are in the draft pool do have character challenges. And again, that's up to us to assess that and determine if we want to take the risk and if we do, we've got to be ready not only if the player does good but we've got to be ready for the consequences if it doesn't."

On Ike Taylor saying Art Rooney lets him sleep on his office couch:
"If I did let anybody sleep it certainly wouldn't be Ike. I think he has a little flair for the dramatic. He's well thought of but he ain't sleeping on my couch."

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Posted in Ike Taylor, Pittsburgh Steelers, Wrestling Reality

 



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