The New York Times has a long story on a high-end Canadian sports doctor who got arrested crossing the border with Human Growth Hormone. Tiger Woods is one of his patients.
End of story? No, it's a little more complicated. The doc says that the HGH is for himself, and, judging by the 50 year old's picture, he looks like he does partake. He says, you don't need an expensive Canadian doctor to fly in to to provide you with HGH.
Which is true. I know two identical twin businessmen. One has prescriptions for HGH and ritalin, the other is into a sort of Christian Zen spirituality, and the difference in personal affect is striking: one is very energizing to be around, the other is very calming to talk to.
Instead, says the Canadian doc, what he provides athletes is his special "platelet" treatment, and he was just called in by Tiger's agent to help him recover faster from his knee surgery.
But, it looks like the topic that I raised in May: Is Tiger a Juicer? is now in play in the media.
End of story? No, it's a little more complicated. The doc says that the HGH is for himself, and, judging by the 50 year old's picture, he looks like he does partake. He says, you don't need an expensive Canadian doctor to fly in to to provide you with HGH.
Which is true. I know two identical twin businessmen. One has prescriptions for HGH and ritalin, the other is into a sort of Christian Zen spirituality, and the difference in personal affect is striking: one is very energizing to be around, the other is very calming to talk to.
Instead, says the Canadian doc, what he provides athletes is his special "platelet" treatment, and he was just called in by Tiger's agent to help him recover faster from his knee surgery.
But, it looks like the topic that I raised in May: Is Tiger a Juicer? is now in play in the media.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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30 comments:
It looks like we'll get immortality treatments one bent medic's magic increment at a time.
Too bad. I'd have liked to see Larry Niven's Boosterspice.
The guy looks sleazy. Of interest, he also treated geriatric Olympian Dana Torres, allegedly for a tear in her quadriceps tendon that no one else could diagnose. The quadriceps is a muscle used once per race by a 50 meter sprinter in diving in. I smell illicit HCG injections and maybe some other masked performance enhancers. As in the case of Mary Decker Slaney, another over 40 wunderkind, Ms. Torres is not all that she seems, she has been too clever for the doping police.
I'm not convinced of the magic of HGH. There have been people with naturally high HGH levels for centuries. They don't live very long, and they aren't particularly athletic.
Interestingly, some of the effects of excess HGH production look like racial differences.
The nose is widened and thickened, the cheekbones are obvious, the forehead bulges, the lips are thick and the facial lines are marked. The forehead and overlying skin is thickened, which may lead to frontal bossing (an unusually prominent forehead sometimes with a heavy brow ridge)...Mandibular overgrowth leads to prognathism, maxillary widening, teeth separation and jaw malocclusion.
Most of the routine complications in the wikipedia article are more common in blacks too.
It's sad to see Tiger's life fall apart. At least we think he's clean on the golf course, but if he's juicing, his career comes to an end. Full stop.
As DCS says, Dr. G also helped 41-year old Dara Torres recover from an injury. Nothing to see here, move along Johnny.
The only thing less interesting than golf is celebrity sex scandals.
"Which is true. I know two identical twin businessmen. One has prescriptions for HGH and ritalin, the other is into a sort of Christian Zen spirituality, and the difference in personal affect is striking: one is very energizing to be around, the other is very calming to talk to."
You didn't just unintentionally destroy your life's purpose and everything you've worked so hard to build over the past 15 years with one throwaway anecdote on your blog did you Steve-O?
I'm just asking.
BTW, there's just something very strange about a 50-year old with a faux-hawk.
Putting aside Tiger's bedroom antics, can steroid use make one a better golfer? Golf is more about concentration and skill than brute strength and aggression, right?
Is there even a ban on use of steroids in golf? I would think a drug like ritalin would improve the game of golf more than steroids. I heard ritalin is used by college students before exams as an aid to better concentration.
The Tiger brand sure is in a lot of trouble. This doctor reminds me a bit of Dr Ferrari who was linked to Armstrong and a bunch of other high level cyclists. I wonder who else this canadian doctor will be associated with.
On a bit of a tangent, I recommend everyone have a read of this article (if they haven't already): outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/200311/200311_drug_test_1.html
It's the guy who basically road tests a bunch of performance enhancing drugs then writes and article about it. Apparently one of the first things he notices about HGH is that his eyesight improves and old scars disappear.
It's sad to see athletes assumed to be cheating because they are unusually athletic. My 92 year old grandma has a six-pack like Torres; she did a hundred situps a day till the Alzheimer's kicked in. Now she's down to 35 a day.
Still got the six pack.
Sure, HGH and steroids help in Golf. If you can hit those long drives, and get your stroke count down, with power AND accuracy, that's a winner right there.
In fact, I'm shocked there has not been MORE doping scandals in golf. The difference in juicing can be the difference in the top 5 money leaders on the tour and say, the bottom of the pack.
Middletown Girl, I've believe that beta blockers is the drug type that many golfers choose. Also popular with shooters and concert musicians. Basically anyone who gains and advantage from being calm in stressful situations.
In regards to Tiger and performance enhancing drugs, if he is using them I'd be willing to bet he started due to niggling injuries. 30 years of driving golf balls every day must start to cause some issues. The beefcake that came with them was probably just a bonus.
"Putting aside Tiger's bedroom antics, can steroid use make one a better golfer? Golf is more about concentration and skill than brute strength and aggression, right?"
"Brute strength" applied squarely to the back of a golf ball is better than less strength applied squarely to the back of said ball.
Any golfer welcomes more power as long as he or she doesn't have to sacrifice accuracy. Even an extra five or ten yards down the fairway can be mighty helpful--you'd rather use your nine iron than your eight iron, if given the chance.
Tiger grew even longer (his drives, that is--LOL) after he began his work-out regimen. He has, however, like all golfers, had his ups and downs with accuracy. In fact, the longer one drives the ball, the more trouble he can get into off the fairway if he is struggling with accuracy issues.
I doubt Tiger ever felt his opponents would beat him because of their length versus his length. since he's always been very long. I do, however, think he may have become enamored of impressing the world with his length.
All this said, IF he took HGH, my guess is that he would have done so to take care of the myriad injuries that start to take their toll on a golfer. A slight wrist injury rarely keeps other athletes out of action, for example, but it can be death to a golfer. Same thing with a whole host of other "little" injuries...and Tiger had a huge injury to that knee.
Tiger's whole life has been about chasing Jack Nicklaus' records in the majors. If he did anything scurrilous, I'd think it would have happened because something made him think like a mortal golfer does --that youth doesn't last forever, that new competitors can spring up out of the blue to compete for those majors' crowns, that any injury, big OR small, can be enough to knock you off your game when it counts, that there's no such thing as a "sure thing."
Maybe he had a conversation down in Florida with Greg Norman who's a living example of "no sure thing."
Regarding that doc's pic - he may not be one's first choice with regard to one's prostate exam if you know what I mean ;-)
@ChrisJ
Pls correct link to article about the guy who tests a bunch of performance enhancing drugs.
Try this anon:
Outside Magazine Article
Reply to OHIOSTARE:
"Its sad to see Tiger's life fall apart"....
UH, NO, NOT REALLY. Who do you suppose Woods has to blame for this but himself? Nobody put a gun to his head or forced him to be a cheat and a cad. If I had hundreds of millions of dollars and a beautiful blonde wife I would be perfectly content. But hey, that's just me....
Ahhh, the Canadian Football League, maybe the last professional sports league that does NO drug testing. This guy is a team doctor for the Toronto Argonauts. LOL -- they have been one of the worst teams in the league for years, truly the Detroit Lions of the CFL. They went 3-15 this year and just fired the coach. They could have used Ricky Williams -- hold it right there, Ricky Williams fractured an arm back in his first game with the Argos, back when he came north of the border after the NFL suspended him for consuming deadly marihoocheejuana. Did this guy treat Ricky? Investigative journalism opportunity here.
Is there even a ban on use of steroids in golf? I would think a drug like ritalin would improve the game of golf more than steroids.
Ritalin can make you twitchy, cause a decrease in fine motor control. Not a good thing for a golfer.
The thing that most bothers about the hoopla over performance-enhancing drugs is the possibility that legitimate research does not get done.
It seems clear to me that broad performance-enhancement, improving the functioning of normal people is within the purview of medicine.
Athletes shoot X in way over clinical doses, X gets a bad reputation, researchers look for all the problems associated with X(in huge doses). Testosterone is a case in point: meatheads shot it, they got all kinds of effed up. Testosterone got demonized, but it appears that men with higher (within biologically normal ranges) testosterone experience fewer heart attacks.
How many people who would have benefitted from testosterone administration never got it because doctors think it's a necessary evil at best? Not trading the 1 lb/year of lean mass for fat that non-obese do should keep one healthier.
I've read people argue against developing myostatin inhibitors for people who would otherwise have muscles atrophy or be have to use walkers/weelchairs because some ballplayah somewhere might use it. Let's see, a guy who rams into other people for money might do it a bit better and some people won't be crippled. Sportstards prefer death and disability to 'ruining the purity' of children's games.
On the other hand, no one actually practices transhumanism like the meatheads.
I'd love to hear more about the twin businessmen.
Sounds like a very interesting natural experiment.
A little envy in the comments? The good doctor is 50 and could pass for 36, and appears to be in good physical shape too.
Art de Vany---in his 70s.
http://images.google.com/images?q=art%20de%20vany&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
As a coach on the tennis tour I can tell you that the smart ones today are taking homeopathic hgh because it works good, is safe, and most importantly legal for over the counter sales. The athletes prefer 21stCenturyhgh.com but there are many other companies that you can get it from.
It's sad to see athletes assumed to be cheating because they are unusually athletic. My 92 year old grandma has a six-pack like Torres; she did a hundred situps a day till the Alzheimer's kicked in. Now she's down to 35 a day.
Still got the six pack.
We get some weird stuff here at iSteve from time to time, but that might just be the single most bizarre thing I have ever seen posted at this blog.
Congratulations.
In regards to Tiger and performance enhancing drugs, if he is using them I'd be willing to bet he started due to niggling injuries. 30 years of driving golf balls every day must start to cause some issues. The beefcake that came with them was probably just a bonus.
I think most of the people take the HGH supplements for their fitness , while the bodybuilders taking HGH supplements to increase the lean muscles , it increase the stamina and the energy of the body, but it should be taken according to the doctor's prescription..
In regards to Tiger and performance enhancing drugs, if he is using them I'd be willing to bet he started due to niggling injuries.
I think that most of these sports folks are using HGH exclusively to heal injuries rather than 'increase performance' per se.
if he is utilizing them I'd be eager to wager he begun due to niggling injuries. 30 years of going by car golf globes every day should start to origin some issues. The beefcake that came with them was likely just a bonus..
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