Ben Johnson steroid conspiracy?

Disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson has claimed superstar rival Carl Lewis played a part in a conspiracy to sabotage his drug sample at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, costing him his 100 meters gold medal.

Johnson claims Lewis took part in drug-test conspiracy – CBS SportsLine.com

    So Ben Johnson, who has admitted to taking banned substances in the past, is now saying his rival Carl Lewis helped in a conspiracy to make it look like Lewis was on steroids during the 1988 Olympics.  According to Johnson, a pro football player who was a friend of Lewis put some stanozolol, a steroid, in Johnson’s beer in the drug test waiting room.  He refuses to elaborate on it however as his lawyer wants him to keep it low until next June.  One of the best things about this is that Johnson admits to being on some drugs at the time, however it wasn’t stanozolol. If that’s the case then he shouldn’t have got the medal anyway.  However this whole conspiracy thing just sounds unbelievable.  The amount of work it would take for Lewis to have a friend be in the waiting room with stanozolol and for him to be able to slip it into Johnson’s drink makes this seem unreal.  I guess we’ll have to see what happens next June.

Devil Rays May Play Three Game Series At Disney World

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are looking for ways to broaden fan support, including the possibility of shifting a three-game series against the Texas Rangers from Tropicana Field to Disney World next season.

ESPN.com – MLB – Going to Disney World? Rays mulling series shift

    The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are considering playing a three-game series at Disney World next season.  They are looking to move a series from May 15-17 against the Texas Rangers.  While the Devil Rays ranked 29th out of the 30 MLB teams in attendance last season, they are looking for ways to improve this year.  They hope that playing some games in Disney World they can expand the franchise into more of a regional franchise to attract more fans.  I’m not too sure if this switch would really bring in a lot more people than playing at home but by now the Rays have to try just about anything to increase attendance.  The stadium in Disney seats about 9,500 with outfield seating increasing capacity to over 11,000.  If they could sell out the games there it would be an increase of about 3,000 fans from the average games last year at Tropicana Field against the Rangers.

Free Speech on the Internet

San Francisco – In what is a victory for free speech on the Internet, the California Supreme Court ruled today that no provider or user of an interactive computer service may be held liable for putting material on the Internet that was written by someone else. In doing so, the Court overruled an earlier decision by the Court of Appeal.

EFF: Breaking News

This ruling allows for anything on the Internet such as blogs and websites to put material on the Internet written by someone else.  This reaffirmed the fact that Congress would protect people attempting to provide a forum for others.  This will allow the Internet to stay in use as an exchange of ideas.  Just imagine if they ruled against this.  Nobody on the Internet would be able to put information from another site or person on their site.  People would have to travel to tons of sites just to find information on things instead of them all being in one place like on digg.

Nickel and Dimed

In Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, she attempts to live the life of a woman who is reentering the workforce.  She tries to see if making minimum wage will allow for her to live a life with a place that is livable and have enough food to eat.  She however sets limits for the experiment that she won’t ever not eat or have a place to live, and she will always have a car.  This makes me wonder if anyone who lives a life of luxury would ever be able to adjust to a life of poverty.  Ehrenreich was doing this as an experiment and couldn’t bring herself to living exactly like a person in poverty would.  People become too used to living where they always have food or a place to stay, but that isn’t the case for everyone.  For those who are used to what we think we should have, don’t see that for some, having these things on a regular basis is not the case.

Haynesworth Returns to Practice After Suspension

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Albert Haynesworth says he learned through counseling that he should quit bottling up his emotions until they explode, a problem that landed him the NFL’s longest suspension for an on-field act.

Tennessee Titans, Andre Gurode, Albert Haynesworth, National Football League – CBS SportsLine.com

After being suspended for 5 games for stomping Cowboys Center Andre Gurode in the head, Albert Haynesworth is returning to practice on Wednesday.  During his suspension he has went through counseling to help him with his anger issues.  However the Titans are requiring him to continue the anger management to stay with the team.  Before deciding if Haynesworth will play Sunday, coach Jeff Fisher will see what kind of football shape he is in.  Hopefully this counseling will really help Haynesworth to control his anger and not lash out like he did not only in this situation but in other past situations.

Planning, Advertising, and Consumption

    In the article by Wesley Shumar, he talks about how colleges have went from trying to sell themselves based on academics, to focusing on other aspects of the school.  From my college search I have to agree with him.  Most of the brochures I read while trying to decide what school I wanted to attend had a couple pages about their academics and the rest about the campus and life on it.

    While it is good to inform perspective students about the campus and what there is to do, it’s also important to detail what kind of education they will get by going there.  However not all colleges can compete based on their academics.  So many colleges are forced to use other aspects to sway potential students to their school.  While it’s not a good thing that colleges don’t feel education is a main point to show possible students, it is what college is based on.  But a college is a business, and for the business to succeed they need customers.  So some colleges must use this type of marketing to succeed.

University of Miami Football Player Shot and Killed

University of Miami defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed Tuesday night, shortly after practice, school officials said. He was 22.The shooting occurred at the apartment complex where Pata lived, about 4 miles from campus. His death was ruled a homicide, Miami-Dade police spokesman Roy Rutland said.

ESPN.com – NCF – Hurricanes lineman shot, killed; circumstances unclear

It’s too bad things like this happen.  Police are still not sure of the circumstances around the killing.  Pata was considered a well known and popular person on and off the field.  He was a senior who had grown up in Miami.  This is also not the first time a Miami football player has been shot this year.  In July Willie Cooper was shot, however he fortunatly survived his shooting.  It’s sad that shootings keep happening at the University of Miami.  The team has a game at Maryland on Saturday, but has not announced if the game will be played as scheduled.  There have been grief counselors brought in to help others deal with the shooting.  Hopefully the person who killed Pata is found and put in jail for a long time.

Class Identity and the Politics of Dissent

The excerpt from Julie Lindquist is all about class and how people talk and act in social situations.  As the intro to the article asks about “What social situations have you found yourself in where the ‘way of talking’ mattered to keep group membership?”  The way I talk isn’t always affected by trying to keep group membership, but it is generally changed depending on the situation.  With each situation there are differences in how I act and talk, but also some simliarities.

When I hang with my friends I’m generally much different than anywhere else.  I can be kinda nuts and I use language that I don’t everywhere else.

Around my parents I’m still a little nuts, not so quiet, but I do try to limit my swearing more than with my friends.  They don’t mind most of it, but I would never use anything really “bad” in front of them.  That leads to when I’m around my grandparents and other adults.  I make sure I am respectful of them and do not swear at all.

In school I’m very quiet and try not to swear at all.  I also make sure I’m respectful there too.

A similaritie is that in school and around people I don’t know I tend to be very quiet and reserved.  Another is that I pretty much act the same around my parents and friends with just a few differences.

This all just goes to show that people do change how they act and talk in different social situations.  I would never act the way I do when I’m with my friends when I’m with my grandparents.  It’s just two different places and changes have to be made.

Extra Credit Blog

On Sunday Oct. 29th I attended the Alice in Chains concert at the Washington Avenue Armory.  I am a huge fan of rock and the Chains are a great band.  The drawback for me with the concert going into it was that in 2002 their lead singer, Layne Staley, died of a drug overdose.  This lead to the breaking up of Alice in Chains until 2005 when they reunited with a new singer.  Before I even got tickets to the concert I listened to some clips of shows with their new singer, and while I wasn’t overly impressed I said to myself I still had to see them.  

The opening act is a group that is quickly becoming one of my favorite new bands, Hurt.  They did a great set which culminated with their first hit “Rapture.”  I felt their performance was really good.  Then Alice in Chains came on.  As they played their first song I was thinking maybe this singer isn’t so bad after all.  By the end of that song and played more I knew I was wrong.  He didn’t have the same range that Staley had and kept getting lost and missing notes.  So while their performance wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be.  Their performance did have its bright spots though such as when their guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, sang some of the songs.  I’ve felt from the beginning of the reunion that they should have just had the 3 remaining original members and let Cantrell sing.  He was pretty much spot on for the vocals of the songs he sang.  Another cool moment was during the middle of their set the band left the stage and a video played with clips of Layne Staley.  While that played the crew set up for AIC to perform acoustically.  The best part of this for me was that they teased two Metallica songs.  I loved that because Metallica is my favorite band.  They then did another Staley tribute video while setting back up for the regular set.  At the end, they came back for an encore in which they did my favorite AIC song, “Would?.”  Then after the rest of the band left, Cantrell just stood on the stage for a few more minutes just looking at the fans and then thanked everyone for coming.

So overall while I wasn’t thrilled with the new singer, Alice in Chains put on a decent show.  But I actually enjoyed Hurt more than most of Alice in Chains’ set.

Auctioning Stanley Cup Rings to Pay Debt?!

CALGARY, Alberta — Darren McCarty of the Calgary Flames, who declared bankruptcy in April because of a diminished income, will sell three Stanley Cup rings and other mementos in an auction next month.McCarty will sell three rings he won with the Detroit Red Wings along with two replica Stanley Cup trophies, jerseys, photos and other items, including a Corvette and nine televisions.

ESPN.com – NHL – Report: McCarty will sell Stanley Cup rings to pay debt

Darren McCarty was a fan favorite in Detroit during his time there and it’s just too bad that he has to get rid of things that are as special as Stanley Cup rings and replica trophies.  His agent said he’s “not making the money he used to make.”  Though hockey players aren’t paid as much as say baseball players they still make a lot more in a year than people with normal jobs would.  Even if he isn’t making the same kind of money, it’s still a decent salary and what happened with all the money from when he did make a great salary.  According to the article at least $185,000 of the debt is to casinos.  That just makes it even worse that he’s selling these memorable items in part due to gambling.