A-Rod denies PED use report; MLB investigates

Published - Jan 29 2013 03:18PM EST

RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer



This undated booking photo provided by the Miami-Dade Police Department, on Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013, shows Anthony Bosch. Major League Baseball says it is "extremely disappointed" about a new report that says records from an anti-aging clinic in the Miami area link New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and other players to the purchase of performance-enhancing drugs.

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Rodriguez denied a newspaper report that accused him of buying human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing substances from a Miami-area clinic.

The Miami New Times, an alternative weekly, reported Tuesday that it obtained records detailing purchases by Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz and Yasmani Grandal from a clinic called Biogenesis, run by Anthony Bosch. The paper also posted copies of what it said were Bosch's handwritten records, obtained through a former Biogenesis employee.

Rodriguez admitted four years ago that he used PEDs from 2001-03. Cabrera, Colon and Grandal were suspended for 50 games each last year by MLB following tests for elevated testosterone.

"We are always extremely disappointed to learn of potential links between players and the use of performance-enhancing substances," MLB said in a statement. "Only law enforcement officials have the capacity to reach those outside the game who are involved in the distribution of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. ... We are in the midst of an active investigation and are gathering and reviewing information."

A baseball official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements, said Monday that MLB did not have any documentation regarding the allegations. If MLB does obtain evidence, the players could be subject to discipline. First offenses result in a 50-game suspension and second infractions in 100-game penalties. A third violation results in a lifetime ban.

Rodriguez is sidelined for at least the first half of the season after hip surgery Jan. 16. A 50-game suspension would cost him $7.65 million of his $28 million salary.

"The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true," Rodriguez said in a statement issued by a publicist. "He was not Mr. Bosch's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story — at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez — are not legitimate."

Jay Reisinger, a lawyer who has presented Rodriguez in recent years, said the three-time AL MVP had retained Roy Black, an attorney from Rodriguez's hometown of Miami. Black's clients have included Rush Limbaugh and William Kennedy Smith.

Rodriguez spent years denying he used PEDs before Sports Illustrated reported in February 2009 that he tested positive for two steroids in MLB's anonymous survey while with the Texas Rangers in 2003. Two days later, he admitted in an ESPN interview that he used PEDs over a three-year period. He has denied using PEDs after 2003.

If the new allegations were true, the Yankees would face high hurdles to get out of the final five years of Rodriguez's contract, which call for him to receive $114 million. Because management and the players' union have a joint drug agreement, an arbitrator could determine that any action taken by the team amounted to multiple punishments for the same offense.

The Yankees said "this matter is now in the hands of the commissioner's office" and said they will not comment further until MLB's investigation ends.

Gonzalez posted on his Twitter feed: "I've never used performance enhancing drugs of any kind and I never will, I've never met or spoken with tony Bosch or used any substance provided by him. anything said to the contrary is a lie."

Colon was not issuing a statement, agent Adam Katz said through spokeswoman Lisa Cohen. Sam and Seth Levinson, the agents for Cabrera and Cruz, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Cruz and Gonzalez had not previously been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Cruz's team, the Texas Rangers, said it notified MLB last week after being contacted by the New Times.

The New Times report said it obtained notes by Bosch listing the players' names and the substances they received. Several unidentified employees and clients confirmed to the publication that the clinic distributed the substances, the paper said. The employees said that Bosch bragged of supplying drugs to professional athletes but they never saw the sports stars in the office.

Rodriguez appears 16 times in the documents it received, the paper said, either as "Alex Rodriguez," ''Alex Rod" or the nickname "Cacique," a pre-Columbian Caribbean chief. The paper said the records list that Rodriguez paid for HGH; testosterone cream; IGF-1, a substance banned by baseball that stimulates insulin production; and GHRP, which releases growth hormones.

Rodriguez's cousin, Yuri Sucart, also is listed as having purchased HGH. Sucart was banned from the Yankees clubhouse, charter flights, bus and other team-related activities by MLB in 2009 after Rodriguez said Sucart obtained and injected PEDs for him.

Also listed among the records, according to the New Times, are tennis player Wayne Odesnik, Cuban boxer Yuriorkis Gamboa and Jimmy Goins, the strength and conditioning coach of the University of Miami baseball team.

Mia Ro, a spokeswoman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Miami, said she could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation in Bosch or the clinic.

http://www.rr.com/sports/topic/article/r...vestigates

And Rev. Ray Lewis apparently took PEDs also. And in a real shocker, he denies it.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/nfl-ra...on-ped-use

Ray Lewis denies PED allegation raised by SI article
By Larry Hartstein | CBSSports.com
January 29, 2013 1:52 pm ET

A Sports Illustrated article alleges Ray Lewis was given a banned substance to help in his recovery from a torn triceps.

Lewis has denied using it, a team official told ESPN.

The in-depth SI piece by David Epstein and George Dohrmann says Lewis received an array of treatments from a sports science company that included deer-antler velvet spray. The spray contains IGF-1, which is banned by the NFL.

The Ravens linebacker said “next question” when asked about the article at Super Bowl Media Day.

SI cites a recorded phone conversation between Lewis and Mitch Ross, owner of a two-man company called S.W.A.T.S. (Sports with Alternatives to Steroids).

Here is an excerpt:

"Hours after he tore his triceps during an Oct. 14 home game against the Cowboys, Ravens All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis and Ross connected on the phone. Again, Ross videotaped the call.

"It's bottom, near the elbow," Lewis said of the tear. After asking a few pseudo diagnostic questions, Ross concluded, "All right, well, this is going to be simple. ... How many pain chips you got around the house?"

"I got plenty of them," Lewis replied.

Ross prescribed a deluxe program, including holographic stickers on the right elbow; copious quantities of the powder additive; sleeping in front of a beam-ray light programmed with frequencies for tissue regeneration and pain relief; drinking negatively charged water; a 10-per-day regimen of the deer-antler pills that will "rebuild your brain via your small intestines" (and which Lewis said he hadn't been taking, then swallowed four during the conversation); and spritzes of deer-antler velvet extract (the Ultimate Spray) every two hours.

"Spray on my elbow every two hours?" Lewis asked.

"No," Ross said, "under your tongue."

Toward the end of the talk, Lewis asked Ross to "just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week."

Lewis initially told SI he did not work personally with SWATS on his rehab. The article continues:

"When pressed, Lewis said, "Nobody helped me out with the rehab. I've been doing S.W.A.T.S. for a couple years through Hue Jackson, that's it. That's my only connection to them."

Asked if he had talked to Ross the night of his injury, Lewis replied, "I told him to send me some more of the regular stuff, the S.W.A.T.S., the stickers or whatever."

And did they help?

"I think a lot of things helped me."

So would he suggest S.W.A.T.S. to other players?

"If I did, I would've done said it by now," Lewis said. Asked specifically about the spray and the pills, Lewis walked away without comment.

Lewis missed the remainder of the regular season after tearing his triceps but returned for the playoffs. He has 44 tackles in three postseason games.

Two years ago, the NFL ordered then-Raiders coach Hue Jackson to end his relationsip with S.W.A.T.S.

Recognize the name?

Quote:"When pressed, Lewis said, "Nobody helped me out with the rehab. I've been doing S.W.A.T.S. for a couple years through Hue Jackson, that's it. That's my only connection to them."

I see he threw Jackson under the bus, the guy is the devil

Fay Vincent: Treat druggies like Pete Rose
Former commissioner thinks cheaters should get lifetime ban
Jan. 30, 2013 9:15 AM,


.
Alex Rodriguez released a statement vehemently denying that he received performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis, a wellness clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., run by Anthony Bosch. / USA Today

Written by
Bob Nightengale,
USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez faces a possible suspension from Major League Baseball once he meets with league officials and investigators after a Miami New Times report Tuesday that the All-Star third baseman received performance-enhancing drugs from a South Florida clinic in 2009 and 2012, a person familiar with MLB's drug policy told USA TODAY Sports.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Drug Enforcement Agency officials and MLB investigators had yet to speak to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez released a statement vehemently denying that he received performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis, a wellness clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., run by Anthony Bosch.

"The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true. Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story — at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez — are not legitimate."

The story also reported that Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez, Texas Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz, Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Melky Cabrera, San Diego Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal and Oakland Athletics pitcher Bartolo Colon were involved with performance-enhancing drugs. Gonzalez also denied his involvement.

"All these denials remind me of Pete Rose and Lance Armstrong," former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent told USA TODAY Sports. "They lie and lie, then the truth comes out.

"It makes every athlete's denial worthless.''

Vincent, who as deputy commissioner led baseball's 1989 investigation that resulted in Rose's lifetime ban for gambling on baseball, said Major League Baseball should enforce the same policy for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

"I would throw anybody out of the game after a failed test," Vincent said, MLB commissioner in 1989-1992. "That's why we did it with Rose. People knew that if we can throw out a guy like Rose, who acted so arrogant, we can do it to anybody who gambles. So why not for steroids? Why give them three bites of that apple?"

"It's a very effective deterrent. It's like the Saudis cutting off an arm if you steal somebody's wallet. You see one guy walking around without a wrist, it stops you.''

Vincent says recent drug cases remind him of the cocaine era during his 1989-92 stint as commissioner, when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Steve Howe was suspended seven times for drug use and kept getting jobs. Cabrera and Colon, each suspended last year, received free agent contracts this winter, with Cabrera going from a $6 million deal to a two-year, $16 million contract.

"Fans will say, 'When will this ever end?'" Vincent says. "The tragedy is that it will never end."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...ck_check=1

Now BCS Champion Alabama

Quote:Alabama players reportedly used deer-antler spray before BCS title game

A number of players from the 2012 national championship Alabama football team reportedly used the same deer-antler spray that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis allegedly used this season. The spray contains IGF-1, a substance banned by the NFL and NCAA.

Christopher Key, co-owner of the company that provides the spray, told ESPN’s Joe Schad on Wednesday that he sold the bottles to Alabama’s players and personally witnessed five of them spray it in their mouths.

The company, Sports with Alternatives to Steroids, or “S.W.A.T.T.” is based in Alabama and Key said he sold approximately 40 bottles in total to members of Alabama’s football team; 20 of those bottles were purchased by players at a New Orleans hotel room as the team prepared for the BCS national championship game against LSU last year, and then another 20 bottles were sold to members of the team at the apartment of an Alabama player 10 days before the nationally televised game:

“I showed them how to use it,” Key said.

In the Sports Illustrated article that broke the story on Tuesday about Lewis using the spray, it was also reported that Key filmed a sales pitch to players on Alabama’s team. The article specifically mentioned players Quinton Dial, Adrian Hubbard and Alex Watkins as being present during the pitch.

Key maintains that he’s not trying to get anyone in trouble:

“I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble. The whole idea is to compete without cheating. We’re not bad guys.”

Alabama officials have sent a number of cease-and-desist letters to SWATS, but they said they continue to be ignored by Key and employees of the company. Key said that representatives from the school can’t tell him what to do:

“You can’t tell me I can’t talk to your players. We live in a free country.”

http://tracking.si.com/2013/01/30/alabam...=si_latest

(01-30-2013 07:11 AM)icehole3 Wrote:  I see he threw Jackson under the bus, the guy is the devil

Probably not if you actually read the whole thing especially the last sentence. It sounds like he was referencing several years ago when Hue did have some type of contact with SWAT. But the NFL clearly already knew about that and dealt with it by telling Hue to stop it.

deer antler spray? so that's how rath does it! does what? life. wakes up in the morning gives the armpits a dose of deer antler and tackles the day. how else can one rub elbows with the noteworthy, the gamesmen, and the scum of the earth? all the while enjoying every second of it