Sports News: Cyclist Lance Armstrong Concedes Guilt in Steroid Scandal

According to a recent post By Christine Brennan, of USA TODAY, Cyclist Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner—by choosing not to take his case to arbitration—has conceded guilt in his legal battle against charges brought forth by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

In a nutshell, the case alleges that Armstrong—during the time when he was winning races such as the Tour de France—had been engaged  in a 13-year steroid spree.

Armstrong, this past Monday, lost his latest bid to have the charges overturned when a federal court in Austin, Texas dismissed his counter-lawsuit, saying that:

 "Armstrong's due process challenges …are without merit … the court finds they are best resolved through the well-established system of international arbitration, by those with expertise in the field, rather than by the unilateral edict of a single nation's courts."

An angry Armstrong—who's also a cancer survivor, will now be stripped of any races he won during that period. However, seemingly wanting to have the last word, the cyclist fired back at his accusers with a statement of his own on Thursday night: 

"The USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours,"stated Armstrong.

The news tonight suggests that, not unlike flogging a dead horse, it's likely that Armstrong's vocal and written protests will fall on deaf ears, and he will indeed lose all his awards and cycling titles. Especially now that he's given up his right to arbitration.

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UFC Vs. PED: Swept Under The Rug - Shane Carwin On Steroids

"These types of steroids are for horses and cows, not for young people and humans!"

If you've never heard the above quote—from Assistant U.S. District Attorney Donna Dobbins, or the steroid-busting story that accompanied it—don't be alarmed, as it was quickly swept under the rug faster than you can say the word 'corruption.'

Shane Bannister Carwin, age 37, from Greeley, Colorado, had burst onto the mixed martial arts scene back in May of 2008. And, like some Brama-Bull that had been let-loose inside an octagon-shaped-china-shop, Carwin—who had virtually zero prior mma experience, quickly destroyed such notables as Christian Wellisch, Neil Wain, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Frank Mir, all within the first-round and all with one-punch destruction.

Suddenly, at UFC 116, on July 3, 2010, Carwin—who looked like the poster boy for PED's—found himself in a title-shot opportunity with former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar who was champion at the time. And although he was doing well in the match-up and beating Lesnar virtually senseless in the first round, instead of mercilessly stopping the contest, the referee in charge, Josh Rosenthall, let the beating go on.

In the second round however, whether it was due to steroids, or just plain fatigue, Carwin emerged like a rag-doll on roller skates—beaten by his own heavily muscular body, and perhaps also an undisciplined lack of conditioning.

Nonetheless, Lesnar threw Carwin to the mat and sunk in an old time wrestling choke, and it was all over..Carwin tapped. The fight with Lesnar was in July 2010, and in August the scandal happened.

Silence for months...soon followed.

Then, out of nowhere, recently, at UFC 131 on June 11, 2011, a thinner, less muscular Carwin emerged, this time he was seemingly devoid of PED's, and as a result, he was severely beaten by current UFC heavyweight champ, Junior Dos Santos.

Two whole years have passed now since the scandal that never was happened. And, it seems, nowadays, that UFC president Dana White would like us to forget and forgive Carwin for cheating and breaking the rules back in the summer of 2010.

On Thursday July 12th 2012, Dana White announced that Carwin and fellow heavyweight, Roy Nelson will appear as the next Coaches for the 16th season of 'The Ultimate Fighter;' and will then fight each-other at a later date

Unlike other sports—where Athletes are using PED's—combat sports is different in that fighters aren't merely hitting an inanimate object—such as a stitched-up piece of cork and horse-hide—their target is a real one. It's a delicate human skull with a brain inside. Under those terms, someone may be killed very easily.

And what exactly can Carwin offer to young men of "The Ultimate Fighter?"

The proper way to use a syringe perhaps?

Stay tuned.

"Human nature dictates that there will always be cheaters. That's inevitable. Where there's money involved and glory, there are going to be people that cheat, and there will always be ways to cheat. "
-David Millar

Boxing News Video: Manny Steward suggests Chavez Jr. and Pacquiao are taking Steroids:

- 'I have concerns recently with Manny Pacquiao having leg-cramps, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. having leg cramps. There has to be something going on. After he (Chavez) defeated Andy Lee, he took the post-fight drug test—but he came out of the bathroom with two other guys...so we don't really know who pissed in the bottle." ~ Steward

-

Emanuel 'Manny' Steward is the famous 68-year-old owner, operator, and trainer, of Detroit Michigan's historic Kronk Boxing Gym.

The gym itself has become a training Mecca. Home through-out the years to such great names as Thomas 'Hitman' Hearns,.. Lennox Lewis, the McCrory brothers, Milton and Steve. And of course, more recently, the Heavyweight Champion boxing-team known as the Klitschko Brothers, Vitali and Wladimir.

Steward is also a respected HBO boxing commentator who appears numerous times monthly alongside his lead-man Jim Lampley and the controversial Dinosaur, Larry Merchant—who is fast being replaced by a brave-new-voice in pugilistic commentary named Max Kellerman.

It might be easy to toss aside Steward's comments in the below video, and chalk it up to him having some bitterness against current WBC Middleweight Champion—and son of retired boxing champion Julio César Chávez—Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

After all, Steward did have his own 'dog in the race' named Andy Lee, who was recently defeated by Chavez.

But what about Manny Pacquiao?

What reason would Steward have to diss the great Freddie Roach trained Filipino superstar, if not to be seeking the absolute truth?

In addition, maybe we are all secretly wondering about the issues that Steward brings up in the video—but lack the ways and/or means to have our voice heard?

In that case, let's keep an open mind, shall we?

And listen carefully to what the great trainer has to say regarding the subject of P-E-D's and why it is that Pacquiao has refused to take the steroid-blood-test that Floyd Mayweather has offered him from time to time.

And why it is that Chavez tried to slip away from Steward's nephew—who was following him after his recent win over Lee. Was it so he could then pour fake urine into the sample tube?

Who knows?

Stay tuned. 

UFC 146: Mark Hunt Reacts to Overeem Steroid Scandal: I Knew it Wasn't Horse-Meat

According to the latest news from MMAjunkie.com, I'm not alone in picking the reinvented and revitalized UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt as a personal favorite.

After losing his Octagon debut 18 months ago—against Sean McCorke at UFC 119—the Super-Samoan has reinvented himself of late with three straight victories.

The most recent being Hunt's thrilling first round stoppage over French-behemoth-heavyweight-kick-boxer Cheick Kongo—which took place at UFC 144 this past February in Saitama, Japan.

Now it seems, fans have established an online Twitter campaign called #RallyForMarkHunt.

If their twitter-rally is successful, fans will then get to see Hunt replace the backsliding Alistair Overeem in a title-shot bid against current champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146.

Hunt is understandably flattered..but sounded skeptical however, when interviewed recently:

"Yeah, I don't think I'll get that call," Hunt told Steven Marrocco. 

"I think they just like to see someone that's been down for such a long time and come back," Hunt said. "Everyone has hard times. This whole planet is going through bad times. I think it's just that they like to see the underdog get some. It's always the other way around. But there's a good rally. I've got about 300 followers now on Twitter, which is pretty cool."

All this has quickly came-about since news broke earlier this week that Overeem failed an NSAC surprise-pre-fight drug-test which was slyly and unexpectedly given to a number of UFC heavyweights while they attended a press-conference last month to hype the upcoming UFC 146 event.

Like a lot of us, Hunt said he was neither surprised nor shocked that Overeem finally got busted:

"I didn't think it was horse-meat he was eating," Hunt said. "But they always come back. I'm sure there's a lot of people using stuff to get ahead. It's a cutthroat business."

"As for me," said Hunt—who is scheduled to face-off against Stefan Struve at the aforementioned event next month, "I'm trying to get myself "out there" and be more for me at this time in my career. 

"My career is now at the twilight, nearing the end of it, so getting a title shot for next year, now that would be great, " Hunt said.

As for Overeem's replacement? Hunt says he has a hunch:

" I think it's Frank Mir who'll replace Overeem," he said.

*Note: More on Mark 'Super Samoan' Hunt's rags-to riches-story can be found here.