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Los Angeles, December 29, 2000 Dear Reader, Drug debate...A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that more than 50 percent of men who took a brand of androstenedione supplement for seven days tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone. Dr. Don Catlin, the lead author of the study and the head of the IOC-accreditedOlympic Analytical Laboratory at UCLA, concluded that the positive tests meant that "some brands of androstenedione are grossly mislabeled." Add study...In an interview with USA Today, referring to U.S. shot-putter C.J. Hunter, who tested positive for nandrolone earlier this year, Catlin said, "Maybe he took androstenedione like we studied, and maybe that's why he tested positive." Maybe so, but before you get all weepy for Hunter, remember that androstenedione also is banned by the IOC. How green were my Games...Green Games Watch 2000, Australia's independent environmental "watchfrog" for the Sydney Games, has issued its report card on the Games. According to the group's Web site, the major green wins included "public transport access, solar power applications, good building material selection, recycling of construction waste, progressive tendering policies, energy and water conservation and wetland restoration." The major green losses included "the failure of most sponsors to go green, poor quality Olympic merchandising, environmentally destructive refrigerant selection, loss of biodiversity in some projects, failure to clean up contaminated Homebush Bay sediments in time for the Games and the lack of transparency and effective public consultation by OCA (Olympic Coordination Authority) and SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games)."
SLC update...The recent snafu at the speedskating Olympic Oval notwithstanding, construction of the Olympic venues around Salt Lake City is nearly complete. Two years before the Games begin, however, debate about the future of these facilities has started. In the early 1990s, the Utah legislature approved a $40 million legacy fund to create the Utah Athletic Foundation to run the state's ski jumps and bobsled, luge and skeleton track near Park City after the Games. According to foundation chair Randy Dryer, that is not enough. "It is fairly clear that $40 million will not only be insufficient to support the venues in perpetuity but also for 20 years," he told the Deseret News. Add SLC...Dryer notes that the last time the Winter Games were held in the U.S., in 1980 in Lake Placid, the bobsled and ski-jumping facilities weren't adequately maintained after the Games. "Every covered speedskating oval, every bobsled track requires subsidies," he said. "They are not self-supporting." Add SLC...Debate over the selling of alcoholic beverages at Olympic venues has left pundits wondering if Salt Lake City will offer visitors any night-life options. SportsLetter staffers did a Web search that produced a wide-ranging variety of pubs and clubs in SLC. Our favorite? The Area 51 Club, where "vampires and other nightwalkers reign in the nether-regions of the club, where they writhe and contort to the best darkwave and gothic/industrial music the world has to offer." Yes indeed, Salt Lake City is ready for the world.
Fuzzy math...UCLA has had its fair share of Olympic champs -- everyone from legendary decathlete Rafer Johnson to softball star Lisa Fernandez. In the school's most recent alumni magazine, UCLA proudly listed all of the students and alumni who won medals at the Sydney Games, noting that Bruin students and/or alumni took home eight gold, four silver and five bronze medals, for a total of 17 Olympic medals. The magazine concluded that "if UCLA were a country, it would have placed 14th in the world." Add math...Actually, the total should have been far less because the magazine counted team medals as individual medals. The magazine noted that six UCLA softball players who played on the gold-medal winning team (Christie Ambrosi, Jennifer Brundage, Sheila Douty, Lisa Fernandez, Stacey Huveman, and Dot Richardson) won six gold medals for the U.S., and that three UCLA water polo players who played on the silver-medal winning team (Robin Beauregard, Nicolle Payne, Coralie Simmons) won three silver medals for the U.S. Actually, in every medal count, the softball team's victory counted as one gold medal, and the water polo team's runner-up finish counted as one silver medal. Add magazine...The editors also stretched the definition of "UCLA student." Case in point: Tanya Harding, who won a bronze medal in Sydney as a member of Australia's softball team. Harding was a student for all of one quarter at UCLA. And, while she helped the Bruins win the NCAA crown in 1995, the maneuvering to get her admitted into the school was the primary reason why the NCAA later stripped UCLA of that title. Alumni pride, indeed. Horsing around on the Web...The debate about the role of the Internet in coverage of the Olympics at the recent IOC-sponsored World Conference on Sport and New Media in Lausanne, Switzerland spotlighted the ever-changing complexities of the new medium. But at least one Web site, www.clipclop.com, can attest to the synergistic power of the Internet and the Olympics. As the "horse source" for equine information, the site provided on-site coverage of equestrian events in Sydney. Gould Media reported that traffic to the site exceeded seven million hits during just one week of the Games, exceeding www.clipclop.com's traffic for the entire month of August. Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Ed did not provide color commentary from Sydney. Add Web...SportsLetter staffers unable to fly to Lausanne turned to the IOC's official Web site, www.olympic.org, to read about the conference. But this proved unsuccessful: when we double-clicked on the "New Media Conference" link, the result was: "Http Error." Ah, technology.
What a difference 40 years makes...In December, the IOC announced that no new sports will be added for the 2004 Games, ruling out the efforts of the international water-skiing federation, among others. The news reminds us of the past contretemps between the IOC and the International Chess Federation. In the February 15, 1959, edition of the Olympic Bulletin, the editors lambasted the ICF for its "pompously entitled Chess Olympiad." In noting that the IOC had unsuccessfully attempted to intervene, the editors predicted that "as far as any candidature of the chess federation as an 'Olympic sport' is concerned, the result would be a check and checkmate at that." Add chess...Last month, at the www.olympic.org, the IOC proudly announced that the Turkish National Olympic Committee had "organized the 34th Chess Olympiad...The Chess Olympiad was transmitted live via the Internet, and the official site received 9,103,786 hits during the competition." Can we call this one a draw?
Walk this way...For all those race-walking fans furious at the controversial finishes in Sydney, help is on the way. The IAAF is currently studying the use of an "intelligent shoe," which inventor Dennis Furlong says would permit the instant detection of loss of contact with the ground by a walker. According to Furlong, the three-ounce device can be attached to any shoe. It emits audible beeps after the first infraction; after a number of faults, a visible red light goes on. We can already hear a new advertising slogan: "Just light it."
Color blind...If the title of Ron Shelton's classic movie is true, then white men can't jump. But results from Sydney seem to have proved that adage wrong. Russia's Sergey Klyugin won the high jump at 7-8½; American Nick Hysong took the pole vault at 19-4 1/4, and Britain's Jonathan Edwards captured gold in the triple jump at 58-1 1/4. Meanwhile, Australian Jai Taurima was the silver medallist in the long jump. Perhaps Shelton has a sequel in mind.
The cost of doing business...According to Salt Lake City Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney, more than $23 million worth of tickets were requested for the 2002 Games in the first 24 hours that they were made available via www.tickets.com. By mid-December, the group had processed orders for approximately $60 million worth of tickets. But fans hoping to buy tickets for some of the marquee events -- including figure skating finals, select men's and women's hockey games, and others -- were unable to request individual tickets for these events. To purchase tickets for these events, they must order so-called "Olympic Experience Packages" (OEP), which add considerably to the cost. Add cost...The cost of an "A" level ticket for the men's 5,000-meter speedskating event is $175. But you can't order that ticket via www.tickets.com. Instead, you must buy an OEP. One such option gives you a ticket to one men's ice hockey game (preliminary), nordic combined, women's downhill, and the opening ceremony. The cost: A cool $1,225 (including $885 for the opening ceremony). Add in the cost of an airline ticket ($258 if you're flying Southwest from Chicago), hotel accommodations (say, $150 per night), rental car ($45 per day), food and beverage at the event ($25 per person), and the cost for a family of four to attend the race soars dramatically. Needless to say, that race better be damn good.
"And now, here's Mike Tyson for Chunky Soup"...Earlier this summer, ESPN The Magazine published its "Money" issue. In one article, the editors listed the "Top 10 Athlete Endorsers" and placed former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson in the No. 9 slot, with endorsement earnings of $13 million. That didn't sound quite right to SportsLetter, so we called Forbes reporter Kurt Badenhausen, who wrote the original Forbes story that formed the basis of ESPN's piece. Badenhausen told SportsLetter that Tyson currently has no endorsements (not even for beef jerky). According to Badenhausen, the $13 million that Tyson earned outside the ring came from Showtime, to help Tyson "clear up some of his past problems with the IRS." Maybe Iron Mike could endorse that ol' consumer favorite: Form 1040.
The true fallout from Title IX...According to Athletic Business magazine, last year's NCAA women's basketball title game between Tennessee and Connecticut was the most gambled on women's sporting event in history. Some $4 million was bet on the game; approximately $10 million was bet on the tourney. Looks like the decision to play the women's title game on the day between the men's semi-finals and the finals has paid off. The Green Bay Frozen Tundras? The Packers are suffering through a sub-par regular season, but that hasn't stopped the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from urging the Packers to change their name. PETA says that the team's name refers to "slaughterhouse workers -- those who prod and drag animals to their deaths and who hoist, kill and skin them amid the stench and noise on the 'kill floor.'" The group has lobbied to have the team's name changed to "Six-Packers," in honor of "Wisconsin's brewing industry and fabulous football parties." In response, team president Bob Harlan announced that the Pack wouldn't change its name. Perhaps Harlan could make a more significant social service by undertaking a study to analyze the long-term health dangers of wearing plastic cheeseheads.
The sport of the new millennium...How hip is bowling? Hip enough to have a real celebrity on the cover of Bowling Magazine: actor Tom Cavanaugh, from NBC's new series "Ed." In the show, Cavanaugh plays a lawyer who returns to his old hometown and buys a bowling alley; he offers free legal counsel for those customers who bowl three consecutive games, at $2 a pop. Why bowling? Because "bowling alleys are really happy places," says "Ed" co-creator and executive producer Rob Burnett. Add bowling...Of course, the magazine isn't filled with People-style puff-pieces about bowler-celebrities (such as Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in "The Honeymooners" and Bill Murray in "Kingpin"). No, the issue is worth picking up because of the feature story on bowling balls. "Are They as Good as They Can Get?" screams the cover-line. According to reporter Bill Vint, who cites the fact that the number of perfect games has soared in recent years, the answer is an unequivocal yes. "Today's bowling balls are the best in the history of mankind." Fred Flinstone will be bummed to hear that one. Add bowling...According to Sports Business Journal, "cosmic bowling" -- i.e., bowling alleys equipped with laser lighting, fog machines and booming sound systems -- has become popular among teens and young adults. Tampa-based Royal Lanes has incorporated cosmic bowling except on the last Sunday night of each month. Then, Royal Lanes, which is located next to the nation's largest nudist resort, turns off the lights and offers nude bowling for people "wearing nothing but goofy shoes."
Who let the dogs out?...This year's most honored sports documentary is "Best in Show, which actually is a "mocumentary" about a fictional dog show. The film is a hilarious spoof, yet eagle-eyed hockey fans caught one major error: the show supposedly takes place in Philadelphia, but the arena shown is Pittsburgh's famous "Igloo," with its distinctive roof. Sports-film buffs, of course, remember the roof from "Sudden Death," that classic hockey thriller starring that classic actor, Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Legendary sportswriter Jim Murray's famous line about the Indianapolis 500 - "Gentlemen start your coffins" -- resonated as we gazed with wonderment at the works displayed on the Web site www.artcaskets.com. Dallas-based WhiteLight Company offers custom-designed caskets for, ahem, die-hard sports fans. Here's the description for "The Race is Over" casket, decorated with racing images: "The checkered flag is down....This high-performance ArtCasket places the auto-racing fan in the driver's seat for one last lap." Add caskets...With "Fairway to Heaven," golf fanatics have an opportunity to just play through. The Web site notes that, "For an avid golfer, this is heaven and its indulgence should not be denied. `Fairway to Heaven' is as graceful as it is exacting in its definition of the sweetest moments in life." The price for this final comfort? $2,500-3,000. Amen. And, finally, let’s fly into the New Year with Quillo, the mascot of the World Air Games beginning June 23 in Andalusia, Spain.
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