The HGH Mess: Garbage In Garbage Out

Posted by Jonathan in GENERAL on 03-04-10    No Comments


When it comes to performance enhancing drugs in sports, it really is about not letting the facts get in the way.

Never mind the testing procedures for everything from steroids to human growth hormone to even amphetamines is at best a hit or miss affair. Or the policies to administer and regulate these drugs in organized athletics make little sense. Or that media coverage drifts between the hysterical and the clueless. The spiraling buzz, for example, around supposed HCH doc Anthony Galea has reached the ridiculous.

But now nonsense over HGH is spilling out into the larger world.

Case in point, a fella named Edwin. Maybe it’s his picture on the left or maybe not. Anyway, a guy who signs his name as Edwin has the, tip top number one Website across all major search engines for the term “HGH.” His site, HGHFacts, outranks similar fluff sites like HGH9, HGH.com, Eternal HGH and about a dozen other dubious sources of information about human growth hormone. About the only thing close to factual information is the Wikipedia entry on the subject, which I have to say is particularly thin. And even the Mayo Clinic’s page on HGH has little real data.

Bottom line: information and HGH don’t mix.

If sports is really trying to get itself clean around HGH, how about we start with some real numbers. What does HGH really do?  What are the dosage limits? What are the hard cases of abuse? And maybe even the success stories. It seems we are pretending HGH does not exist. And that only creates a vacuum for dopes like Edwin to step in and define the conversation.

No wonder Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez get sucked in. They’re just overpaid kids. If these are the facts we are giving them, heaven help all of us.



CBSSports March Madness On Demand: Now With Bigger Boss Button

Posted by Jonathan in INTERNET on 03-01-10    No Comments


Like the United States Hockey Team running out of gas in overtime, March Madness On Demand this year is shaping up like last year’s March Madness On Demand. CBSSports released details about about what we can expect for its online media player for this year’s NCAA Men’s Div. 1 Tournament. And it all had a Ground Hog Day sort of feel. Just one big doover:  All the games will be available in HD and standard def. There will specialized video content and lots ‘o stats.

About the only real upgrade will be the “Boss” button which will be “new and improved.” Of course, from a tech perspective, a Boss button is the dumbest thing ever; this is a computer network. Your boss is perfectly capable of  seeing exactly where and what you do on a work computer. But CBSSports is giving fans the illusion of privacy … which is all you can expect these days, right?



Canada V. US in Hockey: What Exactly Is Don Cherry’s Tie Made Of

Posted by Jonathan in ALL on 02-28-10    No Comments


There are some sports tech questions that even I have no answer for.  And as we gear up for Canada v. the United States in the Olympic hockey gold medal game, the question is: What elements are Don Cherry’s tie’s made of?

For those new to Canadian hockey, Cherry is the Chris Collinsworth of the sport: Bringing color,  analysis, insight and did we say, color to Canada’s national pastime. But considering the colors Cherry actually generates with his dudes, its fair to ask if] Cherry has a lead lined underwear. From here, I  figure his outfits are blend of plutonium and iridium. With just a touch of hidium … That’s the ugliest element in the periodic table.

Long live Don.



Making Kim Yu Na High Tech: What’s Slick With Figure Skating Costumes

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 02-27-10    No Comments


Can we please stop dissing Olympic skater’s costumes?

I am not sure where this one got going; but right around week two of the five ring sports fest, our media elite loves to tear into what skaters wear as they skate. Sure, what Johnny Weir, Evan Lysecheck, and Rachael Flatt wore in their respective programs can be sort of  goofy.  But these athletes are not stupid.  Costumes are a critical part of the skater’s trade. They must support programs, butts and fragile egos.

To pull all this off, it turns out skating costume are fairly complex, technologically sophisticated garments.

First of all, the prospective skate clothing designer has to engineer an outfit that stretches. That requires the use of a patterns that expand. Which  is way far from easy. Just check out what Specialty Sportswear has in terms of patterns that give. And this is for a basic skating costume. Imagine how sophisticated the design needs to be for an Olympic level skater.

Next, these patterns have to be executed from of a blizzard of advanced synthetic fibers, beads and other techno chatchkas.. Here are metallic blended fabrics that give a halographic three dimensionality to skating clothes. And here is a custom bead and ink maker from Canada. This is pretty complex stuff.

And like any sports ecosystem, there are plenty of  gadgets:

  • Here is the IceLight boot warmer that fits over skate boots to keep feet warm.
  • You can get protective pants from the Inside Edge.
  • Skate boot tape to keep your skates looking slick from Sk8tape.
  • Here is the Sport Mate skate sharpening tool, which looks pretty neat.
  • Yet more protective pads from Skating Safe and Tommy Pad.

Let’s be honest here? Is any of this really that much dumber than a speed skating suit? Or what the bobsled teams wear? Or the half pipe boarders?

No, not really.



Lost In Olympic Translation: Bumming On Google’s Olympic Street View

Posted by Jonathan in INTERNET on 02-25-10    No Comments


Here’s a high tech way to get in touch with an Olympic bummer. Spend some time on Google Street View up at the Vancouver Olympics.

A couple of weeks back, Google got some interesting buzz on a hilarious new riff on its Street View product: The Street View Snowmobile. The thing takes the traditional Street View technology and mounts it on the back of a snow machine. Google Snow Mobile 1, or whatever it is called, then beavers  around the Olympic venue capturing the look and feel of the mountain, the venues and the town.

And initially, what’s not to love? Heck, you’re up at Whistler, hanging at the Oly Village; getting a sense of the Sliding Center. And for sure as part of the larger Olympics package Google Maps has put together — which is pretty darn impressive — it shows what a branded sports event can be like on Google. Google Maps at the Superbowl anybody?

But there’s a problem. There’s no sports on Maps.

When I actually started using the system, Olympics or not, I got  the same Google Maps feeling. Yes, you’re seeing something, but you’re not sure what or where. And it takes a long time to crawl around all this terrain; Vancouver is big. Who has the patience to look at every virtual nook and cranny.  And forget trying to track  events as part of the larger Web or TV experience, Google Street View is just not fast enough to be part of a relevant game experience, at least on TV.

And to be honest, once the cool factor was gone, the woman’s downhill slope looked like a thousand other ski slopes. And Canada Hockey Place looked, like well, a building. And the images were from any old day. At any old time. And worse,  I wasn’t even planning on getting there. Robbed of the personal interest I might have in finding my way, all Google Street View did was remind me I was 3,000 miles from the event. That pushed me away, not drew me in.

In many ways, Google Street View has created a strange new entity. The Anti-Olympics. And who wants to spend time at something like that?