hCG

Manny got busted for using a drug that women produce normally once becoming pregnant.

As has been reported, it is also used by men to restart their body's normal production of testosterone after a steroid cycle.

One thing that is not being reported, though, is that at times men get hCG injections for fertility treatments.

So, Manny could legitimately have fertility issues. But, think about it: if you know you have fertility issues, you've already gone thru sessions with doctors to learn about the choices you have. And you become an expert in all of the options, especially including the drug(s) that your doctor is recommending you take for it.

So if Manny really did take hCG to help him with fertility, then he would have known about hCG and what it does AND that it is considered a banned substance by MLB. If he really wanted to use it, he would have contacted MLB to get approval or to let them know about it. And he would have looked into other options.

Oh, and if you know about Manny, you know that he already has 3 children.

Judge for yourself...

Olympic Torch Relay

Sports Illustrated is reporting that Olympic organizers in England are considering a British-only torch relay for the 2012 Games. Given the protests and scuffles from this year's relay for the Games in China, they haven't ruled out the possibility of skipping the world-wide relay tradition.

Does the UK have a human rights issue we don't yet know about?

Just Super

I'm not a huge football fan, but anytime a New York team (other than the Yankees of course) make it to their respective sports championship game, I get amped up. And last night was no exception.

We hosted a Superbowl party of 16 people- we've definitely had more than that number in our apartment before, but really never that many crowded around a single source of entertainment: the TV. Thankfully, with a plasma, you can sit anywhere in the room (sans behind the TV) and experience the same view as the person sitting directly in front. So 16 people was just fine, except they didn't eat enough.

Of course no party planning goes on without a little bit of craziness. We had a tiny snafu with the chili and I needed to run out with the car at 6pm to drive the hot pot over to our place. Usually, when I get frazzled, I'll get a bit aggressive with the driving and let out some verbal steam if I'm the only one in the car. As I was rounding Washington Circle and telling myself to breath and calm down, I took notice of what was around me: the streets were mostly empty of cars and instead of drivers, a countless number of people were scurrying about, holding six-packs of beer or a bag of chips and other food to bring to their own Superbowl parties. And immediately, I became calm. It was just so amazing to me that, literally, so many people were doing, or getting ready to do, the same exact thing. There was something soothing to the soul about it.

By the time I got back to the apartment, our friends were milling about, chatting about the pre-game, eating some chips, and scouting out their favorite seat in front of the TV. All in all, we had a terrific time. This year's game was the first time in a while where we had fans for each team watching together and where the stakes were so high. Everyone wanted to see every single play and everyone wanted to see every single commercial. The only real break we had was halftime!

The game itself was also one of the best football games I have ever seen. I am a bit biased, being from NY and all, but we were all on our toes, biting our nails, screaming, etc., the entire time. And I have to give our resident Pats friends credit- they took the loss with so much class; I was quite impressed with their sportsmanship. Xerpentine even led the first after-game toast to the Giants! All I know is, if we had just finished watching the Mets lose the World Series, I would have kicked everyone out of the apartment so much earlier than how late everyone stayed and chatted after the game.

Overall, we had a great time. The only issue, is that now 6 out of the 16 people at the party have the flu or flu-like symptoms, including myself and AJ. Oy.