Jonathan Mahler

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de diciembre de 2006. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

It has been scarcely a week since the International Olympic Committee announced its intention to exclude wrestling from the 2020 Summer Games, and the campaign to “Save Wrestling” is in full swing.

Donald Rumsfeld and John Irving, both former wrestlers, took to the op-ed pages to celebrate the sport’s Olympic legacy (which dates to the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C.) and its current popularity. Raphael Martinetti, the ineffectual president of wrestling’s international federation, FILA, has been ousted. Millions of dollars have been raised — Wall Street has a lot of former high school and college wrestlers — to underwrite a push for readmission before the IOC makes its final decision in May.…  Seguir leyendo »

As you may know, the latest sports doping “scandal” involves a banned performance-enhancing drug (PED) derived from — I am not making this up — deer antlers.

Among the high-profile professional athletes who have used deer-antler spray, according to a recent story in Sports Illustrated, are Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and the golfer Vijay Singh.

Needless to say, this “revelation” prompted the usual PED hysteria, followed by the usual sanctimonious, ill-informed condemnations.

“I know that it’s obviously illegal, whatever it is,” said golfer Bubba Watson, presumably without comic intent. “I love this sport. I would never do that.”

Singh, for his part, issued one of the most memorable confessions in the history of sports: “I’ve used deer-antler spray,” he admitted.…  Seguir leyendo »