Posted on 12/15/2009 8:02:24 AM PST by marshmallow
The Canadian doctor who performed a controversial medical procedure on Tiger Woods is under criminal investigation for drug violations on both sides of the border, bringing scrutiny to his colleagues, including one who worked closely with BALCO athletes and Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez.
Dr. Tony Galea was arrested in October and his Toronto clinic was raided by Canadian authorities after his assistant was detained at the U.S.-Canadian border and reportedly found to be in possession of illegal drugs, including human growth hormone (hGH) and Actovegin - a drug extracted from calf's blood that has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Galea flew to Woods' Windermere, Fla., home at the request of his agents to treat the golfer earlier this year with his platelet-rich plasma injection therapy, also known as "blood spinning."
Galea has attracted a mystique in sports medicine circles for his advocacy of the process, which involves spinning blood in a centrifuge and reinjecting it into injured joints in the hope of accelerating healing.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said charges against Galea are expected to be filed on Friday in a Toronto courtroom, and while an attorney for Galea told the Daily News that his client is innocent of any wrongdoing, U.S. anti-doping officials said that Galea is "definitely on our radar." U.S. law enforcement officials are also believed to be investigating Galea.
Galea and Mark Lindsay, a Canadian chiropractor who treated Woods and managed Rodriguez's rehabilitation this summer from hip surgery, are principals at a Toronto clinic called Affinity Health.
Lindsay also treated ex-Yankee pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, who was recovering from a hip injury, this year. He has worked with former NFL star Bill Romanowski, and sprinters Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, who all testified in front of the grand jury that investigated the Bay......
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Guess again.
What say your short game is already great? And what say a long drive means that your second shot to the green is no longer a two or a three iron but a 9 iron or a pitching wedge on a par 4 and you can get to the green in 2 shots on a par 5? It means that par 5's are now regulation birdies and possible eagles.
When you're firing in your second shot with a pitching wedge, your chances of stopping it dead, right by the hole rise logarithmically.
You think that's inconsequential to a PGA Tour player?
Length is not everything on today's PGA Tour but it's almost everything.
You don't want more length off the tee?
Call me sometime.
I'd like to take some money off you.
Stick a fork in him...he is D-O-N-E!!!
I bet you didn't realize you were messing with Jack Hamm. POW!
He already was long off the tee when he hit the tour as a beanpole
He drives aren’t as long NOW so I guess the roids aren’t working
I was responding to a poster who named golfers —He didn’t mention Hagan —So I didn’t leave him out the original poster did
That begs the question though: why then would Tiger spend so much time and energy to get so much bigger and stronger if there really isn't much benefit? A transformation like what he has gone through, where he is almost unrecognizable from the way he looked at 25, requires a huge amount of dedication (working out 3 or 4x a week, eating the right foods at the right time, taking protein powders, etc.) unless you take some shortcuts.
That is a good question and I have been wondering about the answer
You don’t see other pros going that route
Maybe he likes looking in the mirror at his bod
BTW Lately his face was looking bloated and he also looked like he was packing it on around the gut
When he said he was going to break Jacks records I told my friends let’s wait and see how his body holds up under the pressure of the PGA type golf swing —I thought his back would go but it was his knee that gave out —And he is lucky they have such great reconstruction methods today
On second thought
When he was a beanpole and REALLY long the swing was probably causing all the knee problems
Maybe he felt with the roids he could cut down on the swing intensity sparing his knee but still having the distance
But then why haven’t the rest of the tour tried that route
It sure became endemic in FB and BB
See also my post 50
I never said there wasn't any benefit to hitting the ball further. The point I was making is there are no drugs to help you get big and strong without messing up the the more difficult parts of the game, chipping, putting and hitting iron shots from any position between you and the ball that hills and awkward terrain can create. After winning the US Open at Tory Pines and getting his knee operated on for the 2nd time, Tiger had more than 8 months to workout mostly on his upper body since his knee would have been immobilized for several of those months. He's a millionaire and can pay people to do the everyday chores you and I get saddled with. He can also hire the best trainers in the world to make sure he stays dedicated. A few years ago, no one questioned Phil Mickelson when he went from looking like Bryant Gumbel with a big butt to being a poser in a too tight shirt. Is he on steroids? I doubt it! Gary Player has been proving to everyone on tour that taking care of your health and working out helps keep you in the kind of shape you need to be to play professional golf at his age. With all sports medical information out there and money being no object, who else but John Daly wouldn't take advantage of it? This year even John Daly is working out.
You’re right, it is possible to make excellent gains without steroids and he certainly has access to the best trainers, equipment, and nutrition that money can buy. On the other hand though, i remember it wasn’t too many years ago some people were saying the same thing about major league baseball players. That steroids don’t help you hit a baseball better, don’t improve your skills., that they have access to the best trainers, equipment, nutrition, and don’t need steroids. Yet those suspicions have turned out to have been correct.
The bottom line is that when you have such a pronounced change, going from looking practically like a marathoner to an NFL running back, people are going to wonder, especially when one of his doctors is suspected of supplying performance enhancing drugs to clients. And especially since Tiger is no longer widely considered to be a man of great integrity who would be above cheating.
That's an excellent point. A lot of the reasons for taking steroids and other enhancers among athletes is to help recover from injuries faster and to prolong their career, not necessarily for the bulging muscles and extra strength that comes with it.
But then why havent the rest of the tour tried that route
As for that, maybe they realize that Tiger is like the basketball superstar who hardly ever gets called for fouls in spite of knocking players to the ground or taking extra steps with the ball, while the non-superstars get called for any little contact they make against the superstar. In other words, the officials may be willing to look the other way in the case of Tiger but may not be willing to do so with anyone else.
Still, i'm not convinced Tiger took anything illegal, but i can see why the suspicions are there.
lol true, maybe an NFL RB from 15-20 years ago....i remember back in those days a 300lb OL was considered huge and an unusual sight (at least at the college level), but now it’s just average (even at the college level).
Scary to think what it’ll be like in another 15-20 years unless athletes are now at or near the peak of human potential.
Frantzie
I used to bash you about being a Tiger hater. You were right all along. Tiger is a fraud and a loser and yes I believe he is a juicier.
Accept my apology.
Tiger at Torry Pines 2008
Tiger at East Lake 2009
When you're blinded by hatred, you only see what you want to see.
No problem. He was built up on media hype and they will try again. He is a WAY too much like Obama. The media hype, the fawning, the media treating the other players like they are no bodies is what really angered me the most.
Most of the guys on the PGA Tour are good men and did not deserve the treatment they got from the PGA, golf media and Tiger. They played by the rules and he did not.
His poor wife.
I hope the wife leaves and I hope the PGA finally wakes up. I think he is just a bad person and he should go away.
Golf has a good reputation and he will sully it for good if he is allowed. I think the steroids may come out now.
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