Greyhound Racing, Now With Cocaine!

I hate reading or hearing any story where animal cruelty is involved, but this one is just too bizarre not to address.

First, the main focus of the story right now is that investigators found three dead dogs at Bread Winner Kennel. Right now they have stated that "it is not known at this time precisely what the dogs died from but one can be certain that it was not natural causes and that the dogs suffered a lonely, painful death”. That's horrible by itself, but why were they there investigating in the first place?

State investigators found three dead racing greyhounds while investigating cocaine positive drug tests on dogs at the Daytona Beach Greyhound Track, according to a group that advocates for Greyhounds.

Yes, apparently greyhounds from that kennel had tested positive for cocaine at some point during their racing event at the greyhound track.

I'm not condoning this by any means, but can you imagine a greyhound on cocaine? That thing would probably be as fast as a cheetah, though its post-race jitters would be annoying as hell. The kennel trainer, Nelson Ulrich, is probably going to be severely punished(rightfully so) thanks in part to this Vick fiasco. Hopefully part of his punishment includes running from a pack of hungry greyhounds.

Forget The 'Roids! Bring On The Blow!

Sure, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire might have tainted their sport, but they've got nothing on Canadian wheelchair racer Jeff Adams.

Adams, a decorated Paralympian who won five medals(2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze) at the 2000 Olympics, tested positive for cocaine last year during an "in-competition test" at the wheelchair marathon championships in Ottawa.

Testing positive for drugs is not something new in the sports world. In fact, I'm pretty sure that at one point Darryl Strawberry was sprinkling cocaine on his Wheaties like it was powdered sugar. Adams' "excuses" regarding the positive test, however are a bit new, to me at least.

His first "defense" was that it was due to a contaminated catheter. This sounds fairly reasonable. Perhaps a nurse who was in charge of changing it hung out with Lindsay Lohan the night before, and came straight from a car wreck party.

The second and third "defenses" came via Adams' lawyer, Tim Danson, and were that "cocaine is not prohibited out-of-competition and has no performance enhancing qualities".

That's right, apparently cocaine use among wheelchair athletes is perfectly fine as long as you're not snorting the nose candy right before the race. Adams' lawyer added to this by stating that "the banned substance was not in Adams’ system at the time of the race". So, before the race is a no go, but afterwards, especially if you've won, you can party it up like you're best friends with Tony Montana.

Also, I would personally rather race a sober wheelchair racer than a coked up one. I don't know if Danson has ever seen "Murderball", but facing any of those guys after they've gotten on the white horse is not something high(pun very much intended) on my list of things to do.