RoguePundit

Chess and Performance Enhancing Drugs

Last month at the end of a chess tournament, the world's third-ranked player was asked to submit to a drug test.  For whatever reason...

Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk refused to submit a urine sample for a drug test at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden and is now considered guilty of doping. The world of chess is outraged that he could face a two-year ban.

...

Drug tests were introduced at international chess tournaments in 2001. The World Anti-Doping Agency classifies chess as a "low risk sport," and so far no one has been convicted of doping. But what exactly does that mean?

It makes sense that anabolic steroids, the bulk-producing drug of choice for weightlifters, and EPO, the wonder drug of the cycling world, would not improve a chess player's performance. But when a chess player nears the end of a match and comes under mounting pressure, he can hyperventilate, and his pulse can shoot up to 160 and his arterial blood pressure to 200. In that situation, beta-blockers could help a player keep his head clear.

German grandmaster Helmut Pfleger, an internist and psychotherapist from Munich, says that because a player cannot know in advance exactly when these symptoms will begin, "a performance-enhancing dose is hardly possible." Pfleger tested the effects of beta-blockers on himself in 1979, in a match against Russian player Boris Spasski. "My blood pressure and pulse plunged, and my game fell apart completely."

Part of the outrage comes from the fact that some consider the game a cultural asset, not a sport.  Thus, there are players who feel they shouldn't be subjected to the invasive testing that goes with sports.  The World Chess Federation is trying to diffuse things by finding a loophole that will allow Ivanchuck to avoid the ban.  Why is it trying to subvert its own drug testing system?  Maybe because testing was adopted as a means to an end that hasn't come to pass.

It is undisputed, however, that caffeine can give a chess player a leg up, but the stimulant is no longer on the list of banned substances. Many players are passionate coffee drinkers.

It would certainly make sense for a chess player to take Ritalin or Modafinil. Both substances increase the ability to concentrate. Students take the drugs during exams, and doping inspectors test chess players for both substances.

The only reason there are doping tests in chess in the first place is that the World Chess Federation (FIDE) has been trying, since the late 1990s, to make chess an Olympic discipline. And anyone wishing to be part of the Olympics must submit to the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

People first started trying to get chess into the Summer Olympics back in 1924.  The IOC recognized it as a sport in 1999, and it was an exhibition sport at the Sydney Games in 2000.  However, the IOC has been reluctant to accept "mind sports" like chess and bridge into the already huge events. 

FYI,  

Modafinil (Provigil) is a stimulant-like drug manufactured by Cephalon, and is approved by the FDA for the treatment of narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea.   Modafinil, like other stimulants, increases the release of monoamines but also elevates hypothalamic histamine levels, leading some researchers to consider Modafinil a "wakefulness promoting agent" rather than a classic amphetamine-like stimulant...

Congrats to the Hustlin' Owls!!

The Oregon Tech men's basketball team won its second NAIA Division II national championship tonight, defeating top-seeded Bellevue University (Belleview NE) 63-56.  That's the same school it beat for the title four years ago.  Ryan Fiegi, a South Medford HS grad, was the tourney's Most Outstanding Player.

The team from Klamath Falls finished with a 31-6 record.

A Coach and His Baggage Join Hermiston HS

Buzz Brazeau used to be the athletic director and then an assistant principal at North Medford HS.  Now, he's the principal at Hermiston HS. Mike Kaye, the AD there, also used to be an AD at North Medford.  Both well acquainted with the man who was just hired to be their new football coach.

(Mark) Hodges has spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Fernley High School in Fernley, Nevada, but has previous assistant coaching experience in Oregon at North Medford High School (1999-2004), South Medford High School (1993-1998) and Southern Oregon University (1991-1993).

Hodges had a good run at the Medford schools (including as the track coach at North), but his time in Nevada has been plagued with scandal.  The highest profile of these was evidently not of his doing...though one has to wonder how a coach could be that disengaged from the recruiting of his players.

First there were offers, then there weren't. Then there was a crooked third-party recruiter, and finally Wednesday it was discovered he didn't exist, either.

In a one-paragraph statement issued by the Lyon County School District, Fernley senior Kevin Hart, who made national news this week as the recruit who committed without a scholarship offer and then as the victim of a cruel hoax, admitted the entire process was a fraud.

"I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn't going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality," he said. "I am sorry for disappointing and embarrassing my family, coaches, Fernley High School, the involved universities and reporters covering the story."

Five days after Fernley coach Mark Hodges proclaimed it "a great day for Fernley High School," the admission was an abrupt outcome to a story which had ultimately reached ESPN, national radio shows and countless Internet message board since the day Hart said he chose California over Oregon in a momentous announcement ceremony that had Hart's father, Richard, holding back tears.

Hermiston had begun recruiting Hodges in December.  Officials there must know that Hodges isn't leaving Fernley on good terms.

A promised lawsuit by Fernley High School teacher and football coach Mark Hodges against the Lyon County School District and others, including the Board of Trustees, was filed with the Third Judicial District Court in Yerington Tuesday afternoon.

...

Citing a report first aired by KRNV TV, Reno, on Friday, Feb. 8, Hodges' suit, which McKenna's office sent copies of to the Fernley Leader and other media outlets last week, charges the coach was libeled, defamed and/or slandered by the Lyon County School District because the district supplied information for that report, which, in part, said, "News 4 has confirmed that it is going to be recommended to the Lyon County School District board that Fernley head football coach Mark Hodges not be offered another contract as coach. The grounds for the decision are unprofessional conduct and fiscal irresponsibility."

The TV station also reported that Fernley coaches had been alerted by an email from University of California three days before Hart's announcement that there had been a misunderstanding and Hart wasn't going to be offered a scholarship; and the report also charged that when Hodges was approached, he said "everything was still in order." In addition, the KRNV report said it learned of "unauthorized funds" allegedly being spent by the football program on uniforms.

Hodges wants $20,000 in general and future damages, plus "past loss of benefits, future loss of earnings and/or loss of earning capacity, punitive damages, reasonable attorney fees and costs of the suit, and additional damages as deemed by the court." 

Hodges had already had problems at Fernley before the above occurred.  From a July '06 article in the Medford Mail-Tribune...

Former North Medford High head track and assistant football coach Mark Hodges has come under scrutiny for using two ineligible players while serving as the head football coach at Fernley High in Nevada last fall.

Fernley was forced to forfeit all five of its 2005 football victories after then-seniors Jori Kaeser and James Oppelt were declared ineligible. Kaeser, Oppelt and Colin Hodges, the son of the coach, moved to Fernley last summer from Medford after Hodges got the Fernley job.

All three players returned to Oregon shortly after the football season ended. Colin Hodges and Kaeser graduated from North Medford last month while Oppelt, another former Black Tornado football player, graduated early and joined the Army Rangers.

Hodges also violated Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association rules by conducting practices on Sundays throughout last season, NIAA executive director Jerry Hughes told NevadaPrep.com, a high school sports Web site.

The Sunday practices were supposedly voluntary film sessions. 

Hodges claimed that his son and Kaeser moved back to Medford to avoid college out-of-state tuition costs.  Evidently there was no problem though with his son playing quarterback in an all-star game in Nevada--representing Fernley HS--the same month he graduated from North Medford.   

Hodges, reached earlier this week, said the violations were a misunderstanding caused in large part by Fernley High administrators failing to inform the NIAA of his actions.

Kaeser had been living with the Hodges family for six months in Oregon and made the move to Nevada. Hodges considered it a hardship arrangement but since the case was never forwarded to the NIAA, Kaeser wasn't granted a hardship eligibility waiver, Hughes said.

...

"This turned into a real ugly deal, but after you wade through the muck and the mire, we really didn't do anything wrong," Hodges said. "Jori (Kaeser) had been living with me for six months before I ever talked to anyone in Nevada about the job down there."

Hughes, after meeting with Hodges, Kribs and Lyon County School District administrators last week, said he wouldn't pursue recruiting violations against Hodges but warned all Nevada schools that violating eligibility rules in the future could lead to severe sanctions.

But the third kid was living with a Fernley assistant coach, meaning he was ineligible with no possible waiver.  That's a no-brainer in Nevada.  All three were impact players.

Lucky for Hodges that his old buddies from North Medford have given him another opportunity.  Hope nobody ends up regretting that. 

A New Place to be Homeless

A number of us live in or have visited places where folks sell newspapers and/or magazines on busy corners.  Those publications don't necessarily count as "street papers."

The idea behind a street paper is simple, yet powerful: a homeless person buys a copy of the magazine at a price normally 50 percent or lower than the cover price and sells it to the public, keeping the proceeds. INSP papers additionally encourage editorial voices missing from mainstream media, providing a platform for consistent reporting on poverty and social injustice, as well as the writing and visual arts of economically disenfranchised people. Street papers strive to offer a hand up, not a hand out, to the world's poor and homeless.

Street papers range from small circulation publications to popular general interest weekly newspapers, many of which offer job training and social service delivery. Street papers vary in their specific objectives, but all of them aim to provide the opportunity to work as well as giving a voice to the poor. The motto used is 'a hand up, not a handout,' as providing work is seen as more sustainable than simply providing aid.

How else could street papers help the homeless?  By having some of them play what we call soccer.

It was in Camps Bay, Cape Town in 2001, at the end of an International Network of Street Papers (INSP) conference, that Harald Schmied, editor of the Austrian street paper, Megaphon, and Mel Young, co-founder of The Big Issue Scotland came up with the idea for the Homeless World Cup. They were looking for an international language to unite homeless people around the world. Football was it.

8 months later they held the first Graz 2003 Homeless World Cup involving 18 nations.  Won by the host nation, Austria, it was such a success that they decided to do more.

The fifth annual Homeless World Cup concluded last week, with teams representing 48 nations taking part...the U.S. team got 36th.  They play street soccer on paved fields about the size of tennis courts.  The goals are small and the field is surrounded with boards--like hockey.  The teams play two seven-minute halves with four people (including the goalkeeper) and four subs.  Here are the qualifications for playing. 

Players must:

- Be male or female and at least 16 years of age at the time of the tournament
- Have been homeless at some point after the previous year's World Cup OR
- Make their main living income as a streetpaper vendor OR
- Be asylum seekers (who have neither positive asylum status nor working permit)

The organizers try to measure the benefits of these competitions by asking the participants six months later what the Homeless World Cup did for their lives.  Here's what they found about last year's tournament:

- 92% players have a new motivation for life
- 73% have changed their lives for the better
- 93 players successfully addressed a drug or alcohol dependency
- 35% have secured regular employment
- 44% have improved their housing situation
- 39% chose to pursue education
- 72% continue to play football

Last year's competition in South Africa was the first that included some of the world's most impoverished nations.  Evidently to some, Denmark was a better destination. 

It was a fantastic opportunity for the underprivileged to travel to Europe. But for 15 of those underprivileged, the Homeless World Cup in Denmark appears to also have been a fantastic opportunity to stay on in Europe and go underground.

Fifteen players from Africa and Afghanistan who had come to Copenhagen to take part in the event--a six-day street soccer tournament for teams of homeless people from around the world--have disappeared, police and organizers reported Monday. Six players failed to show up for training last Thursday while nine more disappeared after Saturday's final. The 15 men had entry visas for Denmark which expired Monday.

The runaway athletes--seven Burundians, four Liberians, three Cameroonians and one Afghan--could already be outside Denmark as their visas allow them to travel within the 15-country Schengen zone, where border checks have largely been removed. If found, they will be deported.

"We have never experienced it before," said Kat Byles, spokeswoman for the organization behind the Homeless World Cup. "We're very surprised because 15 players is quite a lot."

In other words, they wouldn't have been surprised if only three or four players had decided to stay?  The U.S. (New York City) was going to host the competition in 2005, but had to cancel because of visa problems.  Scotland picked up that tournament, but denied visas to the teams from five nations:  Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia.  All four nations that had participants disappear in Denmark this year participated in the tourney in South Africa last year. 

Hopefully Denmark's new illegal aliens will do far better than selling street papers.    

Ugliest Uniforms Ever

The folks at AOL Fanhouse have been having fun with selecting the ugliest uniforms of all time for various sports.  For college football...

This is always a difficult thing for college football fans, because everyone knows that Oregon is the be-all and end-all of hideous uniforms. They've been rocking their day-glo green and yellow combinations for decades, mixing in smatterings of black, white and truck-bed gray whenever the mood strikes them, which is constantly. There's no debate: Oregon has the worst uniforms in college football and probably in the entirety of sport. So, yeah. Brian Grummell highlighted five of the ugliest Oregon unis of all time in a separate post. The rest of the world is just trying to finish second.

You may notice that many of these "worst uniforms of all time" are recent creations. There is a simple reason for this and it resides in Oregon: Nike.

I couldn't agree more...and no, I'm not an OSU grad. 

New Coach's Southern Oregon Roots

Troy Calhoun, the new Air Force Academy football coach, is from Southern Oregon. 

The Roseburg High graduate was an active duty officer in the Air Force from 1989-95 and was a three-year starter for longtime Indians coach Thurman Bell, receiving first-team All-Southern Oregon Conference honors as a senior.

He's also the first Academy football coach who's a graduate of the Academy.  Calhoun played and then worked with the coach who just retired, Fisher DeBerry.  From this link...

Calhoun played for DeBerry as a freshman in 1985 and started a few games at quarterback in 1986. Dee Dowis took over as quarterback thereafter and Calhoun spent his junior and senior seasons as a student coach.

Like many who attend the academy, Calhoun once hoped to become a pilot. That hope was dashed, he said, after an eye exam revealed he had a minor problem with depth perception.

After graduating in 1989, Calhoun spent most of his five years of active duty working for DeBerry. He was a graduate assistant during the 1989-90 seasons. He served as Air Force’s recruiting coordinator and the junior varsity offensive coordinator from 1993 to 1994.

Calhoun has spent the past four years in the NFL. He was with the Denver Broncos for three years before going to the Texans to serve under first-year head coach and former Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak.

In between working at the Air Force Academy and coaching in the NFL (from his Houston Texans bio)...

He moved to Ohio University in 1995 where he served as the quarterbacks coach for two seasons.  Calhoun guided the play of QB Kareem Wilson.  In 1996 Wilson was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year.  Wilson set a pair of Ohio records with 282 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns against Bowling Green.  Wilson set an Ohio record with 14 rushing touchdowns in 1996.

Calhoun was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1997.  During his first season at the helm, Calhoun’s offense totaled 612 yards against Eastern Michigan, second most in school history.  The Bobcats defeated Maryland in 1997 marking the school’s first win against a team from the ACC in nine games.  The following week, Ohio fell three points short of defeating Kansas State.

During his last season in Ohio, the Bobcats won two games against bowl teams, Minnesota and Marshall.  Calhoun’s offense set a school record with 418.1 yards per game.  Their offense rushed for a school best 3,553 rushing yards.

Calhoun moved to Wake Forest in 2001.  The Demon Deacons were one of only seven teams to score to score more than 30 points in each of the final four games.  During his second season, Wake led the ACC in total offense with 408.1 yards per game.  His offense had a league best 990 plays.  The offense was efficient with the ball with only 16 turnovers, least in the ACC.

Calhoun, now 40, is replacing the Academy's most successful football coach.  17 winning seasons out of 22 and 12 bowl bids is quite something for a school with the recruiting standards and restrictions the Academy has.  But, DeBerry's final three seasons were losing ones and not without controversy. 

Although DeBerry has been portrayed a role-model for most of his career, he came under fire for controversial racial remarks made he made in October 2005 after a 48-10 loss to Texas Christian University (TCU). DeBerry said TCU "had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run extremely well." Earlier that year, DeBerry had been criticized for a banner posted in the team's locker room that was interpreted by some as inappropriate religious proselytizing. 

The banner said, “I am a Christian first and last ... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.”  I don't imagine the disgusting rape scandal at the Academy helped recruiting either. 

Best of luck to Calhoun.

Bobby Knight Weighs in on Sooner Defeat

Do breaks in sports really even out over time?  Maybe.

Leave it to Bob Knight to throw a big old bucket of cold water on those Oklahoma fans still seething because their football team got jobbed by the officials at Oregon last Saturday.

The Texas Tech basketball coach seems to recall his team getting hosed in a game at Oklahoma three years ago.

On Jan.20, 2003, the Sooners won 69-64 in overtime after two clock controversies in the final seconds of regulation. The clock paused for about a second at the 6.7-second mark even though play continued. After a foul call stopped it legitimately at 0:04.5, it was an estimated half-second late starting on the inbounds play, enabling Oklahoma to get off the tying shot.

Knight call for the Sooners to forfeit, but to no avail.

"Maybe now those people at Oklahoma understand what I was talking about," he told The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City. "Had Oklahoma forfeited that game against us like I suggested, they would have gotten far more positive publicity out of that than if they had gone to the Final Four that year. Now I guess the 'duck' is swimming in the other pond."

When's the last time that Oregon really got screwed by a ref's call in a game?  Maybe this is payback for missing out on a BCS bid and all that cash last year.  Maybe all this did was put off Oregon losing its undefeated season until the trip to USC...if they get past the next two ranked opponents on the road (the Sun Devils and Cal).  There's no maybe about the Pac-10 needing a better replay system. 

Oklahoma gets to take out its frustration this week on Middle Tennessee State, followed by the annual Red River shootout against Texas in Dallas.  Having lived in Austin TX for a few years, guess who I'm rooting even harder for.

Getting Paid to Lose

About a year ago, the Ducks slaughtered the University of Montana on the gridiron, 47-10.  The Grizzlies' Athletic Department felt it was worth the pain.

The Grizzlies, one of the nation's top I-AA teams, agreed to play the Hawkeyes -- a team they have almost no hope of beating -- because the University of Iowa will pay them $650,000 for the privilege.

Montana athletic director Jim O'Day said the payday -- combined with $450,000 the school received for playing at Oregon in 2005 -- will allow the athletic department to erase a $1 million deficit two years ahead of schedule and pump $200,000 into the football team's budget.

Lesser teams have been pocketing six-figure checks to make road trips to the powerhouse schools for years. But with the 12-game schedule becoming a permanent part of big-time college football this season, it's getting harder for teams such as Iowa to find patsies to fill that extra date.

The result has been a boon for the likes of Montana as the compensation for being a pushover has gone up several hundred thousand dollars.

"This a fundraising junket for the rest of the athletic department," coach Bobby Hauck said. "There's no confusion. The guys know we're going out there to get a paycheck."

Montana has reached the 1-AA playoffs for 13 straight seasons, and in that spell has played in the national title game five times, winning twice (1995, 2001).  So as many Portland State fans already know, the Grizzlies are not a complete pushover. 

Some smaller schools have repeatedly offered themselves as fodder so they could build a bigger program.  For instance, the University of Central Florida only started as a Division III football team in 1979.  In less than two decades, it grew itself to the point that it could get scheduled with (and lose to) teams like Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Purdue...and it beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2000, which promptly got the Tide's coach fired.  Last year (following a post-scandal winless season), UCF played in the Conference USA title game and went to its first bowl game.  Next season, it will open an on-campus football stadium that will hold 45,000 and be expandable to 65,000.

By the way, Iowa plays in a stadium that holds 70,585, whereas Autzen Stadium holds about 54,000.  Reser Stadium just expanded to hold 43,400. 

Hidden Valley State Champs

The Hidden Valley boys are the Class 3A state basketball champs!  The Mustangs from Murphy, just south of Grants Pass, were ranked #1 going into the tournament this year...same as last.  But this was their first finals, going up against another school in its first finals, LaGrande.  The Mustangs took the game 56-50.

And congrats on a great year to the South Medford boys, who lost a squeaker to Lake Oswego this evening, 59-57.  It was also the Panthers first time in the finals, and the first time that a school from the Southern Oregon Conference had been to the Class 4A state finals since Roseburg in 1975.

UPDATE:  Here are links to articles on the Hidden Valley and South Medford games.

And Then There Were Four

After many hours sitting on metal bleachers today, my arse and back have had it...so this will be brief.

With the new format this year, the PBA's Earl Anthony Medford Classic whittled its way down to the semi-finalists today instead of Saturday.  The final three matches will still be bowled on Sunday, starting 10 AM local (pro-ams tomorrow).  With the semi-finals and finals being shown on ESPN, this is annually Medford's biggest opportunity to showcase itself before a national audience. 

The marquis quarter-final was Mika Koivuniemi versus Walter Ray Williams Jr.  If Walter Ray had won, he'd have had a shot Sunday at tying Earl Anthony's record for the most PBA wins...in the tourney named for Earl.  However, Mika ran away with the rubber game of the seven-game match. 

Koivuniemi will roll against Ritchie Allen, who beat reigning Bowler of the Year Patrick Allen (no relation).  Ritchie rolled the best of anybody this evening.  In the round of 16, it was Ritchie Allen who swept the last remaining Oregonian out of the tourney--Blaise Bedolla of Sutherlin.

In the other bracket, after barely surviving the round of sixteen, Brian Himmler caught fire and blew through last year's winner, Mike Wolfe, in five (and Wolfe bowled solidly).  Himmler will take on Tim Criss, who survived the erratic Tom Daugherty in six...Daugherty has all sorts of power, which produces lots of strikes and lots of opens.

Attendance has certainly looked better this year...everyone speculated it was down last year because the tourney was moved back to a couple weeks before Christmas.  This year it's the first tourney of the winter season (used to be second), and thus doesn't have to compete against the impending holidays.  I'd suggest but one improvement for next year...padded bleachers.