FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

There's nothing quite as annoying as a reformed smoker. They always walk up to you while you're having that one cigarette you set aside in the day for me time. Telling you how to fix your life by quitting. I'm sure it's true, but there's a time and a place for that kind of talk. And this isn't it.

Oddly enough, the International Olympic Committee might be having these same exact feelings following reformed steroid peddler, Victor Conte's latest interview.

"The Olympics are a fraud. It's all about money," Conte told BBC Sport. "Those who control the money, control the anti-doping policies. They are still inept to this day."

Yup, this is the same guy that served jail time for conspiracy to distribute and money laundering. And to be honest, he sounds a lot like Jose Canseco if you watch the video portion of the interview. I'm not knocking the guy. If he's out to clean up drug testing in sports, I'm all for it.

He did meet with former Anti-doping Agency head,....wait for it....Dick Pound. And gave pointers on how his operation worked. And he isn't afraid to call out Olympic officials in general.

"I have been told by Olympic officials that there have been positive drug tests that have been covered up," he revealed. "They (the officials) have direct knowledge of this and at some point this information will come out

I hope, unlike Jose Canseco, he doesn't start dropping names (oops!). It's enough that he inform officials about how to get around their testing practices. Even if he is exaggerating just a little, Conte doesn't paint a pretty picture of the competence of drug testing in Olympic and professional sports. And given recent events in baseball, it's not hard to believe. It will be interesting to see a response from the IOC or any professional sports. Or if any respond at all. I would like to know the sports I follow are clean. Even if that meant a reduction in performance. And if you see me off smoking a cigarette by myself, how's bout you give me a few minutes peace.

In an interesting logistic choice, the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Games will head through controversial Tibet not once, but twice, during its trip to the opening ceremonies in August. China, currently engaged in a constant struggle with the Dalai Lama and his non-violence, has OK-ed the torch to pass through Tibet on its around the world journey, and likely create a lightning rod for protest as it traverses the Himalayan countryside. A second torch will be lit from the flame and set to climb Mount Everest in order to ... well ... just because we suppose. Way to use Tibet for PR when it suits you, China.

(HT: The Guardian)

This is likely a last-ditch solution, but we think it may have to come to that for the nice industrialists in Beijing. MSNBC is reporting that the city's air pollution is causing a number of athletes, especially marathon runners, to withdraw from events. With the games 5 months away, months not years, we're scratching our heads as to how the People's Republic plan on scrubbing away their smog. However, they have some big plans that only centralized government could pull off:

The measures include requiring Beijing and Tianjin cities and Hebei province to temporarily suspend emissions from some of their most heavily polluting plants, which include cement, steel and coke [sic] factories.

The provinces of Shanxi and Shandong, along with the huge Inner Mongolia region, will also be required to restrict their coal-fired emissions, Zhang said.

Zhang said he expects that "by June, we will complete all tasks necessary" to ensure the city will have the required clear air.

We've wasted more of our lives playing Sim City than we'd like to admit, but we do know that pollution is one bad mother. For Beijing, we'd build one of those super sweet fusion plants and hope for the best.

We've had our fair share of complaints with the IOC over our brief history at Das FanHaus, but this is quite possibly the most illogical argument we've ever seen. Women's ski jumping is being blocked from joining the 2010 games in Vancouver. The sport fits every one of the IOC's criteria for qualification, with competition on 3 continents, world and junior championships, and more athletes than other accepted sports. In addition, the sport is not a new event, but the addition of women's events to an existing competition. The IOC is simply bowing to the International Ski Federation (FIS), whose president, Gian-Franco Kasper, believes that ski jumping is too dangerous for women "from a medical point of view."

The entire situation reeks of good old-fashioned discrimination. Until someone points out some evidence to the contrary, we would like to direct everyone's attention to the official petition over at Womens Ski Jumping 2010. Head over there to learn more about the cause, including this educational video.

The riveting arguments come at the :05 mark from Mr. Kasper and IOC member Dick Pound (sic).

While its not the first time we've made blatant 1984 references to England or their Olympic games, but reports out of London yesterday point out that we aren't that far off the mark. The BBC has relayed estimates that the host city will have upwards of 500,000 security cameras scoping out the proceedings. Plans also include the division of the city into three separate security zones, enhanced biometric fingerprinting, automatic license plate detection, and a ticket tracking system that takes GPS to an entirely new level. Metropolitan Police claim that tickets will be able to track visitors from the venues to their homes. We couldn't dream up these kinds of measures if we tried, but it all paints a very stark image of modern sports security.

While we agree that the the addition of cameras is much better than having a bobby stationed every meter, such specific measures always make us raise the usual rhetorical red flag: What happens to all of the added security once the games are over?

At the annual New Year's Day Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, some guy stepped in front of a float holding a sign and was promptly arrested. Not too newsworthy, right?

Except for the fact that the float was in celebration of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. And the guy was Andrew Koenig ... better known as Richard "Boner" Stabone on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains.

Immediately following his arrest and nearly 10-hour detention by Pasadena police on New Year's Day, actor and filmmaker Andrew Koenig told this newspaper his decision to step out in front of a controversial Rose Parade float was, if not the easiest way to express his views, the absolute right thing to do. "I broke a law, but I didn't commit a crime," said Koenig, regarding the few seconds he had spent holding up a political sign before being hustled away by police.

Boner is an activist for victims of military force in Burma, which is ruled by a dictatorship that is funded by China. Boner was holding a sign that simply read "China: Free Burma". He has since been charged with "walking between parade entries" which holds no jail time and a maximum $100 fine.

Yesterday afternoon, U-23 head coach Peter Nowak named the preliminary roster for this year's Olympic campaign. The list includes much of the young talent of MLS as well as notable overseas standouts, and Jozy Altidore, Maurice Edu, Freddy Adu, and Benny Feilhaber are sure to see plenty of action. Johnathan Spector and Michael Bradley will likely be out until after qualification as they are vital parts of their European clubs. While there is still plenty of speculation on who Nowak will choose as his three "over-23" players, Soccer By Ives has a good guess at what a qualifying starting XI would look like:

----------------------Altidore-------------------------
Alvarez----------------Adu--------------------Holden
---------------Kljestan-----Feilhaber----------------
Freeman-------Sturgis-----Edu--------------Wynne
-------------------------Seitz--------------------------

Semifinal lineups would likely plug in Bradley and Spector for Kljestan and Freeman, creating quite the formidable lineup. There's plenty of speed and touch up front with a midfield that should take care of the ball rather well. If we had a say, we'd call in older players like Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra to shore up the back line, and maybe even call in Tim Howard for goal.

What do you think? Suggestions and comments always welcome in the discussion below.

After the surprise announcement yesterday about Yao Ming's foot stress fracture, there's been speculation that Yao could have continued playing the season with his injury. Or perhaps he was only getting surgery on his foot to give him the opportunity to play in the Olympics. I don't think that's what is happening at all.

I'm not a doctor but a friend of mine is. He provided me this link with details about tarsal navicular stress fractures. If you are a fan of all things Yao, you should check it out (along with this very sad song about Yao's foot).

Basically, if you have an injury like Yao's, continuing to play ball will result in pain and just make the injury worse. As it relates to surgery, the article states:

"Surgical intervention also may be indicated in athletes who need quick healing to allow them to return to play. The average time for athletes to return to play after surgical intervention compared with conservative management using a non­weight-bearing cast is 3.8 months and 5.6 months, respectively."

The success rate for surgery is 83% and for the conservative management is 86%.

Assuming an early March surgery date and that he heals in an average time, this article suggests that he would be ready to get back to activity in June. The problem is that anyone who is 7'6" tall and plays tons of minutes isn't an average guy.

It actually comes as a surprise to us that a Canadian has never won an Olympic medal, in either season, on their home soil. Failing to take any top prizes at Montreal in 1976 or Calgary in 1988, the Canadian Olympic Committee is pulling out all of the stops to play the Canadian national anthem "loudly and frequently" in Vancouver in 2010:

The "Own the Podium" program, funded equally by the federal government and the Vancouver organizing committee, will give Canadian high-performance winter athletes $110 million in support, while corporate sponsors will pump millions more into putting Canada top of the medal table.

The effort includes a "Top Secret Project" that brings together sports scientists, doctors and researchers to seek out ways to give Canadian athletes an edge by looking at nutrition, equipment and weather and snow conditions.

For the first time, Canada will offer monetary incentives for athletes to win medals. Starting in Beijing, gold-medal winners will receive $20,000 while silver medallists will earn $15,000 and bronze winners $10,000.

Why is it when we hear Canada, sports scientists, and "Top Secret Project," we automatically think Ben Johnson? Not really trying to paint the Canucks in a bad light here, but you have to think "Operation: Blood Doping" might have been a less subtle name for an Olympic incentive program.

(HT: Canada.com)

When 13-year-old Tom Daley finished 7th in this weekend's British diving qualifiers, he became the youngest male Olympian in the modern era. Turning 14 just before the Beijing Games this August, Tom will be over a year younger than Fred Hodges when he competed in the 1936 Berlin Games at age 15. British skater Cecilia Coolidge hold the overall record, competing in 1932 at age 11.

Daley also won the bronze in the 10m synchro event, showing that he did more than back into qualification. Das FanHaus is more than willing to give the British diving community the benefit of the doubt and applaud Tom on his fantastic accomplishment. Best of luck to him in Beijing.

(HT: BBC Sport)