That whole thing is such a fucking slap in the face to the PED rules. Hopefully they move to ban it soon.
Are you fuckin' kidding?! Taking stem cells from your own fat to heal an injury is akin to PEDs? His own genes returned him to pre-injury form, how is that like taking a foreign/banned substance? No chance they're the same thing. This type of surgery could be a large breakthrough is sports-medicine. EDIT: The only thing that could taint this operation is if there were, in fact, steroids/banned substances used to assist the recovery. Based on what we know about stem cells, they don't need the aid of a foreign substance to do anything. There's no way using your own DNA to return you to pre-injury form is anything like taking juice.
Please. If you believe that there was no HGH and/or other PEDs used, I have a bridge to sell you. The sketchy doctor that did the procedure said he uses HGH for this treatment, but decided not to with Colon? Bullshit.
We're both speculating, then. The doctor did not say he used HGH in this procedure, but has in the past (like every other doctor on this fuckin planet). Since neither of us know the truth, and MLB has already looked into it with no fallout, one can assume there is nothing illegal about it. But answer me this: would using your own stem cells to heal an injury be considered cheating if no banned substances are involved? That should be a rhetorical question.
I wouldn't say there has been no fallout, because MLB hasn't finished its investigation yet. There still very well could be an issue. And if all that happened was they took stem cells and injected them, then no. However, that isn't what happened. Even if you want to turn a blind eye to the extremely high probability that HGH was used, the procedure definitely uses platelet-rich plasma, which has been on some banned substance lists. The effects of PRP aren't fully known. The bottom line is, a procedure like this should never have been done without prior MLB approval if he was doing it to make it back to the Majors. Colon hid the procedure until a reporter found out about it, I wonder why...
That's fair, and I agree with that. The NYY and Colon should definitely have sought league approval. I will maintain Colon's innocence until he's proven guilty, though. Time will tell us the truth.
Another thought: if he used HGH during the recovery period, but isn't actually pitching whilst using HGH/banned substances, is it cheating? I don't think so, he's using his natural ability.
I will bet a hundred bucks Colon used HGH. Everytime there has been suspicion the player either got caught lying or fessed up. Give it two months.
Um, yes. If a guy uses in the offseason it isn't cheating as long as he stops before he pitches in a game?
No, I'm saying to heal an injury. It's pharmacology. Are people who take anti-depressants "cheating" at life? I think HGH should be allowed to heal injuries. What Bartolo Colon is doing this season is a result of natural ability (assuming random piss tests are a continuous and on-going procedure in MLB, and that he's passing them since he's still active).
Currently, it is not allowed, for injuries or otherwise. HGH is on baseball's banned substance list, therefore if he used it at any point, offseason or not, injured or not, it's cheating. Pretty black and white. Fixed that for you. I mean, come on. The guy had severe rotator cuff and elbow problems, and he was suddenly healed without any illegal help? Or at least anything that they just haven't banned yet but they will as soon as they find out about it? Healed to the point where he's pitching like he was 10 years ago? Baseball banned HGH but doesn't test for it, so claiming he's passing urine tests proves absolutely nothing.
I wasn't asking if it was cheating by MLB's standards. I'm saying that it shouldn't be viewed in the same light as juicing if one used HGH to aid the recovery of a major injury. In that case, it wouldn't be a performance-enhancer, but a career-saver. In any case, we still don't know that any HGH was used. I didn't know they didn't test for HGH. That's kind of ridiculous to me after what happened last decade.
To me, if you use it you use it. I don't care why, it's cheating either way. And they don't test for it because the only test is a blood test, and the union has disputed the accuracy of it.
That's one way to look at it. I think today's players should be able to take advantage of today's advances in surgery. We'll agree to disagree.
they should, but the rules say no, so it would be cheating. i could really care less though. every team has some sort of shady shit going on. the fact is...if its the yankees, or red sox, people going insane.
Looks like PRP injections aren't as frowned upon as you think, devil. Time to accept the advances in human repair. Per the A's team website.
