Another drugs scandal is set to rock Athletics with 30 year old sprint star Marion Jones testing positive for EPO in June. Jones was tested at the US Championships in Indianapolis and her test gave a positive reading for erythropoietin. Rumours are also circulating that there are a number of American athletes from the June Championships who have failed a drugs test in one way or another, if this does prove correct then the athletics world will be turned upside down.
Although the numerous “possible” positive drug results would hurt athletics in the short term, there is no doubt that the sport will bounce back stronger and hopefully cleaner than before. I still don’t understand why an athlete of any description would risk not only their career but health taking the banned substances. Ok, so monetary gain is a given, as is being known throughout the world if you are good but surely it’s not worth it, is it?
Ben Johnson was the first main positive drug test that I can remember (1988 testing positive for steroids) and I do know that it rocked the sporting world. He cheated his way to the top, sold his soul and the devil came to collect. Stripped of his title there was no going back for Johnson. I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to Marion Jones and she can clear her name but it’s looking doubtful and at 30, a ban of any length would mean the end of her career. Only Jones’s A sample has been tested, and if her B sample also tests positive for drugs, Jones would face a two-year suspension
The other thing that I can’t quite put my finger on is after all these years of people related to her testing positive for drugs, Jones has …
Sitting here, more than half way through the third series of the classic Everwood television series, I was wondering what it was like to actually live in a town like that in the heart of nowhere. I’ve been to the US a number of times but never come across something like the fictitious Everwood and would love to one day visit a town based on the series. Now I’m not naïve enough to think that it is as portrayed on tv but I would love for it to be! I love the idea of a small town where the community know who you are, where you can walk into the diner and they know your name, sit on your regular stool and drink your coffee – all without asking for it! Does that make me mad ? !
Interestingly at least three productions have actually used historic 25th Street as a backdrop. “Wait Until Spring, Bandini” with Faye Dunaway and Joe Montegna filmed on 25th Street in 1989. “They picked 25th street because it looked like New York after the turn of the century,” said Leigh Von Der Esch, executive director of the Utah Film Commission. In 1992, “This Boy’s Life” with Leonardo De Caprio and Ellen Barkin hit 25th Street, complete with vintage 1950s cars. Another regular on the street is the TV series “Touched by an Angel.”
Tamara Hoover, a high school teacher from Austin Texas has quit her position following nude photo’s of the teacher appearing on the internet. It was a decision made in consultation with the Austin school district.
By all accounts, before the photo’s came to light she was an award winning teacher, infact I guess she still is unless they take her awards away from her. Tamara is/was an art teach and as such will always explore various areas of art and if these pictures were taken with her partner (also an art teacher) then surely these are deemed as private. The sticking point of course is that these are no longer private but as you can see from one example here, the pictures are artistic.
Great news for Tracy Lawrence and country music fans alike. Together with his brother and manager Laney Lawrence, the Multi-platinum recording artist has 
