OK, how about many examples, since you say "much of what they do." Or even one example.
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- Thread starter marek
- Start date
your suspicions are unfounded. the euro tour have been using drug tests for a very long time, and afaik many national tours have them as well. mario has won a lot of euro events and have definitely been tested many times in his career. that he would have begun using "real" drugs just now, having had a great year and a MC spot, is extremely hard to believe. he is not the type either
but clearly it relates to a problem of his that is rather obvious to see. having to use blood pressure meds at that age in the first place is not a good sign. i hope he can cope with this backlash, and that the ruling isn't too harsh
So why did Mario He cite “family matters” when he left the last Eurotour event?
Seems he should have been honest.
Seems he should have been honest.
Everybody keeps mentioning that pool isn't like running, weight lifting, etc. and that is irrelevant in this discussion.
Pool requires a bit of stamina, but pool performance is more "mental" than physical when it comes to this level of playing.
If you can get some sort of "mental" edge, you MAY have an advantage.
At the pro level, the person who makes the most errors usually is the one who loses. Errors are usually "mental" and not physical. Most pros don't miscue or hit the ball incorrectly. They usually play the wrong shot or get nervous or something of the sort.
The beta blockers may reduce the "anxiety" of the player and enhance their "mental" state.
Pool requires a bit of stamina, but pool performance is more "mental" than physical when it comes to this level of playing.
If you can get some sort of "mental" edge, you MAY have an advantage.
At the pro level, the person who makes the most errors usually is the one who loses. Errors are usually "mental" and not physical. Most pros don't miscue or hit the ball incorrectly. They usually play the wrong shot or get nervous or something of the sort.
The beta blockers may reduce the "anxiety" of the player and enhance their "mental" state.
You stand absolutely no chance of getting a sensible response to this question, for a variety of very obvious reasons.
Couple of things. Failing a drug test has nothing to do with why you took banned substances, only if you took banned substances. I know it's hard to comprehend, especially since you have conducted a massive clinical trial of exactly one person, but not all people are affected by drugs in the same way. Even though 100% of people in your trial of one person claim not to have any performance enhancing effects of BB drugs (even though you also freely admit it significantly reduces your heart rate....), other people might benefit from this. Hopefully it's not too difficult to see that you can't say some drugs are OK for some people, but not others, right?
I assume you mean asinine, not assine (you've spelled it that way more than once)?
And yes, anyone taking drugs, prescribed or otherwise, is a druggie.
If Mario is being honest, the "Plus" medication that he took was likely a combination of the original medication with a beta blocker or a diuretic (such as HCTZ - hydrochlorothiazide). Both are commonly combined with other anti-hypertensives and both are banned by WADA (beta blockers are banned because they reduce symptoms of anxiety and diuretics are banned because they are used to mask the use of other illicit substances). If I had to guess, he was originally placed on an ACE-inhibitor, then the doctor added HCTZ when his blood pressure was not being effectively controlled.
He will not be able to get a retroactive TUE (therapeutic use exemption) as that defeats the purpose of the TUE in the first place. WADA does not mess around. I frankly had no idea that European pool players were under the WADA umbrella, but apparently so. He would have signed a document stating that he is solely responsible for any meds/illicit drugs/foods that he takes. He cannot place the blame on doctors, nurses, trainers, etc. He has little recourse here, unfortunately.
He will not be able to get a retroactive TUE (therapeutic use exemption) as that defeats the purpose of the TUE in the first place. WADA does not mess around. I frankly had no idea that European pool players were under the WADA umbrella, but apparently so. He would have signed a document stating that he is solely responsible for any meds/illicit drugs/foods that he takes. He cannot place the blame on doctors, nurses, trainers, etc. He has little recourse here, unfortunately.
Excellent post! While I don't think that mental errors outnumber errors in execution, mental errors are a huge part of the game at every level, and beta blockers, by reducing anxiety, can have a major effect on one's decision making processes.
I'm going to change my AzBilliards handle.
You're entitled to your opinions, as am I. Thank you for sharing it. Ninety-nine percent of the world, if told this saga, would think the same way I am. But it's okay to share your thoughts as long as they're done politely
.Oh, and thank you for the spelling correction. Unlike most on this forum, I appreciate those corrections. To think at 64 years of age, going on 65, I have been spelling it wrong my entire life.
Again, Mario He is taking blood pressure (BP) medicine. Yes, he is overweight, which may contribute to why he's taking it, but there's a lot of skinny people who have to take BP meds because it is a medical condition. Steve Mizerak was fat, and he played pretty sporty. I can think of a lot of fat pool players who do just fine. So those who are posting that Mario He is overweight and needs to address it if he wants to compete professionally have asinine opinions, in my opinion. :angry:
I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER believe Mario is taking BP meds to increase his acumen on a field of tournament blue or green or whatever color baize those blue-blooded Euros who believe their opinions only hold weight—[pun intended]—like to shoot on.
If I were Mario He, I'd take this as a message from his higher power and get the hell out of professional competition. There is no reward in professional pool for 99.9 percent of the competitors. He's still young, and with his genuinely nice personality, he can still go far in another endeavor.
Frankly I havent expected any response at all, those were more of rhetorical questions as answering them would require to actually reason without emotions
Those damned European blue-blooded entities can be really mean!!! :thumbup:
Frankly I havent expected any response at all, those were more of rhetorical questions as answering them would require to actually reason without emotions
I am just wondering, is it WADA who are full of those European blue-bloods? Thats somewhat ironic - in order to get blue blood, you probably have to take some drugs that for sure would make you fail a drug / doping test
Its getting hard to stay on topic
Funny thing is, if you've played pool for any time at all, you're a favorite to have played someone who was on something.
Several years back I played one player in a tournament in Vegas. He went to the bathroom mid-match and came out so hyped up he barely found our table, looked at me with glazed eyes and asked, "Which one is my hole?" Of course he then ran eight and out, lol.
And what about the guys just swilling beer, or getting a few shots of booze during a match to calm themselves down or to provide a bit more courage?
"Preacher, go on down and get me bourbon. JTS Brown. No ice. No glass."
Walter Tevis
Lou Figueroa
Several years back I played one player in a tournament in Vegas. He went to the bathroom mid-match and came out so hyped up he barely found our table, looked at me with glazed eyes and asked, "Which one is my hole?" Of course he then ran eight and out, lol.
And what about the guys just swilling beer, or getting a few shots of booze during a match to calm themselves down or to provide a bit more courage?
"Preacher, go on down and get me bourbon. JTS Brown. No ice. No glass."
Walter Tevis
Lou Figueroa
Frankly I havent expected any response at all, those were more of rhetorical questions as answering them would require to actually reason without emotions
You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls.
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There is another approach that is talked about once in a while: let athletes take whatever they/their coach/their govt decides. Don’t test anyone. That would probably put the athletes on a more equal footing than they are now.
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Except you might still have athletes that have a moral dilemma with taking drugs or might not be knowledgeable enough on which ones to take.
It would pretty much be the same as modern day 9 ball.
Players rack for themselves, and you have those that try to get it as tight as they can, and those that go out of the way to ensure the gaps are to their advantage.
Beta Blockers had a brief but significant part to play back in the 80s, when more than a handful of professional snooker players were found to have been taken them on a regular basis.
To understand why they were able to produce a performance enhancing effect is relatively simple. The drug is used to slow the heart rate down. Anxiety and nervousness create a rapid heartbeat. So the consequence of a BB is to increase
the length of time between beats. I have watched certain players who monitored their rate and then waited until the heart just 'boomed'. At this point the body is absolutely still and they launch their final delivery with an enhanced chance of a successful outcome.
BB had been banned earlier by Shooting authorities. Riflemen used this form of timing to pull the trigger (again using their body in the maximum stillness mode).
Prove it to yourself and you will see how it works. Then try it under pressure by shooting a tough case 9 ball for the match. You'll be soon winning a lot more matches. Let me know how you get on