CFL Player Award predictions

[J5V]

4 hours ago, 17to85 said:

meanwhile another self important reporter Mark Spector is giving props to the winnipeg media for shunning Harris. 

Really is a pattern here. The quality media people support Harris, the self important ****** canoes are taking the moral high ground because they are just better people than all of us and need to enlighten us ignorant masses. 

What a bunch of dorks!

[Stickem]

The league should have handled this ...they didn't...instead left it up to the whims of a few loser media people sitting in their little ivory tower...I won't forget this and neither should the Bomber faithful...This was just plain over the top discrimination against a star player in this league....Makes you wonder about their motivation....was it really all about keeping the league snowy white and clean (pious bastards) or was it something else....something they have against the team ??...In any event I hope Andrew Harris uses this as a motivation in the playoffs to further make those a-holes look stupid... Inspired play taking us to the Cup would be great...otherwise I hope Andrew runs wild on defenses and shows those idiots that nothing else but his talent and desire were needed for him to play this game at a very high caliber ...In my book Andrew is a winner.....

Edited October 31, 2019 by Stickem

[wpgallday1960]

8 minutes ago, Stickem said:

The league should have handled this ...they didn't...instead left it up to the whims of a few loser media people sitting in their little ivory tower...I won't forget this and neither should the Bomber faithful...This was just plain over the top discrimination against a star player in this league....Makes you wonder about their motivation....was it really all about keeping the league snowy white and clean (pious bastards) or was it something else....something they have against the team ??...In any event I hope Andrew Harris uses this as a motivation in the playoffs to further make those a-holes look stupid... Inspired play taking us to the Cup would be great...otherwise I hope Andrew runs wild on defenses and shows those idiots that nothing else but his talent and desire were needed for him to play this game at a very high caliber ...In my book Andrew is a winner.....

Agree.  CFL will now probably copy the NFL and have a rule that any player suspended for PEDs during the season is automatically ineligible for any post season awards.

[NorthernSkunk]

37 minutes ago, wpgallday1960 said:

Agree.  CFL will now probably copy the NFL and have a rule that any player suspended for PEDs during the season is automatically ineligible for any post season awards.

Sounds reasonable.

[Mark H.]

3 hours ago, Brandon said:

I like Walby but to me it appears that he reads message boards like this and bases his opinion on that.  He is entertaining on the radio though.     I liked back in the day when Zalnasky was with Irving... he was very reactionary but was never afraid to tell it the way it is.

False.  In Walby's heyday doing colour for CBC, message boards were not all that common.

[Jesse]

49 minutes ago, Stickem said:

The league should have handled this ...they didn't...instead left it up to the whims of a few loser media people sitting in their little ivory tower...I won't forget this and neither should the Bomber faithful...This was just plain over the top discrimination against a star player in this league....Makes you wonder about their motivation....was it really all about keeping the league snowy white and clean (pious bastards) or was it something else....something they have against the team ??...In any event I hope Andrew Harris uses this as a motivation in the playoffs to further make those a-holes look stupid... Inspired play taking us to the Cup would be great...otherwise I hope Andrew runs wild on defenses and shows those idiots that nothing else but his talent and desire were needed for him to play this game at a very high caliber ...In my book Andrew is a winner.....

I'm sure Bauming et al are rooting for Harris to have a moster play offs and win the Grey Cup - they wont admit it because they're supposed to be impartial, but I think they're still rooting for the person and teams. 

Didn't Jeff Hamilton do a podcast with Harris? I'm pretty sure they're friends. They certainly don't have anything against the player or the team and won't feel stupid if Harris continues to be great. I'm sure they expect him to do as he always has.

[Noeller]

ahhh the irony.......

 

[17to85]

36 minutes ago, Noeller said:

ahhh the irony.......

 

contrarians gonna be contrary. He better be careful he doesn't cut himself with all that edge. 

[GCn20]

Media should not be involved in this process anymore.

[Bigblue204]

4 hours ago, gcn11 said:

Media should not be involved in this process anymore.

I'm ok with them being involved. But how do they have the majority of votes? I believe they just changed that a few years ago...I thought it was odd then and I still do. Maybe an even split of coaches and media...?? I don't know. But you'd think they give coaches more of a say on who their best players are...

[J5V]

On 2019-10-30 at 4:06 PM, AKAChip said:

Let’s be real... if the tables were turned and it were the Riders who had Andrew Harris in this situation, we’d be singing the praises of those who kept him off their ballot. Regardless of whether you believe he was completely innocent (I don’t), it sets a bad precedent to give prestigious awards to a player who tested positive for a PED that same season. This isn’t complicated and the right thing happened. 

This is why I am anxious to see the results of this sample of the supplement he sent in for testing. It seems to be taking a long time and I don't understand why. I haven't heard a word from him regarding this issue. I really want to believe this was a case of cross-contamination. Come on Andrew, do you have the results or not and if so, what were they? 

[JCon]

19 minutes ago, J5V said:

This is why I am anxious to see the results of this sample of the supplement he sent in for testing. It seems to be taking a long time and I don't understand why. I haven't heard a word from him regarding this issue. I really want to believe this was a case of cross-contamination. Come on Andrew, do you have the results or not and if so, what were they? 

Nothing will happen fast. 

Best case scenario for Harris--> He gets sample tested. Tests positive. He gets sealed sample from same batch tested. Tests positive. This takes a while because lab work takes a while. Then what? Well, he needs legal help. He can't just go and accuse the retailer/distributer, despite having evidence, in public. They could sue him for defamation. It would cost him lots of money to defend himself. So, his legal team needs to approach the retailer/distributer. They may go on the defensive or look for a settlement. If they're looking at a settlement, they'll want a NDA. He won't be happy but money is money, so he may take it. He can't talk about. He can't even reference the NDA. More likely, he'll get a settlement, be able to say that he can't talk about it, take the cash and everyone will assume that he was right, tainted vitamins, and done. The retailer/distributer's name is never in the paper but most people know that he was truthful in his explanation. Harris gets paid a lot of money (for him). Some will still question it but most will understand. He can win awards again. This all takes months and months (if not years). 

Worst case scenario for Harris--> Sample comes back clean. Shoot. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by JCon

[J5V]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

Nothing will happen fast. 

Best case scenario for Harris--> He gets sample tested. Tests positive. He gets sealed sample from same batch tested. Tests positive. This takes a while because lab work takes a while. Then what? Well, he needs legal help. He can't just go and accuse the retailer/distributer, despite having evidence, in public. They could sue him for defamation. It would cost him lots of money to defend himself. So, his legal team needs to approach the retailer/distributer. They may go on the defensive or look for a settlement. If they're looking at a settlement, they'll want a NDA. He won't be happy but money is money, so he may take it. He can't talk about. He can't even reference the NDA. More likely, he'll get a settlement, be able to say that he can't talk about it, take the cash and everyone will assume that he was right, tainted vitamins, and done. The retailer/distributer's name is never in the paper but most people know that he was truthful in his explanation. Harris gets paid a lot of money (for him). Some will still question it but most will understand. He can win awards again. This all takes months and months (if not years). 

Worst case scenario for Harris--> Sample comes back clean. Shoot. 

As a fan that wants to believe he is innocent, I'd like him to tell me what is going on. 

"It’s been shipped away and I’m just waiting to hear back," Harris said after he tested positive in July, some 4 months ago.

He must have the result by now. If not, just give us an update saying "Hey guys, I know it's been a while but I'm still waiting to hear back". 

If he has the result and it's positive (the sample is contaminated) he could simply say ...

"The results of the supplement testing have come back and the supplement was found to be contaminated with this specific steroid and that lead to my failed drug test. I'm sorry but I can't say anything more about it for legal reasons." That's it. His fans will be happy and he can seek reparations.

If the supplement tested negative (the sample is clean) then he is going to look guilty and I wouldn't expect to hear from him until after the season is over.

The fact that he's simply been dead quiet for this long doesn't sound good.

[TBURGESS]

Harris has zero chance of 'proving' it was a tainted supplement. There is no chain of custody. There's no one who could say, he'd take that particular supplement from that particular container and hadn't taken anything else. He could send in any sample of anything whether he'd taken it or not.  He could 'Juice' the supplement sample before sending it in.

Even if he didn't have chain of custody problems, how would he be able to prove that it was that supplement and that supplement only that caused his positive test? Is there a way to look at the exact % of the banned substance and match it to his blood tests?

 

[Tracker]

9 hours ago, J5V said:

As a fan that wants to believe he is innocent, I'd like him to tell me what is going on. 

"It’s been shipped away and I’m just waiting to hear back," Harris said after he tested positive in July, some 4 months ago.

He must have the result by now. If not, just give us an update saying "Hey guys, I know it's been a while but I'm still waiting to hear back". 

If he has the result and it's positive (the sample is contaminated) he could simply say ...

"The results of the supplement testing have come back and the supplement was found to be contaminated with this specific steroid and that lead to my failed drug test. I'm sorry but I can't say anything more about it for legal reasons." That's it. His fans will be happy and he can seek reparations.

If the supplement tested negative (the sample is clean) then he is going to look guilty and I wouldn't expect to hear from him until after the season is over.

The fact that he's simply been dead quiet for this long doesn't sound good.

I am a big Harris fan, but the overwhelming probability is that we will hear nothing because there is either no way to conclusively disprove the initial positive result and that Harris likely had his hand in the cookie jar. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Tracker

[lyin' guy]

For the record;

I stand with Andrew Harris. 

[J5V]

2 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Harris has zero chance of 'proving' it was a tainted supplement. There is no chain of custody. There's no one who could say, he'd take that particular supplement from that particular container and hadn't taken anything else. He could send in any sample of anything whether he'd taken it or not.  He could 'Juice' the supplement sample before sending it in.

Even if he didn't have chain of custody problems, how would he be able to prove that it was that supplement and that supplement only that caused his positive test? Is there a way to look at the exact % of the banned substance and match it to his blood tests?

 

Nonsense. If it comes back positive you trace the lot numbers. Gather up unopened bottles of the supplement and test them too. If the whole lot tests positive you've got a real case. You just need to find a smoking gun and go from there. Obviously if your one and only sample bottle tests positive and the rest of the lot is clean you don't have a case for the reasons you've cited. But if the whole lot tests dirty, well now you've got something.

[J5V]

2 hours ago, Tracker said:

I am a big Harris fan, but the overwhelming probability is that we will hear nothing because there is either no way to conclusively disprove the initial positive result and that Harris likely had his hand in the cookie jar. 

I am a big Harris fan too. I'm just looking for an update but maybe it's as Jcon suggested and he's been advised to say nothing further. If that's the case it's disappointing. Maybe we'll hear more after the season is over.

[NorthernSkunk]

Even if the stuff proves to be tainted,  was Harris not still doing something the team docs would not have approved of ?

[J5V]

The whole issue of PEDs in professional sports is ridiculous AFAIC and no one should be taking the high moral ground on this issue IMO. 

http://thesportdigest.com/2016/03/the-morality-of-performance-enhancing-drugs-in-sports/

[Stickem]

My take is that Andrew has had this issue take away enough from the team and it's public perception...I think he wants to leave the issue until after the season and deal with it then....Nothing else most likely will transpire regarding this in any event

[TBURGESS]

1 hour ago, J5V said:

Nonsense. If it comes back positive you trace the lot numbers. Gather up unopened bottles of the supplement and test them too. If the whole lot tests positive you've got a real case. You just need to find a smoking gun and go from there. Obviously if your one and only sample bottle tests positive and the rest of the lot is clean you don't have a case for the reasons you've cited. But if the whole lot tests dirty, well now you've got something.

Nonsense. Even if it comes back positive, the courts have no way of knowing if Harris even took the offending test sample, let alone if that was the only thing he took or if he took the suggested amount or more. 

Gather up the unopened bottles? You think the company took them off the shelf and stored them in case Harris' sample came back positive? The whole lot is gone unless Harris' people bought up some of the lot at the time. 

Lets say you find some sealed containers from the same lot, pay to have them tested, and they turn out to be dirty. In an unregulated industry, does it even matter? It's not like the containers have a guarantee that they only contain what's on the label or that players taking them can pass the CFL drug test. Cross contamination explains it away without any liability or compensation. 

[J5V]

1 minute ago, TBURGESS said:

... spin doctoring, nonsense, conjecture, etc.  deleted ...

You're needlessly confusing the issue.

1. Andrew said he sent the sample in for testing.

2. It's either contaminated or it's not.

So what was the result?

[GCn20]

7 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Harris has zero chance of 'proving' it was a tainted supplement. There is no chain of custody. There's no one who could say, he'd take that particular supplement from that particular container and hadn't taken anything else. He could send in any sample of anything whether he'd taken it or not.  He could 'Juice' the supplement sample before sending it in.

Even if he didn't have chain of custody problems, how would he be able to prove that it was that supplement and that supplement only that caused his positive test? Is there a way to look at the exact % of the banned substance and match it to his blood tests?

 

Again...you are talking without knowing what you are talking about. There have been many examples of athletes who have successfully had IOC sanctions shortened by having supplements tested.

[TBURGESS]

17 hours ago, gcn11 said:

Again...you are talking without knowing what you are talking about. There have been many examples of athletes who have successfully had IOC sanctions shortened by having supplements tested.

Harris can't get his sanction shortened. He already served it.