mattmccarthy Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Do You Drink Too Much? Here's How You Can Tell
Now that the holidays are over, a bit of reflection is in order. The days were short, the nights long, and the awkward, forced social interactions all too frequent. Many of us breezed through uncomfortable office holiday parties or family dinners with the aid of alcohol; some drank too much, others ...
How A Boxer Could Use PEDs Right In The Middle Of A Fight
When someone mentions performance-enhancing drugs, what comes to mind? For me, it's an image of two 'roided out home run hitters embracing on a baseball field. But as Adrien Broner might have discovered on Saturday night, the world of PEDs—which we traditionally associate with anabolic steroids and ...
Is Kobe Blood Doping? What Those Trips To Germany Are Really About
Kobe Bryant is just back from a ruptured Achilles tendon, but that doesn't mean the rest of him is magically fixed. He's still got to deal with all the damage that 18 years of professional basketball inflicts on the human body. In recent years, that's meant a trip to Germany and a promising, somewha...
Did The NCAA Screw Up Another Player Health Decision?
As a near universal rule, the NCAA makes bad decisions. So when I heard that the NCAA had recently made a controversial decision pertaining to student-athlete health, a decision that incited the ire of the American Society of Hematology, I reflexively assumed the NCAA had once again screwed up. Now ...
The Science Of Hangovers: Causes, Cures, And Prevention
This is one of the first rivalry weekends of the college football season, and I'll be spending it in New Haven, Connecticut, for what is perhaps the nadir of intercollegiate gridiron competition: the Harvard/Yale game. Inside the stadium, the future business leaders of America will strap on the pads...
Is The New CTE Test For Football Players A Good One?
November 6th was a landmark day in the NFL's ongoing head trauma debacle. We learned that Tony Dorsett, the 59-year-old Hall of Fame running back who'd recently been battling depression and memory problems, had been diagnosed with early signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Not long af...
Can Science Predict An Injury-Prone Future Draft Pick?
Freshman basketball phenom Andrew Wiggins’s college debut tonight for the University of Kansas is one of the most anticipated arrivals in a generation. When he steps on the court at Allen Fieldhouse against the University of Louisiana at Monroe, scouts from every NBA team will presumably be watching...
So You Got A Deadly Infection From Playing In The NFL? Prove It.
Of all the storylines you expected to be a part of the first half of the NFL season, a workman's comp issue involving a toenail probably wasn't one of them. But it is, and it's actually intriguing in a number of ways, large and small....
The Terrifying Hell A Marathon Inflicts On The Human Body
Pamela Anderson running on a beach is one of those indelible images in American pop culture. So there were a lot of yuks when she announced earlier this fall that she'd be running in the New York City Marathon, which takes place this Sunday. Pam Anderson running—for 26.2 miles! And when she went on ...
What Happens When A Boxer Is Beaten To Death, And How We Can Stop it
After Jermichael Finley's recent spinal cord injury, a sportswriting friend of mine shook his head and referred to football as “America's sickness.” As severe as it was, though, Finley's injury wasn't nearly the worst a professional athlete suffered last weekend. On Saturday night, 26-year-old jun...
It's Too Soon To Say That Jermichael Finley Is "Going To Be Fine"
For the second time in the past month, Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley has sustained a serious head injury while playing football. And while he appears to be recovering movement following a temporary paralysis immediately after the injury, it's a stark reminder that the effects of head...
Does Dustin Pedroia—Or Any Pro Athlete—Have A Right To Privacy?
The bearded, hundred-million-dollar face of the Red Sox franchise played through much of the 2013 season with an injury he wishes you never heard about. And the thing is, maybe you shouldn't have. ...
The Hidden Victims Of The NFL's Concussion Crisis
Late last fall, as the NFL playoff picture began to take shape, I was summoned to the psychiatric ward of my hospital. As an HIV specialist, I routinely encounter patients with mental health issues who have trouble taking their medications, but when I read the page requesting my consultation, I noti...