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This morning, the sports world was rocked by a fantastic bit of investigative news work by the Miami New Times. Major League Baseball players Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez and others were named in the report accusing a Miami clinic, Biogenesis, of providing performance enhancing drugs to numerous athletes.
Former University of Miami players were named:
Other pro clients have substantial ties to UM. Take Cesar Carrillo, who is nicknamed "Al Capone" by Bosch. Carrillo, a hard-throwing starting pitcher, compiled a 24-0 mark to begin his career at UM and was drafted 18th overall in 2005 by the Padres. Carrillo, who is named six times throughout the books, was receiving HGH, MIC, and a testosterone cream as of last year, Bosch writes.
Just below Cabrera in the 2012 notebook is a baseball player whom Bosch calls "Josmany," with the nickname of "Springs." On a separate client list from June 2012, he writes that "Springs" is Josmany Grandal.
Although the first name is misspelled, the notations likely refer to Yasmani Grandal, the former star catcher for the University of Miami Hurricanes who once tore up the high school leagues playing for Miami Springs.
The University of Miami was mentioned once in proximity to the clinic named:
The names are all included in an extraordinary batch of records from Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic tucked into a two-story office building just a hard line drive's distance from the UM campus.
UM baseball strength and conditioning coach Jimmy Goins is named as a client:
At least one UM coach makes an appearance as well: Jimmy Goins, the strength and conditioning coach for the Hurricanes baseball team for the past nine seasons. Goins is recorded in multiple client lists; in one detailed page dated December 14, 2011, Bosch writes he's selling him Anavar, testosterone, and a Winstrol/B-12 mix and charging him $400 a month. Another, from this past December, includes sales of HGH and testosterone.
Instantly, news writers went into heat over another potential Miami Hurricanes scandal
University of Miami baseball implicated in latest steroid scandal. @miaminewtimes bit.ly/Wd81kD
— Joseph Goodman (@JoeGoodmanJr) January 29, 2013
Strong work by @miaminewtimes on this: bit.ly/Wd81kD Implicates #Canes baseball, A-Rod in steroidal matters
— Matt Porter (@mattyports) January 29, 2013
College link to Miami New Times article is The U. Been hearing links since at least 2005 ... strength coach implicated miaminewtimes.com/2013-01-31/new…
— John Manuel (@johnmanuelba) January 29, 2013
All these journalists forgot the number one rule in journalism (other than "eat all the press box food"): follow the money.
The key here is that Goins was noted in records from the clinic as receiving $400 a month in Anavar, Testosterone, a Winstrol/B-12 mix and HGH. These news writers want you to think this is the makings of a steroids scandal in the Hurricanes baseball locker room. They want you to envision ilicit bathroom butt punctures and needles exchanging hands between the Miami strength coach and juiced up players. This is a great scene, too bad it's not true.
I used to work at a clinic that did a lot of these "low-T" procedures, so I called my former boss who sold these treatments.
"We charge over $1200 a month for a HGH treatments," said the clinic administrator. "Testosterone is really cheap, we charge $10 per injection and you need to get one shot a week every week. We charge $15-20 for B-12 shots, but HGH and the rest of the drugs are expensive."
Then I asked, "How many people can be treated with testosterone, B-12 and HGH for $400 a month?"
"I can't believe even one person can be treated for that much. Unless he was getting HGH from China, that's not even at cost."
A simple online search reveals prices for Anavar quoted at $150.00 for a 10 day supply, and here's a bodybuilding forum where they discuss Winstrol prices.
Another problem with the University of Miami "implication," former Hurricanes players Grandal and Carillo are named as customers of Biogenesis in 2012 and 2011 respectively. Grandal was drafted in 2010, Carillo in 2005.
Is it possible that this clinic was selling drugs below cost to Goins so he could sell at a premium to Hurricanes baseball players? Sure. Is it probable? Not really. What's more probable is that we have a man, Jimmy Goins, aproaching 40 who wanted to stave off the natural aging process. He's a strength and conditioning coach who gets a reminder every day of how much strength a man loses as he ages. Goins isn't the mastermind of a team-wide steroid scandal; he's just a guy getting older who wants to look yolked.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get myself removed from all the goverment lists I'm now on after researching steroids forums.