HAWKS HOSPITALIZED: Twelve University of Iowa football players were hospitalized Monday night but the school is not releasing why
The University of Iowa says 12 of its football players were admitted to University of Iowa Hospitals Monday night.
A release sent out Tuesday did not detail the cause of the hospitalization, but did say the athletes are recovering.
A UIHC staff physician says, "All of the individuals are responding well to treatment as of Tuesday morning. All are in safe and stable condition. At this time we are not sure when any of the individuals will be discharged. Hospital discharge will be on a case by case basis."
The university says it will not release the identity of the athletes hospitalized or their conditions.
Rumor has it that they are all defensive players who contracted an unknown STD from Michigan State linemen during their October matchup. Look for Alabama defensive players to be in the news in a few weeks.
I figured after the way their draft stock fell after another ho-hum season this is just a ploy by the Iowa staff to explain why so many of them will be taken in the later rounds of the draft. You know since the program year in and year out cranks out 80-90 first round picks.
The Gazette said the Iowa players have rhabdomyolysis, which is a breakdown of muscle fibers that releases myoglobin into the bloodstream. This can affect the kidneys and can be caused by excessive exercise.
I smell an investigation.
sin,
Freep
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football."
-John Heisman
"Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise --- the other, loyalty." Fielding Yost
I do like how when it surfaced it was all hush-hush until they could get their story straight.
Dr. House: Ok team. What NATURAL occurring incident can cause symptoms such as these?
Student Trainer #1: Dick Diarrhea?
Dr. House: The only case of diarrhea here is coming out of your mouth. Shut up.
Student Trainer #2: We could claim they had a hazing party punching each other in the kidneys causing the blood in the urine?
Dr. House: Good idea. Get these cornfed studs kicked out of school for hazing and they end up at nebraska where they let anyone in who breathes. Facefuck a truck.
Student Trainer #3: How about we just tell the truth? You always lie.
Dr. House: This is college athletics. There's no such thing as the truth. You're fired. Let's see....rhabdomyolysis. With us getting 80-85 first round draft picks each year, no one will doubt these symptoms are due to our kickass training program. We'll say we did the P90X Doubles program until they gave out.
I haven't heard anything about steroids in this case but I think it was a horrible PR decision to hold a press conference today without Ferentz, the AD, or the strength and conditioning coach to be present to answer the questions. All I know is what I've read in their press releases except that my son told me he knows that at least four of the players were freshmen and one upper classman defensive back (Bernstine). Reportedly, all of the players are going to make a full recovery. Sounds like dehydration is the cause of the problem.
Haha! Another day, another blackmark on Iowa athletics. It's getting to be a broken record.
Jesus christ, I have 2 fucking employees quit on me because they're fags and so I have to actually work for a change and shit hits the god damn fan that I just found out about this. Anyone wanna get paid to be my personal bitch so I can go back to watching SportsCenter/keeping my kid from throwing food at me all day? Fuck this working bullshit.
Anyway, from what I can gather, I really don't know what to think of it. It's strange because the doctor said in the 32 years he's been at the University of Iowa hospitals, he's never seen mass illnesses like this related to our athletic programs. I guess there was a press conference today though I didn't see/hear any of it. People are getting all pissy cuz Ferentz and Barta didn't show up. I'm sure Kirk wants to show up for another retarded press conference to tell us absolutely nothing like he did just a month or so ago when all the false rumors about our football program were spreading. What's Kirk to say? He never says anything up substance anyway. Why would people want him at the presser?
Here's how press conferences with Kirk go in situations like this:
Retard reporter from WHO-TV in Des Moines: "Yeah, Kirk, are there problems with your workout programs?"
Kirk: "we're always looking into ways to improve what we're doing"
Moron from KCCI-TV in Des Moines: "Coach, have you spoken to (S&C coach) Chris Doyle, and what did you discuss?"
Kirk: "I'm always talking to my coaching staff. We are a pretty tight knit group"
Dipshit from FoxTV in Cedar Rapids: "Coach, coming off another great 8 win season, could you tell me how on earth you keep winning at this rate? It's gotta be darn near impossible, doneit coach?"
Kirk: "we just try to improve from year to year. that's really all we can do. we've got great players and coaches."
Seriously, that's how it would have gone. Kirk and Hayden Fry have controlled the Iowa media for the past 30 years. Nobody asks tough questions because our coaches NEVER answer them. The press conferences usually start off with a question or 2 that are semi-tough questions and then Kirk tiptoes around them, so the reporters just give up and start sucking his dick. So I have no problem with Kirk not being at the presser. He already had 1 meaningless press conference a month ago where he told us nothing. What's the need for another one?
This story is so weird. 13 players sick with the same thing. I don't know what to think of it because I can't recall another situation similar to this. I know workouts can sometimes go a little too far, but how do 13 players get sick from a workout? 1 or 2 players.......it happens from time to time in sports. But 13?
Chris Doyle is one of the best (if not the best) strength and conditioning coaches in the country, but hopefully he will figure out what changes need to be made to his workout programs so that this never happens again. I can't pin this on the head coach because it happened in the offseason and he's not responsible for overseeing our weight training programs (that's Doyle's job). But I don't understand how 13 of his players can be hospitalized yet he's nowhere to be found nor has he even been to the hospital from what I've heard......and this all went down 48 hours ago. I don't care that he wasn't at the presser, but he should be heard from. This is HIS program. And his program is taking a verbal beatdown from the local and national media. He needs to find himself a TV camera and say something. Anything. Just say some bullshit about how you've "got things under control". Make shit up, I don't care. This is called "damage control", Kirk.
Our PR department is an embarrassment to the University. When they try "damage control", they fail. We've had so much bad publicity over the last decade in football and mens hoops because our PR department does a poor job of covering shit up or advising the coaching staff on how to handle the situation. When one of our athletes rapes someone, is it asking too much out of our athletic department to not make the situation worse than it is? When a men's basketball player rapes a women's hoops player, is it out of the question for our head coach to suggest the victim to not go to the police but instead pray together? That angers people when you do that.
And when a couple of your football players perform a tag-team rape in an empty dorm room, is it asking too much out of the coach to NOT suggest a star player move into that dorm room since all the evidence is in there?
And when a bunch of false rumors are going around about your football program, is it asking too much of the football coach to come out right away and shoot the rumors down so that no further damage is done to the program?
And when you have 13 football players hospitalized and the national media ripping your program a new asshole, is it asking too much for the head coach to show his face on camera just once and make at least some comment?
Killian wrote:We're all in agreement that this is steroid related, right?
So tons of people that go through basic training in the military are on steroids? This is actually quite common in the military from over-exercising.
Clearly has nothing to do with steroids. You think 13 players all came down with the same illness because of roids all at the same time? When has that ever happened???
Ferentz is on the road recruiting and didn't return to Iowa City until last night. They should have postponed the presser until today. The were doing the exact same post Christmas break workout that they do every year, so it may not have anything to do with the workout, and something to do with the players not being fully hydrated. I don't know.
I guess JON would be happier if everyone played by Division III rules and the players all had to pay their own way......and the schools would still make millions. A free education at Iowa is about $20,000 a year.....I know because my son is a student there and does not have a full ride. Iowa had 26 seniors this year (including walk ons) and all of them had either graduated at semester or were on schedule to graduate in May. Their scholarships are, in many cases, for 5 years, which would total $100,000, and they also eat better than the average student for free. They graduate, get a job with their free education, and have an opportunity to make a good living.....and a very few end up in the NFL making millions. And, as someone else mentioned, the fact that they played Division I football opens a lot of doors for employment opportunities after graduation. You want to pay them? Hell, I think they're getting plenty already.
Yes, the schools make millions from their football programs. So what? Those millions also fund the non-revenue sports and are spent on upgrading facilities, etc. I agree that the players should be able to get a job during the off season during the school year, just like every other student, but, if they have a summer job, they should have more than enough spending money for the school year since all of their room/board/etc is being paid by the scholarship.
Ok, I have some inside info on this story and let me just say........for those of you that predicted steroids/performance enhancers were the reason..........you are most likely correct.
This is 2nd hand info, but I'm 100% confident the person that told me this would not bullshit me. Yes, this chat was over a few beers but still.....
Anyway, a good friend of mine happens to be the head athletic trainer at a small college in Iowa. He knows players at Iowa and Chris Doyle. His first reaction was that it was performance enhancement related. He said they probably all got the same dosage, and it's really the only thing possible when that many players come down with an this type of illness. So I grilled him on it that the doctor at the UIHC said this is common during basic training in the military because they over-exercise and aren't used to it. But then he said they don't happen in groups like this. I asked him if maybe they all went out and got drunk the night before working out hard, and he said it's so unlikely. I mean, I can't argue with him because I don't have a clue when it comes to something like this. He's got a master's degree in sports medicine and is a head athletic trainer at a college. I'm pretty sure he knows far more on the subject than me.
But he acknowledged there would still be a slim possibility performance enhancers had nothing to do with this. However, he said he KNOWS 1 of the players that's in the hospital is there BECAUSE of steroids. It's a player he knows on the team (and I'm not naming names). He says he has no idea why the other players are in the hospital other than their illness because he doesn't know the other 12. But he assured me that 1 of the players got ill because of a bad dose of the juice.
Now, then I asked him how the players could have passed a drug test and he said that with the drug testing they have in place at Iowa, you have to be a completely careless to fail one. What he meant by that, I don't know cuz I didn't ask him to clarify. Now, he doesn't know if Chris Doyle encourages or supplies steroids to players. In fact, he feels pretty confident he doesn't. One of my best friends played at Iowa about 7 years ago and he's told me many times nothing like that goes on (though he has named a couple players he knows used roids, but assured me Doyle had nothing to do with it and that he's certain they got them from someone outside the program). Let's face it, steroid use happens at every school. Iowa is no different. So I'm not calling Iowa out.
But this just seems fishy. We may never know exactly what happened (ie if the coach supplied them with roids or if this is just a fluke and roids had nothing to do with it) because of HIPAA laws (that have already partially been broken). A hospital cannot release that type of information. But if 1 player is in the hospital for something related to steroid use and he came down with the same illness as the other 12 players.........how can this not be a steroid issue?
I still don't understand why Kirk didn't show up until yesterday to release a statement. There's rumors that when he met with the parents, one of them went off on him and said "you sat in my living room and told me you would take care of my son. Where the hell have you been?". Someone in our PR department has got to call Kirk up and say "hey coach, you gotta get your ass to Iowa City right now and speak to the media". That said, I will punch Pat Forde in the mouth (and I'm not kidding either, I will put him in the hospital) if I ever see him. His article ripping on Ferentz was BS, and for him to come out and say Kirk doesn't care about his players should have his no-talent ass fired. I know for a fact Kirk cares DEEPLY for his players, and I guarantee the majority of his current and former players would echo that statement. His childish behavior over the years towards Iowa has been pathetic. He has a vendetta against Iowa because he's close to Gary Barnett (his former HS coach. Barnett and Hayden Fry HATED each other) and he went to Mizzou. He can go ahead and rip on Iowa's football team all he wants (hell, they probably deserved it this year), but to write in an article that Ferentz doesn't care about his players is fucking ignorant.
Take this info for what it's worth, but I'm telling you that I have a very credible source that is not the type to bullshit. End rant.
I don't know where your doctor source is getting his info, but that shit is NOT a common occurance in Basic Training, especially in those types of numbers. He is full of shit.
The Basic training thing is spin coming out of the Iowa athletic program, those guys were using something. In the 90s USC's S&C coaches used to administer Creatine to the team, guys had to sign in everyday that they had taken their Creatine. When a couple of guys started having side effects similar to what the guys in Iowa are having, not bad enough to be hospitalized though, the coaches ceased the Creatine regimens and banned it from being used by the players all together. Hopefully there is no permanent damage done to any of the guys, when it is that widespread you would have to think that it was something the S&C coaches were aware of and possibly giving out.
All of the players have been released from the hospital and the university is investigating the reasons for what happened. I don't doubt that creatine had something to do with this, as that is one of the more common supplements used by high school and college athletes. There should be some answers soon. One thing that I've learned from this is that Pat Forde is an uninformed idiot with a poison pen......and he can suck my dick. If he's an example of Missouri's school of journalism, they should shut it down. Stating an opinion is one thing but basing that opinion on pure speculation is piss poor journalism.
ALL 13 UNIVERSITY OF IOWA STUDENT-ATHLETES RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
IOWA CITY, Iowa — All 13 of the University of Iowa football players who had been hospitalized with symptoms of rhabdomyolysis, a muscular syndrome, have been released from University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
“Getting all 13 student-athletes healthy and out of the hospital has been priority number one all along, so I’m very happy that they all are now back home and resuming their lives,” said Kirk Ferentz, the UI’s head football coach.
“These young men and their families have been through a difficult and trying time. They are under my supervision and watch, and I am truly sorry for what they’ve experienced. They trained extremely hard and ended up in the hospital, and there is no indication they did anything wrong. So I’m pleased they are progressing well and I look forward to seeing all of them being back to normal.”
The University’s athletics department earlier had confirmed the release of five student-athletes Friday. Six more were discharged on Saturday, and the final two were sent home on Sunday.
“Now that these students are out of the hospital and on the road to recovery, we can devote our full attention to determining what happened, and making sure it does not happen again,” said Ferentz. “There has been a lot of speculation by those who don’t have the facts and it is unfair and inappropriate for anyone to make wild guesses about what happened.”
“We obviously are extremely pleased all of our student-athletes have been released from the hospital and can begin the return to their academic, athletic, and personal lives,” said Gary Barta, the UI’s director of athletics.
“We now can focus exclusively on discovering the root cause of this situation, and I’m anxious to work with President Mason’s group to this end. We will review every aspect of the workouts and talk with everyone involved. The staff and coaches who work with these young men are highly respected professionals who are dedicated and care deeply about our student-athletes. I hope those who follow our program will respect this process moving forward and refrain from any
further unproductive rush to judgment."
SoCalTrjn wrote:The Basic training thing is spin coming out of the Iowa athletic program, those guys were using something. In the 90s USC's S&C coaches used to administer Creatine to the team, guys had to sign in everyday that they had taken their Creatine. When a couple of guys started having side effects similar to what the guys in Iowa are having, not bad enough to be hospitalized though, the coaches ceased the Creatine regimens and banned it from being used by the players all together. Hopefully there is no permanent damage done to any of the guys, when it is that widespread you would have to think that it was something the S&C coaches were aware of and possibly giving out.
If you're using Creatine, which is not a banned substance (as you erronously claimed earlier), you have to drink at least twice as many liquids to stay hydrated.
SoCalTrjn wrote:13 guys go down from it, it's safe to assume the school was providing it for them
"Safe to assume" if you're a fucking moron. It's safer to assume that, IF the school were providing the supplement, many more players would have been hospitalized. I've known numerous high school athletes who take Creatine for body building and none of it was provided by the school. It's not a violation for the players to take the supplement, only for the school to dispense it. We're talking about Iowa here, not USC, so it's "safe to assume" that they're playing by the rules.
