Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Today's Blind Items - Guess The Athlete

As of a couple days ago when I last checked, no one had correctly guessed the last Guess The Athlete.

Guess the athlete time again. New athlete. New sport. There are many different versions of this sport. It is in the Olympics. It is also a professional sport. Many top professionals are household names on a global scale.

Our athlete, however is not a household name. Our athlete only very briefly felt the need to compete professionally.  What makes our athlete unique is their level of domination in their sport and their assumed level of drug use.

Our athlete is one of the most dominating athletes within their respective sport in human history. Even the best of the best athletes lose a handful of times in their career. Not our athlete. At their peak, our athlete did not lose a competition for over 10 years. Think about that for a minute. Our athlete was so far ahead of everyone else it was almost laughable.

Here is where things get interesting. Drug use in athletics is a constantly evolving cat and mouse game. Typically the top athletes in the world are quite a few steps ahead of the athletic organizations. They can use what they please and have absolutely nothing to worry about as far as being caught.  Eventually, though, they get exposed. Their tactics get exposed. And large groups of athletes go down. (Much the case with lance Armstrong)

Our athlete has never failed a drug test despite being tested frequently and randomly. Our athlete never played “games” when being asked to provide a sample. Every time a new technique is discovered, our athletes samples are tested and pass.

Our athlete is now retired. Recently a new technique for drug use was discovered. Most athletes and trainers don’t know this yet. Many athletes will be exposed. Many big names will go down. Much like every prior technique before, the athlete we are discussing today was recently investigated for this. Their old samples were pulled and tested. And, much like every technique and drug that has been exposed since this athlete retired, the athlete tested clean.

Never has a sport been so dominated by an athlete. And never has an athlete so dominated a sport in this way.

Our athlete today did it without cheating and without drugs.


110 comments:

  1. All the USA big names in Olimpics are cheaters. I hope someday they will be exposed and justice would be done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael Jordan, I live near where he lived for decades. Knew folks who worked on his home, served him, did business with him, we're friends with him. He's a creep. Nobody said nice things ever

      Delete
  2. Maybe an amateur boxer or wrestler

    ReplyDelete
  3. So most of their career was as an amateur/ Olympian/ college athlete. Only very briefly pro. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael Phelps? Is there pro swimming?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Sansa - Michael Phelps is a household name.

      Delete
  5. Wait, we're playing Guess the Clean Athlete? Maybe Enty really is dead.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd say Dan Gable if it was wrestling, but he's probably too old for this blind.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Guillermo Rigondeaux

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Rigondeaux

    What sport is both olympic and professional with huge name stars where someone can dominate without being a household name?

    Non-Heavyweight Boxing.

    This guy seems to match a lot of stuff in the blind.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I predict this will be the same set of guesses that were also wrong for the last blind. Ha.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I did a Google for this because we don't know who this is. Sir Steve Redgrave, rowing,won 5 gold medals between 1984-2000 or if a female Birgit Fischer kayaking won 8 gold's over 24 years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Professional rowing and kayaking are a thing?

      Delete
    2. Apparently they are hothotheat. I live outside Sarasota and this past fall we hosted some kind of big, international rowing competition. It was of no interest to me, so I don't know anything about it, but it was widely promoted and attended.

      Delete
  10. Replies
    1. @hothotheat - There aren't that many forms of basketball.

      Delete
  11. Claressa Shields. Boxing. If it's not her, I think the blind is a female because pains were taken not to say "him" or "he".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shields doesn't have a 10 year career yet and has a current and ongoing pro career.

      Delete
  12. Shocking. Like the dodo bird, I thought non-cheating/non-doping world class athletes were extinct.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ser Arthur Dayne, killed by Howland Reed and Ned Stark at the tower of Joy. He is known known as the best swordsman to have ever lived so its very probable he never failed any drug tests!

    ReplyDelete
  14. @hothotheat even as I write this canoers and kayakers are in my town, and some are even living in my complex, doing spring training for the upcoming season. I had a whole group of them living in the apartment next to me last year--the Canadian Olympic Female Canoe Team. So in aspects it must be because the National Teams travel and compete all around the world starting in May.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But are they paid? Is this their job, like football or basketball players? I've known my share of rowers (lived in Boston) but it was hobby, not a job or career.

      Delete
  15. A runner? I feel like this is something in track that happens a lot..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  16. It does not say this athlete competed in the Olympics.

    It does say there are many different versions of this sport, including Olympic, professional, amateur....


    Esther Vergeer, the wheelchair tennis player, went ten years without losing a match. She is often mentioned as the most dominant player in a sport of all time.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Vergeer

    ReplyDelete
  17. Clearly Aleksandr Karelan. Greatest Greco Roman wrestler of all time. Undefeated for 13 years. Completely dominated the sport. Had one professional exhibition fight after he retired. Everything else in the blind fits. “Pro” wrestles are household names. Etc.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Karelin

    ReplyDelete
  18. Carl Lewis.

    "Lewis was a dominant sprinter and long jumper who topped the world rankings in the 100 m, 200 m and long jump events frequently from 1981 to the early 1990s". 'nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carl Lewis was a household name, though.

      Delete
    2. Are there professional runners?

      Delete
  19. BTW, Did anyone guess Usain Bolt for the previous one and him wanting to move into football?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Usain Bolt: Jamaican sprinter (100 meter and 200 meter )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Is this guess a joke? Usain Bolt is known worldwide. The subject of this blind is not well known. Usain is not the answer to the last Guess the Athlete either. Many people guessed him and this blind states none of the guesses are correct.

      Delete
    3. I love this comment, T. W.

      Delete
  21. Karelin is a very good guess.

    I remember one of those bio clips during some olympics of him, where he's trudging through the snow with a boulder under each arm to train.

    ReplyDelete
  22. So far I like either the Esther Vergeer or Aleksandr Karelen guesses.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I was thinking Carl Lewis too, but I'm not sure how its a professional sport? I mean I know there are races but there isn't like an NFL for runners so to speak.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Both Vergeer and Karelin had 10+ year win streaks, their sports are both in the Olympics in various forms, and top professionals are household names.

    Could be either IMO.

    I think Karelin makes more sense for the drug suspicions, so I would lean towards him.

    Lots of really ridiculous guesses so far so thank you Moose and Broseph for actually doing some research before posting.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks @pkelly491.

    I actually saw Vergeer play at the US Open before her retirement. Just an amazing athlete. Then spend a good half hour speaking with fans and taking photographs. Amazing character for a woman who was dealt a body that just failed her, and that surgery made even worse.

    I love that she was asked, and accepted, posing nude in ESPN's "The Body" issue a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Do they really save their samples all this time? I would think it would be discarded after test and current olympics done.

    ReplyDelete
  28. julio cesar chavez - mexican boxer, undefeated for 13 years

    ReplyDelete
  29. and Tim Tebow for the other blind about the clean rep'd athlete who switched sports.

    ReplyDelete
  30. "Our athlete, however is not a household name."

    oh whoops, nevermind tiger guess....if he isnt a household name, then Im stumped.

    se

    ReplyDelete
  31. julio cesar chavez sr, that is.

    jr. apparently fails many a drug test lol.

    ReplyDelete
  32. why are people guessing professional athletes when the blind says “only briefly felt the need to compete professionally” ?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Speaking of Olympics....why has Mary Lou Retton been ghost in all the US Olympic gymnastics pedo talk? Is it worse to have that perfect 1984 image tarnished by admitting it happened 2 her too or covering up the Karolli secret? Wasnt she ALSO allehed to have gone to Feinstein's office to stop the Gymnastic Sex Abuse bill? Paid silence? Something's rotten behind that smile!:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe she’s moved on and chooses not to address it. It’s her choice alone.

      Delete
  34. Secretariat.

    Except he only raced for two years, and actually lost some early races. But he was so dominant that no other horse could compete. After his death they discovered his heart was twice the size of a normal thoroughbred, and a third larger than any other.

    Of course, one could say he was undefeated in stud work, and that lasted quite a few years.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I'm thinking Edwin Moses in the 400m hurdles - he won over 100 races in a row and is an outstanding person in every respect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are there professional hurdlers?

      Delete
  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  37. i second the edwin moses guess.

    ReplyDelete
  38. The previous as yet unsolved Guess The Athlete. Apparently all guesses in that thread are wrong.

    http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2018/02/blind-item-10-guess-athlete.html

    ReplyDelete
  39. @Merlin

    They used to throw away samples after they were tested. However, after Lance Armstrong and the US Track and Field teams being all juiced up, officials have been storing samples for future testing for new PEDS unbeknownst to them.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Damn, you people cannot read. I don't have an answer, but I have eyes.

    "New athlete. New sport. There are many different versions of this sport. It is in the Olympics. It is also a professional sport."
    No wrestling
    No tennis
    No running
    No boxing
    No rowing (maybe kayaking?)

    "(O)ur athlete did not lose a competition for over 10 years."

    "Our athlete only very briefly... compete(d) professionally."

    "Our athlete never played “games”..." (This indicates it is not a sport with a singular game like soccer or baseball.)

    "Our athlete is now retired."

    Fuck. Make your answers fit all of this shit. Now let's start over. One final thought: my suspicion, given the winter olympics just wrapped up, is that it is snowboarding based on the new sport thing. Also, other new sports (let's cut it off at 1960): Biathlon, Luge, Short Track speed skating, Freestyle skiing and luge.

    ReplyDelete
  41. I'd like Edwin Moses for this but he was pretty famous.

    ReplyDelete
  42. @Bill Philly

    By saying New Athlete. New Sport. enty is insinuating that it is a different sport than the previous Guess the Athlete blind, not that it's a "new" sport. It very well could be a sport that has been around forever, like wrestling or tennis.

    "There are many different versions of this sport. It is in the Olympics. It is also a professional sport." - that sounds like Wrestling.

    It's Aleksandr Karelin. Pretty confident of that now.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Edwin Moses

    122 races

    Streak started September 2, 1977 DĆ¼sseldorf, West Germany
    Streak ended June 4, 1987 Madrid, Spain

    10 years.
    There are many different versions of this sport. It is in the Olympics.
    It is also a professional sport.
    Many top professionals are household names on a global scale.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Edwin Moses was my first thought as well. One online source says he was undefeated for 9 years, 9 months and 9 days. However, he was/is a household name, and there is no professional sport for track and field.

    Philly, I think there are a couple of errors in your summary. 'New sport' means not the same sport as the last Guess the Athlete blind. 'Played games' refers to providing a sample for testing, not to the sport itself.

    Vergeer or Karelin are still possible. Did either play pro at all?

    ReplyDelete
  45. Karelin had one professional match, against Akira Maeda in 1999. Other than that he was pretty much strictly amateur.

    ReplyDelete
  46. I am thinking of the last Guess the Athlete. While several people fit the blind, it was agreed that Michael Jordan fit almost all the clues. Now I wonder if the athlete is LeBron James.

    I am thinking about all the people we guessed. Either the blind was difficult to solve on purpose or the answer will be obvious in hindsight.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Guess who really can't read!

    ReplyDelete
  48. @Karma, not everybody who has been molested feels comfortable coming out and admitting abuse happened. I really hope it didn't, but realistically it probably did.

    ReplyDelete
  49. if the drug testing is more advance3d the leagues should fuck themselves. not the athletes problem they were doing what the league wanted which is perform.

    If the league officials agree to acholhol and drug testing(including for testosterone resplacement therapy) then fine, all for it.

    That is what gets me lauging about the so called "cheating" proclaimed by congress and/or media types. The media and politicians have plastic surgery, implants, makeup, hair plugs and the ones over 40 years old typically on growth hormone and test, yet the athletes do the same so they can recover, look good for the camera and perform at optimum levels and it's "cheating"

    get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.

    everybody at a high level, whether business, sports, entertainment or politics uses some edge to perform and look better. Do you guys really think Oprah or any chicks who are heavy post birth actually did that without help?
    fuck off already

    I love what the late greg giraldo said about sports and drugs, it's entertainment and he knows another performance enhancing drug called CRACK and he does not see anyone taking away Whitney Houston's gold records

    ReplyDelete
  50. OMG, I had never heard of Aleksander Karolin before but now I'm obsessed!! What an athlete!!

    ReplyDelete
  51. I read a book on the payboy empire 10 years ago and it talked about how Hugh Hefner, when he was actually working used to take speed and or diet pills so he could stay away for 36 hours to meet publishing deadlines.

    Just think about it.

    Oh athlete in blind are either Brady(because he is at end of career and no use to the powers that be so they will fuck him over now) or gretsky

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Nelson Muntz69 - Brady plays American Football, which is not an Olympic sport. He is also a household name here, a lot if us are sick of him.

      Wayne Gretzky is a household name, people call him "The Great One."

      Delete
  52. Not Carl Lewis. He tested positive, and admitted as much. The U.S. Olympics Committee simply ignored the failures and gave him a pass. "Lewis has now acknowledged that he failed three tests during the 1988 US Olympic trials, which under international rules at the time should have prevented him from competing in the Seoul games two months later."

    ReplyDelete
  53. Edwin Moses is an excellent guess.
    He is only a household name for us old farts.

    ReplyDelete
  54. To all the people not living in a cave guessing Usain Bolt please learn how to read and fk off. This is not funny. CDaN is an extremely popular blog, you don't know who is reading it. Our guesses can ruin a life or a career be it right or wrong.

    Today's blind says the athlete is NOT a household name. Who hasn't heard of Usain Bolt?

    Go have some fun on the previous Guess the Athlete blind. We worked hard to solve that one but didn't do it.

    ReplyDelete
  55. @TW Noted - I read the blind too fast and missed details that would’ve made it clear that UB wasn’t in the running for this one. Less of the hostility might be nice, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Jessorella - Thank you for your kindness, please accept my apology. I ain't mad at you for sure. I get that we miss details on the first read & I get people make joke guesses. I became upset because others kept pointing out the details and people still continued to guess Usain. That made me think the guesses were made on purpose. If that is the case then the trolls got to me today. Time for me to go off line so I guess I will see you here tomorrow.

      PS - the last Guess the Athlete was both fun and frustrating for me and I can't wait for the reveal!

      Delete
    2. @TW No worries - happens to us all. When there’s a string of comments or discussions heading a certain way then paranoia can definitely take hold and make you think there’s an ulterior motive or an incoming botwave. As for both Guess the Athlete BIs, sports is so not my thing so I can only ever think of the big household names!

      Delete
  56. I'm thinking this has to be an individual sport, not team as it's difficult for teams to go 10 years without losing a match. Hence individual sport.

    Aleksandr Karelin fits this.
    Undefeated from 1988-2000. Only wrestled professionally once.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Not Moses. Samples are saved and can be tested again for 10 years by wada. It's not even close.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Usain Bolt. He lost a championship race last year for the first time since 2007. He is recently retired and was just stripped of a gold medal for the 2008 relay because one of his teammates' old samples tested positive for doping (Bolt's did not). Track & Field has dealt with a ton of PED scandals, but he was never touched by them. It was still hard for people to accept that he was the most naturally gifted sprinter in history.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Isabell Werth? She’s a German equestrian that’s won an incredible amount of medals.

    ReplyDelete
  60. "Guess the athlete time again. New Athlete. New Sport".

    Actually I would interpret this as saying this athlete and sport are not the same as the previous athlete blind, not that the sport is new. It can't be that new if our athlete has retired from it.

    The fact that there are many different versions of the sport, that it is in the Olympics, and that it is also a professional sport makes me think wrestling. Particularly since some of the top pro wrestlers are quite famous, and our champion felt no need to be a pro. Pro wrestling is not a real sport so you can see the appeal of not turning pro.

    It would also be quite remarkable for a champion wrestler to not be on the juice since getting REALLY strong is a huge part of this sport.

    ReplyDelete
  61. @hothot sorry I didn't get back to you, they would be paid by the sponsors they have and the Olympic Committees of their countries, like the kayakers and canoists who are here who are representing Canada, would be paid by the Canadian Olympic committee and the team sponsors.
    Most guesses like Bolt, Klishko, Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses are well known athletes everywhere so they don't fit here. It's somebody in an obscure sport who would be relatively unknown.

    ReplyDelete
  62. The first guess the athlete has to be Ohtani form Japan. The way he came over to MLB is not the same way as prior Japanese stars. And he is arguably bigger than all prior Japanese players, at least in terms of potential. A feared hitter with a 100mph fastball? And look at his size compared to your average Japanese. Taller and broader.
    As to this one, definitely the Russian wrestler.

    ReplyDelete
  63. New sport and in olympics sounds like some kind of snowboarding to me. Shaun white maybe in snowboard half pipe.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Neil and Kno Won Uno.....yes there are professional, high paying competitions for track and field, run by the IAAF, there is a world cup tournament season, I'm not sure of the pay but I know if an athlete wins every one of his events across the series they can walk home with a million $ in gold. Even then the top athletes earn much more from sponsorship deals.

    ReplyDelete
  65. New sport means different sport from the last time, not new sport. So even though it could be a new sport it probably isn't since this guy was in it for at least a decade and retired from it very successfully.
    Even though he was a household name and very famous as an amateur boxer and Olympian, I'm going to say Teofilo Stephenson who absolutely dominated amateur boxing when he did it and I think Castro let him turn pro for awhile, but not sure about that. Anyway he got paid whether he was a professional or not. He totally dominated his sport. I hesitate because he was extremely famous which really doesn't fit what Entern is describing here.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Agree with guesses for Aleksandr Karelin.

    Nicknamed the "Russian Bear", "Russian King Kong", "Alexander the Great" and "The Experiment", he is considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time. Karelin won gold medals at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for the Soviet Union and Russia. Record of 887 wins and 2 losses.

    Wrestling has many forms; Greco roman, freestyle, sambo, professional.

    ReplyDelete
  67. I will go with Sergey Bubka.

    From Wikipedia: "He set his first world record of 5.85m on 26 May 1984. He cleared 6.00 metres for the first time on 13 July 1985 in Paris. This height had long been considered unattainable. With virtually no opponents, Bubka improved his own record over the next 10 years until he reached his career best and the then world record of 6.14 m in 1994."

    The record stood till 2014.

    Athletics is world sport where some names can be considered as household, doubt that for wrestling. Boxing can fit in too..

    But still think it is Bubka, he is now Senior Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)and President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine so probably got info on these new methods and did his testing again.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Funny how a lot of people can write but not read. The blind clearly says that the athlete is NOT a household name. Usain Bolt? Carl Lewis? Edwin Moses? Really?

    ReplyDelete
  69. FLOYD MAYWEATHER

    ReplyDelete
  70. @justanothergossipgirl
    "Athletics is world sport where some names can be considered as household, doubt that for wrestling."
    The Rock, Hulk Hogan are both household names all over the world.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Greco wrestling is much much different then Monday Night Raw. I don't think Enty means wrestling.

    ReplyDelete
  72. @mem, I was referring to Aleksandr Karelin guesses, and wrestling that is Olympic sport. No one from that one would ever become worldwide household name....
    I consider Bubka to be one of the greatest, but said it's him since runners are way ahead in popularity than maybe even the greatest pole vaulter in history

    ReplyDelete
  73. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Many different forms of the sport could be hockey. Many people know the ice hockey players but no one knows field hockey and the hockey plaid on a basketball court. No one knows those names.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Could be an animal... sledding, racing. Dog sledding is Olympic. Is horse racing?

    ReplyDelete
  76. As the mother of 2 wrestlers I concur with the Aleksandr Karelin guess. Guy is a beast and what every young wrestler aspires to be. Interesting note on wrestling-technique beats power.

    ReplyDelete
  77. @sandybrook TeĆ³filo Stevenson never became pro. He was offer a ton of money to lure him to fight Muhammad Ali but he declined (that would have been a hell of a fight). When asked if he regretted having turned down all that money he used to say that he was a millionaire because he had XX millions of friends (every Cuban) and that if they asked every one of them a dollar they'd give it to him or something like that.

    Guillermo Rigondeaux is a good guess. I know nothing about wrestling, but Aleksandr Karelin seems like another good guess too. Sergey Bubka was named a lot while Yelena Isinbayeva was in her prime, making his name known to many of those who didn't see him compete. Saying that he is a household name may be a stretch, but I don't think it's him.

    ReplyDelete
  78. This is without question Esther Vergeer. 48 Grand Slam wins in wheelchair tennis, one of the most fascinating and grueling sports in the world. Her winning streak was 470 straight matches. Roger Federer reveres her.

    ReplyDelete
  79. No one has mentioned skiing as a possibility. Sport that has many different forms. I remember Herman Maier and Alberto Tomba as guys who dominated skiing when I was a kid.

    ReplyDelete