Trevor Graham's Memory Improves

Story written by EPelle

Trevor Graham has been healed. His memory - faded and jaded from unnecessary federal agent phone calls, trips to the San Francisco Bay Area to plea for charges of which he says he is innocent- has come back clearer than ever, and he has been blessed by Google in his search to bring to justice the criminal who wrecked his main man, Justin Gatlin.

According to the Washington Post, Trevor Graham insists he recalls more than ever what happened to Gatlin, and that a plot by attackers was underway to get back at Graham for turning in the THG-tainted syringe which ultimately brought down the wall on the undercover BALCO affairs.

Amy Shipley quotes people to tell a story which seems to lend credibility to Graham. However, in the context of what was previously stated by Graham in august, these proponent quotes only make Graham look all the more palpable and even sillier than he had appeared to be.

The best thing for Trevor Graham at this point is to simply zip it up, call it a career, and turn off the light after he leaves. Neither Gatlin's attorneys nor Gatlin have spoken on Graham's interpretation of the april 2006 events, nor have they offered any more information on the initial claim Graham made this past summer. They actually distanced themselves from Graham once he opened up the world to the conspiracy by masseur story. The masseur's attorney claimed that Graham was not speaking on behalf of Gatlin.

Shipley gives us a warm-fuzzy by bringing in Bob Beamon's wife to speak good will of Gatlin.

"I have no doubt in my mind he didn't do anything," said Robin Beamon, the ex-wife of legendary long jumper Bob Beamon and a friend of Gatlin's who is involved in youth track and field in Miami. It just goes against everything this kids stands for. Once you wade through all the craziness, what did he stand to lose or gain? It was the Kansas Relays. He was . . . at the top of the world."

Several of the world's top doped athletes have been reported to test positive in march and april, Tim Montgomery the latest of the "big" names which comes immediately to mind prior to Gatlin. What Gatlin stood to gain was sole possession of the world record it would later show, as Asafa Powell attempted to shove his way (nicely) through, but couldn't knock Gatlin off the =WR list. If doping provides 0,01-seconds of improvement over 100m, the risk to an athlete whose bonus money included WR performances could be worth it in lieu of not being discovered.

She (Bob Beamon's wife) concluded above that Gatlin was at the top of the world. There appears to be a reason why he was at the top of the world.

Later, Graham speculated that he -- not Gatlin -- might have been the target because of anger in the track and field world surrounding his decision to send the syringe filled with steroids to USADA in 2003. The federal investigation that Graham launched resulted in five criminal convictions and more than a dozen athlete suspensions. According to that theory, Graham's enemies wanted to take him down by implicating Gatlin, his star runner.

Wow. How smart is this guy, Trevor Graham?

If this was really the case, that the masseur wanted to get back at Graham, one simple way would have been to plant evidence on Graham's possession, in his vehicle or at his home, call the authorities and say that he had seen Graham take with him a prohibited substance. Busted, and no one would ever doubt again that Graham had any connection to doping athletes.

Instead, we get this ridiculous story - which has gotten much more interesting and more detailed as time has gone along (what recollection Graham has) - about a pink coloured "s" swiggle, and a recollection that Gatlin told Graham to basically back off when the commotion started. First we learned that it was Graham who wanted to intercede, but the tube was quickly put away in Christopher Whetstine's pocket, and Graham didn't think anything more of it. Now it has changed and become more elaborate with Gatlin stating, "Let him do his job, man!"

Something strange I would like to acknowledge here is that if Graham had any concern for Gatlin, who apparently went through every conceivable precaution as to not ever test positive (including locking his luggage, ordering room service when away), he would have stopped everything right then and there, and told Gatlin he was concerned with what had just occured; he would have rushed Whetstine and forced his hand into the pocket. He didn't. What neatly disappeared in this version of Trevor Graham's Looking Darn Good story is the portion where Graham apparently told Whetstine that Gatlin didn't need a massage in the first place.

"All I saw was the massage therapist go into a bag and bring out something else," Walker said. "He rubbed something else on Justin. . . . It was right there in front of me. It wasn't what he used on Shawn."

Indeed, I had to chuckle over this one. Would one athlete necessarily have the same treatment as another one? Would they complain if Gatlin ate a Snickers and Crawford was offered a Twix instead?

Shipley continues by quoting Cedric Walker, USA Track and Field's former relay program manager, who said he observed Whetstine working on sprinter Shawn Crawford and Gatlin after a training session in Lawrence.

Another scratch your head statement. Ask yourself why this is important after the fact. Why? Because Graham's little corner of henchmen need to provide some basis that proves that Whetstine was in contact with Gatlin more than once.

However, as the article states, Gatlin had only tested positive in april at the Kansas relays; he had been clean on six other occasions. Graham, in an ESPN feature article written by Michael Fish in the summer, stated that the testers had seemed to be on a stalking mission, so to speak, and had been tipped to head to his camp several times in one week. If Whetstine was using an illegal cream on Gatlin, and he wanted to get back at Graham, it would have been easier to call USADA, tell them Gatlin was using, spread some cream on him, and have them show up on an agreed upon day for an out of competition test. The one-application, one-test positive seems impractical for Kansas relays as far as a setup is concerned.

The pink "S" version of this drug is made for women. It is purported by its manufacturer to be a "special Bio-identical USP Micronized transdermal formula to deliver DHEA, Pregnenolone, Chrysin, and Progesterone for those who have low testosterone and male or androgen hormone levels. DHEA contains the hormones known to enhance memory, energy, stamina, resistance to stress, strength, well being, workouts, sexual function, libido, and provides the hormones the body must have to make Testosterone." The pink middle portion of the bottle reaches around the back side.

I'm unsure if Whetstine is supposed to be made out to look incompetent, or if he wanted to turn Justin into a Justina.

I personally wouldn't state that I saw a white tube rushed into a pocket in this case. I'd easily remember it had a pink band around it - unless Whetstine, if he is culpable for this action - immediately put his palm around the lower middle of the tube, and flipped it around while supposedly putting this exact product in his lab coat. For those who want to argue that it was placed in a jacket pocket very quickly, and Graham couldn:t have seen the colour, then he couldn:t have seen the "s", either.

Alas, Mr. Whetstine must have been a silly goose in this case. According to Graham, Whetstine so badly wanted to get Graham through Gatlin, that Whetstine is to have doped him with a women's product when there existed a men's product with a black band and a black "s". Whetstine must have been in such a hurry that he inadvertantly grabbed the wrong bottle, or been such a goof that he didn't know the pink from the black.

Ladies and gentlemen stay tuned to for the next episode of Trevor Graham Gone Wild at this exact blog spot soon.