Marcus Williams became the first basketball player in China to be busted for "doping" on December 9 when he tested positive for marijuana, but so far he's managed to avoid making silly, trite excuses such as "I was using for medicinal purposes." We commend him for that. His agent, however, is happy to do so on his behalf. ...

This is somewhat of a shocker. Marcus Williams, the leading scorer in the Chinese Basketball Association, has become the first player to test positive for drug use in the league. We had no idea the CBA tested for marijuana until now, but according to Xinhua: ...

Journalists are fed a lot of crap by the world. Specifically by public relations flacks and sources, but really, the world at large, because we're surrounded by crap, by fetid logs of horse and other rancid mammalian shit dripping with stupidity and awfulness. It takes a decent journalist to filter that shit and present it in a way that is digestible to a halfway intelligent and educated human being. It mea ...

While we all await Ye Shiwen's next race -- she's the top qualifier (and Olympic record-holder) in the 200-meter individual medley, which begins at 8:43 pm London time / 3:43 am Beijing time -- you might be interested to know that women's gymnastics is on right now. Other Olympics stuff happened too, as you'll see if you read on. ...

We're at the point where Ye Shiwen can no longer be found guilty in China, if that makes sense. This issue has become about more than swimming. If it ever does come to light that Ye used a banned substance, I suspect the relevant organs will find a scapegoat who admits that he accidentally put an illegal substance in her food or something, and no one -- not the media, the Chinese swim officials, the million ...

UPDATE, 6:19 pm: The Ku6 video has been pulled, but you can watch the full race on Sina here if you're within mainland China (they don't allow embedding). All eyes will be on Ye Shiwen tonight (8:43 pm London, 3:43 am Beijing) when she competes in the 200-meter individual medley (she set an Olympic record in her preliminary heat). If she's anywhere close to the lead in the final turn, the competition is, as ...

[caption id="attachment_4328" align="alignnone" width="490" caption="John Leonard and Ye Shiwen"][/caption] Ye Shiwen, the 16-year-old swimmer who set a new world record on Saturday in the 400-meter individual medley, has been accused of cheating. The Guardian's Andy Bull, who on Sunday published a very interesting and insightful account of Ye's swim and the reactions to it and her teammates ("Over the cour ...