Another One Snorts Bites the Dust

Martina Hingis, former world tennis #1 and five-time Grand Slam champion, shockingly retired for the second time after admitting that she tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon this year. She denies that she used cocaine and says she's leaving (for good, this time) because she doesn't want to spend the time and effort fighting the results.

(To borrow from an e-mail that I wrote earlier:)

Cocaine use by an athlete typically means you a) really have a problem and/or b) can't be serious about whatever sport you're playing. Len Bias was probably the former, and you see what happened to him. You're asking your body to do a lot if you're going to push it to the edge and use cocaine on top of that.

I don't buy her denial at all. She came out of the blue with this one, and now they can't do anything to really check it out. The only reason she's not going to jail like Marion Jones is because BALCO didn't give it to her and her "dealer" wasn't a part of a federal investigation. Instead, she just up and retired before it could become an issue.

It's actually sad because she really was a talented youngster. I sat courtside and watched her at the U.S. Open this past September and she looked way off her form of 10 years ago, both mentally and physically. Her heyday ended the same day the Williams' began. It became apparent that these girls were too big and strong for her game. She was better off finding a new job anyway unless she was happy just hovering in the top 20.

But if she does have a drug problem, I sincerely hope she takes care of that first.

"AH" Will Just Enjoy Mah Retirement

Allan Houston ("AH") decided that rather than facing the possibly of not making the roster of one of the worst, talent-heavy basketball teams of all time, he's just going to stay retired.

Good choice, Allan. Maybe the best choice by an athlete all year, in any sport. There is no chance you're going to win a ring with the Knicks, and short of that, I really don't see the point in you coming back. Especially if there's really no position for you there.

He seems like a nice enough guy. If money's the issue, I'm sure he could make money doing something else besides playing for a crappy team, like co-hosting The View or something, a la Tiki Barber. Maybe not as much as he would in the NBA, and not as much as he has when he wasn't even playing in the NBA the first time, but enough to feed his family, which should make Sprewell happy.

In other news, Tony Massenburg(?) has also decided to stay retired. If you aren't familiar with him (as I barely was myself), refer to this previous post. Excuse me, he was told to stay retired after being waived by the Washington Wizards, thus ending his bid to play for an NBA record 13th different team. Well, I always said if you can't be a superstar, then break a random record. I'm sorry to see that Tony didn't quite do that, either.