by Aleks V |

Misimovic in action for Guizhou Renhe. Photo: sop.ba

Former Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg, Galatasaray, and Dynamo Moscow midfielder Zvjezdan Misimovic has retired from professional football. Despite having a year left on his contract with Chinese side Beijing Renhe (formerly Guizhou Renhe), the 34-year-old decided to hang up his boots.

At club level, Misimovic made 506 appearances in all competitions, scoring 136 goals and making 141 assists.

Although he struggled to break into the first team at Bayern Munich at the start of his career, he shone for the reserves, netting in 44 goals in 103 games.

His career includes a historic 2008/09 season at Wolfsburg. "The Plum", as he was known in Germany, helped the club win their first Bundesliga title, ending the season with the most assists (20). He also helped teammates Grafite and Edin Dzeko become the league's top scorers with a combined record total of 54 goals. The three formed a memorable attacking trio.

Misimovic had a decade-long presence at Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he wore the captain's armband. He's the national team's second most-capped player and third all-time goal scorer. One of his most notable performances was a hat-trick in Bosnia's 7-0 win over Estonia in a 2010 World Cup Qualifier.

The attacking midfielder joined Dynamo Moscow from Galatasaray in 2011 and quickly became one of the club's key players. He could always be counted on in the toughest of games, from derbies to Cup competition. Misimovic was a true playmaker. Although goal scoring wasn't his main line of duty, he netted in quite a few, many of which were late goals from the spot. His penalties in the quarterfinal and semifinal of the 2011-12 Russian Cup included a match winner against Zenit and a 73rd minute equalizer against Volga Nizhny Novgorod, respectively. Without a doubt, Mr. Penalty was always a joy to watch.

Setting up goals, though, was his forte. Championat.com writer Sergei Titov wrote in 2015:

"Misimovic, who can come up with a brilliant assist, sitting on a chair and drinking coffee, would be useful even to the current Dynamo, who have Valbuena."

Misimovic assists Kevin Kuranyi in his debut for Dynamo, a derby against Lokomotiv.

The midfielder spent the last three years of his career in China. As one fan put it, he went there "before it was mainstream". With Guizhou Renhe, he won the 2013 Chinese FA Cup and 2014 Chinese Super Cup. He played 105 games at his last club, scoring 18 goals and making 50 assists.

Misimovic first announced his retirement in 2015. That year, I compared another Dynamo Moscow player, Kevin Kuranyi, with basketball's Michael Jordan. Yet it was Zvjezdan Misimovic who compared himself to Jordan when he chose to un-retire. He had hoped Beijing Renhe would retain their position in the Chinese Super League. Unfortunately, the team finished 15th that season and were relegated to the second tier. A fourth place finish in 2016 was not enough to win promotion to China's top division.

There were, of course, other players - and rock bands - that have retired and come back again. Paul Scholes played a testimonial, but then decided to have one more go. The Rolling Stones did multiple Farewell Tours, only to keep on touring. Like many a football and music fan, they just "can't get no satisfaction". Misimovic, it seems, finally has.

A "legend" and "the last romantic" to his fans, he only ever got one straight red card in his 16-year career.

Misimovic and Dzeko at Wolfsburg.

Zvjezdan Misimovic, your country thanks you.

Your clubs thank you.

And I thank you.

by Aleks V |

2017 marks the 160th anniversary of the world's first football club, Sheffield FC. Founded on October 24, 1857, the club went on to become a part of many other firsts. The founders, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, wrote the first official rules of the game. Sheffield FC's rivalry with Hallam FC became the world's first derby. They were pioneers of heading the ball. In more recent history, Sheffield FC were awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, an honor given to only one other football club, Real Madrid. Although the club currently competes in the 8th tier of English football, their popularity knows no geographic bounds.

Sheffield 160 is a bi-weekly series that goes behind the scenes of the historic club through interviews with players and staff.

In this installment, Aleks V chats with club photographer Ben Webster on his vision, his greatest challenge, and the best thing about working at Sheffield FC.




This is sort of an over-asked question, but how did you first get into photography? Any particular influences? 
I've always carried a camera in some form or other from being very young - my parents would display infinite patience on days out, holidays, etc. waiting around for me to get a shot that I was happy with. Of course this was in the days before everyone had the convenience of digital. Nowadays, besides the obligatory action shots, I sometimes focus on the incidental stuff going on around the game - spectators, structural oddities, the landscape surrounding the ground. With a sense of humour added wherever possible. Good pointers for this kind of style would be David Bauckham's football photo journals and Martin Parr's studies of English seaside resorts.

Do you have a favorite piece of equipment?
Anything that won't quit on me at the wrong moment! Seriously though, having carried a point-and-shoot around with me as a fan for several years, followed for just as long by an entry-level Canon SLR with kit lens, you learn how to grow with your equipment whatever its limitations. I shoot pro these days - a Canon 5D and 70-200/16-35mm lenses - and it's great, but I only made the upgrade when it felt like a natural progression from the last camera.



What is your vision as a sports photographer?
To promote the strange world of Sheffield FC, where a seemingly unremarkable non-league football club commands an international audience like no other club its size. And everywhere else, to document football as it is played by thousands of people every week, less for the financial reward it brings than for the pleasure of playing, and the thousands of volunteers helping them do it.

Have you photographed anything outside of sports?
Not so much outside of football just yet - my phone usually suffices for that. But I do like to travel around watching football in other parts of the UK and Europe, and keep a gallery for such things [here]. 

How has photographing games at Sheffield influenced your approach/style?
I'm a supporter first and foremost so in some ways photography mirrors my many moods as a fan. When we've got a winning side I expect at least some goalmouth action at the end we're shooting towards, so position myself accordingly. Recent seasons have brought leaner times, with less able teams, so I've found myself gravitating more towards the halfway line. Although currently we're on our best unbeaten run for years so perhaps a rethink is required! We also have a very successful women's team who play just below the top tier of the game in this country, who can always be relied upon to provide celebratory shots. 

What drew you to Sheffield? Why do you think the club is so appealing to fans all over the world, even though it's not a Premier League club?
Actually it was more a case of the club coming to me - I live just a short distance from the ground they moved to 15 years ago. I'd heard a little about the club, knew they were the world's oldest, but otherwise had next to no knowledge about non-league football and the hundreds of clubs plying their trade beneath the radar of most Premier League fans. I went down for a match one day with my dad and that was that really - the standard of football was a pleasant surprise, you could stand wherever you wanted and could even nip to the pub next door for a pint at half time. I think many of our well-wishers from overseas see the romance in that sort of thing; that a club so pivotal to the history of football has somehow kept going at a level far removed from the trappings of the modern game. This has been a recurring theme in the club's social media campaigns for years now and it seems to have resonated. The phenomenon is nothing new however - I've seen letters from the 1940s addressed to the club from Germany and the former Yugoslavia!

Any must-see sights in the city you'd suggest to traveling fans?
Besides having the oldest club, Sheffield is also home to the oldest football ground in the world at Hallam FC, and its famously sloping pitch. Any visit to Sheffield FC should really go hand-in-hand with a visit there. The city is famous for its steel production in the past, so there is a lot of industrial heritage here, but we are also right on the edge of the Peak District national park which provides a very appealing contrast. Also in my (completely unbiased) opinion, it is the best place to go for a drink in the UK, with a never-ending supply of good quality, historic pubs. Including the one at our ground!



What's a typical day like at Sheffield FC?
As far as photography goes, very relaxed compared to many of the other staff. By the time I arrive at the ground the match secretary will be already be going over team details with the first team manager, a welcoming committee will be entertaining the away team officials in the boardroom, and the catering staff will have finished preparing the matchday food and started serving a few early arrivers. The manager may have signed new players that week so we arrange to have their profile pictures taken before the warm-up. Similarly, a presentation with the chairman or another club official may be made out on the pitch before kick off. I go and sit pitchside during the match itself - you sometimes hear players mutter things under their breath that weren't intended to be heard by others, and I've often ended up in conversation with one or two of them during breaks in play! We usually announce a man of the match over the tannoy before the final whistle and, if we have any overseas visitors on the day (this is common), they will often be asked by the chairman to present the award as the players are coming off the pitch. Afterwards I may hang around with the media guy to share some photos for the website and matchday programmes, but the real reason will be so we can both slip off for a pint together at the pub next door. That's where many of the supporters, officials and players, home and away, will also end up - it gives everyone the chance to unwind, discuss the match and chat to some of the opposition fans. 

What's been the best thing about working at Sheffield?
The friendships I've formed and the interest the club generates. The fact that I'm fielding questions from a New York-based blog shows the kind of parallel universe we live in.


Is there anything people would be surprised to know about the World's Oldest Football Club? Any stadium secrets or legends?
A familiar question I hear with regard to being the oldest club is who did Sheffield play when they were first formed, if there were no other clubs? They got around this not insignificant obstacle by staging matches between members - married men versus unmarried men, names in the first half of the alphabet versus second half, etc. After all, the original purpose of the club was not to pioneer a new sport but to keep members of the local cricket club fit in the winter, when the cricket season had finished. And in the early days there was no such thing as a playing kit - a team's player was identified by the colour of a cloth cap he wore on his head.

Tell me about your favorite photograph that you've taken. 
I think my photos have generally improved over time, but I still like this black and white one of the Sheffield ground from my earlier days snapping at the club. 


What's the greatest challenge you've faced as a photographer, and how did you overcome it?
Nothing technical so much as psychological, really. I'm quite a shy person so sometimes find it hard not to be self-conscious when looking for more candid shots or assuming unusual angles and positions to get the composition right. That's particularly the case when I'm shooting away from Sheffield, around people I may not have met before. What keeps me going is knowing that deliberately searching for spontaneity has resulted in many of the best shots. Like this one at fellow league club Gresley FC...

...and this one of a ladies' team player and her dad having won promotion last year:


Is there anything you haven't done yet as a photographer? Any person or event you'd like to photograph in the future?
England is full of weird and wonderful folk games that have been played for centuries before more organised sports like football came along. A lot of pageantry is usually involved and I'd love to photograph this. Some events, like the annual cheese-rolling race in Gloucestershire are well known, but there are others local to me with brilliant names like Haxey Hood and the Upperthong Welly-Wanging championships, and the famous Shrovetide football match at Ashbourne which attracts hundreds of participants and lasts for two days. 

You're part of the Sheffield FC Veterans SC, correct? What's that like? 
That was the original name for a supporters' team that was formed partly as a response to the many requests Sheffield received for matches from amateur clubs in Europe. It once resulted in a group of fans playing a team from Milan on an open day at the San Siro, and a day later at a neoclassical arena built during the rule of Napoleon. I played about 10 minutes on the San Siro pitch, was more than happy with that, then got back to snapping the others! Other trips have taken veteran's teams to Rome, Hamburg, and a triangular tournament with fans of the two oldest football clubs in Holland and Belgium, Haarlem and Royal Antwerp.

Will you be involved in any events for the club's 160th? Will there be any special games for the club's anniversary?
I've heard the names of one or two clubs doing the rounds but nothing concrete yet. If there's one thing Sheffield FC is good at though it's pulling a rabbit out of the hat when it comes to friendly fixtures, so watch this space. And of course I'll be there on the sidelines snapping away!


Ben Webster is a photographer at Sheffield FC. His work can be seen here. 

--
Read more on Sheffield 160 here.
Join the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #Sheffield160.

by Aleks V | @aleksvee

If you renovate, they will congregate. A simple and obvious answer when it comes to soccer and MCU Park that, for whatever reason, continues to be overlooked.

The idea of a soccer team at the venue, which currently hosts the Brooklyn Cyclones, came up multiple times when the New York Cosmos explored options outside of Hofstra University's Shuart Stadium on Long Island. The club sometimes faced scheduling conflicts with Hofstra, who weren't always cooperative. The lack of convenient transportation to the grounds was an issue as well, and one of the main reasons for declining attendance figures.

MCU Park got a taste of soccer when the New York Cosmos made their Brooklyn debut, defeating the Ottawa Fury 1-0 on May 2, 2015. Attendance was 5,279, larger than the club's average attendance of 4,109 in fall of that year. The Cosmos also played a Championship Semifinal there against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. That game drew 5,061. Not bad for a team that doesn't usually play in Brooklyn.

Yet rumors of a potential move to MCU Park were quickly dispelled. The turf was no good, and neither were the viewing angles. Adjustments for soccer games would be inconvenient for the main tenants, the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team.

Every problem has a solution, and for every skeptical Brooklynite, fan, or businessman, there is a definitive answer. 

Here are five:



Building a new stadium means two, sometimes three things: buying the land on which to build it, possible demolition of anything occupying the land, and construction. 

The cost of building a soccer-specific stadium can range from anywhere between $40 million and $215 million. 

For reference:

Proposed 25,000-seater for the New York Cosmos at Elmont, NY: $400 million
Cost of building Red Bull arena: about $200 million
Providence Park renovation for MLS standards: $40 million
Cost of transforming a baseball field to a soccer field: up to $200,000
The smiling faces of fans from all five boroughs: Priceless.

2. Infrastructure 



A common complaint among Cosmos fans was accessibility - getting to Hofstra University's Shuart Stadium from South Brooklyn, for instance, would take over two hours and involve at least two modes of transport. Taking both the MTA and LIRR is both time-consuming and expensive. The Cosmos' partnership with Rally was a great idea that could have solved the issue for some, but not all fans.

MCU Park is a convenient location for all five boroughs. It's a 45 to 60 min. train ride from midtown Manhattan. The D, F, N, and Q lines connect Coney Island to four of the five boroughs.

Also available are four buses in Brooklyn and two express buses from Manhattan.

For many fans, MCU Park is a much closer option than Yankee Stadium, which currently hosts Major League Soccer club New York City FC.

Getting there would be no problem for Staten Island fans, as well - 84% of households own at least one car. 



Good service. Free tickets. Some of the biggest names in show biz. The Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, a 5,000-seat covered open-air venue that opened in summer 2016, provides all of the above. Performers have included Sting, Kool and the Gang, the Beach Boys, and Rick Springfield. 

The Beach Boys actually played a concert after two NASL games in the 1980s. Both games drew attendances of over 50,000.

Somewhere in there is an option for cross-promotion.

4. An existing fan base

That's a lot of potential soccer fans. Photo: Charles Kyriazos

The large number of high-rise apartment buildings makes Coney Island as densely populated as a NYC train station during rush hour. There are 24,711 people living in Coney Island itself and nearly 3 million within a ten-mile radius, which would provide part of the regular attendance. The area's beach, boardwalk, rides, and aquarium remain popular destinations for both locals and tourists. About 10 million people visited Coney Island in both 2012 and 2013.

Fans need not fret about seating. The principal architect of MCU Park, Jack Gordon, says the venue, which currently seats 7,000, can be expanded to 16,500. 

That's almost twice the average attendance of Minnesota United, and more than one and a half times the capacity of their former venue, the National Sports Center. (For the uninitiated, Minnesota are MLS bound.) 

MCU Park's current tenants, the Brooklyn Cyclones, also provide an existing fan base to draw from. Their average attendance of 6,234 was the highest in 2015 for the New York-Penn League. A partnership with a pro soccer team would benefit both parties.

5. Previous success of soccer at baseball venues

There's a reason the two sports keep coming up in the same sentence. 

Once upon a time, six baseball franchise owners established soccer teams to try and fill their ballparks during the off-season. The American League of Professional Football, the nation's first professional soccer league, included a New York Giants soccer team. While short-lived, the experiment laid the groundwork for a long-lasting relationship between soccer and baseball.

In 1926, a record crowd of 46,000 at New York's Polo Grounds saw an exhibition game in which an American Soccer League all-New York team won 3-0 against SC Hakoah Wien of Austria.

SC Hakoah Wien in New York, 1926.

Wrigley Field hosted NASL side Chicago Sting in the 1970s and 80's. 

The Kingdome in Seattle, once home to the Seattle Mariners, saw six games with attendance figures of over 40,000.

Fast-forward to 2011 - 70,780 turned up for Guadalajara vs Barcelona at Sun Life Stadium (now the Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami.

In 2013, 40,681 attended Dodger Stadium for a star-studded doubleheader: Juventus vs the Los Angeles Galaxy and Everton vs Real Madrid.

International friendlies in recent years, such as Spain vs Republic of Ireland and Real Madrid vs AC Milan, drew crowds of 40-50,000 at Yankee Stadium. 

In March 2016, 30,315 attended a NYCFC game at Yankee Stadium, a record for MLS teams that week.

If there's one thing Coney Island and US soccer have in common, it's their ability to persevere despite their challenges. Both have had their share of the latter, only to miraculously rise up from the ashes. For Coney Island, it was years of neglect and Hurricane Sandy. For US soccer, the constant flicker of an on and off switch with leagues such as the NASL and WPS. Soccer and Coney Island have both been "erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again".

MLS commissioner Don Garber dismissed the idea of a third team in New York City. But who says that team must play in MLS? 

Despite recent setbacks in the form of multiple club exits, the NASL is very much alive. FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller just signed a multi-year contract extension. The league has recently welcomed the San Francisco Deltas. As for the USL, it's become an attractive option for MLS clubs' secondary squads. DC United and Orlando City plan to field theirs in the next two years.

Of the many complaints voiced by Cosmos fans, location was prime. MCU Park is accessible, convenient, and affordable for both the club owners and fans. What better place for a new - or returning - professional soccer team in New York City?

“Brooklyn has a great history with soccer,” New York Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese told Latino Sports. “I played here in college, so I know firsthand the passion and the culture of soccer that exists here..." 

Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams would also be in favor of a Brooklyn-based soccer team. He's noted the appeal of the sport to the area's diverse culture, summing up the thoughts of most fans in four words:

"We want them here."

We most certainly do.

by Aleks V | @aleksvee

A 3:1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on December 7 marked CSKA Moscow's UEFA Champions League exit, as well as the exit of head coach Leonid Slutsky. The club's longest-serving manager after Boris Arkadyev (1944-52, '58-59), Slutsky's seven years at the helm painted a solid 160-57-70 WDL record, including three championships, two Russian Cup wins, and two Super Cups. He also led the team to the 2009-10 Champions League quarter-finals, their best result in the tournament.

CSKA with the 2013 Russian Super Cup. Credit: Карбинов Анатолий

As a coach, Slutsky maintains a conservative approach, relying on the same players and lineups. It is a choice partly motivated by necessity - CSKA has one of the shortest benches in the Russian Premier League. They had just five substitutes available against Tottenham (the Spurs had seven) and in their 4-0 win over FC Ural (who had eleven on their bench). Ural's total market value is 18.8 million Euros. At 95.5 million, CSKA's is more than five times bigger.

In late November, Slutsky voiced his concern for the future of the club. "Right now, the situation is the hardest it's been in all my seven years at CSKA," he said on Russia 24. "Many things may change, but CSKA always was, is and will be a great club."

There's one thing that doesn't change, however, and that's club owner Yevgeni Giner's reluctance to spend. So much so, he's become notorious for it. One look at the transfer windows during the last five seasons explains the club's annual rocky mid-season and UEFA competition woes. While CSKA have consistently finished in the top two in the Russian Premier League since Slutsky's first full season (except for 2011/12, when they finished 3rd), they've struggled in all other tournaments, especially in Europe. They haven't gotten past the group stage in European competition since 2011/12:


Last season, CSKA spent just 1 million Euros, a loan fee for Seydou Doumbia. They signed just three players from other clubs. One is now on loan and one has retired.

Alan Dzagoev would be the fifth high-profile player to leave CSKA in three years. Credit: Дмитрий Садовников

Giner's lack of spending is coupled with his history of selling the club's top foreign talent. Rumor has it the trend will be broken this season, as Russian international Alan Dzagoev looks to fulfill his dream of playing in England. He's being linked with a move to Everton. The 26-year-old midfielder has an impressive 62 goals and 78 assists in 284 appearances for the Army Men. His transfer would add to a growing list of star players that left the club over the years. Ahmed Musa, top scorer in the 2012-13 season, joined Leicester City this year. Seydou Doumbia, a two-time top scorer, moved to AS Roma last year. Attacking midfielder Keisuke Honda, who boasted a record of 28 goals and 29 assists in 127 games, moved to Milan after five years at the club. Vagner Love, the club's top scorer in 2010, joined Flamengo in 2012, returning a year later before being sold to Shandong Luneng.

There is strength in a consistent lineup. Awhile ago, I compared Slutsky's CSKA to Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United. Interestingly, United and CSKA met in the Group Stage of the 2009-10 Champions League. Both teams had a bench of seven. United finished first in Group B, while CSKA were runners-up. Both were eliminated in the Quarter-finals.

Six players from CSKA's starting line-up against the Red Devils are still with the club. Now that's what I call consistent!

The 2011-12 Champions League saw the club in the Round of 16.

Things seemed to be going well for CSKA. At some point, though, fatigue takes over. Players get injured, get older, retire, leave for bigger salaries. A team can't run on will alone.

CSKA owner Yevgeni Giner. Credit: Aleksandr Melnikov

Giner, one of the wealthiest club owners in the Russian Premier League, has failed to understand that. The businessman wants to have his cake and eat it too. But that cake won't be shaped like "big ears", the Champions League trophy. Not until someone stops selling some of the main ingredients.

Like other industries in the 21st century, soccer is getting more competitive. It's a money race, one in which the wiser investments pay off. Selling without buying doesn't work - there needs to be a balance if a club is to have a future.

Before resigning, Slutsky spoke with optimism. "Whatever challenges will arise, the Army Men and their supporters will always overcome adversity," he said.

Well, the challenges have risen, and it's time for supporters to do the same. Ovid wrote that "Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence." Who else but the fans can unite their voices and persist until the message is heard?

That message must be loud and clear - Giner must change his approach, or sell the club.

by Aleks V

In my five years of sports journalism, I've never once mentioned doping. Professional soccer, thankfully, has rarely had problems with Performance Enhancing Drugs in recent years. Either that, or few such problems have been unearthed. The last high-profile case was Diego Maradona back in 1994.

After a year of monitoring meldonium, also known as mildronate, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) added it to its list of banned substances on Jan 1, 2016.

Since meldonium was banned, a soccer connection has only come up once - when FC Rostov's entire starting eleven were subject to a surprise test by FIFA after a 3-1 win over Dynamo Moscow in May. All of the players tested negative.

Other sports, namely tennis, have been in the spotlight for athletes testing positive for the substance.

Tennis player Maria Sharapova, who initially received a two-year suspension for a positive test, recently had her ban reduced to 15 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"I think the one thing that I'd love to see...is evidence on the performance-enhancing effect that it has," she said.

Claims that meldonium qualifies as a Performance Enhancing Drug, or PED, originate from a study funded by the Partnership for Clean Competition Research Collaborative and the Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Germany. The study "does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Research Collaborative". The widespread use of meldonium among athletes, including those who don't engage in high-risk sports, as well as its presence on the black market, apparently leads to the suspicion and conclusion that it is used as a PED. However, no data is provided to support the enhancement claim. According to a notice issued by WADA, "Limited data exists to date on the urinary excretion of meldonium. Several studies are currently being conducted involving WADA-accredited laboratories, and WADA will share these results with its stakeholders when available."

In that same notice, WADA lies about the manufacturer's claims of enhancement. In an open letter to WADA, Grindeks, the manufacturer of meldonium, stated, "We're convinced that Meldonium is not a preparation enhancing an athlete's sports achievements...The therapeutic use of Meldonium does not contradict the spirit of sport and, especially, health."

Meldonium "was created...to help patients with cardiovascular diseases survive difficult times when, for whatever reason, the supply of blood to their heart muscle worsens", said Professor Ivars Kalvins, its inventor.

Kalvins explains why it isn't doping, describing the substance as having the opposite effect. "Athletes can train without being afraid that if they inadvertently overstep their limit, they will end up in hospital with a heart attack or die on the field," he said. Meldonium is available in Eastern European countries, including former Soviet republics.

Many other professionals dispute the claims that meldonium can be a PED. They include Don Catlin, founder of the first sports anti-doping lab in the United States and "considered the most prominent anti-doping drug tester in the world".

Dr. Michael Joyner, a physiologist and anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who has published hundreds of studies focusing on how humans respond to exercise, says the effects of meldonium are unclear.

Ford Vox, physician and medical analyst for NPR station WABE in Atlanta, said that "outside of the hype you see about the drug online, there's not much scientific support for its use as an athletic enhancer."

Many well-known athletes, whose Therapeutic Use Exemptions became publicly available through hacker group 'Fancy Bears', take doses of otherwise banned substances for medical reasons. After multiple requests, Bethanie Mattek-Sands received therapeutic exemption in April for use of hydrocortisone, a steroid medication used for treating inflammation. Serena and Venus Williams were both given Therapeutic Use Exemptions to take a series of substances on WADA's banned list for various health problems. These substances include opioid painkillers (banned due to being labelled as narcotics) and corticosteroid anti-inflammatories.

WADA's decisions to include or exclude known PEDs are controversial. Multiple studies have shown that caffeine, a widely used stimulant, can enhance an athlete's performance. It is monitored, but not currently banned by WADA. It used to be, but was removed from the list in 2004.

Concerning Sharapova, much of the mainstream media were quick to jump on the one-sided bandwagon of blame.

The New York Post slams her for her "poor-little-scapegoat act". Vanity Fair claims the "drug scandal may be darker than you think". The Telegraph claims she "has no shame". USA Today and Forbes offer an altogether different perspective. Meanwhile, The New York Times attempts to stay neutral, while The Guardian mistakes neutrality with trying to please both sides. There's one thing the last publication does right, though, and that's mention that Sharapova could have applied for a Therapeutic Use Exemption. Then again, this assumes prior knowledge of meldonium's new status as a banned substance. Sharapova has claimed WADA did not make an effort to better inform Eastern European athletes using meldonium that the substance was added to the banned list.

10sballs.com reminds us that two players, Greg Rusedski and Xavier Malisse, had their careers tainted despite being cleared to play. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, and one instance to destroy it. Often, that instance comes in the form of a headline and a story with false charges. That story is printed and reprinted, shared among the masses who believe in the brand, or believe what they're told because it's been told so many times before. The more the same lie is repeated, the more it begins to look like the truth.

George Gerbner's cultivation theory states that the more people watch television, the more their views of reality begin to match what they see. I'd go one step further to say that all forms of mass media can form a vicious cycle, one in which the viewer's perspective on the world is shaped, then constantly reaffirmed by what they are shown and told. That theory goes hand-in-hand with Eli Pariser's "filter bubble" - a personalized, reflective echo chamber created by the web. Ironically, this echo chamber is not so "personalized" - millions are stuck in the exact same bubble.

When the right information is out of reach, few will spend time navigating the maze that is the worldwide web until they reach the facts. It's easier to be content with what you're given than to ask why it's given, and whether it makes sense.

Let's ask whether certain substances banned by WADA should be considered PEDs.

Let's bring back the question mark.

Let's see media coverage in not one, but in all 50 shades.