Sports roundup: TAF offers travel packages for away football games … Former Saints lead the league in concussion-related suits against the NFL … Louisiana racehorses reaching new highs on 'frog juice'
Roarin' down the road: The Tiger Athletic Foundation is offering a host of travel opportunities for its members during select away and postseason LSU football games during the upcoming season. The TAF is partnering with Total Sports Travel to coordinate all travel packages. To see the full list of current options—which include packages for away games against Auburn, Florida, Texas A&M and Arkansas—click here. Note that the packages do not include admission tickets to the games.
If we stand reunited: Of the nearly 2,500 retired professional football players who have sued the NFL over head injuries suffered during their time on the field, 189 played for the New Orleans Saints at some point in their career. That's more players than from any other team, according to analysis by The Washington Times, which has reviewed each of the 90 lawsuits filed through June 14 and has compiled a database of all players involved in the them. Read a feature story from the paper on the suits here; and see the complete database here.
Livery stable blues: Racing regulators kept hearing the reports: Trainers were giving their horses a powerful performance-enhancing potion drawn from the backs of a type of South American frog. As The New York Times reports, the rumors are turning out to be true—especially in Louisiana. "We hear about some pretty exotic stuff," says Dr. Steven Barker, who directs the testing laboratory at LSU, which has found positive tests in racehorses from Louisiana. "Frog juice—this is exotic." The drug on the frogs' backs is called dermorphin. It's about 40 times more powerful than morphine, Barker says. Louisiana Racing Commission Executive Director Charles Gardiner III says 11 horses, both quarter horses and thoroughbreds, tested positive for the drug in Louisiana, though none of them broke down. "This whole thing has really taken us by surprise," he says. "It couldn't have come at a worse time. We're fighting back federal intervention. We're under attack and losing our fan base. Fans believe that the sport is dirty, that there is cheating. And here we have an obvious attempt to cheat." Read the full story here.
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