Toronto Raptors' Marcus Banks Told to Stay Away

There’s a new rash of players being told to stay away from their teams this season in the NBA and fans should expect this list to grow and to include some very big names.

Marcus Banks wasn’t at the ACC on Sunday and his permitted return date is unknown.  Banks has been kept way for the most mundane of reasons, but a reason that is striking fear into coaches and GMs across the league.

H1N1 or Swine Flu is here.

It looks like the H1N1 virus may not have actually afflicted this Raptor, but flu season is taking on new meaning during this preseason.

Since almost no one has been previously exposed to this flu variant, the risks of infection are high, and no team can afford to have a significant portion of their roster miss games at the same time.

Last week it was the Cleveland Cavaliers with five players missing due to the flu, including LeBron James. And how did LeBron’s teammates welcome him back to the gym? They all ran to the other end.

In Cleveland’s case it appears just three of the players had the “dreaded” H1N1 variant, and the other two were suffering from a common flu strain. But the symptoms are basically the same and no one wants to have them.

Professional sports leagues in North America haven’t announced how they might handle a team that can’t field enough players for a week or two because of an H1N1 or flu outbreak—or worse, a flu outbreak that affects attendance!

But the risk is real this season, and options for treatment are limited, especially for healthy adults who will usually recover quickly on their own. 

Even the vaccinations being offered will only protect against specific variants of the flu and even then may not be completely effective.

Anyone who has taken the traditional over-the-counter cold and flu remedies knows that their effect is minimal and if we weren’t so desperate for relief, these concoctions would never sell.

Also, the daytime versions of these questionably effective treatments include stimulants to offset the drowsiness they cause.  Those stimulants have gotten more than one Olympic athlete in trouble over the years and could/should be on the banned substances list for professional athletes as well.

So what can the desperate coach or athlete do when the flu strikes?  One Canadian company has been pushing its cold and flu remedy towards athletes for over a decade.

Officially listed as an approved cold and flu treatment for the 2010 Olympic athletes, used by the training staffs of the Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, and Edmonton Eskimos, Cold-FX has its supporters.

The bad news about a product like Cold-FX is that it will at most only shorten the duration of symptoms. The good news is that has been tested and will not get a player in trouble for using it.

Cold-FX promotes its product to athletes as follows:

“Years of innovative research and clinical trials have shown that 200 mg of COLD-FX twice daily:

• Reduced the relative risk of recurrent colds and flu
• Reduced the severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms
• Was safe and well-tolerated”

And,

“COLD-FX Doping Control Urinalysis Trial in Athletes
The results demonstrated that COLD-FX did not contain or generate banned substances within the body that might create a positive doping control test.

Pilot Trial in High Performance Athletes – acute three day dosage
… an acute dosing regimen of COLD-FX was followed at the onset of cold or flu-like symptoms: … prevented the cold from developing and that it made them feel better.”

With the flu season just getting underway, MLSE and the Raptors might want to try something different to keep their players on the court this season. There really isn’t much else for them to try.

And what can the fans do?  Well, wash your hands before eating that hot dog and don’t cough all over your follow fans while you are at the game!

Where’s that Cold-FX sponsorship when you need it?