On a team filled with talent, Leandro Barbosa continues to makes his mark. Despite playing few minutes and oftentimes not even seeing the floor over the course of a game, the shooting guard has still had a fair amount of positive impact on the Golden State Warriors’ historic season, even contributing to what has so far been an easy playoff run for the defending champs.
Barbosa played only 20 games two seasons ago, after 41 the year before, due to knee injuries and surgeries. But in the past two years with Golden State, the guard has played an average of 67 games per season. The 33-year-old has been rejuvenated in his time in Oakland. So what does he attribute as the cause of this new-found youth and spryness for the Brazilian Blur?
Horse medicine.
And it’s probably as disgusting as it sounds (via the New York Times):
That Barbosa was able to recover so much of his quickness after undergoing knee surgery three years ago remains something of a medical mystery — a mystery, that is, to everyone except Barbosa, who cites clean living, hard work and a green liquid extract made from the leaves of a South American shrub called arnica do mato.
“It burns going down,” said Barbosa, who scored 7 points in 13 minutes in the Warriors’ win Tuesday night. “You kind of feel dizzy if you’re not used to it. I got used to it.”
Barbosa says he has his delivered direct from Brazil as an extract. He
drinks it straight up, twice a day — once in the morning and once at night. It is not particularly delicious, he said. Then again, it was not originally intended for human consumption.“It’s a medicine you give horses,” Barbosa said. “Whenever they get hurt, it helps them recover very quickly. Because they have to run.”
Arnica do mato is hardly a familiar substance in American sports — or
anywhere in the country. Several plant science experts said they had never heard of it. Barbosa, though, swears by it. He said he had not sustained any serious injuries since he began swilling his Amazonian potion. He does not think it is a coincidence.“My entire family drinks it now,” Barbosa said.
Look. I’m all for scientific achievements and finding new and better ways to improve performance. But this sounds absolutely horrendous and maybe not even true. I’m sure the drink has some positive effects but are we sure there are not better options?
That said, Barbosa’s health has improved since he’s started drinking this ungodly thing and I guess that’s a good enough reason to keep doing it.
Just don’t expect any of Leandro Barbosa’s teammates to adopt his new strategy:
“Tastes like acid,” Harrison Barnes said.
“I almost threw up,” Festus Ezeli said
