Instant Access Registration Takes Less Than 15 Seconds! You May Not Post Until Registered.
To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
If you are having trouble staying logged in when navigating between forums/topics/etc., you need to reset your session cookie. Go into your browser and delete any cookie for the site them log back in. This should fix the login issue.
I frequently come across articles on steroids within the news and steroids within sports so I figured that I would collect the articles and put them together within this thread to be read and viewed. It will closed only so that it does not become bogged down with debate but please feel free to discuss it within the proper forums.
This is just the start of many articles that are printed everyday within our communities...it's about the ongoing debate of steroids in baseball...
By Tim Guidera
Savannah Morning News
Sports Illustrated had one of those stories it couldn't help hyping this week, a big-deal exclusive that some Major League Baseball players are, would you believe it, using steroids.
Goodness, talk about big news.
What's next from SI, a special report on how NBA players have gotten kind of tall? An expose revealing that distance runner's actually sweat?
I mean, come on. If you haven't figured out by now that steroids are a part of baseball, you might also be surprised to hear that Bud Selig and Donald Fehr don't exactly share a beach house in the off-season.
Need evidence that there's a new kind of needling going on in baseball's clubhouses these days?
Well, A home run record that lasted 37 years doesn't become meaningless by accident, getting lapped twice in four years. Fifty-homer seasons don't just become cheap without a little help, which seems to have happened with 18 of them in the last five years. There was that many in the first 100 years baseball was played.
And a generation of power hitters that could make Babe Ruth's stats seem ordinary doesn't develop overnight. Evolution just isn't that fast.
But forget what's going on with baseball's numbers. Just look at the players.
Not even 20 years ago, the game's biggest stars still looked like regular guys. Robin Yount, George Brett and Don Mattingly all could have walked into a classroom and been mistaken for that day's substitute teacher.
Now, the best hitters still look alike. Except now they all resemble sofa cushions in spikes.
It used to be that over-expansion was a problem for the league. Now it's a challenge for the uniform makers. Because, if players keep swelling at the pace they have been, somebody's going to have to invent triple-knit pretty soon.
So, no, Ken Caminiti's revelation that he had some chemical assistance in winning the 1996 NL MVP Award and his estimate 50 that percent of the league's players are artificially inflated shouldn't be treated like some alert for the CNN news scroll.
It was good reporting, like only SI has the access and ability to do. And it was interesting reading, the conformation that fans didn't need to be suspicious.
But, in reality, Caminiti's confession was no more than the third-most significant benchmark for artificial performance enhancement in baseball.
The first was in 1996 when Brady Anderson, a career gap hitter, showed up for spring training stronger than onions and subsequently belted 50 home runs after he had hit more than 16 only once in his previous four seasons. Steroid use was never admitted nor proven, just widely assumed. And his transformation demonstrated the difference a little more strength and bat speed might mean for somebody who could already hit the ball.
The second big moment was two years later when a puffed-up Mark McGwire easily chased down Roger Maris' home-run mark, breaking the old mark by nine.
The substance McGwire admitted using midway through the 1998 season, androsteindione, was legal and not a steroid. But it was one small step removed and no doubt encouraged other players to go further in their experiments with better baseball through science.
The difference this time is Caminiti's admission could actually change something.
It might create such wide-strung skepticism of every major-league player that the clean ones demand something be done to protect their images. It might even embarrass the players' union to such a degree that it considers allowing drug testing.
But it won't stop the substance cheats alone. Only new rules will do that. And they wouldn't be too hard to define.
You want to clean up baseball in about 20 minutes? Put a steroid clause in every contract.
Make it so that any player who gets caught juicing, forfeits any remaining years he is signed for. And returns every cent of his signing bonus.
That's the only threat today's players will respond to.
Marks on their reputations or asterisks on their batting records won't discourage them. But if the possibility of big money is the reason so many of them started using, the risk of losing it should be enough to make them stop.
News articles won't get it done.
SI started something by finally screaming baseball's worst-kept secret. But that won't mean anything unless Major League Baseball and the Players Association follow closely behind by getting together and responding. If neither side wants steroids in the game, the next move has to be theirs.
They have to take the needles into their own hands and out of the players'.
Wow, a spelling bee and 'round-clock soccer all in the same week. Yeah, ESPN just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? You never want to wish bad on anybody, so maybe Kevin Brown doesn't deserve the six injuries that have put him on the disabled list since he became the first player to sign for more than $100 million. But the Dodgers do for breaking that barrier. The Lakers got so many calls Friday night, you'd think David Stern was refereeing Game 6. Or do you think the league actually wants Sacramento to join New Jersey in the finals? You know what's the funniest argument people are trying to make for baseball players not using steroids? That they're illegal. Yeah, so is spitting in public, but they'd have to shut down the league if that was enforced. The way the season's gone so far, it's hard to tell if the Braves are finally getting it together or if this week was just their turn to stink less than the Mets. When you think about it, do we really NEED rain? I mean, I could get used to tee shots that roll as far as they fly. Am I surprised the Nets are in the NBA Finals? Heck, I was surprised to find out they're not still using a red, white and blue ball. If his tell-all about Major League Baseball ever gets published, Jose Canseco could set a new record. You know, for writing more books than he's read.
I'm not sure how many have been following the World Cup of Cricket but they too have been having the debate of steroid use among the players as well.
By Unknown
Mail & Guardian
Shane Warne, the most flamboyant cricketer of his age and one of the greatest of all time, fled from the World Cup in South Africa yesterday pleading his innocence after a positive drug test that threatens to bring an inglorious end to a brilliant international career.
Warne tested positive in a random drug sample taken the day before a remarkable comeback match for Australia in a one-day international against England in Sydney on January 23.
Only 38 days earlier he had dislocated his shoulder while fielding off his own bowling, also in a one-day international against England, in Melbourne, leaving the Australian nation to fret over whether the man many rate to be the greatest bowler of all time would prove his fitness in time for a World Cup that was set to be his swansong.
Warne did recover, only to test positive for the diuretics, hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride, after a test by the Australian Cricket Board. Both are banned substances because of their use as masking agents to disguise steroid use. They are also used to promote weight loss.
News of Warne's positive test is another blow to a tournament already mired in controversy over England's fixture in Zimbabwe, which was called off yesterday, and concerns about the safety of matches in Kenya.
The leg-spinner is the biggest star in world cricket, and the shock that greeted his departure was comparable to that which greeted the positive drug tests against Diego Maradona at the 1994 football World Cup, and sprinter Ben Johnson at the 1988 Olympic Games.
Obsession
At a press conference in Johannesburg, an hour before he had been due to take the field for Australia's opening match of the tournament, Warne said he had innocently taken a tablet that gets rid of excess fluid in the body. He said he was unaware that it contained a prohibited substance.
In an era when professional cricketers routinely rehydrate before and during matches, Warne did not explain yesterday why he felt the need to dehydrate.
But losing weight has recently become an obsession for Warne. He has transformed his formerly tubby physique in the past year and stories about fast-food binges have been replaced by publicity about his latest faddish diets, one of which was based on cereals and baked beans. Sources close to Warne suggested he had been given the pill by his mother.
Warne looked wan as he faced the press yesterday morning, but the showmanship that has carried him through a string of damaging episodes during a remarkable 12-year career was still to the fore.
Speaking confidently, his head thrust high, Warne said he had been informed the previous day by the Australian sports drug agency that he had tested positive and had immediately informed ACB officials and told them he would return home "for the good of the team".
"I was shocked and devastated," he said. "I am shocked because I did not take any performance-enhancing drugs. I never have and I do not condone it in any way, shape or form.
"I am proud to be in the shape I am in at the moment and that is due to nothing other than hard work and looking after myself with diet."
Warne will return to Melbourne, where a B sample will be tested, probably by the end of the week. A hearing of the ACB's anti-doping committee will then decide his punishment.
The maximum penalty under Australian Cricket Board regulations is a two-year ban, but the ACB have previously taken extenuating circumstances into account, which leaves the door ajar for Warne to defy predictions that his career is over and return to South Africa in time for the World Cup climax.
Australian cricket has led the way in drug testing, introducing a system five years ago in a sport that had traditionally regarded drug abuse as a problem for other sports.
Attention will now focus on the nature of the drugs Warne consumed, and his motives for taking them. Crucial to the outcome of his hearing, and to his reputation, will be the question of whether he was attempting to mask steroid abuse.
Diuretics are among the five groups of substances banned in cricket, along with steroids, stimulants, narcotics and growth hormones. They have been abused in the past by jockeys and weightlifters to fall within weight restrictions. But they are also banned by international sporting bodies because they can mask performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids.
The diuretics found in Warne's sample are normally prescribed for people with heart failure or high blood pressure.
"They are usually used in sport to mask something else," said Dick Pound, the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency. "That's why they are on the banned list.
"I don't care where he says he got them from, he should be punished. We want to get the cheats out. It's not fair on the other people who obey the rules."
The day after the injury, Sydney shoulder specialist Dr Mark Perko predicted: "The only way Shane Warne is coming back in six weeks is if he comes back as a batsman."
Yet 25 days later, he bowled eight overs and claimed one wicket for his state, Victoria.
Recover
Steroids help athletes train harder and recover from injury as they help the body gain in strength and muscle size, far beyond that which could be achieved by rigorous workouts and diet alone.
But traces of the drug can stay in the system for up to 12 weeks after taking them unless the athlete can flush them out by taking diuretics.
A full two-year-ban, at the age of 33, could force Warne into retirement, so ending a career that has been credited with reviving not just the mysterious art of leg-spin, but also the popularity of the game itself.
Warne's artistry and daring, generally accompanied by a smile, have brought him 491 Test wickets, the second highest in history, and a further 291 wickets in one-day internationals.
Warne announced last month that he would retire from one-day cricket after the World Cup, with the intention of sparing his body from further damage -- he had a major shoulder reconstruction five years ago -- and so prolonging his Test career.
His last one-day international came a few days later in front of an adulatory home crowd in Melbourne. He left to the usual cheers and mock bows of supplication.
Yesterday, at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, Australia overcame Pakistan in their opening World Cup tie without him, but it was impossible to escape his shadow.
CORVALLIS -- Brandon Catanese, a junior safety and kick returner for Oregon State, received 18 months' probation Thursday after he pleaded no contest to possession of steroids.
Catanese, 21, admitted to Benton County Circuit Judge Henry Dickerson Jr. that he previously had used steroids, a schedule III controlled substance that is illegal to possess without a prescription. But Catanese's lawyer, Keith Rohrbough, told the judge that Catanese had undergone repeated urinalysis tests, "which confirmed that . . . steroids are not in his system whatsoever."
Dickerson asked why Catanese had taken the drug, which police found while investigating a separate incident that apparently did not involve Catanese.
"I don't know," Catanese said. "I thought that it was performance-enhancing."
Rohrbough said Catanese got the drug, called testosterone enanthate, from a high school friend.
After sentencing, the judge asked whether there were consequences on the football team for Catanese's steroid charges. Rohrbough said Catanese was held out of the Civil War game. Catanese also indicated that coaches spoke with him about the charges.
After the hearing, Catanese declined comment. OSU athletic director Bob De Carolis and football coach Dennis Erickson were unavailable Thursday. -- Rachel Bachman
Foreign bodies
Imported drugs pose a threat in Ulster gyms
By Mary Fitzgerald
The Belfast Telegraph
They have been linked to liver damage, fertility problems and an increased risk of cancer and heart disease. Yet an estimated 150,000 people in the UK regularly use illegally obtained steroids. And it's not just confined to body-builders and weight-lifters - steroids and other sports drugs are becoming increasingly available in Northern Ireland's gyms.
WHEN Wallace Dinsmore, a physician at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, pokes his head round the door of the waiting room at his clinic and sees men whose bodies ripple with over-inflated muscles, he knows immediately what they are in for.
Professor Dinsmore, who specialises in fertility problems, has become accustomed to the steady stream of male patients who have one thing in common: they are all abusing anabolic steroids.
"When I see muscle-bound young men sitting in the waiting room it's obvious they are on steroids and as a result are experiencing impotence or erectile dysfunction," he says.
Most of the steroid users Prof Dinsmore treats are between their late teens and late 30s.
"They are usually quite shocked at the problems they are having. These are men who have spent time and money trying to build up this macho image for themselves and the erectile dysfunction they experience as a result of steroid abuse is quite the opposite effect of what they were trying to achieve," he says.
Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced chemicals which mimic the effects of natural hormones, particularly male sex hormones such as testosterone.
Doctors have used steroids to promote growth and repair in body tissue and occasionally to treat severe anaemia. However, due to the risk of serious side effects, their use in general medicine is being gradually phased out.
Steroids have been misused since the 1950s when Russian athletes realised that the drugs' ability to increase muscle development, particularly in the neck, chest, shoulder and arm muscles, could enhance their sporting prowess.
Users also report an increased ability to train harder as well as being more aggressive and competitive - qualities prized in the sporting world.
While steroid abuse by professional athletes may grab the headlines, the problem has become widespread among amateur fitness fanatics in search of a 'buff' physique, bodybuilders, weightlifters and so-called 'occupational users' such as bouncers, security men and prison wardens.
One report from the British Medical Association last year found that up to a third of GPs encounter patients who have used steroids.
Another survey revealed that one in 10 fitness enthusiasts admitted taking the muscle-boosting drugs to boost their training capacity and body shape.
It is estimated there could be 150,000 people in the UK who regularly use the drugs.
THE SPORTS ENTHUSIAST
Paul, a member of a Northern Ireland amateur sporting body, says steroid abuse is just the tip of the iceberg.
"There isn't one sportsman who isn't using something these days," he claims. "The likes of bodybuilding and weightlifting wouldn't exist today without the use of drugs.
"People are taking stimulants, thyroid hormones to shed body fat and speed up metabolism, human growth hormone, heavy duty painkillers like Nubain to allow them to train harder and insulin amongst other things. My experience is that it is what the top sportspeople do."
Michael, who is currently on a £150 eight-week steroid cycle, has been using steroids intermittently for more than six years. He admits he started taking them as a cosmetic exercise, to beef up what he considered a 'puny' frame.
"I like the way they make me look and feel," he says. "I don't need as much sleep, my sex drive increases and I can push myself to train much harder and bulk myself up. You feel like you can do anything, almost as if you are invincible."
He says steroids and other performance enhancers are readily available in Northern Ireland - all that's needed is a discreet word in the locker room.
"There are suppliers everywhere and it's mostly done by word of mouth. You just need to ask around," he says.
And it's not just steroids....
Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
Builds lean muscle and reduces fat, making users stronger. Popular with sprinters, rowers and swimmers. Increasing concern over long-term effects as people taking legally prescribed growth hormones have been affected by CJD.
Erythropietin (EPO)
Enhances stamina by up to 15% by boosting production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Popular in endurance sports.
Insulin
Gives users strength and increased power
Insulin Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1)
Similar to HGH, produces bigger, stronger muscles with high muscle definition.
Oxyglobin
Like EPO it helps the body obtain and use more oxygen in the blood to fight fatigue.
Creatine
An amino acid sold over the counter in powdered form. This popular supplement has been linked to health problems such as kidney damage, muscle cramping and dehydration.
Nubain
An opiate and popular painkiller taken by bodybuilders to increase their pain threshold and to get over sports injuries.
Stimulants
Increase feeling of mental sharpness, reduce tiredness and help fight fatigue.
The Law
Steroids are prescription-only drugs which should always be obtained from a doctor. They are rated as Class 'C' controlled substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Because it is illegal to supply them but not to possess them 'for personal use', prosecutions are rare.
A lucrative 'suitcase trade' exists in the UK whereby steroids and other sports drugs are smuggled in from countries where controls are not so strict. Last December a rogue batch of counterfeit Sustanon, an anabolic steroid, and the painkiller Nubain was seized by police in Ballymoney. A trawl through the internet reveals that you can order steroids and other performance enhancing drugs from companies in the US and Asia.
A US based website link advertised by a Co Armagh sports supplement supplier in Yellow Pages, offers a wide range of supplements and drugs, amongst them 'testosterone boosters'. The website reveals that although the products are banned in Europe this would only cause a slight delay in delivering such products to Ulster.
When the Ulster supplier was contacted, a representative said that selling over the internet was "a way around the law here".
"We aren't allowed to sell these products here but our parent company is based in the US so customers can order on-line and have them mailed over."
Most users take a cycle of steroids for between six and 12 weeks. Many take a number of different drugs at the same time - known as 'stacking' and often at doses up to 40 times higher than levels prescribed for medical reasons. Although excessive use of steroids has been linked with liver and fertility problems and an increased risk of cancer and heart attacks, not to mention increased aggression ('roid rage), and depression, many users chose to ignore the dangers. Books such as the Underground Steroid Handbook and word-of-mouth advice propagate the belief that it is possible to avoid side-effects by juggling a cocktail of other drugs with the steroid cycle.
One user argues; "You hear the horror stories, but it will usually be some idiot who doesn't know what he's doing. I have seen many people use them safely. Instead of making them illegal the Government should make sure users know what they are doing."
Professor Dinsmore doesn't agree.
"Many of the users are taking as much as they can and there is no real method to it. This idea that it is possible to balance out the side-effects is purely anecdotal and has no scientific basis," he says.
"People don't realise that the damage caused by taking steroids is not always reversible. They are dabbling in a very dangerous area particularly when you consider that not much is known about the long-term effects of such drugs on normal, healthy people."
Ivan Dunbar, president of the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association, insists steroid abuse is not common among sportspeople in the province.
"I haven't come across any serious problems with steroids or sports drugs here," he says.
"Of course it's happening - when you look at some of the athletes on TV it's obvious their development is not all down to nature - but people are under far more pressure to perform these days.
"My advice to anyone starting out in bodybuilding is straightforward - don't touch steroids with a barge pole."
ST. PAUL - The outcry will be both predictable and useless.
It's easy to shake your head over the death of Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler and wonder how anyone could take a dietary supplement with known adverse side effects. What was he thinking?
Well, he probably was thinking that he was within shouting distance of the major leagues and the lavish lifestyle that exists there. He probably was thinking about how much he didn't want to go back to the minor leagues and the bus rides. He probably was thinking he was getting to the age where he had to make a mark.
And he probably was thinking about how being overweight was negatively affecting his chances.
So in his locker he kept a bottle of ephedrine, which is not officially banned by baseball the way it is by the National Football League and NCAA. The stakes are so great, the competition so stiff, that no one can afford to be fall behind. It's why some athletes take steroids. Or why they use other performance enhancers.
That's the way it was, that's the way it is and that's the way it will be.
From the coaches in the 1940s who had their starting pitchers swig brandy to calm their nerves, to the "greenies" of the `60s and `70s, to the steroids and supplements of today, ballplayers will do what they feel they have to do to earn or keep a job.
You cannot protect people from themselves. Maybe if the government assigned a "minder" to every individual, the way they do in Iraq whenever a native has contact with a foreigner, some might be dissuaded from doing harmful things. Otherwise, they will take the necessary steps to survive in their chosen field.
Now a great wail will go up, and baseball eventually will ban ephedrine. That won't stop anything.
People will take extraordinary chances for a shot at earning extraordinary amounts of money. As the money becomes greater, the chances become more risky. As a result, professional athletes are becoming very ill or even dying.
Look at the wondrous medical technology we have today. And consider the emphasis on hydration. It wasn't that long ago when it was considered unmanly to take even a sip of water during a ballgame.
Pitchers would sweat through two or three of those old flannel uniform tops and yet under no circumstances take a swallow of water. Nor would a ballplayer be allowed a piece of candy for a pick-me-up during the game. It was unheard of.
However, many ballplayers would light up a cigarette between innings.
And in those days, they lived on steaks and beer. A thick, rare steak was considered the perfect food for an athlete. A lot of those guys routinely were overweight and hung over during ballgames. Yet we never heard of anyone dying.
Those ballplayers were just as motivated to earn and keep a spot in the big leagues. But they were competing against other pot-bellied guys who waddled into training camp out of shape. Back then, spring training was the time to drop 15 pounds and form batting calluses.
Today, the human body has been pushed to its limits. Everything from body fat to endurance can be measured. Physical conditioning has evolved to a near art form. Athletes report to training camp in top shape. Or else.
The key is the "or else." There is so much to lose.
Nearly everyone gets as much as is physically possible out of his God-given body. But sometimes even more is needed. So there are steroids and performance-enhancers. There is ephedrine, too.
These are the times in which we live and these are the chances that some athletes willingly take.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M basketball player Andy Slocum has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor drug possession charges.
Slocum, 23, of West Monroe, La., was originally charged with third-degree felony steroid possession, punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. The 7-foot, 265-pound junior entered the plea Monday after charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors.
The new counts -- possession of a dangerous drug and possession of a controlled substance -- are punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $4,000.
"The amount was enough in this case that we thought a misdemeanor would take care of the situation," District Attorney Bill Turner said of the reduced charges.
"I think both sides thought this was an appropriate resolution," Slocum's attorney, Jim James, said of the plea. "Andy Slocum is a great kid. He's never been in trouble a day in his life."
District Judge Rick Davis accepted the plea, but has not yet set a sentencing date.
After Slocum's arrest last month, head coach Melvin Watkins suspended him indefinitely from the team. Slocum returned to practice earlier this month, but has not been allowed to play or suit up for a game.
"He's chomping at the bit to get back out on the playing floor, but he hasn't missed a beat in practice," Watkins told the Bryan-College Station Eagle in Tuesday's editions. "He's taking care of all his business, and that's what I expected and thought he would do."
College Station police arrested Slocum on Jan. 18 after finding a large Ziplock bag in his truck that contained multiple syringes and vials. At least one of the vials contained the words "Anabolic St."
According to court documents, at least part of the bag's contents included the drug stanozolol, as well as anabolic steroids amounting to less than 28 grams.
Although stanozolol is an anabolic steroid, it is not categorized as such under the Controlled Substance Act. It is the same drug that was found in Canadian track star Ben Johnson's system during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, causing him to be stripped of his gold medal.
Stanozolol and other anabolic steroids also can have legal medical uses, such as building muscle in bed-ridden and immobile patients.
Slocum broke his right hand during a pickup game last summer. He missed the first seven games of this season after undergoing back surgery in October.
In addition to the recent injuries, Slocum broke his left hand last year during a game against Texas Tech, missing eight games as a result. He missed the entire 2000-01 season because of a shoulder injury that occurred while lifting weights.
The university's Division of Student Affairs makes rulings on student eligibility when police are involved in an incident, said Colin Killian, associate director of media relations at A&M.
If Slocum is cleared by the department, Watkins will then be able to make his own decision concerning the athletes involvement on the team, Killian said.
"We've just got to sit back and let it work its course now," Watkins said. "But I think it's at a point where some decisions can be made whether he's going to play."
In the seven games he played this season, Slocum averaged 4.1 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Performance-enhancing drugs appeal to all athletes
After the tragic death on Monday of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler, the use of ephedrine and other supplements among baseball players -- and what should be done about it -- is the hot topic in the sports world. SI.com spoke with Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci about this issue.
SI.com: What are the differences between steroids and supplements, such as ephedrine, that seem to be popular with today's athlete?
Verducci: The difference is that the supplements are legal and can be bought over the counter. I hesitate to use percentages, but I'd say the use of ephedrine is pretty common in major league clubhouses. Some guys are taking it to lose weight and some are taking it as a supplement to build muscle. It's definitely not just used as a weight-loss drug. The stimulants are part of a program used by many people to add lean body mass. In baseball, the culture has changed so much in the last 10 years and players are trying to get bigger, leaner and stronger at the same time.
SI.com: Do you think teams are doing enough to educate players about the dangers of these supplements?
Verducci: I think teams are definitely trying. But if these guys didn't pay attention to Korey Stringer, I'm not sure how effective teams can be. Stringer's death should be more effective than any employee-assistance program person trying to educate players about supplements. Everybody should know they need to proceed with caution, if at all, with this stuff. But a lot of players don't want to listen and don't think anything can happen to them. And above all, you're dealing with competitive people who are looking for any edge they can get. It's the nature of sports and the nature of the athlete to minimize the risks in their own minds. Teams can tell players about the dangers of these drugs until they're blue in the face, but it ultimately comes down to the competitive culture of sports.
SI.com: What is Major League Baseball's responsibility in all this? To educate? To inform? To test? And at what point does the league's responsibility for its players end and the players' responsibility for themselves begin?
Verducci: I really hesitate to say baseball needs to launch its own full-scale study because that's supposedly what they did with andro and they haven't properly addressed the use of that product, which works just like a steroid in the body. What baseball can do is be more vigilant in terms of education and creating a culture where that stuff becomes taboo.
I also think the trainers and medical professionals have to know a guy like Steve Bechler, who had a history of health problems, is more at risk than the average person. Team trainers have to be in that person's face to spell out the danger he's putting himself in. Each team has to look at these guys as individuals. You can't just say "this isn't right for everybody." But if player X has high blood pressure, or a family history of health problems, common sense tells you he shouldn't be taking the supplements. That's what teams can do. Treat players individually, and be especially vigilant for the ones at risk.
SI.com: In baseball, most people associate performance-enhancing or weight-loss drugs with players who want to make a big jump fast, guys who want to get noticed by going from average to great or from great to record-breaking. But what about the guys like Bechler who are just trying to make a major league roster? Does a player who's just trying to stay afloat perhaps feel more pressure than anyone?
Verducci: Absolutely. If anything, the dangers of supplement use and other enhancement drugs that put a person at risk are with the player at the bottom of the ladder. The guys at the top of the game are definitely in a different situation. The money is so great for the top players that a lot of them have their own trainers, nutritionists and chefs. They've become finely tuned machines whose programs are watched very, very closely. When you're at the bottom of the ladder, the guys just trying to make the majors, they don't have access to that kind of hands-on professional training. So those are the guys more at risk to get involved with dangerous supplements.
SI.com: What is the general feeling among players about a possible ban of these supplements? Do they think it's something that has to happen?
Verducci: There's a little bit more awareness now, and this latest tragedy might at least give a player second thoughts about what they're putting in their bodies, but I don't think this incident will prevent guys from using what they are using, unless Major League Baseball and the union take the same steps the NFL, NCAA and USOC have, and that's to ban ephedrine.
SI.com: Steroids were an issue during last year's labor negotiations. Was ephedrine or similar supplements on the radar at all during the talks?
Verducci: No, they weren't. Baseball thought of supplements as more of an NFL issue than an issue of their own. Stringer's death put the use of supplements on the sports map, but even then people in baseball dismissed it because of the size of the NFL player and the extreme conditions in which football camps take place. But as we found out with steroids and other stimulants, it's naive to think a competitive baseball player is any different than a competitive football player, sprinter, basketball player or anyone else making a living in sports.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers the baseball beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.
The veteran baseball player has a plan. He has a large guaranteed contract, so he can afford to glide through spring training without his usual comic book physique.
At some point in March he will be asked to fill a plastic cup and a lab will check it for steroids. Five to seven days later he will have to do it again. And the instant he is finished with the second sample, he'll crack open his little case, fill a syringe with the clear liquid, stick himself in the hip or leg and re-juice his multimillion-dollar muscles.
Major League Baseball is testing for steroids this season for the first time, although the goal is to conduct a "survey," not identify offenders. If more than 5% of players test positive the testing will become permanent and players who are caught will eventually be disciplined.
If the number drops below 2.5% over two seasons, testing will be dropped. If it is between 2.5% and 5%, the survey will continue.
The rules are convoluted and many players interviewed by the Daily News didn't seem to understand them. But less than halfway into spring training some players think they have figured out a way around the testing.
Several major stars whose teammates know they use steroids have reported to camp with noticeably smaller frames. They are biding their time, hoping to skew the survey before returning to their regimens.
"I've seen a few already that you just say, 'Wow, he's lost a lot of weight,'" the Mets' Al Leiter said. "They're guys that looked really muscular before and are looking 'leaner,' shall we say."
Several players interviewed at spring training camps, however, say the survey might actually provide an accurate reflection of use because borderline players who have relied on steroids will continue to use them as they try to win jobs.
And after spring training, as many as 240 players may be tested randomly. All results will be withheld until the season is over.
"Most guys who use it feel they've got a year with a free pass," the Yankees' Todd Zeile says of the testing program. "It's anonymous, there are no repercussions - it's merely a taking of the pulse. I just hope we get a true sense of what is going on rather than have guys go off it, pass the survey and then go back to business as usual."
Players who take that approach are making a mistake, says Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball's executive vice president for labor relations and human resources.
The veterans who go cold turkey temporarily still have a 32% chance of being tested after the season begins.
"I think the testing program will be thorough enough that players will not be able to assume they're home free after their initial test," says Manfred.
Players who support a ban on steroids - and Leiter says there are many - also say that while the new system has holes, they fully expect more than 5% to test positive. If that happens, steroid testing will become mandatory in 2004.
It isn't simply a matter of the owners wanting testing and theplayers wanting all the 'roids they can inject. Many players suspect that the owners don't want testing because they don't want to see a falloff in home runs.
And players are deeply split over the issue. During negotiations for the new labor contract, one member of the owners' side said he was surprised that the players had such a "divided house" on steroid testing.
"During the executive board meetings there were a couple of prominent players that stood up and said, 'Hey, I'm clean, I've hit the same amount of home runs the last three years' - he was like a 28-home run guy - 'and I have to field questions now as to what happened to my power,'" Leiter says.
Yes, players recognize a health risk to users, Leiter says, but pitchers have their own reason for wanting steroids banned.
"I think it's become apparent that it's giving an unfair advantage to hitters who are stronger, who are able to hit the ball faster and farther, and now there's somewhat of a health issue to a pitcher standing 55 feet away after a delivery from these stronger and stronger guys," he says. "Hitters are also less apt to get fooled. This illegal drug enables them to stay back and wait on the ball longer. It's affected the game."
Leiter's former teammate Zeile took issue with the argument that only hitters are on steroids.
"All those relievers who suddenly throw 97 (mph) - they had to come from somewhere," he says.
The Angels' Kevin Appier, another steroid opponent, says he doesn't even see the point of establishing a 5% threshold.
"If there's one guy testing positive, it's a problem," Appier says. "It's good they're doing something. It'll help, but I don't think it'll knock it all out."
One player, who did not want to be quoted, says the steroid issue might soon be moot because some users are moving on to new substances, like human growth hormone. Those who inject hGH will build muscle mass, just as they do with steroids, although several tests on hGH have shown that increased muscle mass does not mean increased strength. Players on hGH may look bigger, but without the additional use of steroids or testosterone, they won't necessarily be able to lift one more pound than they did before. (Tests have shown that hGH must be injected to be effective; players who take it orally get no benefit.)
"Guys don't know all that stuff. They think it makes them bigger and they know it can't be detected," says the player.
Players are curious as to exactly what an accurate survey will show. And while the numbers won't be known until the season is over, players say the first indication of a drop in use will be reflected in home run totals.
Former major leaguer Jose Canseco estimated last year that as many as 85% of players were on the juice, while Ken Caminiti said in a Sports Illustrated article that he suspected about 50%. David Wells, in his new book, estimates 25-40%. No one is sure what number is accurate, but one West Coast player says he was shocked by the number of users on his team last year.
The player, who says he has never used steroids, found a syringe on the clubhouse floor before a game. He confronted a player he knew to be a steroid user and told him to pass the word that that sort of sloppiness could get the entire team in trouble.
The stunned player then watched as his juiced-up teammate went to speak to almost every pitcher and about half of the position players on the team. Says the player: "I had no idea it was that many."
Test of wills
The issue of steroid testing has players taking sides, with some voicing their support and others scheming to beat the system.
'Guys that looked really muscular before are looking 'leaner,' shall we say.'
Al Leiter
'Most guys who use it feel they've got a year with a free pass.'
Todd Zeile
'If there's one guy testing positive, it's a problem. It'll help, but I don't think it'll knock it all out.'
Steroid Testing - The CBA at Work?
Some time in the next three weeks, maybe even today, the Colorado Rockies will be tested for steroids. That and this report from The Denver Post's Mike Klis
Major League Baseball and the players' union have hired an independent company to carry out drug testing at all 30 major-league spring camps in March.
"The way I understand it, they will give me 24-hour advance notice on when they will come to our facility for testing," Rockies head trainer Tom Probst said. "And I'm sworn to secrecy for those 24 hours."
Not even general managers or managers are to be tipped off.
"I think it's good we're testing," Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said. "We'll find out the truth. There have been a lot of rumors. It was in the paper where a player said he thought 25 to 40 percent of players used steroids, and the headline said 40 percent. People want to think it's rampant and out of control, and now we'll find out.
"Personally, I don't know who's doing it. I've never seen anybody shove a needle in their butt."
Until last August's new collective bargaining agreement included a pioneering drug-testing plan, evidence of steroid use has been limited to visual suspicions and testimony offered by Yankees pitcher David "Boomer" Wells and former big-league stars Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti.
Canseco, who hit 462 career home runs in 17 seasons and currently is in jail for violating probation for his involvement in a nightclub brawl, has claimed 85 percent of baseball players have used steroids. Caminiti has admitted to using steroids during his MVP season in 1996 and said he believed 50 percent of big-league players have done them. It was Wells, who like Canseco has an autobiography coming out, who offered the 25 to 40 percent range.
These figures have provoked two overwhelming responses from current players: confusion and irritation.
"You've got Jose Canseco, who's retired. He wants somebody to listen to him," Helton said. "We're going to know here in six to eight months. Why talk about it?"
The confusion seems to come in what Canseco, Caminiti and Wells consider a steroid. By definition, steroids are complex hormones that enhance testosterone levels, which in turn promote muscle growth. That and this report from The Denver Post's Mike Klis
Where it gets cloudy is the fact testosterone is an ingredient in many legal supplements such as creatine and androstenedione. Baseball's new program tests only the 17 forms of anabolic steroids considered illegal by the federal government.
"The (percentage of) guys injecting pure steroids is very, very low, I think," Rockies reliever Todd Jones said. "If you include creatine or the ACH or body enhancing supplements, then, yeah, Boomer's probably closer to right. Used to be, anyway. Maybe all this testing will clean it all up."
Erratic behavior, known as "'roid rage," is among the potential side affects to testosterone overload. Other side affects range from acne to liver damage to an enlarged heart.
Soviet weight lifters are cited for introducing steroids to athletic competition in the 1950s, and the drugs became well-known to many Olympic athletes in the '60s. The NFL began testing for steroids in 1986, but performance enhancers didn't seem to catch on in baseball until the '90s, which happened to coincide with the home run explosion.
Rockies strength and conditioning coach Brad Andress didn't need statistical data to come to the conclusion steroid usage is significant enough among players in the major and minor leagues.
"Having been in the industry for 14 years, my experience is you can see how bodies have physically changed, and knowing that the older the body gets, how hard it is to make those kind of changes," Andress said. "And yet you see some of these people make dramatic changes in a relatively short period of time."
Some players conclude using the juice is necessary. For many the dilemma becomes not whether they should use steroids, but whether they will be left behind if they don't.
"Sure the temptation's there," Helton said. "You're talking about a lot of money, you're talking about a lot of people's dreams. A lot of people come to the realization that to reach those dreams, they need a little push."
The Rockies have been testing minor-league players since general manager Dan O'Dowd took control of the organization in 2000. Baseball began testing throughout the minor leagues in 2001 and recently, controversial supplements such as ephedrine also have been banned for players not on an organization's 40-man roster.
"We do it mostly for preventative reasons," O'Dowd said. "If we see that a player has a problem, we try to help him through it."
Major-league steroid testing, in its trailblazing season, has received heavy criticism. At first glance, the new drug-testing program appears strict. Steroid testing will be conducted on a survey- only basis this year. If 5 percent of the players test positive, random testing and punishment for those offenders will take place in the 2004 and '05 seasons.
However, critics say this is more of an IQ test than a drug test because even those using the drug heavily should be able to come up negative.
The 17 illegal steroids can be categorized as fat soluble or water soluble. Fat-soluble steroids are the most effective but generally take three months to clear the body. Water-soluble steroids may not be as potent, but they can be flushed from the system in two weeks. Players went into the offseason knowing they would be tested for steroids this month.
"Will it reveal honest results?" Andress asked. "The way it's structured, you give somebody a chance to potentially get by. But nonetheless it is the beginning of addressing an issue that needs to be looked at." That and this report from The Denver Post's Mike Klis
We process personal data about users of our site, through the use of cookies and other technologies, to deliver our services, personalize advertising, and to analyze site activity. We may share certain information about our users with our advertising and analytics partners. For additional details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
By clicking "I AGREE" below, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our personal data processing and cookie practices as described therein. You also acknowledge that this forum may be hosted outside your country and you consent to the collection, storage, and processing of your data in the country where this forum is hosted.
Tweet
Comment