Steroid Nation

Roger Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin on society

Here is Rusty Hardin's quote on society. 

We would add: Hopefully we haven't reached a stage in this country where you lie under oath about something you DID do.

Clemens) high-priced legal team, led by Rusty Hardin, probably is happy, too, as those legal bills really will start to pile up now. Clemens, 48, faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted, though he'd probably serve fewer than two years under federal sentencing guidelines. But he wanted no part of a plea bargain, instead vowing to pitch his way out of another jam.

"Hopefully," Hardin said at a news conference Thursday in Houston, "we haven't reached a stage in this country where you have to admit to something you didn't do."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100821/OPINION03/8210397/1129/sports0104/No-surprise-in-way-Roger-Clemens-is-handling-indictment#ixzz0xLMp4i

One

Early takes on the Roger Clemens indictment: Oath and narcissim

Numerous comments followed the Roger Clemens indictment accusing him of perjury in a congressional hearing.  Some hit the mark, some miss.

One illogical column in the Detroit Free-Press reasoned Congressmen are liars, and therefore should indict themselves rather than Clemens.

Congressmen of all party affiliations can blatantly lie to their constituents and often the only crime committed is their re-election. But if you lie to them, your address could change to Leavenworth.

Ah ... the sweet elixir that is hypocrisy.

There's no defending Roger Clemens if he indeed lied under oath to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during his nationally televised testimony in January 2008.

If he's that stupid, voluntarily putting himself in this mess, he deserves all the humiliation he gets. I suppose he's employing the George Costanza Principle -- "It's not a lie if you believe it's the truth."

But Congress' relentless pursuit -- a six-count indictment against Clemens for obstructing justice and perjury -- nonetheless comes across as arrogant for a legislative body that has a hard enough time holding itself accountable.

Sigh.  The principle here is that under oath, a witness shall not lie in a congressional hearing.  How does pursuing truth amount to egotistical?  Does the writer not understand that the justice system is based on veracity under oath.  It continues:

These political hacks can't understand that Clemens' and Bonds' career legacies and personal reputations already are shot regardless of what Congress says or does. Nobody really cares if Clemens and Bonds spends a second in federal prison, because the court of public opinion already has tried and convicted them, sentencing them to a life of open scorn and ridicule.

OK dude, the world is not all a sports driven event.  Because Barry Bonds will not make the Hall of Fame, justice is not served under oath.

The message is that when sworn in a court or a hearing that the truth needs to come out -- or simply shut up.  Clemens was not compelled to testify; He could have declined the opportunity.

Journalists speculate why Clemens might have distorted the truth (which we don't really know that he did). The Rocket is NOT delusional.  Clemens knows reality; he does not think green men are bugging his cell phone.

However like other powerful men, acclimated to power and adulation, the narcissism comes out.  This is a man who didn't attend spring training, who flew in his own plane to games.  He didn't play by team rules, and thus why should he play by the usual rules common non-VIPs observe?  (who would pose with his wife for skimpy photo shoots without a huge measure of narcissism?)

Bonds too, suffered from the VIP-adulation-power narcissism where he demanded public attention and worship.  Rules are for mortals, not gods like Clemens and Bonds.  Same reason that John Edwards, Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton, George Bush etc etc.  Power, Visibility, Sex...

Imagine if John Edwards were President today...

Cheating be it like Tiger Woods or John Edwards infidelity sense, or with PEDs in the Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens sense is understandable when you look at the aggressiveness of these men.

The cheating may lead to certain consequences, however the cover-up really torpedo these guys.

Should Clemens be indicted?  IDK, however one could predict that Congress will protect the matter of truthfulness under oath.

Harold Connelly dies: Olympic champion and early steroid pioneer

Former Olympian Harold Connolly died at 79 last week.  He died in the gym, with his boots on.

Connolly lived a full and interesting life as documented in the New York Times. He was an Olympic hammer throw champion, a man involved in a huge international controversy based on love, and an early user of anabolic steroids.

In 1991, during a relaxed and lubricated private dinner, I said to Harold Connolly, winner of the 1956 Olympic hammer throw and a perennial world and United States champion: “It’s all timing. If you’d been born later, taken steroids, you could have won a few more gold medals.”

He looked at me incredulously. “You kidding? I was using after 1960. We all were.”

Connolly recognized aggressiveness as a steroids side effect:

When I first met Harold at a Randalls Island track meet in 1966, I didn’t suspect that his crusty demeanor, generally ascribed to fierce competitiveness and self-consciousness about his arm, was probably made even edgier by drugs. Surly that day, he tried to psych out the young hammer thrower who eventually beat him, and he was dismissive when I asked him about reports that he had subverted the youngster’s Olympic training with misinformation.

Twenty-five years later, at that boozy dinner, and then again last October, in a long, sober interview, he admitted that drugs were certainly heightening his “aggressiveness” back then, which he still felt was their only significant downside for older athletes. Harold was against punitive testing, which he thought did no good (“Most of the athletes I have known would do anything short of killing themselves to improve performance”), and he had come around to oppose drugs for youngsters, although I was never sure whether he really thought there were dangers to developing brains and bodies or whether he was finally being politic. 

Connolly relates a day when to achieve at the highest level in the Olympic field events, anabolic steroids was required:

It was after watching American doctors routinely give athletes testosterone injections that Harold decided he could use a little help, too. He started with one or two 10-milligram tablets a day of Dianabol along with proteins. When that had no discernible effect, he moved on to Winstrol and other drugs in “stacking” combinations. It was a standard regimen in the days before testing and prohibition.

As he later told a Senate subcommittee: “I learned that larger doses and more prolonged use increased muscular body weight, overall strength, and aggressiveness, but not speed, flexibility or coordination. My vertical jump went up but so did my blood pressure and cholesterol levels.” 

He had plenty of teammates with whom to compare notes. He remembered that during the 1968 Olympic trials, many athletes “had so much scar tissue and so many puncture holes in their backsides that it was difficult to find a fresh spot to give them a new shot.” 

Although he had some reservations (“Every time I felt unusual physical reactions, a twinge here a twinge there, a headache, disrupted sleep or diminished libido, I retreated from the testosterone or steroids — too apprehensive to take them regularly.”) they were not enough to preclude offering his seven children drug advice in pursuit of their athletic careers. Apparently, they didn’t want to use or they listened to Harold’s second wife, Pat Connolly, a three-time Olympian and coach, whose opposition to drugs has been fierce and unrelenting.

Connolly argued that pro athletes should be allowed to use PEDs.  However like most of these arguments he likely didn't understand the pragmatic issues involved: at what dose, for what period of time, for what indications, and who will pay the malpractice insurance?  (American medicine does not approve medications willy nilly; double blind, controlled research studies are required for EACH indication and EACH compound.  There are not even the preliminary studies on these drugs to begin to delineate the benefits and risks.)

“Pro athletes who can pay for medical guidance should take steroids,” he said. “They can give fans a better performance, a nice luxury. The argument against it is that they are role models and kids will find the black market.

“But the danger factor is ridiculous. How about Nascar and boxers and football players, even without drugs? Maybe some good will come from all this fuss. We’ll find out more about drugs, like we found out more about alcohol and marijuana.”

The romance?  Connolly pursued a Czech discus athlete despite the cold war:

He’s been appropriately celebrated as a role model for disabled athletes (he was born with a withered left arm) and as a lead in one of sports’ most romantic love stories (he married Olga Fikotova of Czechoslovakia, the ’56 Olympic discus winner) but he should also be appreciated as a complex and seminal elder of the Age of Enhancement.

Marlins catcher Ronny Paulino suspended for PED use: ?weight loss product?

Apparently another professional athlete doesn't understand ingredients in weight loss preps violate the steroid policies of professional leagues.  Marlins catcher Ronny Paulino faces a 50 game suspension for what he ways was a weight loss supplement.  From the Palm Beach Post:

MIAMI GARDENS — The Marlins will play the rest of this season without catcher Ronny Paulino, who Friday began serving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance under Major League Baseball's drug policy.

"I am horrifically embarrassed," Marlins President David Samson said of the organization's first failed drug test by a player on the 25-man roster.

Samson said owner Jeffrey Loria immediately ordered a review of the club's drug-education policies to try to prevent a recurrence. Samson said that review will encompass "everything we do, from the Dominican League up to the major leagues."

Baseball operations president Larry Beinfest added, "One is more than we would ever want."

Paulino, who appeared in 91 of the Marlins' 120 games through Thursday, will miss another 41 games this season and the first eight games of 2011. He will forfeit approximately $272,000 during his suspension.

Paulino, who is 6-feet-3 and 250 pounds, blamed weight-loss medication for failing the test.

"To control my weight this season, I used a dietary pill," Paulino, 29, said in a statement released by the team. "I recently learned that the dietary pill contained a substance banned under Major League Baseball's drug policy.

"I am ashamed and saddened for disappointing and distracting my family, my teammates, the entire Florida Marlins organization and baseball fans."

Generally the illegal substances in weight loss compounds are related to ephedrine.  Those drugs not only are related to meth, but to other 'psychostimulants' which reduce appetite.

It is baffling why a pro athlete would not consult with a trainer, or dietitian, or physician on weight control.

Roger Clemens indicted for obstruction of justice during Congressional steroids hearing in 2008

In a House of Representatives chamber in 2008, Roger Clemens assured the gathered congressmen that he never took steroids.  US federal attorneys are accusing Clemens of not representing the truth in his testimony.  (from the AP)

Roger Clemens was vehement: "Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH," he told a House committee in 2008. Now, instead of the Hall of Fame, baseball's seven-time Cy Young winner could go to prison after being indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lying to Congress.

The case writes a new chapter in one of baseball's worst scandals, the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs in the 1990s and early 2000s, and leaves Clemens' legacy in jeopardy.

The six-count indictment alleges that Clemens obstructed a congressional inquiry with 15 different statements made under oath, including denials that he had ever used steroids or human growth hormone.

Virginia Congressman Tom Davis relates this about the Rocket:

"Clemens was not under subpoena. He came voluntarily," Davis said. "And I sat there in the office with (committee chairman) Henry Waxman and said, 'Whatever you do, don't lie.'"

Clemens was sticking to his story Thursday. He insisted he was telling the truth, again denying any wrongdoing on or off the field.

Through his lawyer, the veteran Rusty Hardin, Clemens claims  he neither lied, nor took HGH or steroids.  Clemens turned down a plea bargain.

Clemen's ex-trainer Brian McNamee reports he administered PEDs to the Rocket.  One would think that the Government has ascertained other witnesses or other evidence to Clemens' PED use.

Baseball's Mitchell Report mentioned Clemens a few times -- like 82.

WADA underwhelmed with MLB's HGH test plans

WADA boss John Fahey says major league baseball's new HGH testing program needs to grow some.  Fahey criticizes MLB hard for dragging feet on PED use. 

Not to mix apples and baseballs, MLB and other professional sports owner to different music than the Olympic sports.  Owner, unions, and local authorities all complicate the pro sports PED testing.

Major League Baseball announced plans last month to begin testing for HGH in the minor leagues, but that's not enough for the World Anti-Doping Agency. John Fahey, the head of the agency, said Monday that the sport's integrity was at stake, and that if the league doesn't bring their testing up to WADA specifications that fans will eventually stop coming to the ballpark.

"Baseball is the most recalcitrant (American sport league)," he said. "You had the Mitchell inquiry and clear and concise recommendations from it and they effectively did nothing."

Fahey's frustration seems to stem mostly from the fact that the NFL works fairly closely with the agency while developing it's drug policy, while baseball's rarely solicits the organization's advice. The truth is that the league has stiffened the policy greatly in the last 10 years and it will again come up for debate when the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2011 season.

Court of Arbitration for Sports reduces Italian Gianni Da Ros's cycling suspension from 20 years to 4 years

Think of all the cyclists who doped themselves into oblivion including Floyd Landis, Alejandro Valverde, Tyler "Chimera" Hamilton, Ivan Basso, David Millar, and Bernhard Kohl.  How many years suspension did these elite world class athletes receive?  Couple generally.

Consider 23 year-old Italian cyclists Gianni Da Ros.  This skinny kid was nailed with a number of PEDs, apparently including HGH, and most likley an EPO.  What length ban did he receive?  20 years!!!  Twenty -- that's right.

The CAS rescinded 16 of those years the other day.  Perhaps when this kid can compete again, he can pack on some weight.

Italian Gianni Da Ros will not have to serve a 20-year suspension for trafficking in banned substances, the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided.

The court partially upheld the appeal by Da Ros, who asked to have the ban reduced to two years.

Da Ros was arrested in March, 2009 as part of a large operation by the Italian police to stop the distribution of doping products in fitness clubs.

In November, 2009, the Anti-Doping Tribunal of the National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) found him guilty of several WADA code violations, including the use, possession, trafficking and administration of banned substances and imposed a 20-year ban.

The CAS said it "confirmed the existence of the infractions committed by the Athlete", which reportedly included the use and distribution of Human Growth Hormone.

However, the court "considered that a twenty-year ban was not justified and has reduced it to a period of four years which corresponds to the standard suspension provided by Article 10.3.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code."

Da Ros will be eligible to race again March 11, 2013...

What is the saying...The NCAA was mad at Kentucky so put Eastern Carolina on suspension...

Jose Juiced Canseco injected into Texas minor league team

Juiced author and broke entrepreneur Jose Canseco will report to a Texas minor team -- the Laredo Broncos.  Apparently Canseco cannot sell enough steroid books to cover his  bills.

Note the comment by the league president.  He thinks that having a washed up irresponsible ex-major league All-Start is a league highlight.  Celebrity once again trumps intelligence.

LAREDO, Texas -- Jose Canseco has signed a contract with an independent minor-league team in south Texas.

The 46-year-old Canseco, a central figure in baseball's steroid era, was introduced Monday as a member of the Laredo Broncos -- one of six teams in the United Baseball League.

Canseco says he'll play designated hitter, serve as a bench coach and pitch for the team. He'll play in Laredo's remaining six home games this season.

The former slugger named names and detailed steroid use around major league baseball in two memoirs. In one, he admitted using steroids and claimed that up to 85 percent of players also did.

Canseco hit 462 home runs in 17 major league seasons. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1986 and MVP in 1988, after he hit 42 home runs and stole 40 bases.

"My first step was getting back into the game, in whatever way, shape and form," Canseco said. "I don't know how I'll perform physically, since I'm 46 and haven't played at this level in a long time. We'll see what happens."

Byron Pierce, the UBL president, said luring Canseco was "one of the highlights of our league."

In the 1960s there was a TV series about Texas Rangers called 'Laredo' staring William Smith.  Smith looks like he could have taken Canesco. 

Will Connecticut elect the steroids WWE fighting-senator, Linda McMahon?

Voters in Connecticut decided to run WWE executive Linda McMahon against Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal.  Mrs. McMahon funded her campaign with generous amounts of cash from her personal fortune.

McMahon's husband Vince McMahon is the chief exec of the WWE and is a widely known and admitted friend and user of steroids.  Why not have Mrs McMahon join government as the steroids senator..we have at least one steroids governor in California...(the Wall Street Journal)

 Democrats picked the former mayor of Stamford as their best hope to win the Connecticut governor's mansion for the first time since 1986, while wealthy wrestling executive Linda McMahon will take on Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in the race for the state's open U.S. Senate seat.

Mrs. McMahon will have a hard fight in this heavily Democratic state. But her vow to spend up to $50 million of her own money on her campaign will make her a formidable opponent to Mr. Blumenthal, who has had a strong but narrowing lead in recent polls.

The race will likely continue to receive intense national attention, as an upset by Mrs. McMahon in the race for the seat held by retiring Sen. Christopher Dodd would help tip the balance of power in the Senate toward the Republicans.

PED using Olympian Antonio Pettigrew found dead at 42; PED use involved?

Forty two year-old former Olympian and admitted PED user/drug cheat Antonio Pettigrew was found dead at age 42.  Pettigrew served as a track coach at The University of North Carolina.

ANTONIO Pettigrew, who was stripped of a 2000 Olympic 4x400m relay gold medal for doping, has been found dead at the age of 42.

There was no word on the exact time or possible cause of death for Pettigrew, whose body was discovered on Tuesday according to a spokesman for University of North Carolina, where Pettigrew was an assistant athletics coach.

Pettigrew, who won the 1991 400 metres world title in Tokyo, was a member of the 4x400 metres American relay team that won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Pettigrew and his teammates - including Michael Johnson - of their medals after he admitted, during a trial against former coach Trevor Graham, to doping.

Pettigrew qualifies as a "non-analytic" PED user: He never tested positive for PEDs, however he admitted to use under oath in court.

Pettigrew used at least EPO and HGH. Studies have shown HGH enlarges the heart muscle.  EPO is related to sudden death in cyclists -- it changes hemodynamics.

Could HGH and EPO use have lead to a cardiac problem in Pettigrew produced sudden cardiac death? No one will know exactly, but it's intelligent speculation.

It is reported Victor Conte thought EPO was one of the best PEDs.  Will we now start to see 40+ former athletes drop dead from PED side effects?

BALCO investigator Jeff Novitzky aims scope at Lance Armstrong

The AP reports BALCO investigator and Barry Bond's good buddy Jeff Novitzky will lead the investigation of Lance Armstrong's cycling antics in the near future.  Armstrong would likely rather have the IRS invite him to a weekend picnic at Alcatraz.

He's been called high-minded, a trailblazing lawman and "America's top steroid cop."

For someone who does his best work behind the scenes, federal agent Jeff Novitzky is hardly a stranger to the spotlight. And depending on the results of an ongoing investigation into the sometimes-shadowy world of pro cycling, he could soon become better-known still.

After hounding home-run king Barry Bonds for years and wringing a confession from Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, Novitzky is leading an investigation that has questioned sponsors and examined claims from former teammates of Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion. A grand jury has been seated in Los Angeles to hear evidence in the investigation over the coming weeks and months, and Armstrong sponsors Trek Bicycle Corp. and Nike each said Friday that they've been contacted by federal agents.

"I'm just glad he ain't after me," said attorney Richard Emery. "He is a nightmare for anyone that's he's focused on."

Brian Cushing: Overtrained and Disingenous. Stakes claim on over-training producing his hcg level; Also notes pigs fly

Houston Texan ROY linebacker Brian Cushing, long thought the be a juicer at USC and in the NFL, and nailed with a positive PED test last spring is claiming 'overtrained athlete syndrome' affected his hormone status.  Cushing also claimed that pigs fly and that the moon is made of green cheese.

Cushing tested positive of HCG, a hormone of pregnancy that supports testosterone when anabolic steroids are discontinued for say, PED testing.  The NFL's Rook of the Year (yes we meant that) will sit out 4 games in 2010 in the steroid time out box.

There is a literature on Over-Training, which happens when a athlete stresses his body to a degree he cannot recover.  The athlete's stress level is high; his HPA axis (hypothalmaic-pituitary-adrenal) can be messed up too.  However, Brian Cushing needs to understand HCG isn't included in this deal...hormones like cortisone and testosterone may test somewhat abnormal.

Texan's owner Bob McNair will foolishly appeal to the NFL front office to rescind Cushing's suspension.  While that indicates the owner supports his players, it also indicates Cushing is willing to maintain a fabrication while his owner humiliates himself.

Count us as very annoyed that a steroid-cheat like Cushing not only attains his career advancement by cheating, but continues to deceive caring people about his PED cheating.  Cushing should fess up to the ch...there is only so much BS that is acceptable.  Save others from the humiliation of defending your nefarious actions.  That, or you were pregnant.  (of course he can divulge all in his port-career book: Brain Cushing, Confessions of an Over-Trained and Dis-Ingenous Athlete)

Here is a legitimate abstract on the condition after the jump:

With home run #600, A-Rod becomes A-Fraud?

Everyone knew it was coming...Alex Rodriguez's 600th home run.  Following the revelation of his steroid and PED use, among other bad behaviors, time provided sufficient opportunity to discuss his achievements and his misadventures.  Why then does the Boston Herald declare this a controversy?

On Wednesday, Alex Rodriguez became the seventh player to reach the 600-home run level. He was the youngest to do it and is on a path that easily could give him another 163 homers, and the all-time record, before his contract ends in 2017.

Yet Rodriguez’s milestone home run wasn’t a big event outside of New York. It was more of an interruption in stories about the start of NFL camps and the deterioration of Tiger Woods’ short game.How would this have been played if Rodriguez had not wound up on the list of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003?

Why should anyone be surprised about A-Rod as the youngest player to meet the 600 HR platform?  He likely was more exposed to PEDs and at an earlier age.  He was banging out 50 home runs a year in Texas and Seattle as a young player during the apex of baseball's steroids era.

Can anyone quantify the boost PEDs put into A-ROd's bat (a few years ago writers were suggesting that there was no evidence that 'roiding even helped power hitter, a bit like suggesting Hurricane Katrina really wasn't all that devastating).

Someone could develop regression equations to pare down A-Rod's home run totals to speculative HRs without juice.  Why bother when your lifetime home run leader-- Barry Bonds -- awaits trial on steroids charges in the BALCO scandal.

Obviously A-Rod reached the plateau by cheating, cheating the game the fans, the pitchers, and his fellow players.  Does anyone really have anything to add beyond that?

World Antidoping Agency (WADA) to come down on International Cycling Union (UCI) for possible dope testing cover-ups

Before getting shoved off pager one by the Hewlett-Packard CEO sex-scandal the Wall Street Journal reported that WADA was looking closing at the international body governing pro cycling -- UCI.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said it has decided to step up its oversight of drug testing in professional cycling amid concerns that the sport has failed to aggressively police itself. David Howman, WADA's director general, said that in the last three weeks, the organization has taken steps to allow its staff to begin monitoring the blood and urine profiles of the sport's elite riders that are collected through the sport's Biological Passport program—and to push for sanctions when necessary. "Our job is to make sure the system isn't being sidestepped," Mr. Howman said. "We have the right of intervening if we think cases aren't being prosecuted appropriately."

The move reflects a growing concern in the antidoping community that the International Cycling Union, or UCI, the governing body of the sport which is charged with administering the Passport program, has not been following procedures correctly and is not doing a satisfactory job of cracking down on cheating.

WADA remains concerned that the UCI is shielding guilty cyclists from exposure when their biological samples test positive for drugs.  Shocking that anyone think pro cyclists would cheat, or that officials would look the other way.  (shocking if you are incredibly naive)

This person said antidoping officials are particularly concerned about the status of five professional riders who were flagged for doping in December but have not yet been sanctioned by the UCI. The riders, whose names are known only to the UCI, were determined to be doping by an independent committee of nine scientists and experts that was appointed by the UCI to review data from blood and urine tests.

The person said at least two members of the panel have voiced concerns that the UCI may be disregarding these positive tests or shielding guilty riders from punishment.

Padres acquire 'roider Tejada

In an interesting twist, the San Diego Padres (remember a Padre is a priest) acquired Miguel Tejada, the juiced, who lied in front of Congress about the issue.

Padres eh?

Must need a team leader there...imagine if your employer hired a person who lied to Congress about anything.

The NL West-leading San Diego Padres obtained infielder Miguel Tejada and cash from the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday in exchange for Double-A right-hander Wynn Pelzer. Tejada was scratched from the Orioles' lineup before their game Thursday night at Kansas City. The trade was announced a short time later. Tejada is hitting .269 with seven homers and 39 RBIs. The former AL MVP can play shortstop and third base. He has appeared in 93 games in the field this season, all at third base, after having played shortstop in each of his previous 1,846 games.

A-Rod heats up MLB steroids controversy with #600 looming

Let's get the dope straight...nonprescription use if anabolic steroids is/was/will ILLEGAL.  The history was long ago documented here.  So why do writers continue to be wrong about this?

Anabolic steroids are controlled substances.  Nonprescription use is as illegal as using Valium or amphetamines without a prescription.  Sales outside the legal sales chain is likewise a felony.  Why can't people understand that?  From The Bleacher Report:

PEDs have, unfortunately, became a part of baseball. Its gotten so bad that there is an era, known as the Steroid Era, that defines the time in which steroid usage was at its peak. We will really never know how many players actually used steroids before, during, or after the Steroid Era.

The problem with PEDs and baseball is it is impossible to quantify how much PEDs helped players' performance. I heard one person say that at least 100 of A-Rod's home runs shouldn't be counted due to his steroid use, while another thought that since A-Rod hit 91 home runs while in Texas (he admitted to steroid use from 2001-2003 while he played for the Rangers), those 91 homers shouldn't count.

I have a big problem with that thinking. If you are going to diminish home runs, it has to be all or nothing. It is impossible to say whether or not steroids aided any of those home runs that A-Rod hit. In fact, there are actually a lot more factors that affect home runs than just PEDs. Here are just a few of several factors:

• Technology: Baseball bats have come a long way since the dawn of baseball. Now, bats are quite a technological marvel, and the bigger and better sweet spots allow for more power out of the swing. Imagine how many home runs Babe Ruth could have hit if he used the bats that players use today!

• Technology (part 2): Training (without PEDs) is so advanced at this point that players are bigger and stronger than ever. When comparing the accomplishments of players now to players in the early 1900s, it really is like comparing apples to oranges. Yet, we still need to name a home run king in all of baseball history. Is that fair?
• Stadiums: In just New York, the two stadiums are polar opposites. Yankee Stadium is notoriously small, while Citi Field is notoriously large. Can you say that some "cheap" home runs in Yankee Stadium are diminished because they would not have been a home run in any other park? Can you diminish the statistics of players who played in Coors Field when balls were flying out of there before they kept the baseballs in humidors?

The point is, there are a lot more contextual factors that go into records and statistics than just PEDs. If we don't diminish statistics for other factors, we can't for steroids. I know that steroids are an illegal substance, but at the height of the steroid era, they weren't banned by baseball. I really can't blame the players for using PEDs to get any advantage they can, in a game as competitive as baseball, while using PEDs wasn't illegal. Can you?

If the writer is in college he should check his logic.  Illegal is illegal.  If murdering your wife isn't prohibited by baseball, it remains illegal (kicks the dog here in frustration).

Perhaps worse than the failure to appreciate the law, would be the consistent rationalizations for cheating.  Cheating is cheating, there are no excuses.  Considering the widespread cheating in college, and in general, people must b very skillful in scheming excuses. Should your banker steal money from your account because he needed a new car?  He can rationalize it...this paragraph is morally disgusting.

I don't want to condone players using illegal substances, but I can't blame them either. As a college student, I liken the use of PEDs to the use of Adderall, or any other study drug. Due to the rigor of college, tons of students illegally take the perscription drug Adderall like it's no big deal, to study better. It's impossible to know how much better of grades students get from taking Adderall, though, or how many students actually take a study drug. You can't say that a student really got a 3.4 GPA, when his/her transcript says 3.7 and he/her took Adderall. Same thing with steroids.

When it comes to study drugs, there is no testing by colleges for it, so you can't really blame students for trying to get any advantage they can. Same as in baseball, before PEDs were illegal, all players did was try to get any advantage they could.

Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog: MLB allowed stroids to juice the game

In the Daily Herald Barry Rvvner quotes new HOFer Whitey Herzog on steroid and PED use in baseball.  Herzog discusses the attendance factor, the envy factor, and the cheat the old timers factor (assuming they were clean.

Back in the early '90s, it was always amusing when the Athletics got off their team bus in spring training and walked past the Cubs' dugout.

Inevitably, at least one Cubs player would say, "There goes the Oakland Raiders again."

That's how big the Mark McGwire/Jose Canseco Athletics were, and it wasn't just the big boppers.

It was a monstrous team, one that didn't go unnoticed by Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog, who had his own take on steroids this past weekend and remembered when several NFL and MLB teams inhabited the same facilities.

"I think you have to look at the baseball teams that shared stadiums with the football teams," Herzog said, while not specifically naming the Athletics, since the Raiders were in L.A. from 1982 to 1996. "There's a lot of cities where they worked together in the training rooms. The football players were going from 250 to 335 and they got faster.

"Baseball players watched that and next thing you know they had something going.

"I was fortunate I didn't have to manage during the steroid era. I managed during the drug era. I had players with problems. Everybody knows that.

"I often wonder how many games we lost as managers in the '80s because of drugs. But by the same token I wonder how many victories managers got in the '90s because of steroids."

Herzog pointed to the work stoppages of 1990 and 1994 as another factor in the performance-enhancing explosion.

"Baseball was down after the strike and McGwire gets all those home runs (in 1998) and it brought baseball back," Herzog said. "Everybody goes back to the ballparks. So maybe that's where the mistake was made.

"If they stopped it then, maybe we wouldn't have the situation we got. I don't know the answer to that.

"Baseball looked the other way because they didn't want attendance to fall. I don't think it was right, and I don't like that a lot of records were broken. It's hurt a lot of retired players trying to get here (to Cooperstown), and I think it's just plain wrong.''

Dishonest WWE diva Dawn doped too

The Daily Examiner says a WWE groupie not only is accused of embezzlement, but that she juiced her physique as well as her bank account:

Did steroids make Dawn Marie allegedly embezzle funds from her own “charitable” organization aimed at helping retired wrestlers with medical and other expenses? Well, Dawn Marie admitted to using the drugs while in the WWE according to the Connecticut Post newspaper. If this is a precursor to an excuse for what she has been accused of, a lame attempt at diminished capacity due to excessive drug abuse, then it is a lousy escape attempt.

Anabolic steroids change behavior (news flash) but generally do not thought to enhance financial fraud.  Then again, a case could be made for some Bipolar mania exacerbated by the drugs.

Gone but not forgotten: Feds close in on Armstrong doping

As everyone (except me, because I have taken a break) knows Lance Armstrong retired from the Tour de France (TDF, or Take da Fraud considering the drug scandals) but apparently US Prosecutors continue to ride on.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Feds continue to be interested in Armstrong's performance boosters.

Federal prosecutors handling an investigation into cheating in professional cycling have subpoenaed documents from an arbitration case that sought to prove that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs.

The documents contain depositions from former teammates and associates of the seven-time Tour de France champion during a period when a promotions company was trying to prove that Mr. Armstrong employed banned drugs and practices—known as doping—during his cycling career.

Jeffrey Tillotson, the attorney who represented the company, SCA Promotions Inc., in the arbitration hearings, said it received a subpoena for the records on July 16. He is preparing to send the files to the federal prosecutors in Los Angeles who are handling the investigation, he said.

We love the next paragraph about PEDs generally not being illegal.  Oh yeah?  That's patently ridiculous.  There is a difference between using an illegal prescription drug for non-indicated reasons, or abusing a controlled substance, and the public's or the law enforcement's general lazy disregard of the abuse.

Mr. Armstrong has repeatedly denied doping allegations and has not been charged with any wrongdoing.Using performing-enhancing techniques in sports is generally not against the law in the U.S. But federal prosecutors could make the case that Mr. Armstrong defrauded investors by accepting sponsorship dollars with the understanding that he would not use the drugs, if they prove that he doped.

In our view the problems pursing Armstrong remain several:

• He has build up a great 'feel good' following with his charitable works
• He could have taken prescribed drugs legally, for instance androgens as replacement following cancer
  
• People close their eyes when an idol is tainted...evidence ESPN's Stewart Scott's lovefest about Armstrong on the eve when the TdF ended Sunday.  He pointed out a small but vocal minority object to LS's drug use.  Golly gee...