Merriman Positive for Steroids

Reports out of So Cal indicate one of the NFL's best defensive players, Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers is suspended for 4 games, testing positive for steroids. Story found here, in the LA Times.

Surprise.  One of those huge, fast, and powerful football players is doping.  I mean got caught doping.  (From the news story):

San Diego's Shawne Merriman, among the NFL's most dominant defensive players, has been notified that he will be suspended for four games by the league for violating the steroids and related substances policy, ESPN reported Sunday.

Citing a source with "knowledge of Merriman's suspension," the network's Chris Mortensen reported that the Pro Bowl linebacker's positive test was "definitely for steroids … not one of those supplement deals."

Sports fans in this country are so used to steroid bloated athletes, they we believe new techniques of training produce the pumped veins, bulging striated and defined muscles that we we see on these guys. Not. Steroids and HGH (apparently).

I was in Appleton WI over the weekend.  Interesting photos of the most dominant football team in the 60s, the Green Bay Packers.  A big man, a good athlete, looks alot different in the 60s and 70s than in the 2000s.  There are some obvious advances in training techniques over the years.  Weight training protocols appear to be better and more refined.  This is better nutrition (probably) in the 200s.  However, the incredible bodies out there today are largely the products of pharmaceutical interventions.

Merriman looks typical of the roid user.  I would like to see what guys like Ray Lewis, Thomas Jones, and Vernon Davis put into their bodies.  These guys are of freakish proportion.  I doubt it is all of natural training.

It is interesting to note that Vernon Davis and Shawne Merriman played at Maryland.  Wonder who is getting what gear at Maryland?