Steroid Nation

David Jacobs, Amanda Earhart-Savell, and NFL lineman Matt Lehr: Weird PED-love triangle

As well documented, heavyweight steroid dealer/user David Jacobs, bodybuilder/fitness model Amanda Savell, and NFL lineman/juicer Matt Lehr appeared to be linked in the past.  Jacobs supplied the juice to Lehr and other unnamed football players.  Jacobs hung with Savell, as the dealers/female bodybuilders are apt to do.  Apparently behind the scenes Savell and Lehr were playing their own field position game...with deadly results.

The Dallas Morning News carried a story on the Plano Plight.

In the months before convicted steroids trafficker David Jacobs killed himself and his girlfriend, the embittered dealer alleged that NFL players used his drugs. But he publicly named only one: Matt Lehr.

Mr. Jacobs, who repeatedly said he wouldn't go public with former customers' names because he did not want to disrupt their lives, made an exception with Mr. Lehr, a former Dallas Cowboys lineman now with the New Orleans Saints.

He said he felt Mr. Lehr and his attorney weren't honest about the NFL player's role in Mr. Jacobs' distribution network.

Jacobs was also jealous of the man he described as his former best friend because he thought Mr. Lehr was interested in his girlfriend.

It was true.

This sounds like a deal going bad, or as they say in 'No Country for Old Men" there 'were a few glitches'.  Steroid dealer to cops, NFL players, and bodybuilders...fem fatale bodybuilder...federal agents...NFL players with millions to lose...quite an explosive cocktail.  And so it went:

"She was in love with me, and I loved her," Mr. Lehr, 29, said in a recent interview, acknowledging for the first time his relationship with Amanda Earhart-Savell, a 30-year-old professional figure competitor and fitness magazine cover girl who also had dated Mr. Jacobs on and off since last year.

Mr. Jacobs, 35, killed Ms. Earhart-Savell in a murder-suicide last month, shattering her body with seven bullet wounds from a .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock 22 that Mr. Jacobs also turned on himself.

Ms. Earhart-Savell's family and friends say a likely scenario is that Mr. Jacobs found evidence of a relationship between her and Mr. Lehr. Mr. Jacobs had told The Dallas Morning News that he had suspected the two were interested in each other for months.

Lehr placed images of Sevall on his MySpace page upon her deminse.  Dude, why does a million-dollar NFL player author a MySpace page anyway?  Read Barrons or something else in your spare time. Plenty of other unsavory things going down too:

Last year, federal agents seized evidence of widespread steroid use by numerous clients from Mr. Jacobs during a raid on his Plano home, including e-mails, text messages and other phone and bank records. He later cooperated, helping investigators connect the dots. He received probation.

Mr. Jacobs also met several times with the NFL about his dealings with Mr. Lehr and several other players, one of whom – another former Cowboy – has been put on notice that he could face a suspension.

It's unclear whether more criminal charges, or league sanctions, will result from Mr. Jacobs' information.

(more on this after the jump)

Daily Steroids Dose, Weekend Edition

1.  Dick Butkus will kick your butt if you use steroids.  (Northwest Journal)

2.   Experts expect steroid street prices to reach an all-time high. (Satire, SSNN)

3.  Manuel Beltran: facing 5 years in the clink?  (Bangkok Post)

4.  If only Brian Roberts were doping he might have hit for the cycle.  (Deadspin)

Daily Steroid Dose

1.  Big Brown's owners make another about face, say no more steroids. (Bloomberg)

2.  Don Catlin founds organization to combat doping.  (News Blaze)

3.  Swimmer Ian Thorpe suing French newspaper. (Herald-Sun)

4.  Terry Bradshaw is a psychopathic killer who used steroids, but so what?  There are alot of those out there (thanks to Woody Harrelson aka Carson Wells, and to the Sporting News)

5. So Big Brown's problem wasn't steroid withdrawal, he simply had trouble with his spikes out there on the race track.  (Louisville Courier-Journal)

So Terry Bradshaw used steroids; unlike other Steelers (from the 70s-80s) at least he's still alive

Steroid Nation documented Pittsburgh Steeler's Steel Curtain's use of anabolic steroids (here, here, and here), and the Steelers unenviable record of early death and dismemberment.  Last week on the DNa Patrick Show (ESPN Radio) Steelier QB Terry Bradshaw said he 'roided too -- although according to this piece, there was confusion between an anti-inflammatory steroid like cortisol and an anabolic steroid like Dianabol. To the New York Daily News:

When Hall of Fame quarterback turned broadcaster Terry Bradshaw disclosed last week that he used steroids as a Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback, it was unclear whether he was referring to corticosteroids or anabolic steroids, two very different categories of drugs.

In a freewheeling radio interview with Sports Illustrated’s Dan Patrick last week, Bradshaw said he used steroids for healing purposes as a member of the vaunted Steeler teams of the 1970s, and that a doctor administered the injections.

“We did steroids to get away the aches and the speed of healing,” Bradshaw said. “My use of steroids from a doctor was to speed up injury, and thought nothing of it… It was to speed up the healing process, that was it. It wasn’t to get bigger and stronger and faster.”

Many athletes take corticosteroids in the form of cortisone shots, which are neither illegal nor banned by professional sports leagues. But Bradshaw then brought up late Steve Courson, his former teammate in those years.

Courson certainly used anabolic steroids, describing to Sports Illustrated in 1985 a complex regimen of Anadrol-50, Dianabol, Winstrol and Deca Durobilin. He became an avowed anti-steroid activist before he died in 2005 in a tree-cutting accident.

“Steve Courson didn’t die of steroid use but he had severe problems with it,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said the medical care in the years he played in the NFL was less than stellar and that a recent MRI revealed two broken vertebrae he was unaware of.

Steve Courson recounted his story in 'False Glory' where he documented a real psychological (or physical) dependence on the juice.  Serious stuff as the number of Steelers coming to an early demise attests (although one cannot directly link the Steeler's early death rate to anabolic steroid use alone).

Bradshaw survived.  Perhaps the legend of the Steelers won't survive quite as untarnished as we once thought.

NFL prospect Heath Benedict died of irregular heartbeat; enlarged heart and drugs (Viagra) noted

Heath Benedict, a small college big time football player found dead at his home last March, appears to raise many questions.  At 6-6 and 320 pounds, any NFL prospect draws attention to possible steroid use, An early death compounds the concerns.  At the time this was said (USA Today)

Heath Benedict, a two-time Little All-American offensive lineman at Newberry College in South Carolina, was found dead on a couch in his Jacksonville home.

Jacksonville police said no foul play is suspected in the death of the 24-year-old Benedict, a 6-6, 326-pounder who finished up his senior season in the fall and left school to train for next month's NFL draft. He was nine hours short of a business degree.

Benedict took part in the Senior Bowl in January, the first Division II player to do so since 2004, and was invited to last month's NFL combine.

"He was a big, tough man, but he had a very gentle heart," Newberry president Mick Zais said. "He was a teddy bear."

Benedict, who redshirted at Tennessee in 2002 before moving to Newberry, was a native of the Netherlands. He played high school football at the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J.

More than a gentle heart - an enlarged heart with an irregular heartbeat.  What might cause cardiac hypertrophy?  A congenital condition, or drug use.  Drugs like anabolic steroids or more notoriously HGH can enlarge the heart, thus causing major problems.  And what was found at Benedict's house?  These drugs (The State):

Former Newberry College football standout Heath Benedict died of an irregular heartbeat caused by an enlarged heart, according to the Duval County Medical Examiner’s Office in Jacksonville, Fla.

The report also reveals a syringe and three bottles were found near his body on March 26. One of the bottles contained water, but the other two were labeled “L-Via” and “L-Dex,” liquid forms of the drugs Viagra and Arimidex.

Deputy chief medical examiner Jessie Giles made it clear Benedict’s death was caused by dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart-muscle disease that leads to a fatal irregular heartbeat. However, Giles said the role Viagra, an erectile dysfunction medication, and Arimidex, an anabolic steroid used by post-menopausal breast cancer patients to reduce estrogen levels, could not be determined.

“The role, if any, of anabolic steroid or other similar drug/preparation use ... is unknown and beyond the scope of this office,” Giles wrote in the report.

The newspaper distorted the facts somewhat.  Arimidex (anastrozole) is not an anabolic steroid, however is a masking agent or an anti-estrogen drug.  It acts by inhibiting conversion of androgenic steroids to estrogen, thus reducing side effects like enlarged breasts.

Injections of Viagra and Arimidex is somewhat bizarre.  Was this player attempting to maximize his NFL potential, yet trying to avoid detection at dope testing?

Stories recently centered on Viagra as PED, apparently used by big time drug-cheat Roger Clemens.  (Sporting News).  Listen to this quote attributed to Clemens:

Roger Clemens, among other athletes, used Viagra to improve their athletic performance, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

Clemens got the pills -- which are not banned by Major League Baseball -- from a teammate and kept them in a GNC vitamin bottle in his locker, according to an anonymous source cited by the newspaper. He also reportedly told a friend that the drug made him feel flushed and made his heart race. 

The newspaper also quotes BALCO founder Victor Conte as saying, "All my athletes took it," in reference to a Viagra-like drug.

The drug and its over-the-counter substitutes reportedly have numerous off-label uses. These include helping build endurance and delivering oxygen, nutrients and performance-enhancing drugs to muscles more efficiently.

Researchers at universities across the country are now trying to determine whether anecdotal evidence that Viagra aids in training and improves performance is based in scientific fact.

Heart racing?  Perhaps leading to cardiac arrhythmias in an athlete who might have primed his heart with anabolics?  This isn't good.  More on the topic later...

Add#1We added a continuation of the State article which stated that Benedict showed "two puncture wounds in his arm, which isn't consistent with anabolic steroids.

Add#2:  We found a research study where Arimidex increased testosterone in 'elderly men' from about 375 to 575.  Not a bad increase.  The mechanism appears to be by blocking the negative feedback from estrogen on LH/FSH or GNRH release in the pituitary.

 

Daily Steroid Dose

1. Tennessee Titan LB Ryan Fowler denies steroid use.  (AHN)

2.   Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow will miss the Congressional session on steroids in horse racing today.  He has a virus.  Awwwww (Philly Enquirer)

3.  More on the Greek weightlifters.  (MVN)

4.  And more on Doctors prescribing HGH in Anti-aging clinics.  (ZD Net)

5.  Greg Anderson, Barry Bond's trainer now a target of the IRS -- wife Nicole Gestas receives letter (ESPN)(overall good reference at ESPN)

Forgetting Bullet Bob Hayes, LSU shaves time off 100M to claim wide receiver Trindon Holliday as fastest football player ever

As pointed out in Brooks for Sports, and in The Nashville City Paper, LSU's football player/sprinter  Trindon Holliday will be completing in the NCAA championships this week in Des Moines Iowa's Drake Stadium.  LSU either shaved time off Holliday's records or added precious 0.01 seconds on to ex-Florida A and M, and ex-Dallas Cowboy sprinter/NFL great Bob Hayes, to conclude the LSU sprinter is the fastest football player in history.

Bullet Bob Hayes  played halfback for Florida A and M from 1960 to 1964, and for the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1974?   Hayes won a Superbowl ring, and an Olympic Gold Medal in the 100M Dash.  Hayes was bigger, stronger, and faster than Holliday...and more accomplished.  To the Nashville paper:

LSU this summer is touting junior wide receiver Trindon Holliday as the fastest player in college football. Ever.

That’s right. Not even Bob Hayes, Herschel Walker or Willie Gault can match Holliday’s speed, according to Tigers football publicists.

On paper, they appear to be right. The 5-foot-6 Holliday, a reserve player last year for national-champion LSU, ran a 10.02 in the 100 meters at last year’s NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Only 69 people have ever run it faster and, according to LSU, none have ever played football or were playing at the time they were clocked.

Holliday, who scored two touchdowns last season, is hoping to make the U.S. Olympic team next month. If you saw LSU play last season, you know how dynamic he can be with the ball in his hands.

“He is a football player with track ability,” Tigers football coach Les Miles told CBSSports.com.

“Just like playing football for LSU is very, very important to him, this is too,” added LSU track coach Dennis Shaver.

Not so fast, LSU....is Holliday faster than Rocket Bob Hayes...who won the 1964 Olympics with a 10.00 100M dash?  Isn't 10.02 slower than 10.00?  Not in Bayou Bengal math.  However, it grows even slower when looking at Bob Hayes's remarkable sprinting career.  Hayes clearly was faster than Holliday; following his track career, Hayes starred in the NFL at Dallas.

1963 started with two blistering long sprint WRs - 20.5 for 200m in Pointe a Pitre on 10 February to equal the World Record, and a 20.5 for 220y (worth 20.4 for 200m) at Coral Gables on 2nd March. Following this came two landmark short sprint times. First, on 27th April, Hayes became the first man to run 100m in under 10.0, with a wind assisted 9.9 at the MSR in Walnut (beating Henry Carr and John Gilbert, both of whom ran 10.0w). Then, at the AAU in St Louis on 21st June he ran 9.1 for 100y in his semi final, the first such time ever. He repeated the time to win the final, albeit wind assisted...

Moving outdoors again (1964), Hayes twice more ran 9.1 for 100y, at Orangeburg on 18th April and at Nashville on 2nd May. Neither was ratified as a WR - a recurring theme during Hayes career. He then won the Olympic trials 100m in 10.1 and placed third in the 200m (he gave his spot up for WR holder Henry Carr, who went on to win in Tokyo).

On to Tokyo in October, the zenith and the final act of Hayes' brief career. He breezed through the heats and quarters in 10.4 and 10.3 respectively on 14th October. The next day, at 10am, he produced an amazing semi final run of 9.91 with a 5.3m/s wind behind him. This was the first time anyone had beaten 10.00 with auto timing, and it remainded the fastest ever run until William Snoddy got on the end of an 11.2m/s wind in Dallas in 1977 and ran 9.87. No one ran faster in the Olympics (aside from Ben Johnson) until, incredibly, the three medallists in Atlanta, 32 years later!

If it is hard to fathom the quality of this run, what he achieved in the final is even more staggering. Hayes drew the inside lane for the final, and the last event before the race was the finish of the 20km walk. Remember, this was a cinder track, and the inside lane was so chewed up it had to be raked! Nevertheless, Hayes won in 10.06. He had a 0.19 gap over Cuba's Enrique Figuerola, who equalled the previous best ever auto time of 10.25 (Hary in 1960). Third was Harry Jerome, joint world record holder! This victory margin was not exceeded until Lewis won by 0.20 in 1984. The winning time was ratified as a WR equalling 10.0, which somewhat understated.

In the Olympics, Hayes ran on a cinder track with borrowed spikes.  And more:

It is always fun to wonder what champions of the past would achieve given today's training methods, nutrition, financial rewards, competition etc. Hayes achieved all of the above before his 22nd Birthday, running in the football off-season, on mostly cinder tracks. He estimated that had he carried on he could have brought his 100m time down by "a couple of tenths." My personal view is that if Hayes had trained full time to his mid twenties, run on today's tracks and had today's social, nutritional and training benefits, he would be running 100m in at least the low 9.70s and maybe even under 9.70.

Consider this sophisticated analysis of the greatest sprinter of the second half of the 20th century (he ran an incredible 8.6 100M leg at Toyoko too):

Consider the advantages Hayes would have had in '68 vs '64. Top competition for a start. A synthetic track. Altitude. 4 more years training. He had already run 9.9w (in '63) and 9.91w (in '64). The hand timing in Tokyo was 9.9 - 9.9 - 9.8. So it's fair to assume that we would have had a 9.9 WR well before Jim Hines managed the feat in the '68 AAU. Considering Hines ran 10.03 in the '68 AAU, just 3/100ths faster than Hayes had run on a cinder track in Tokyo, it's probably fair to assume that at least one auto-timer would have caught Hayes in under 10.00 before Mexico City. So already we've re-written the history of 100m running, with Hayes the first man under 10 seconds with hand-timing (windy and legal) and auto timing (windy and legal) all at sea level. Now, we get to Mexico City. Hines ran 0.08 faster in MC than his sea-level best (9.95 vs 10.03). Assuming Hayes would already have been down to around 9.95 - 9.99 it's easy to imagine him running 9.90 or faster. In fact, I consider that an extremely conservative estimate because I'm ascribing Hayes likely improvements from Tokyo to Mexico City to the track, competition and altitude, without wondering if he might actually have got FASTER with time (not unreasonable, although also not certain).

Terrell Owens earns double-time steroids testing from the NFL

For some unexplained reason, NFL bad boy Terrell Owens (TO) will be vulnerable to many more PED tests than other NFL players -- as many as 24 in a calender year.  The New York Times with the report:

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens and the Cowboys’ owner, Jerry Jones, issued statements Monday after ESPN reported that Owens was placed in the N.F.L.’s “reasonable cause” testing program for performance-enhancing drugs.

The report said Owens was put in the program because he missed day-of telephone calls to set up random tests. He could have been disciplined, but the N.F.L. decided not to fine or suspend him because it accepted Owens’s explanation for missing the calls, according to ESPN.

Under the N.F.L.’s “reasonable cause” program, Owens can now be randomly tested up to 24 times a year for performance-enhancing drugs. The additional screenings can last for the remainder of his career.

A player not in the “reasonable cause” program may be tested during the off-season up to six times, according to the N.F.L.’s 2007 policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Alibi in hand, TO explained the entire episode as a misunderstanding:

“This was a communication problem involving cellphone numbers,” Owens said in a statement released through his publicist. “It was openly discussed and cleared up in a meeting that I had at the N.F.L. office last week.

“I have been in the N.F.L. for over 12 years and have never had a positive test for substance of any kind,” Owens said. “That includes tests that took place as recently as last month. The matter was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction last Tuesday, and everyone has moved on.”

As if anyone in the NFL tests dirty.  The Caroline Panthers juiced up prior to the Superbowl without a worry.  Almost proves nothing that TO never tested positive.

David Jacobs posthumously brings down a Titan: Tennessee's Ryan Fowler suspended

(Update, UPI is saying Jacobs identified Fowler as a juicer to the Dallas Morning News)

Looks like Plano Texas dope-dealer David Jacobs --juice supplier to the NFL --  will posthumously bust up some NFL careers (that he previously made).  Word comes out from the NFL that Titan's linebacker Ryan Fowler will be sitting out some games this coming season.  To the National Post:

The Tennessee Titans may have to begin the 2008 season without Ryan Fowler.

According to a report by ESPN on Monday, the linebacker has been notified by the NFL that he is facing a suspension for violating the league's policy for performance-enhancing drugs.

Citing undisclosed sources, ESPN reported that Fowler received a letter from the NFL stating it has "credible information" that the 26-year-old "purchased, used or supplied" performance-enhancing drugs.

ESPN's sources also said the information came as a result of NFL security's meeting last month with convicted steroids dealer David Jacobs, who was found dead in his home in Dallas on Thursday after committing suicide.

As well known now, authorities discovered Jacob's body dead along side girlfriend Amanda Savell, a noted fitness model.  The Dallas county medical examiner ruled the incident murder-suicide.

Fowler's attorney answered the charges of doping vocally:

Fowler's lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, denied the allegations against his client.

"Ryan has never tested positive for any banned substance," Ginsberg told ESPN. "There apparently are unsubstantiated accusations that have been made by an admitted felon without any corroboration, and the commissioner apparently has seen fit to use those accusations to threaten my client's career.

"It's a violation of Ryan's due process rights and seemingly a violation of the NFL's policy itself to use these kind of unsubstantiated accusations itself. We've asked the NFL to provide to us any corroboration or support for these allegations and, to date, the NFL has provided absolutely no evidence to support any threatened discipline."

Fowler appeared in 14 games for the Titans last season, his first with the club.  The undrafted product of Duke spent his first three NFL campaigns with the Dallas Cowboys.

Fowler spent 2004, 2005, and 2006 with the Dallas Cowboys, which may have brought him into the sphere of influence of the David Jacobs crowd.  Matt Lehr met Jacobs while a member of the Cowboys (2003, and 2004).

David "Bulletproof" Jacobs -- NFL steroids dealer -- death ruled suicide

The New York Times report that Dave "Bulletproof" Jacobs death was ruled a suicide by the Dallas County Police.  A suicide by way of 2 wounds, one to the gut and one to the head.  To the Times:

A preliminary examination by the medical examiner here has found that David Jacobs, a convicted steroids dealer who had linked several N.F.L. players to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, committed suicide, according to the police.

Two self-inflicted wounds and no note???  The examiners do look at exit and entry wounds, angle of entry, and gunpowder residue...But two wounds?  (see the material after the jump)

The police said Jacobs had two self-inflicted gunshot wounds, one in the abdomen and the other in the head. No suicide note was found, said Andrae Smith, a public information officer for the Plano police.

Jacobs and his girlfriend, Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell, were found shot to death at his home here early Thursday morning. The police said they had not yet determined the circumstances surrounding Earhart-Savell’s death. They said Earhart-Savell sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

The weapon was identified a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun; no other weapons were found in the home.

“Our investigation is consistent with murder-suicide,” Smith said.

Actually, the New York Times saying it is a murder-suicide does suggest the circumstance of the girlfriend's death.

Jacobs, who was convicted on federal steroid distribution charges last year, began cooperating with N.F.L. officials shortly after he was sentenced to probation on May 1. At a meeting last month, he provided the N.F.L. with documentary evidence and testimony that tied several players to performance-enhancing drugs.

Although Jacobs, a former competitive body builder, said he stopped using steroids in April 2007, he still maintained a hulking physique.

Now the inevitable questions about anabolic steroids related to depression and suicide.  We would suggest that steroid may produce mood changes, but in and of themselves would not be both necessary and sufficient for this level of depression.

Depression and suicide are two symptoms from steroid withdrawal, but those effects normally last for several months at the most, said Dr. Gary I. Wadler, an internist and antidoping expert.

“If he did indeed stop using steroids in April of 2007, then it is highly unlikely he would still have any significant psychiatric side effects of using steroids,” Dr. Wadler said in a telephone interview. “Because of the fact that he committed suicide, it raises the question, do we really know what the period of drug usage was? As we know, steroid use is a culture known for secrecy.”