Steroid Nation

Testosterone Kills Brain Cells

LOL

This story has been around for a while.  Here it is from Reuters news service.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Too much testosterone can kill brain cells, researchers say, in a finding that may help explain why steroid abuse can cause behavior changes such as aggressiveness and suicidal tendencies.

Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's.

"Too little testosterone is bad, too much is bad but the right amount is perfect," said Barbara Ehrlich of Yale University in Connecticut, who led the study.

I kinda doubt it is that simple, but interesting, nonetheless.

Drug Testing in High Schools

Several newspapers have now called for steroid testing in schools, the most recent here in New York, and here from the Chicago Sun-Times.  Here from the Albany Times-Union:

When national surveys find that 4 to 6 percent of high school students have illegally used steroids, that's a problem. Which is why this year New Jersey has become the first state to mandate random steroid tests for its high school athletes and why New York state and others should follow suit.

 New Jersey is currently implementing steroid testing in high schools. 

Bio Profile?

In this article, Ms Radcliffe promotes the idea of a 'steroid profile' in elite athletes.  Interesting.  However, she should consider profiles of EPO, growth hormone, insulin, HGH, and other hormones too.  In other words a 'bio-profile''

PAULA RADCLIFFE wants all leading competitors to have “drugs passports” to help scientists to identify those people who are taking banned substances.

The world marathon champion and record-holder wants competitors’ “steroid profile” to be held in a central database, so their physical record can be quickly researched when they are being tested.

Radcliffe is supporting the idea of Professor David Cowan, Britain’s leading expert on drugs in sport, to have all competitors profiled in time for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Today, she will tell an IAAF symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland, of the desire of leading competitors to help the drugs authorities in their efforts to eradicate cheating.

Why not a bio-profile?  If you practice law you need to pass the bar exam.  If you practice medicine you need to carry a license, as well as various other numbers.  Professional athletes should maintain their credentials too.

 

Huge Scandal in South Africa

There is a developing steroid - drug scandal in South Africa.  A news service called Carte Blanche is going with a story that documents steroid use among kids, and promoted by their parents.  The reference is found here.

The news service not only interviewed steroid users, but caught several 'dealers' on tape.  One surprise:  a SA cyclist of some repute, Shawn Lynch, talked to a fake mother and her fake son (really reporters) about steroid use.

A journalist posing as the mother of a 17-year-old schoolboy wanting to bulk up in order to qualify for the Craven Week, met Shawn for coffee.

Shawn: “You take four [inaudible] tablets a day and one [inaudible] injection every fourth day and those dosages are minimal. In six weeks he could go up ten kilos, like this.”
Our appointment was Shawn’s fourth for the day.
Shawn: “You’re not the first, you’re not the first today.”
Journalist: “Mothers?”
Shawn: “One mother, one father.”
Journalist: “Rugby player kids?”
Shawn: “One runner and one rugby player.”
Journalist: “At school?”
Shawn: “One was very young.”
Journalist: “What is very young?”
Shawn: “Fifteen.”

Holy Cow, is the nicest thing I can say here.  Holy Cow.  Here is an actual sale:

Two journalists, posing as a mother and her 17-year old son - who wants to make it into his school’s first rugby team - were referred to this man, Marius Scheepers, who agreed to meet us at his home in Pretoria.

Marius Scheepers: “These are all testosterone supplements for sick people. There is a pamphlet inside that explains how it works, but don’t get a fright when the dosage refers to dogs and horses…”

Dogs and horses? Yes, the drugs Marius had on offer included veterinary products.

… R600 later and the deal was done.

Lynch is denying the deal, in a report here.

 

 

Fay Vincent on Steroids

Former Commish Fay Vincent published a very enlightened article found in the Washington Post.  He articulates many observations & asks several questions:
1.  Players aren't getting larger based on good nutrition only;
2.  There is probably 'benign neglect' of coaches and trainers
3.  Little is known about the long term side effects of steroids
4.  And in several decades will these drugs become 'tobacco lawsuits' as former athletes suffer long term consequences?

Let us shift forward several decades. Now the players are returning to their old fields, as I did to mine, to sit in the shadows of advancing age and watch others sweat in the grass. I wonder whether they'll feel as warm and fuzzy about their colleges and their experiences on the field as I do. Or will some be coping with serious medical ailments and disabilities -- problems they now attribute to the failure of others to have warned them against using chemicals that inflated their bodies but also injured them and distorted their genes?

Will our universities and colleges be like the tobacco companies, forced to argue in court that these kids knew, or should have known, that the substances they were using weren't good for their health? I wonder whether the schools will be faced with lawsuits based on the mounting numbers of former athletes who might allege that they were victims of neglectful abuse by their onetime educational mentors.

And I wonder whether those former athletes taking their alma maters to court might not have a pretty good case.

Kentucky Pharmacy Supplied Steroids Over Internet

Found here on Fox 41 is a story on a Kentucky pharmacy apparently giving out steroids over the Internet.

Kentucky authorities are uncovering new infomation connected to a Louisville pharmacy raid less than two weeks ago. State agents raided Advanced Pharmacy on Bluegrass Parkway on September 15th and siezed nearly a half million dollars in painkillers. They now say Advanced Pharmacy was also filling prescriptions for steroids ordered through an illegal internet pharmacy in Florida.

More here from the Kentucky AG's office:

Attorney General Greg Stumbo announced today during a press conference at the Capitol that agents from the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation (KBI) seized more than $580,000 worth of Internet drugs including $150,000 in anabolic steroids and ingredients to make steroids. The steroids had been ordered by an illegal Internet pharmacy in Florida and the prescriptions were being filled by Advanced Pharmacy Services LLC at 11003 Bluegrass Parkway in Louisville.

The seizure took place September 15, 2006 at Advanced Pharmacy in Louisville. KBI agents also seized more than 137,000 illegal Internet narcotics, with a conservative estimated street value of $430,000.

“We fully expected to seize narcotic drugs,” said Attorney General Stumbo. “However, we were surprised to find all the ingredients to prepare 150,000 doses of illegal anabolic steroids. Each pill would sell on the streets for as little as $1 and could easily be afforded by an average teenager.”

Just In: Ben Johnson Framed in 1988

Yep, Ben Johnson, himself says he was framed in Seoul.  Reported here in Fox Sports.

DISGRACED Canada sprint king Ben Johnson repeated claims he had been framed when he tested positive for anabolic steroids after winning the 1988 100m Olympic gold medal.

He also predicted that the true story behind his positive test would soon emerge.

“I would never have tested positive if some guy did not set me up in Seoul,” said Johnson, who was stripped of his 100m gold and later banned from the sport for life after failing another test in 1993.

“The urine was mine but what was found in my urine was put there.”

(Why do they always write 'disgraced' in front of his name?)

Anyway, I wonder if Johnson will demand the 'B' sample tested now.

Perspective on Williams-Fainaru-Wada

Steroid Nation links here to an excellent LA Times article looking at the Williams-Fainaru-US Federal Court controversy.

The issue appears to be the limited protection reporters have in Grand Jury inquires.  Grand Juries require confidentiality to operate correctly.  The US Court cites Branzburg vs. Hayes where reporters witnessed a crime - Kentucky citizens synthesizing hash.  A grand jury, later a state court ordered the reporters to divulge the names.  The reporters refused.

A discussion of the reporter's privilege in grand jury inquisitions is found here at Cornell law.  Apparently reporters do not enjoy any privilege more than a common citizen in grand jury proceedings -- unless in a state court in a state with a shield law.

It seems the Chronicle lawyer is conceding the above.  She is arguing that there is no leak, rather the Govt itself revealed testimony.

That is the issue.  The grand jury is convened to investigate whether there is a crime involved with Bonds et all in BALCO.  Apparently the Govt attorneys are saying leaks were a crime, and now they are requesting testimony on the possible commission of a crime.

This seems somewhat contradictory.  Isn't every leak a probable crime?  Wasn't the Pentagon papers based on leak?  And a violation of the espionage law?  However the NY Times wasn't concealing a leak, rather it was publishing information.

This case in on appeal.

Editorials and Articles on Williams and Fainaru-Wada

I am going to start a record of the support out there for Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada:
NY Daily News
Virginia Pilot
Houston Chronicle
New York Times
San Jose Mercury-News
CBS News
The Oregonian
The Washington Post
The Orlando Sentinal
SF Gate
Floridatoday.com
Real GM Baseball (long)

Bonds: Before and After

It is hard to find before and after (presumptive) steroid photos of athletes like Barry Bonds.  I am preparing a presentation on steroids. and have collected some.  This is the start of a series on extreme makeovers.  :-)

College

Pittsburgh

A few years later...

After:

After:

USADA Moves on Landis

In this story found in the New York Times, the US Anti-Doping Agency has called out Floyd Landis.  Landis says he will fight.

The case against Floyd Landis, the winner of this year’s Tour de France, moved forward this week when antidoping officials formally charged him with using performance-enhancing drugs during the race.

More:

Landis received a letter this week from the United States Anti-Doping Agency explaining that disciplinary procedures would be initiated against him, according to his lawyer, Howard Jacobs. A recommendation from the agency’s review board was attached to the letter, saying there was sufficient evidence of a doping violation.

“We expected this to happen,” Jacobs said yesterday in a telephone interview. “The review board is basically a rubber stamp. They are not deciding the case. They are just looking at whether there is a case, and it’s exceedingly rare for them to dismiss one.”

Doping Not Just in USA; Nepel Star Tests Positive

A double gold medalist at the recent SE Asia Games (link here) has tested positive for 'norandosteron' (which I am assuming is norandrosterone, a metabolite of nandrolone, or Deca).  The fellow won 2 golds, in the 3000M and 5000M (with the help of a little Deca, apparently).

Also, apparently, the SE Asian Games are tough.  No lawyer is going to bail this guy out.  He is suspended and reprimanded with only the 'A sample' test.  The 'B' is expected to be positive.

Kathmandu - Nepal’s star marathon runner Rajendra Bhandari, who won two gold medals at the recent 10th South Asian Games in Colombo, tested positive for doping and was stripped of his laurels in a move that stunned this nation.

In accordance with the tradition of subjecting gold winners to a dope test, Bhandari’s urine samples were sent to Malaysia for testing where the first sample came out positive, Nepal’s private news channel Kantipur Television reported Friday.

Tests detected the presence of the prowess-boosting drug Norandrosteron in the first sample. The drug is available in Nepal.

‘There is a 99 percent chance of the second sample also testing positive,’ the report said.

Nepal’s sports council Friday called a press conference to announce the new turn of events. Bhandari’s two coaches have been suspended.

Neither the disgraced athlete nor his coaches were available for comments.

Bhandari became a national icon of Nepal after he won the silver for men’s 5000 metre at the ninth edition of South Asian Games in Islamabad.

At Colombo in August, he won the men’s 5000 metres at the Sugathdasa track, clocking 14 minutes 01.19 seconds to break the earlier SAG record for the event created by Indian sprinter Bahadur Singh in Chennai in 1995. He then went on to win the gold for the 3000m event as well.

The double gold was treated with jubilation in Nepal. Bhandari, a soldier with the Nepal Army, was promoted to subedar and taken out in a buggy ride through the capital. He was also felicitated by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Chronicle Reporters Face 18 Month Sentence

Apparently found in contempt of court, SF Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada face 18 months in prison for not divulging their confidential BALCO source.  They appeared in court US District Court today.

Ah, so we now trash the 1st amendment.

It should be noted that the man at the center of the illegal steroid and anabolic trade, Victor Conte spent 4 months in prison.

Let me restate that.   For illegally acquiring thousands of restricted drugs,  and dispensing them to athletes without any professional license, Conte served 4 months.  For having an arsenal of illegal controlled drugs and syringes, Conte served 4 months.  For defrauding the fans, the people that pay the bills, Conte served 4 months.

For doing investigative journalism that exposed this fraud, the Chronicle reporters were sentenced to 18 months.

How can this bizarre paradox be described?  Insane?  Illogical?  Pathetic?

I understand these are different but related issues.  However, let me ask:  does anyone have any damn common sense out there any more?

Sun Times Jay Mariotti Reflects on Chronicle Reporters Who Face Court Today

In this piece in the Chicago Sun-Times, Jay Mariotti recalls the BALCO scandal and subsequent investigative reporting by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada.

As a U.S. citizen, I think my president is a hypocrite. As a journalist, I downgrade him to a fraud. It was two years ago when George W. Bush, in a State of the Union address, announced his initiative to rub out steroids in America. He was concerned about the kids, as he should be, and the applause was more thundering than the roars that once accompanied the soiled stars of the Swelled Head/Juiced Buttocks/Back Acne Era.

''To help children make right choices, they need good examples,'' Dubya said that night. ''Athletics play such an important role in our society, but, unfortunately, some in professional sports are not setting much of an example. The use of performance-enhancing drugs is dangerous and sends a wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment and that performance is more important than character. So I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough and to get rid of steroids now.''

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams tried to do just that. They are investigative journalists who forced a painfully oblivious baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, and an arrogant players association to address the steroids crisis and stiffen the game's drug-testing policies. Their reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle and eventually in a groundbreaking book -- Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports -- was viewed as the sports equivalent of Watergate. At last, after years of bloated bodies and crooked numbers, the steroids cheats were met with resistance. And one of the biggest fans of the reporters, as they discovered last year at the White House correspondents' dinner, was none other than the president himself.

Or so they thought...

Today in San Francisco, in what would be a wretched disservice for journalism in this country, the Bush administration may order the same two reporters to jail.

Frightening.  Our thoughts should be in supporting the two reporters!!!

Bonds Attorney Engages in Preemptive Strike

Bonds Attorney Engages in Preemptive Strike

Apparently feeling a bit out of the limelight, Barry Bond's attorney, Michael Rains, has lashed out at the US Govt (haha).  He says he thinks he knows the leak.  Documented here in ESPN.  And he is really going to beat up on the US attorneys (I bet they are scared now):

Rains also told ESPN.com that government attorneys will look like "buffoons" if they choose to indict Bonds. While suggesting that the investigation had turned into the "Barry Show," the attorney boasted that a San Francisco jury will "never convict Barry" -- a notion that has strong support from other defense attorneys involved in the BALCO proceedings, who spoke on background.

Now, here is the real issue:

Bonds' attorney fired his salvos as San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams prepare to appear in federal court on Thursday in the government's latest attempt to get them to reveal their source of the grand jury transcripts from the BALCO proceedings, which were used to document their co-authored book, "Game of Shadows." The reporters have acknowledged publicly that they obtained the secret testimony of Bonds, Jason and Jeremy Giambi, Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield, Bobby Estalella, Armando Rios and former sprint world-record-holder Tim Montgomery, as well as details from federal agents' interviews with a handful of coaches and other athletes.

1988 Olympic 100 Meter Finals: Ben Johnson not the only doped sprinter

This is an interesting photo and an article found here, at Mid Day sports.

This was the race that Ben Johnson won in 9.79.  It is interesting that almost each lane of this race contained a track athlete who at some point was caught doping.  Here is a rundown, left to right:

Dennis Mitchell
10.04 secs

Mitchell tested positive for testosterone, claiming the result was a result of drinking beer and having too much sex the night before. He was suspended for two years by the IAAF. Best 9.86

Desai Williams
10.11 secs

Williams, who is currently working with school kids, admitted to using steroids at the Dubin inquiry but never tested positive. Best: 10.16

Ben Johnson
9.79 secs

Johnson came back from his suspension to run a 10.16 in 1992 and qualified for the semis in Barcelona.   He failed a second drug test in 1993   Best: 9.79

Calvin Smith
9.99 secs

Smith, who currently lives in Florida, has been adamant that he never used performance enhancing drugs throughout his career. Best: 9.93

Lindford Christie
9.97 secs

Christie tested positive for pseudoephedrine after the Seoul 200m race. He later tested positive to mandrolone in 1999 and was suspended for two years.
Best: 9.87

Carl Lewis
9.92 secs

It was revealed last year that though Lewis tested positive to minor amounts of stimulants two months before the event, he was allowed to compete.  Best: 9.86

Ray Stewart
12.2 secs

Stewart secretly failed a drugs test the year before and pulled up injured in that race, has kept himself fit by playing football.  Best: 9.96

Robson Da Silva
10.11 secs

Da Silva works with Brazil’s track and field authority. He was a bronze in the relay at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Best: 10.11

Clenbuterol Taints Chinese Pork

A bizarre story is found here.  Apparently pigs are fed clenbuterol (irony there).  Hundreds of Chinese, nonbodybuilders) have been made ill by the drug in pork.

Clenbuterol, a product normally marketed to fitness fanatics, was used by farmers in east China to produce leaner pork meat, the China Daily reported.

.

As a result, a total of 336 people have been poisoned in Shanghai since September 13, in the city's largest clenbuterol poisoning case, the paper said.

Guess they won't be pigging out, huh?

Doping Tests for Cricket (!); Boxers, Track Caught

Found here in a New Delhi TV site, is word that there will be testing during the world cricket matches.  Steroids in cricket.  Ha.

Also, here from India, is a report of a boxer, and a couple female track athletes coming up positive for Deca.  Quite a punch, huh?

Boxers, athlete test positive in saf meet
Colombo: A Sri Lankan athlete and two Pakistani boxers have reportedly tested positive for banned substances at the recently concluded SAF Games. Sprinter Jani Chaturangani de Silva and pugilists Nauman Karim and Dur Mahmud may be stripped of golds won and also risk facing bans if the ‘B’ samples are confirmed positive. De Silva, who was part of the triumphant women’s 4 x 100m relay team, also won a silver in the 100 metres dash. Her coach Derwin Perera said that urine samples obtained after both finals had reportedly tested positive for anabolic steroid Nandralone.

"It's a horrible, horrible mess."

The headline is a quote from Don Catlin, M.D., head of our Olympic Testing Lab, located at UCLA.

From an article by Mark Baker of the Eugene Register-Guard on anabolics in sports.

"Many, many innocent athletes are caught up in (it), and they don't want to compete with drug users," says Catlin, 68, the point man for testing U.S. athletes as director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles, the world's top sports drug-testing lab. "It's a horrible, horrible mess."

More comments from this well researched story:

Craig Masback, the CEO of USA Track and Field, the sport's governing body in America, says track needs to improve the message it's sending.

"Even if one athlete is cheating, (then) we have a problem with drugs," he says.

Masback says sports is a reflection of society today, naming famous cheaters such as former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who was caught fabricating stories, and homemaking mogul Martha Stewart, who went to prison on insider trading charges.

"Regrettably, it's human nature," Masback says. "People use drugs."

ESPN Frontpages Conte, Bonds, and BALCO

I am not sure this is news today, however ESPN has published a story quoting a source that Conte said he supplied steroids to Barry Bonds.  Conte then denied the allegations.

I thought this was pretty much all a given at this point.  Perhaps it is because Patrick Arnold is spilling the beans to Sports Illustrated?  From ESPN:

BALCO founder Victor Conte allegedly bragged to an associate that Barry Bonds had intimate knowledge of the designer steroids he received from the Bay Area company, and that the Giants slugger took an active interest in what those substances contained, a source close to Conte told ESPN The Magazine.

The disclosure comes to light amid reports that Patrick Arnold, the Illinois chemist who created the designer steroid THG, has given a wide-ranging interview about his role in the BALCO affair to Sports Illustrated. In an e-mail to ESPN on Saturday afternoon, Arnold labeled as erroneous reports that he will talk about Bonds' steroid knowledge.

Track News

Marion Jones pulls out of the World Games.  She says she isn't in shape.

And WADA is examining the protocols.  Link found here.

The executive committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is billed to meet today in Montreal, Canada.

The meeting, second for the body this year, will see members among other things, approve the 2007 list of prohibited substances and methods, which will be published by October 1, but will take effect form January 1, 2007.

The committee will also approve new scientific research projects to be founded by WADA, and discuss the status of artificially included hypoxic conditions following a consultation process which provided the Agency's stakeholders with an opportunity to express their opinion on this matter.

San Diego Charger Linebacker Steve Foley on Steroids?

Last week San Diego Linebacker Steve Foley was shot by an off-duty policemen as he charged the officer.  Foley's alcohol level was found to be higher than the goalposts over in Qualcomm Stadium.  Now, the police, in a very unusual statement say Foley's history of erratic behavior has led them to suspect steroid use.  Story from the Houston Chronicle here.

Chargers linebacker Steve Foley's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when he was shot by an off-duty police officer, and investigators now say they want to find out whether steroids may have been a factor in his erratic behavior.

Prosecutors requested a sample of Foley's blood Thursday from Sharp Memorial Hospital to test for performance-enhancing drugs, according to an affidavit for a search warrant. Authorities have no evidence that the 31-year-old used steroids, but asked for the test because of his previous run-ins with police.

"His history of aggressive and even violent contact with law enforcement indicates the possibility of more than mere alcohol involvement," criminal investigator Dan Nordell wrote in the affidavit. "(Steroids) can cause erratic behavior in those that use them. This has been given names like 'roid rage for the uncontrollable outbursts and violence experienced by some users."

First, they seem to be fishing in this one.  Second, can you believe the quote from the police?  Foley's lawyer is going to have something to say about this.

       

Wadler Says NFL Needs to Tighten anti-Doping

Found here in the Charlotte Observer, is an interview with WADA consultant Gary Wadler, an MD form NC.  He calls on the NFL and Gene Upshaw to clean up their act.

A leading anti-doping expert ramped up his call Wednesday for the NFL to begin blood testing for human growth hormone and challenged comments made a day earlier by the head of the NFL Players Association.

"I think for them to have any opportunity for detection or deterrence with respect to human growth hormone, it's necessary for them to employ blood testing," said Dr. Gary Wadler, an advisor to the World Anti-Doping Agency...

Gene Upshaw responds:

Wadler took issue with comments by NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw published Wednesday in the Washington Post. Upshaw talked to the newspaper about Washington Redskins' offensive tackle Jon Jansen's suggestion on HBO last week and in subsequent media interviews that he believes some NFL players are using HGH.

"Anyone who's outside the testing area and does not have access to the testing data and says something like that, it's total speculation," Upshaw said. "I'm not here to jump on Jansen. He made what he thought was an educated guess. But I don't think he should speculate unless he has the facts.

Ah, Gene, Gene, your players were using HGH a week before the Super Bowl.  Gene.  Wake up.

Wadler said Upshaw and the NFL don't have any factual testing data about HGH either, since no test is being used, and that available facts show league players have abused the drug.

Wadler pointed to the federal criminal case involving Dr. James Shortt and former Carolina Panthers players. Wadler prepared a report for the U.S. Attorney's office in the case based partly on medical records for six NFL players, including five ex-Panthers.

Wadler's report, filed with the court, showed all six players either received HGH from Shortt or told the doctor they were already using HGH.

"Unfortunately, the National Football League has speculated that human growth hormone was not a problem," said Wadler. "But the facts were, as uncovered in the investigation of Dr. Shortt, that at least a half dozen (NFL players) were using human growth hormone. That's the facts. That's not speculation.

Steroids and Muscle Dysmorphia

Good article in the Guardian discussing men using steroids for the body image aspect and not the athletic performance enhancement.  Some excerpts:

The charity Drugscope, in its annual survey of drug prices and trends published in its magazine, Druglink, has found a big increase in the number of men, especially those in their late teens and early 20s, who are injecting anabolic steroids...

"Drug projects are seeing increasing numbers of young men who just want to look good," agrees Max Daly, deputy editor of Druglink, who compiled the survey. "Many seem to take steroids in the run-up to summer, so they can show their bodies off in the street and in the park. The desire for a six-pack comes with the aspiration for better clothes and smoother skin."..

Jason, a 21-year-old engineering student from Chester, is typical of the new breed of steroid user. "I started dabbling with them when I was 19," he says. "I started building my body because I thought it would give me more confidence. I felt better walking down the street and girls seem happy about it. I was skinny as a child and my mates used to call me 'tin ribs' when I was a teenager. Some of them were into weights and I could see they were getting bigger so I decided to get into it. I started going to the gym and working out five times a week. I put on weight naturally at first but then some blokes in the gym mentioned steroids - they said it would speed things up.

"I took oral steroids first and then moved on to injectable steroids - I heard they were easier on the liver. I couldn't believe the gain I was getting taking steroids. I do have side effects such as mood swings, and I've got acne on my shoulders and back. But it's worth it. I feel much better about myself."

Armstrong Not Nonplused about Doping

Lance Armstrong once again uncategorically denied performance enhancing drugs.

“My cycling victories are untainted,” he said. “I didn’t take performance-enhancing drugs, I didn’t ask anyone else to take them and I didn’t condone or encourage anyone else to take them. I won clean.”

Greg Lemond weighed in too:

“I think it was the best thing because what Frankie did helps people understand that doping is a problem,” LeMond said. “It takes a lot of courage for him to go against the grain and go against a lot of people who want to help keep this buried.”

Armstrong has adamantly denied PED use.  However, unlike Lemond, he will not release an anti-doping message like the others.

Triathlete Caught Doping

In this report, a German triathlon athlete was caught doping.  The AP reports it here.

Every sport appears to have drug cheats. 

Even in golf there may be cheating.  The PGA is talking about steroid testing.

Ponies Doped!

In the mother of all scandals, it has been revealed that ponies, at a pony show were doped.  Story found here in the Metro of the UK.

In some kind of crazed mash-up of Dick Francis novels and kids books about ponies, the world of junior showjumping was stunned today by claims that children's ponies were drugged at a national championship.

It is believed that the ponies may have been fed a fast-acting sedative to ruin their chances at the the British Show Jumping Association's under-16s junior championships in Jersey. The mother of one eleven-year old competitor is thought likely to be questioned by police, after witnesses reported seeing her giving several ponies what appeared to be mints.

What next?  Cheerleader murder?

 

Howard Jacobs also Challenges Landis Lab Tests

Howard Jacobs, who was involved in the Marion Jones case, is now challenging Floyd Landis's positive synthetic testosterone results. Story here in Yahoo Sports.

"In our review of the documents detailing the tests on both the 'A' and 'B' sample, we have found evidence that supports our request for USADA to drop the doping charges against Landis," said Jacobs on the rider's website, www.floydlandis.com.

"While I cannot comment on the full details of our findings, we now have the foundation for a very strong defense should the case proceed to arbitration."

This is forensics now.   Testers trying to catch the cheaters.  Cops and robbers.  And the alleged cheats hire top gun defense attorneys.

Welcome to CSI, (cycling site investigation), the world.

Doping Controversy Cycles Around Lance Armstrong Again

Found here in the New York Times is yet one more article concerning Lance Armstrong, and Frankie Andreu.  Andreu admits to EPO use.  He addresses all the issue of guilt, shame, feeling like a 'narc'.

I tried my best never to use performance-enhancing drugs,” he said. “I did make a couple of bad choices, but that was a long, long time ago. It’s not something to be proud of. I did use EPO, but only for a couple of races.”

In a companion New York Times story, the paper lays out the circumstantial evidence against Armstrong.  His buddies took EPO and other anabolics.  One year he won, all the top finishers are all no embroiled in doping allegations or convicted of doping.

Armstrong himself laid out a 'gameplan' for his cycling team.  Then there is the admission in hospital  which the Andreau's say they heard, but Armstrong denies he made.

Armstrong never tested positive.  He is now enjoying his new fame as a fundraiser and man about the country.  I doubt we will ever know if Armstrgon really doped, in the dirtiest sport on earth.

CBC Sports: Dick Pound Says It Aint Over

Dick Pound, the DA for WADA, says it ain't over yet.  Like a good DA he wants the dope from the lab on Marion Jones. Found here in the Canadian CBC is the story.

World Anti-Doping Agency boss Dick Pound wants documentation from the lab that handled American sprinter Marion Jones's second doping test, to find out why it had different results than the initial one.

Dick Pound calls the inconsistencies in Marion Jones's two doping tests 'disturbing.' (Associated Press)

Pound told BBC Radio on Sunday that he found the inconsistencies in the two tests "disturbing" and plans to have his staff review the testing procedures for the two samples to ensure they were handled correctly

From the BBC: Why the Jones Test was Ambigious

Found here from the BBC, is good speculation on how the forensics were ambiguous on Marion Jones (and forensics it is).

Make no mistake, big time sports is now monitored by forensic labs.  Cheaters, and testers.  The drug cheats seem to be always one step ahead of the testers (forensics labs).

Mike Lupica on NFL, HGH, and doping.

Mike Lupica

But when you are the commissioner of the league, you better watch what you say. Goodell said this the other day:

"We have no indication that we have a significant issue in HGH (human growth hormone)."

He has no way of knowing that. None. Unless he thinks he can use the honor system, in the dishonorable drug culture of modern sports...

More, on the logic behind this:

Goodell did go on to say that the league has to approach HGH aggressively. He talked about funding and the search for a proper urine test that might catch guys who might be using HGH. He talked about how the league is always looking for ways to improve its drug policy.

Goodell's league ought to be doing that. And should be doing more than just looking. He can't think the drug policy his league has is really working. He can't think his players are growing this way without using illegal drugs. If he does, then pro football is no smarter about drugs than baseball was 10 years ago.

Or maybe he thinks that guys in the league now look the way they do because of all that offseason time in the weight room.

The first thing both he and Gene Upshaw of the Players Association have to look at is this: The threshold for a positive test. If they don't, then they don't want guys to get caught. Period.

Come on. Look at these games. Look at these players. Then try to remember the last time you read about a positive test.

Then ask yourself why you shouldn't think the NFL's drug policy is a joke. Tennis does better testing.

BALCO Doctor Faces Suspension

Years again, when Victor Conte was running wild at BALCO, he supplied the drugs for Kelli White, inluding modafinil.  White's urinalysis showed modifinil, which the Conte crew didn't know was part of the battery of tests.  White was called on this at the time; she faced suspension.  However at the last minute Conte called on a BALCO physician to forge documents and a prescription for White.  She was let go  because letter said she had narcolepsy, which led to modafinil treatment.

White later was caught.  She told her story to the Grand Jury.  The story was also related in Game of Shadows.

Now the doctor is facing disciplinary actions at the hands of the medical board in CA.  The story is found here in Forbes/AP.

The state medical board is seeking to revoke or suspend the license of psychiatrist Brian Halevie-Goldman, who was medical director for the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative that provided steroids to top athletes...

The athlete in the case was identified by her initials, K.W., to protect her privacy. The medical board's accusation, filed in May, said K.W. tested positive for modafinil at an international track meet in August 2003 and accepted a two-year suspension for admitting to its use in 2004.

Kelli White, a BALCO client who tested positive for modafinil after winning gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races at the world championships in Paris in August 2003, was stripped of those medals and suspended for two years after admitting in 2004 to using the banned stimulant.

The medical board said investigators examined medical charts kept by Halevie-Goldman that showed he diagnosed K.W. with narcolepsy in January 2003 without examining her, basing his analysis solely on a description of symptoms provided by Conte.

You Thought HGH was Cutting Edge; How About Anabolic Stem Cells

Witness all the debate about stem cell research lately.  Same holds for doping in sports.  Now the two can be merged:  stem cells for athletes.

This forward looking article from Forbes, discusses the possible uses of athletes doping with stem cells.

"There's a spin-off technology from stem cells that could produce super-athletes," said Paul Griffiths, managing director of CryoGenesis International, which stores umbilical cord blood in its bank for potential later therapeutic use.

He believes that injecting stem cells into healthy muscles might increase their size and even restore them to their youthful capacity.

"You could potentially find a 40-year-old man with 20-year-old legs," Griffiths said.

I am for it.  I would take a 50 year-old man with 30 year-old legs!

Like gene doping, which involves transferring genes into human cells to blend directly into an athlete's own DNA, it is thought that an athlete's stem cells could be injected back into the body. The regenerative powers of stem cells offer countless sporting possibilities, such as increasing endurance, speed, flexibility and strength.

Griffiths' company counts five professional soccer players as clients who have frozen stem cells from their children's umbilical cords in their bank. While Griffiths says the unidentified players' primary goal is to have a type of "biological insurance" for their children, other potential uses cannot be ruled out.

Experimental studies in the United States found that stem cells successfully regenerated all the ligaments in the knees of goats - their knee structure is believed to be similar to that of humans - within 12 weeks. Were such techniques possible in humans, athletes would certainly have reason to be tempted.

 

After Marion: Reevaluation of Antidoping Labs

Found here in the New York Times, is a thoughtful piece on how the anti doping labs are reacting to the Marion Jones A-B test imbroglio.  It isn't common that the B test differs from the A test.  Of course the biggest name is one of those.

Laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency conducted about 183,000 drug tests last year. Of 3,909 positive A sample results, only three or four backup tests failed to confirm the initial finding, Dr. Olivier Rabin, science director for the antidoping agency, said in a telephone interview.

It is interesting that people ask 'what went wrong' in terms of not catching Jones.  However, the question should be 'why did the results diverge.  (I think the difference was the time delay;  rhEPO is degraded by bacteria and enzymes in the urine).

Antidoping experts say there could be many reasons, aside from a lab error, why the backup analysis of Jones’s urine sample did not match the first result. The sample could have been collected incorrectly, packaged poorly or manipulated. The backup test could also have revealed such a slight margin between a negative and a positive that scientists could not confirm the initial finding...

Howard Jacobs, one of Jones’s lawyers, who has represented a number of high-profile athletes in doping cases, said he could think of only three reasons for the B sample result to differ from the A: a lab error, degradation of the urine samples or a problem with the test. He said he thinks the test for EPO is flawed.

Wonder if we will ever hear the full story?

BALCO and Catching Drug Cheats

Cheating.  Cheating is the problem.

This USA Today piece looks at the 'law enforcement' of antidoping.  What a state of affairs in our sports world when we have to obsess about how to catch drug cheats.

1.  The gold standard appears to be lab evidence of parameters like T:E ration, synthetic testosterone, EPO, etc.  Even when the lab is positive, there are always excuses:  someone rubbed cream on me;  someone sabotaged the sample; lab error.

2.  Evidence of testimony, eyewitness testimony, etc. isn't considered good enough...usually.

I have never understood cheating.  However I have seen alot of cheating.  I have seen drug cheating.  I have seen age cheating.  I have seen insurance cheating.  I have seen medical cheating. 
I saw a former and current Big Ten basketball coach lie and cheat to bring in a kid from Senegal to play high school basketball.  He didn't care whom he cheated to win high school basketball games, but he wanted to enhance his own career.  And that's the point.  Enhance one's own career.  Lie.  Cheat.

Thus cheating appears to be human nature.  And it is up to the leadership to address the cheating.

Cheating is like a cancer.  It will eat the sport alive.  You may not see the cancer today or tomorrow, but some day, at some point it will strangle all life from the sport.

The USA Today says:

The effect of the BALCO doping scandal on the sporting public was to paint every eye-popping performance in shades of gray. But as this summer of even more doping dissonance has shown, the effect of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative on anti-doping is such that its legacy ultimately could lie not in the ills it unearthed but in the road map it provided.

Through the raids and revelations of recent months, including Marion Jones' initial positive test for EPO and the suspension of Tour de France cycling favorites based not on positive drug tests but other evidence, BALCO's fingerprints were everywhere.

The article is worth a read.  If the drug cheats are not stopped, fair sports will cease.  Sports who are soft on cheats will join the charade that a pro wrestling entertainment  event is.

 

Marion Jones 'B' Sample Negative

Just in from the New York Times:  Marion Jones B sample appears to be negative.

This is reported in Yahoo Sports.

"I am absolutely ecstatic," Jones said in a statement released by her lawyers. "I have always maintained that I have never ever taken performance enhancing drugs, and I am pleased that a scientific process has now demonstrated that fact."

Maris Clan Weighs In on Home Run Record

In this interesting report out of Yahoo Sports, the clan of Roger Maris weighs in on the 61 home run 'record'.

Philly slugger Ryan Howard's slugging this year threatens the 61 HR 'mark' attained cleanly by Maris in 1961.  The Maris family feels the Bonds/McGwire/Sosa HR marks were not clean.  Thus they feel Maris' 61 is still the bar to clear.

“In my mind, I feel Ryan Howard’s clean,” Rich Maris said Tuesday from his home in Gainesville, Fla. “If baseball’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing and say they’re doing – I feel bad for people bashing him. Right now people should be looking at baseball saying it’s cleaned up...

Addressing the steroid issue:

“With the McGwire thing and the Bonds thing, everybody thought the record was so far out there, it’s not even attainable,” said Maris, who has not met Bonds. “My dad’s pretty much an afterthought. All of a sudden, it’s like everyone has this new perspective, like the heck with McGwire and Bonds.”...

In North Dakota, where Maris was born, the state Senate passed a resolution in 2005 urging commissioner Bud Selig to restore Maris’ home run record. Major League Baseball is not planning a celebration unless Howard exceeds Bonds’ 73 home runs, not Maris’ 61.

“It’s nice what the people in North Dakota are trying to do, and I think there’s a lot of sentiment,” said Maris, whose father died of cancer at 51 in 1985. “In time, we feel baseball will do the right thing if Ryan Howard doesn’t break it and no one approaches it anymore.

BTW, when I was a kid, more than anything I wanted the Roger Maris card on the back of a Post Cereal.  However that cereal was Post Grape Nuts.  I hated them.  Finally in September of 1962, I convinced my mother to buy me the box of Post Grape Nuts.  However, I could not cut out that card until the cereal was gone.   Apparently my parents never found that wastebasket full of Post Grape Nuts.....

 

Williams and Fainaru-Wade Testimony Postponed

As you all know, San Francisco Chronicle Reporters Lance Williams, and Mark Fainaru-Wada wrote 'Game of Shadows'.  The authors have also been asked to diverge their journalistic source for much of the material on BALCO from the previous Grand Jury, to the current Grand Jury who is concerned about leaks.  The journalists are not going to reveal a confidential source.

The SF Chronicle reporters were to testify in front of a congressional panel today.  However the testimony was postponed.  This is unfortunate because journalists from around the country were going to show their support for the Chronicle reporters.

World and Olympic 400M Champ Says Ban After First Dirty Urine

Track star Jeremy Wariner has some tough talk for drug cheats.  Found here in Runner's Web.

STUTTGART, Germany -- World and Olympic 400 meter champion Jeremy Wariner said he supports harsh measures to help rid the sport of doping.

IAAF.org]

Asked by reporters for his suggestions to help rid the sport of doping, he said, “The only things I can think of are to test more, be tougher, and make the bans worse. Instead of having a two-year ban for your first offense, I would say ban for life on your first offense.”

“There’s a lot of clean athletes out there,” he stressed, “and we’re just trying to show that we are clean and competing to the best of our abilities, and because of our training.”

Is Ryan Howard Juiced?

I knew this story would come up.  Found here from the Philly Daily News.

Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies is tearing up MLB pitching.  He now has 53 HRs, in a remarkable season.  However, because of the steroid use among the big hitters of the late 90s, and int he 2000s, questions will now always occur.

AS everyone knows the 60HR mark was a remarkable achievement, attained by only 2 players (Babe Ruth in 1929, and Roger Maris in 1961) in about 100 years.  Then suddenly 3 muscled bombers -- Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds -- demolished history.  This lead to all sorts of silliness like how the new training lead to the muscles, how this is the work of genius, etc. etc.

How about the use of anabolic substances, when combined with rigorous workouts, leads to increased power, and prodigious home runs?  In the face of all the facts, the BALCO information, the legend of track records that have been set on steroids, the documentation of use, any other conclusion is strictly nonsensical.

Thus, when a great talent like Howard performs well, people start talking steroids.  As with Albert Pujols too.  This is the state of sport these days.  Every achievement is under scrutiny.

Howard is a remarkable athlete with great size and power.  Right now there is no reason to question his veracity.

However there is reason to ask for sport to strengthen the collective veracity and clean up the anabolic use.  (from the story)

Howard has hit 53 home runs in 138 games. With almost a month left in the regular season, he has already passed Mike Schmidt (48) for the Phillies' single-season record, passed Ralph Kiner (51) for the most home runs by a second-year player, has set his sights squarely on 60, a magic barrier that once had been reached by only Babe Ruth and Roger Maris.

And then, after a gap of more than a quarter of a century, was surpassed in quick succession by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, none of whom ever flunked a drug test, all of whom have been judged guilty in the court of public opinion.

That has poisoned the well for everybody. That, plus the leaked San Francisco grand jury testimony in which Jason Giambi is quoted talking about injecting steroids into his buttocks...

"I know I'm not using steroids. This barrel right here [pointing to his stomach] is proof enough. People are going to say what they want to say. I thought about it once and then it was like, 'Well, whatever.' I'm not doing it. If they want to test me, they can test me.

Recent European Championships 'Dirtiest Ever'?

Here, found in the Scotsman, is a story on the recent European Track and Field Championships.  Called 'dirtiest ever'.

One top British coach, who asked not to be identified, told Scotland on Sunday: "These were the dirtiest Europeans ever. The drugs situation is worse than it ever was. We had one athlete in a middle-distance final who finished sixth - but he was probably the first clean runner in that race."

However, nothing will be done:

It is unlikely that any of the suspicious blood test results in Gothenburg will result in any athletes being banned. Unlike cycling, there is no regulation in athletics to suspend a competitor with a suspect high blood count on health grounds. The Gothenburg tests were mainly taken post-competition (cycling uses pre-event screening), and the concurrent urine tests are thought to have been negative.

The blood tests, which were analysed by laboratories in Stockholm, Oslo and Cologne, will provide research data towards possible rule changes next year.

Again, Low Testosterone in Men, Correlate to Higher Mortality

I believe we referred to this study in the past.  Some media are picking it up again.  Found here.

THE QUESTION: As men age, their testosterone levels gradually fall, contributing to such effects as loss of bone density and muscle, decreased sex drive, lack of energy, depression and insulin resistance. Might low levels of this hormone also add to a man's risk of dying?

THIS STUDY analyzed medical data on 858 men, who averaged 62 years old and did not have prostate or testicular cancer. About 53 percent had normal testosterone levels, 19 percent had low levels, and 28 percent had an equal number of tests showing low and normal levels. During about a four-year period, 20 percent of the men with normal amounts of testosterone died, compared with 25 percent of those with mixed readings and 35 percent of those with low levels.

When the authors controlled for serious medical illness, the difference decreased.

This is an association study.  Low testosterone is associated with something (many things) that leads(s) to increased morbidity and mortality.  The media will suggest that men with low testosterone should consider T supplementation, which is the wrong reading.  A better take on the study is to look at exercise, risk factors like alcohol and tobacco, and general health.  These can reduce testosterone and increase mortality.

Crocodile Hunter Killed by Stingray

Had to record this here.  Steve Irwin, who had a show on steroids, was killed by a stingray today as reported here in the New York Times.  He was 44.

CAIRNS, Australia (AP) -- Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the ''Crocodile Hunter,'' was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called ''Ocean's Deadliest'' when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous barb on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.

''He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,'' said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Children all over the world will miss him.   Adult children too.

Germans to Test 14 Year Old Cyclists

Here (oddly enough in an Australian paper) is a story on German anti-doping.   Germany, home of the most famous systematic doping in the old GDR, is going to use anti-doping measures in cycling.  Not news.  However, they will extent the tests down to age 14.

GERMANY's cycling federation has toughened its doping protocols in the wake of the Jan Ullrich scandal, a move welcomed by Australia's top anti-drugs fighter.

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency chairman Richard Ings yesterday supported the German federation's announcement of its strong new measures.

The federation plans to introduce tests at youth level and down to riders as young as 14.

Ullrich, a Tour de France winner, has been linked to an ongoing investigation by Spanish police, Operation Puerto.

You don't hear much about Operation Puerto, or Jan Ullrich in the USA.  Cycling just isn't as big here as in the rest of the world.  However, I suppose this is like Babe Ruth baseball official announcing testing for their kids.  Or all high schools testing for steroids.

Olympic gymnists are tested down to 16.

USA high schools are thus far loathe to test for steroids, despite states with up to 10% teenage use.

 

Systematic Doping (Cheating): BALCO and East Germany

As we approach the Labor Day holiday, I am reading 'Faust's Gold' by Steven Ungerleider.  This book details the systematic doping of East German (GDR) athletes, the cover up and the exposure by courageous athletes ad doctors in Europe.  The GDR promoted a master plan to put the nation into the world spotlight, by systematic cheating, creating an unfair advantage for GDR athletes.  The tremendous success of the GDR at Olympic events would translate into publicity, recognition, and ultimately power for GDR officials.

I think to the US model.  There is no government sponsored systematic doping.  However, there is systematic doping.  Think Trevor Graham and his stable of world class athletes.  How many have been caught now with doping or with steroids? 

Think of the other famous doping scandals.  BALCO etc.   These people are simply carrying out, in a 'free-enterprise' society the GDR plan.  Systematic cheating for the greater good of the leader or the organization.

The current European model seems to be systematic doping, apparently led by physicians.  The recent investigations in Spain and Germany speak to that point.  Cycling has been hammered, however more names in different sports are yet to come out.

Same song, different dance.  Systematic abuse of athletes (who are oftenwilling participants) for the greater good of leadership/coach/mentor/owner: power, money, fame.

Scotland Op-Ed on 'Drug Running', Doping in Sports

Found here, is an opinion in a Scottish Newspaper, realistically discussing the role of doping in sports.  It points out that a small minority of athletes test positive, however many of the positives are at the top.

In the last period for which statistics have been released (October 2004 to September 2005), the IAAF conducted 4,253 tests, more than half of them out-of-competition tests. Of these, just 89 were adverse, either positive tests or missed tests. The annual price tag for this programme is somewhere in the vicinity of $2.5 million. Alonso does not discount the notion that indetectable substances might be used by a small minority but points out that a test for detection of EPO now exists and a test for human growth hormone is being fine tuned...

In the last period for which statistics have been released (October 2004 to September 2005), the IAAF conducted 4,253 tests, more than half of them out-of-competition tests. Of these, just 89 were adverse, either positive tests or missed tests. The annual price tag for this programme is somewhere in the vicinity of $2.5 million. Alonso does not discount the notion that indetectable substances might be used by a small minority but points out that a test for detection of EPO now exists and a test for human growth hormone is being fine tuned.

South Carolina Gamecock Football Player Discusses his Use of Steroids and HGH

In a story found here from the Charlotte Observer, former Gamecock DL Tom Chaikin discusses his anabolic use in college football.

"I do worry about the consequences," said Chaikin, 41, the subject of a 1988 story in Sports Illustrated about his steroid use while a Gamecocks defensive lineman from 1983-87. "If I ever get prostate cancer or a tumor on my liver, will that be because of steroids?..

Chalkin says he had some side effects:

Steroids can lead to, among other things, heart disease, cancer and mood swings. Chaikin, who said his health is good and works out regularly, said the only effect he is aware of from steroids is testicular atrophy...

and

Steroid-induced mood swings had a huge effect on Chaikin while he was at South Carolina. The day before the Gamecocks were to play Clemson in 1987, he pressed the barrel of a loaded .357-caliber Magnum under his chin.

Chaikin's father came into the room before his son could pull the trigger and took him home to Bethesda, Md.

"I haven't had that kind of anxiety since then, not really," Chaikin said. "But that (anxiety) contributed some to that whole fiasco. I could have been genetically disposed to that problem. But if you take steroids, it can worsen it tenfold. You take them, it pushes you over the edge."

Pete Rose Jr., Convicted of Dealing GBL (GHB), Out of Jail

This is bittersweet.  Very.  Like father like son.  You know all those inspirational stories of fathers and sons?  This isn't one of them.

Pete Rose Jr. is/was a struggling minor league baseball player.  He was convicted of selling the 'steroid substitute' GBL.  He says he took it for sleep.  When taken orally, GBL (Gamma-butyrolactone) converts in the body to GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate Acid).  GHB is known as the date rape drug often referred to as liquid ecstasy.

GHB is used to treat alcoholism, and some symptoms of narcolepsy.  From Wiki:

In the United States it was placed on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in March of 2000 although when sold as Xyrem it is considered schedule III, making it the only drug to simultaneously occupy two different schedules.

Rose Jr. says bodybuilders take it.  Helps them sleep.  Right.  Try melatonin...it's legal.

As for how common the use of GBL and other performance-enhancing aids is among minor-league players trying to cope with the physical daily grind, Rose told ESPN.com: "I can only speak for myself. I'm a different kind of ballplayer. I do whatever I have to do to get ready to play. I mean, that is what I was taught. I'm an old-school kind of guy. I'm sure guys do different things. But you'd have to ask different guys that, because I'm not a guy that looks around and sees what everybody else is doing. Nor do I care what everybody else is doing."

Isn't that sad?  Rose Jr. does what he was taught.  Cheating?  Lying?  Going to jail?

This is a must read article over at ESPN.  As I said, bittersweet.

Church of England Weighs in on Doping, Steroids, and Cheating

Listen up.  This is getting serious.  The Church of England's mouthpiece paper (link here) has weighed in on the subject of doping in sports, cheating, and otherwise not being a fair player.  You thought Senate and House hearings were serious.  God is getting involved now.

He said: “There’s no question the demands on professional sports people are more intense than they’ve ever been. “There’s so much pressure on players to perform and so much money at stake that athletes are under enormous pressure to win. “Secondly careers are shorter than they’ve ever been before, elite professionals have less time to make money before they’re ‘on the scrapheap’, and this can push people over the edge. “Thirdly cheating in sport reflects a general decline in moral standards and Christian ethics and absolutes in society as a whole. “There has always been cheating in society and sport, but we see it more now more clinically in sport because of the massive media coverage.”

This was opined by Graham Daniels, General Director of Christians in Sport.

I don't know if cheating is any worse than it used to be.  I am not sure that morals are more lax.  It may be that the cheating is more effective now.

Whatever, he is right, that sportsman SHOULD do the right thing.