In Defense of Terry Bradshaw's Steroid Use
Published June 26, 2008
Terry Bradshaw, Hall of Famer and legendary Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, has admitted to using steroids. People are now dubbing the Steel Dynasty as frauds, phonies, and cheaters.
Now, although I may be considered a bit biased being a huge Steeler fan, I’m here to defend Terry Bradshaw. Anyone who hates Terry and is punishing him for being bold by admitting he did something wrong should forget about it. Honestly, it wasn’t a big deal and the Steelers were — and still are — one of the most talented teams in NFL history.
Think about the times. First of all, steroids were legal in the '70s. It was perfectly acceptable to be on steroids, as weird as that may seem to us now. Now, they are banned and athletes using steroids are (or at least should) be punished. And it’s not like the '70s wasn’t a decade of drugs. Everyone was on something, whether steroids or not. Now, since steroids WERE LEGAL, were they cheating? No. So, under this logic, why are people calling him and the Steelers cheaters? Something is unclear to me. I must have missed something.
Besides, whether good or not, athletes still use steroids in all sports. People still love Barry Bonds. Sure, some athletes have paid the price, but it’s not like the Steelers were the only ones using steroids. Can you honestly say that Carson Palmer wasn’t using steroids after he got injured in the 2005 playoffs against the Steelers? I probably just made a lot of enemies with that statement and I hate using the Bengals as a scapegoat, but I find it hard to believe with his injury he recovered so easily. But you know what? I could be wrong. I’m a 16-year-old high school student, not an NFL expert.
And I know the Steelers aren’t perfect. Some of my own team (probably Ben to be honest, as much as I hate to admit it) is probably on steroids. The point is Terry wasn’t the only one on steroids. He just admitted it. And that, in my book, takes guts.
At least he used them for a good reason. Bradshaw stated, "We did steroids to get away the aches and the speed of healing. 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.” It wasn’t to cheat. It was to get healthy. That’s so horrible.
Now, here’s one of my favorite comments from a Raiders fan, the Steelers’ rival during the '70s on the situation: “No rules back then... so let it slide. I'm a Raiders fan, and I'm not upset... they played by the rules and it was a level playing field for all players with steroids, now it's outlawed, you can't make the rule retroactive. The Patriots, now those are real cheaters, they bent the damn rules.”
So, all and all, who cares? Bradshaw did it legally for a good reason. Get over it. He is still one of the best quarterbacks of all time.
- In Defense of Terry Bradshaw's Steroid Use
- Published: June 26, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Sports: Football (American)
- Writer: CallmeMaddy
- CallmeMaddy's BC Writer page
- CallmeMaddy's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments
Steroids -- the new "dirty" word! Having broken several bones, including having a bad rotator cuff and busted neck vertebrae, cortisone shots keep me functioning! In other words, there are truly legitimate medical reasons to use them. But, I see the writing on the wall -- Our great politicians will probably ban them (it is an election year, don't you know...).
GO STEELERS!
Everyone did steriods in 70s-80s even the Bears and they still lost all the time.Tallent is tallent, so for him to come out and say this its nothing new. We all new they did them look at the Radiers in the 80s and the 85 bears.
Vindicated! After 30 years of claiming that the Steelers of the 1970s weren't really as good as cracked up to be, it is nice to see the walls crumbling down around their "dynasty". They have received far too much credit for far too long.
Bradshaw's admission isn't the first time the 70s Steelers have been linked to steroids and I don't think we yet know more than just the tip of the iceberg for how many of them were really involved. Bottom line, the Steelers knowingly cheated with the goal of having better performance on the field. There may have been other teams who had players doing similar things, but it sure looks like using steroids was a regular part of their team culture and that it helped them achieve team success that they probably would not have achieved otherwise.
In a perfect world they would have to give back their SB trophies and rings, but I am pretty sure that will not happen. But, at this point it doesn't really matter because at least the sports world is realizing that they weren't the greatest team of all-time, but instead the greatest cheats of all-time.
Callmemaddy and tstocksl have this right and I think Callmemaddy is very insightful for 16. Eric, you must be too young to rmember that steriods were used by all teams and continue to be used for healing. My Dr. just gave me a shot in the elbow the other day to help heal my tendon. Steroids do have legit medical purposes in the 70s and now. It's like if everyone had been taping defensive signals and THEN it was outlawed, no one could complain about the Patriots. Every team in the 70s used steroids and it wasn't against the rules.
Drinking in the days of Prohibition was illegal. Does that mean that if you drank a beer yesterday you broke the law? You people that say the Steelers cheated for using Steriods when they were legal are absolutely ridiculous. Your stupidity with an argument like that is really sad.
Look, I'm aware many players from all teams were using steroids during the 1970's, and the Steelers have had plenty of players linked to it from their "dynasty" years, so I'm not here attacking them or saying they should give back their rings, blah, blah.
But my concern is with the logic that "steroids were legal than so why should it matter..."
First let me state that I believe steroids should still be legal to adults in America. Obviously I don't think they should be allowed in professional sports, but for regular people who understand how they work and are educated on the ways to use them, steroids can be very helpful for body growth, healing from injuries, and even as a treatment option for certain cancers and even HIV.
However, I think people who use the "steroids weren't illegal than so why should it matter..." logic are forgetting why steroids were deemed illegal by the US government in the first place.
The main reason was because of their widespread use in professional sports! So while steroids weren't illegal back in the 1970's (or if the 70's were the decade of drugs like pointed out in the blog) their use by professional athletes correlated directly into why they are now illegal.
I do also have a problem with the logic that the 1970's were a decade of drug use, so therefor it's okay. That's like saying "before the 1960's African Americans didn't have the same rights as white people, so it's okay that racism existed, it was just the time period."
Now obviously I don't think you would say that or any reasonable human being would use that logic, but it's the same logic used in the argument that the 1970's were a decade of drug use so it's okay. We as a society should never use a time period to excuse peoples' behaviors.







Good blog. I listened to the interview. Bradshaw was talking about the minimal medical attention given to players throughout the league in the 70s. To single out Bradshaw or the Pittsburgh Steelers as cheaters requires ignoring the fact that the 70s were the Wild Wild West of steroid use for all teams in the NFL. All teams were starting to use steroids then to get bigger and stronger, and heal quicker. Guys died. From many teams, not just the Steelers.
Now steroids are still part of every team's routine, they've just learned how to control and manage them to
1. make their players bigger, stronger, and healthier
2. keep them alive
3. get away with it
We all know this.
I wouldn't be surprised if these attacks were coming from disgruntled Patriots fans trying to deflect attention from their lying, cheating, arrogant, overrated coach.