The Ramble: Steroids, Steroids Everywhere and Human Growth Hormone Too

The Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) in sports story continues to evolve and will not go away. There are people who don’t care or wish that the PEDs story would go away, but their apathy and/or denial of reality has no effect on this snowballing situation.

Eight Belles’ Tragic End. Both the trainer and owner of the tragic Kentucky Derby filly have been on the receiving end of a barrage of questions about, and assertions that, the size of Eight Belles was due to a steady diet of steroids. The “wisdom” is that the over-sized Derby placer broke both ankles at the end of the race because steroids made her too big. It’s amazing that the horse’s trainer Larry Jones faced more scrutiny on the steroids issue than a whole bunch of major league baseball players have. To his credit Jones has been upfront and says that an autopsy will show Eight Belles to be clean of steroids. There’s a heck of a lot more steroid smoke, suggesting fire, surrounding baseball players than there is surrounding Eight Belles. But then again, a dead horse is an easier target than a live, baseball player.

Fantasy Baseball Will Be Ruined By Steroids, or Lack Thereof. I’ve been saying for a while that fantasy baseball gurus will start complaining about the lack of production from power hitters and power pitchers, and start to question PEDs role, before the mainstream sports media does. This week a fantasy baseball report on the Baltimore Sun’s web site discussed the falling fortunes of Cleveland Indians power hitter Travis Hafner over the past two seasons, and wondered if steroids — or lack of them — could be responsible. As season-starting slumps and slow starts develop into long-term trends – and fantasy leagues get messed up – we’ll hear a lot more about this from fantasy gurus.

NFL Steroid Trafficker Speaks, Again. Convicted steroid dealer David Jacobs is telling anyone who will listen – in this case The New York Times – that he “guru-ed” 10 NFL players about how to find loopholes in the NFL’s drug testing policy. The reality is that Jacobs is just a local gym rat/drug dealer who cooked up steroids in his kitchen and sold them – and Chinese HGH – to other gym rats and NFL players. He is positioning himself as having figured out the loopholes in the NFL's drug testing program when the loopholes are more like sinkholes. There's no mystery, as the NFL's - and most pro drug testing - system is rife with ways to beat it.

Article Author: Sal Marinello

Sal Marinello is a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer, a U.S.A. Weightlifting Certified Coach, a full-time, private Professional Strength and Conditioning …

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