And you wonder how people are getting anabolic steroids so easily?
Just utter the word "steroids" and a thousand knives suddenly appear. Almost every single professional sportswriter (and most amateur ones as well) believes that definitive proof of steroid use should ban a player from the Hall of Fame.
There are also others who think that players like Roger Clemens are guilty based on a preponderance of circumstantial evidence (e.g. Brian McNamee's testimony, Clemens shocking improvement as he got older) combined with long-standing suspicions that maybe the Rocket was using a different type of fuel than his peers to propel his career.
But there are a few things people should know about steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), because far too many out there have the wrong perception of them.
Myth 1: steroids or other PEDs can't make you hit a fastball.
Anabolic steroids have been shown to increase reflex speed in both animal and human studies.
What is probably just as important is that they can dramatically reduce the amount of breakdown (catabolism) that normally occurs when muscles undergo the stress of exercise. Less breakdown means faster recovery. When you consider how many musculoskeletal injuries a ballerina sustains despite the graceful nature of her art, then you can better imagine the damage that occurs in baseball players while violently and repeatedly swinging a bat, especially when they miss.
All of that damage will slow down bat speed. This is where steroids really help. If you recover faster to baseline, you'll be able to more consistently hit pitches with power.
Myth 2: steroids are inherently bad for you.
There are several studies about people with low testosterone, and the trend is clear: low testosterone levels put you at a significantly increased risk of dying younger.
Now don't go start shooting up on steroids because of that last sentence. The point is that exogenous steroids may be beneficial for our overall health. One of the problems is that good solid prospective studies are lacking on how a person with normal testosterone levels might use steroids properly to gain benefits and minimize side effects. The reasons for this are administrators being too close-minded.
That situation probably won't change until people stop immediately associating steroids with former East German women, NFL and MLB players, and weightlifters.
Myth 3: injecting steroids automatically makes a person stronger.
This is completely false. The simple act of injecting steroids will not make you stronger. It's not like getting bit by a radioactive spider like Spider-man or being injected with Super Soldier Serum like Captain America.
People look at MLB athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds, and they completely frown on those athletes for using steroids.
But a fact that's been forgotten in all of the finger-pointing is that each of them was an elite athlete who worked hard. Name me one hitter who worked harder than Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds off the field? Name me one pitcher who had a tougher workout regimen than Roger Clemens? Their workout routines are the stuff of legends, and that was before they took steroids.
But time has a funny way of demonstrating diminishing returns. At first it's a few days here or there where you just can't bench as much as usual or your timed sprints are a bit slower or you can't catch up to the fastball or the radar gun objectively tells you that you're losing a few mph off your fastball. Then those few days turn into weeks and then months.
Then suddenly, you start seeing younger guys who are not working anywhere nearly as hard as you starting to catch up to you. To maintain the edge, you try steroids. And one way that you justify it to yourself is that the steroids only work because you yourself are putting in a tremendous amount of time and energy to stay in top shape. You reason that the steroids don't and won't work for you without you adding your own sweat and commitment. And you know what? You're right.
Heck, even Captain America needed help (from low-level radiation exposure in his case) to make the injected substance work. People using steroids are similar: energy in the form of exercise is needed to see the true athletic benefits of anabolic steroids.
While people are crucifying Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire, just remember that these guys were already way ahead of the curve in terms of their workout routines. I remember reading a Sports Illustrated article during McGwire's magical home run season. The thing that impressed me was how much time he spent working out. Also, I remember Clemens' intense workouts even on non-pitching days while he was with the Red Sox.
Folks, these weren't guys looking to gain an edge for free. They had been and were willing to continue paying the price in terms of sweat to stay on top.
Does this excuse what they did? No.
But is what they did understandable? Yes.
If we were in their position and stood to make millions of dollars a year playing a game and receive adoration from hundreds of thousands of people, would we not do everything in our power to keep things going?
The general public is sounding like a lynching mob when it comes to stringing up any MLB athlete who used illegal substances like steroids and HGH. Was it 100% illegal? Yes. But it's become a bit crazy. Trust me, I know union workers who have resorted to outright violence to prevent people ("scabs") from breaking the picket lines. That violence is also 100% illegal and far more damaging to others, but I don't hear the general public tearing down the walls to put those violent people out of commission.
If we demand that MLB players or any other athlete open their eyes and minds to the dangers of anabolic agent use, then shouldn't we try and open our minds a bit as to the reasons why they feel compelled to use such things?
Many of us think, "Heck, I would never inject that junk into me." But unless we've been in a similar situation, it's tough to tell what we're capable of doing.
So, MLB players flouted the law and cheated because they thought that following the rules would endanger their continued livelihood in baseball. Funny, wasn't this country's independence created by people who flouted authority, because they believed that their livelihoods were being threatened by unfair rules? Didn't those same revolutionaries also go against the common rules of military engagement and instead "cheat" by using "cowardly" guerilla tactics?
I'm not trying to equate MLB players with the brave revolutionaries that created an independent America. But I'm trying to show you that Americans looking to for some way to better their circumstances is an inherent part of our personalities. It's impossible to deny this.
The point is that when people are looking at the end of the road (and for an athlete facing the grim realization of retirement, it feels like the end of the road), it's a terrible time. Are we so completely unable to understand why pro athletes like Andy Pettitte resort to using steroids or other PEDs to prolong their careers, especially when they know that most of the other guys around them are doing it?
In the past, I've written several blogs about steroids and the people who use them. I've never ridiculed anyone for making the choice to use steroids. It violates federal law (and now MLB rules) and it's unsportsmanlike. But I can separate those facts from the other fact that we all should try placing ourselves in other people's shoes.
Yes, they make big money, but for the majority of them, their whole life has been devoted to sports. I can understand why they would try steroids or HGH or other PEDs. I don't condone it, but I understand where they are mentally to make that choice.
However, I have no problem ridiculing athletes who lied about their use. That's why I have some respect for a guy like Andy Pettitte and complete disdain for Paul Byrd and his ridiculous story about using HGH that was prescribed by an online dentist for his supposed brain tumor.
As the year comes to a close, here's a thought. Maybe it's time to give the illegal drug users a break and let them come forth and confess everything without fear of retribution. Maybe we need an Amnesty Period where players are guaranteed that anything they confess about receiving steroids and other PEDs will not be used against them legally or for Hall of Fame balloting consideration.
In a lot of ways, this steroid saga has wearied me and left me thinking the same thing I thought when my best friend was lost at sea while saving his wife after their boat was obliterated in a destructive storm: regardless of what the truth is, I just want to know the truth.
I would rather let a player confess completely that he used steroids his entire career and then let him walk away unscathed then stay in this limbo where we are all left guessing whether he did it or not.
Also, I don't believe that it's all about greedy players just trying to stay on the big high-salary gravy train of the MLB.
A person's ego and feeling of self-worth is partially tied to their income, but it's more heavily connected with a feeling of contributing to something greater than himself or herself. Every one of us should try to imagine having a job that we absolutely love; a job where we receive praise and respect from our boss and coworkers. Then imagine how we'd feel if our boss came to us tomorrow and said, "We have to let you go, because there are younger faster people we want to replace you with." Imagine the sadness and panic that might immediately well up in you.
Then suppose that I come up to you and whisper, "Hey, I have this stuff called Adderall which will allow you perk up, outperform any new person, and allow you to keep your job." The catch is that it's illegal to use this drug unless you have medically diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What if I also told you that I could get it to you without a prescription and that there were no real side-effects? Would you try it? Of course you would. It's as much a part of our DNA as Eve biting from the forbidden apple.
And folks, just an fyi, Adderall abuse is rampant in universities and even amongst competitive high school students. What is Adderall? It's a type of amphetamine. That's right, it's "speed".
Now, that I've shared that true tidbit about Adderall being used illegally by a lot of American university students, are you still not going to try it to keep your job, especially when you most likely will be replaced by someone who is using it?
If you say that you would still not try it, then you are an incredibly moral person, lying to yourself, or you don't need money and job happiness as much as normal people do.
None of this is to say that we should excuse the guys who cheated. But unless we can find a way to ensure a clean and level playing field, can you really blame guys who are trying it to keep their jobs against other players who very well might also be users?
Sen. Mitchell proposed that we should not focus on punishing those who cheated in the past, but rather focus on the present and the future. I agree, and that's why MLB steroid users need to catch a break. Let's wipe the slate clean.
For people who have been arguing that letting such cheaters off the hook sullies the records of many of our MLB sports heroes, here is a sobering fact: Synthetic testosterone was first introduced into sports during the 1940s and 50s. There is no definitive way to know whether or not records achieved since that time are also tainted. So, let's drop the charade that all players 20 and 40 years ago were clean. Let's have an Amnesty Period where players can confess everything without fear of retribution and let them know that from that moment on they must stay clean or face being wiped out of all record books.
Let's do this to save ourselves the time and agony of having to hear a lot of players lie to save themselves because that's the only option left to them. Let's do this to save the money we would have used on investigating athletes and devote that money to better testing in the future. Let's not allow ourselves to get stuck on the idea of punishment and miss the greater good of finally knowing the whole truth.
Finally, let's give the MLB anabolic steroid and HGH users a break so we can all move forward, because as the saying goes, you can't advance to second base if you keep your foot on first.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
P.S. the picture at the top of this post is not Photoshopped. that's an original advertisement found 2 days ago. obviously i didn't include the phone number and web address.
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