The PED double-standard

C'mon, those physiques are just nutrition, protein shakes and good clean living.

 

I figured someone would post a picture of Howard, but hasn't he looked pretty much like that his entire career? Guys like him and James have won the genetic lottery, so I'm not sure they help your argument at all.

 

It's pretty well acknowledged that pro football's fascination with steroids started with Sid Gillman's Chargers in the 1960s, when a young Chuck Noll was on the staff.

If other teams or players weren't using them in the '70s, I don't know why they weren't.

BTW, the suspicious Steelers mortality chart makes for interesting fodder, but keep it in context. Steve Courson was admittedly a heavy steroid user, but he died because a tree fell on him.

 

Maybe that's a symptom of steroid use.

 

We wanna accuse The Admiral of juicing, too?

If the failed tests of guys like Alex Sanchez and Bartolo Colon show us anything, it's that the visual evidence is not particularly useful.

 

Watch the Lakers of the 1980s for 20 minutes ten watch an NBA game today. It's like watching a jv league.

Basketball, hockey, baseball, football, golf, tennis... they all have top players taking PEDs. I don't think any sport is immune.

Not saying all the top players are, but I would not be surprised it it isn't more than half.

 

He probably pulled the tree right out of the ground in a bout of 'roid rage.

 

He fucked with the wrong tree.

 

I know some, but I think you are correct. And nobody seems to care at all about the use in the NFL.

I think LTL raises a good point as well, that people just see NFL bodies as so different from the norm, anyway.

 

"Dog"
"Tree"

 

True, but you also have cases such as Mike Webster and Terry Long that have to make you wonder at least a little bit about the long-term effects of steroids on the brain as well as the body.

Maybe the real concern should be the combination of concussions and steroid use. Could that be what led to Webster's deterioration and eventual death and Long's suicide?

 

Devil, your comparison completely ignores the significant advances in the last few decades regarding nutrition and physical fitness. The difference is obvious not just for professional athletes but the population at large. Thirty years ago, if you were 6 foot, 200 pounds, you could walk into any public place and often be the biggest, baddest guy there. I'm 6 foot, 235 -- bigger than any of my five older brothers -- and I can't remember the last time I went to a bar or restaurant and at least 20-25 percent of the people there made me look like a little guy. People are just bigger these days, for any number of reasons. I highly doubt many of the 10-12 big guys at P.F. Chang's tonight were on steroids.