NFL & Doping
Source: Bob Ford. No surprise: We're coping with doping. philly.com (3 Sept 2007) [FullText]
"In a sports weekend full of shocks and surprises - the Appalachian State upset of Michigan, a baseball no-hitter by a guy who looks to be about 12 years old, the Eagles getting their own roster cuts wrong on their official Web site - the news that Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots was caught using human growth hormone was pretty far down the list of things difficult to believe.
Perhaps it is just a national fatigue with stories about performance-enhancing drugs, or perhaps sports fans don't really care if their heroes cheat, or perhaps once you have an average looking fellow chunk up and hit 73 home runs, everything else is going to pale in the pharmaceutical game of can-you-top-this.
But there was Rodney, admitting to the commissioner that he used a "banned substance," which sources later confirmed was HGH. He obtained it to help him recover from knee surgery and get back on the field for his 14th season at the age of 34.
Which he will.
If the NFL were one of the organizations that operates under the World Anti-Doping Agency code - which includes every Olympic sport - Harrison would be banned for a minimum of two years, an automatic consequence in that other world.
In Rodney Harrison's world, however, he will get a four-game suspension, which makes cheating the equivalent of an ankle sprain, and not a high ankle sprain, either.
The reaction to the bust of Harrison has been muted around the league and actually supportive in the area of the New England fan base. He isn't just another player up there. He is a huge part of what has become a Patriots dynasty, as well as the NFL's all-time leader in sacks by a defensive back. He's the only player in league history to record at least 25 sacks and at least 30 interceptions in his career.
In New England, the reaction has gone like this: Gosh, Rodney is a great guy and it's a shame he did that, but he only wanted to do anything he could to get back on the field for the Pats and, if you fault him, you have to fault him for caring too much.
"My purpose was never to gain a competitive edge," Harrison said in a statement. "Rather, my use was solely for the purpose of accelerating the healing process of injuries I sustained while playing football."
For their part, Patriots' fans would just as soon Harrison get a parade for his actions, not a suspension.
The same reaction would happen anywhere. Harrison is to New England what, say, Brian Dawkins is to Philadelphia. If the situation took place here, the reaction would be identical. A guy on another team who takes performance-enhancing drugs to recover from injury is a cheater and a guy on my team who does so is a gutty competitor who made a tiny error in judgment.
Four weeks into the season, Harrison will be back as if nothing ever happened, just as Shawne Merriman of San Diego came back from his four-week steroid vacation last season and made the Pro Bowl. Even the NFL was a little embarrassed by that. Beginning this year, a player can't be selected to the Pro Bowl if he was suspended during the season. So, Rodney Harrison can't get to Hawaii, but otherwise he'll be good to go.
It only takes a quick Google to find many Internet sites willing to sell HGH, and touting the "Fountain of Youth" properties of the hormone, which replaces the ever-diminishing pituitary gland output, allowing for more muscle, less fat, stronger tendons and ligaments and quick recovery from workouts and injuries. Unless it's used wrong, of course, in which case it can kill you. But that's definitely in the fine print.
Administered under the direction of a reputable physician in the proper amounts, HGH is popular because it works. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it has become the drug of choice among professional athletes. When Arizona pitcher Jason Grimsley got his HGH in the mail last year, just minutes before the feds knocked on the door, he was asked how many baseball players use the drug. "Boatloads," said Grimsley, who named names, reportedly Roger Clemens', although no one paid very much attention because it was just another one of those drug stories.
Just last week, quarterback Tim Couch admitted that he used HGH to recover from surgery and Cowboys assistant coach Wade Wilson was found to have gotten the hormone from an Internet site, purportedly in order to control diabetes. Why he would choose an online Dr. B. Young over a more legitimate source of medical care is an unanswered question.
And there is more to come, perhaps not "boatloads" since most players are smart enough to distance themselves from the actual transactions, but there will be more.
There will be more because a reliable urine test for HGH doesn't exist. Even the blood tests are open to challenge, and none of the players' unions allow blood testing, anyway, so that's a moot point. The big leagues in American sports don't test for HGH and that makes it open season, regardless of what they say about getting tough on drugs. Guys are going to slip up like Harrison and get caught because they were sloppy, but no one will test positive - at least not now.
Get ready, then, for more stories, and a deeper fatigue beneath their weight. Don't expect more shocks or surprises, though. We're a long way past that."
Source: Bob Ford. No surprise: We're coping with doping. philly.com (3 Sept 2007) [FullText]
"In a sports weekend full of shocks and surprises - the Appalachian State upset of Michigan, a baseball no-hitter by a guy who looks to be about 12 years old, the Eagles getting their own roster cuts wrong on their official Web site - the news that Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots was caught using human growth hormone was pretty far down the list of things difficult to believe.
Perhaps it is just a national fatigue with stories about performance-enhancing drugs, or perhaps sports fans don't really care if their heroes cheat, or perhaps once you have an average looking fellow chunk up and hit 73 home runs, everything else is going to pale in the pharmaceutical game of can-you-top-this.
But there was Rodney, admitting to the commissioner that he used a "banned substance," which sources later confirmed was HGH. He obtained it to help him recover from knee surgery and get back on the field for his 14th season at the age of 34.
Which he will.
If the NFL were one of the organizations that operates under the World Anti-Doping Agency code - which includes every Olympic sport - Harrison would be banned for a minimum of two years, an automatic consequence in that other world.
In Rodney Harrison's world, however, he will get a four-game suspension, which makes cheating the equivalent of an ankle sprain, and not a high ankle sprain, either.
The reaction to the bust of Harrison has been muted around the league and actually supportive in the area of the New England fan base. He isn't just another player up there. He is a huge part of what has become a Patriots dynasty, as well as the NFL's all-time leader in sacks by a defensive back. He's the only player in league history to record at least 25 sacks and at least 30 interceptions in his career.
In New England, the reaction has gone like this: Gosh, Rodney is a great guy and it's a shame he did that, but he only wanted to do anything he could to get back on the field for the Pats and, if you fault him, you have to fault him for caring too much.
"My purpose was never to gain a competitive edge," Harrison said in a statement. "Rather, my use was solely for the purpose of accelerating the healing process of injuries I sustained while playing football."
For their part, Patriots' fans would just as soon Harrison get a parade for his actions, not a suspension.
The same reaction would happen anywhere. Harrison is to New England what, say, Brian Dawkins is to Philadelphia. If the situation took place here, the reaction would be identical. A guy on another team who takes performance-enhancing drugs to recover from injury is a cheater and a guy on my team who does so is a gutty competitor who made a tiny error in judgment.
Four weeks into the season, Harrison will be back as if nothing ever happened, just as Shawne Merriman of San Diego came back from his four-week steroid vacation last season and made the Pro Bowl. Even the NFL was a little embarrassed by that. Beginning this year, a player can't be selected to the Pro Bowl if he was suspended during the season. So, Rodney Harrison can't get to Hawaii, but otherwise he'll be good to go.
It only takes a quick Google to find many Internet sites willing to sell HGH, and touting the "Fountain of Youth" properties of the hormone, which replaces the ever-diminishing pituitary gland output, allowing for more muscle, less fat, stronger tendons and ligaments and quick recovery from workouts and injuries. Unless it's used wrong, of course, in which case it can kill you. But that's definitely in the fine print.
Administered under the direction of a reputable physician in the proper amounts, HGH is popular because it works. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it has become the drug of choice among professional athletes. When Arizona pitcher Jason Grimsley got his HGH in the mail last year, just minutes before the feds knocked on the door, he was asked how many baseball players use the drug. "Boatloads," said Grimsley, who named names, reportedly Roger Clemens', although no one paid very much attention because it was just another one of those drug stories.
Just last week, quarterback Tim Couch admitted that he used HGH to recover from surgery and Cowboys assistant coach Wade Wilson was found to have gotten the hormone from an Internet site, purportedly in order to control diabetes. Why he would choose an online Dr. B. Young over a more legitimate source of medical care is an unanswered question.
And there is more to come, perhaps not "boatloads" since most players are smart enough to distance themselves from the actual transactions, but there will be more.
There will be more because a reliable urine test for HGH doesn't exist. Even the blood tests are open to challenge, and none of the players' unions allow blood testing, anyway, so that's a moot point. The big leagues in American sports don't test for HGH and that makes it open season, regardless of what they say about getting tough on drugs. Guys are going to slip up like Harrison and get caught because they were sloppy, but no one will test positive - at least not now.
Get ready, then, for more stories, and a deeper fatigue beneath their weight. Don't expect more shocks or surprises, though. We're a long way past that."
Source: Bob Ford. No surprise: We're coping with doping. philly.com (3 Sept 2007) [FullText]
posted by Dr.Koudinov @ 6.9.07
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