Does football have the same level of problem that baseball and track does with performance enhancing drugs?
Assuming that you mean American football I would say that it would be harder to find a player who hasn’t used steroids.
Not that proper football can be too smug - it’s just been revealed that the team doctor for Juventus was administering drugs to the team for most of the 90s.
I’ll disagree with that. The NFL has had very strict rules against steroids and has been testing them for years now.
So they get that big through just training and “dietary supplements”? Don’t be naive.
Don’t kid yourself. Romanowski was a habitual user, Dana Stubblefield, Tyrone Wheatley, and Johnnie Morton are implicated in the current BALCO scandal. Of course, you’ll never hear about the numerous NFL players implicated because the NFL is the media darling and they’re not “The Story” since they have testing.
Lyle Alzado was the poster boy for the tragedy of steroids long before Ken Caminiti.
He’s still a better cautionary tale, if you ask me.
Steroids killed John Matuszak at 38.
Users of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs will always be one step ahead of the anti-drug enforcers of their sport, regardless of which sport it is.
However, the NFL is light-years ahead of MLB when it comes to drug testing. It’s been a part of the collective-bargaining agreement between the league and its players’ union for at least a decade and probably longer. Contrast this with the similar agreement in baseball, whereby a player gets advance notification to an absurd degree–like six to eight weeks, long enough to flush anything from their bodies. Also, testing is done only in-season, unlike the NFL, when it is done at any time throughout the year.
The reason for all of this is pretty simple. The NFL Players’ Association (the union) agreed to drug testing for a simple reason: left unchecked, a 'roided out football player will eventually kill himself or another player on the field of play. Football is a massively violent sport, and I’ve heard plenty of sports journalists say that being on the sidelines of an NFL game is one of the most frightening experiences their profession offers. The NFLPA went with drug testing because it was looking out for the best interests of its members, and the MLBPA is resisting testing because safety is a lesser imperative in its game. Methinks that only public opinion or legislative fiat (like that which Senator McCain has been talking about) will change this situation.
I agree, but for all we know, the users may be two, three or four steps ahead. There’s no telling what’s out there on the cutting edge.
I think you underestimate what can be accomplished naturally.
In the first place, these are generally huge human beings to begin with. Second, they’re huge human beings whose year round job is to be a walking wall of muscle; a person who’s 6’5" with a wide frame and gets paid a fortune to add bulk and muscle can get freakishly strong even without the use of illegal steroids (heroic intake of legal supplements no doubt helps). Third, when it comes to the biggest guys on the field – the linemen – overeating is actually a more common health risk. Because the league is so stringent about steroid abuse (see below), and because they have to keep up with the guys on the other side of the ball, they’re forced to gorge themselves to add mass. Fourth, steroid use increases the risk of injury, which is potentially devastating to careers and paychecks and likely enough as it is, so there is a good disincentive to abuse.
No doubt there are some players who use designer steroids; however, given the NFL’s diligence, you’re statement that “it would be harder to find a player who hasn’t used steroids” is probably a gross overstatement. The penalties are harsh, for one thing. For another, the league tests (and punishes) retroactively. That is, when a new designer steroid is discovered, the league reserves the right to test old urine samples and mete out fines and suspensions for substances that weren’t specifically banned at the time they were taken. As has been said, they’re light-years ahead of baseball in this regard.
Simply pointing out that football players are awfully damn big does little to prove your point.
This has been asked and answered, but I’d like to toss in my opinion.
There is indeed steroid use in the NFL. David Boston just got suspended for using steroids this week, for example.
But there is far less steroid use in the NFL than there is among Olympic athletes, MLB, and probably just about any other sport where performance is based on physical ability.
The NFL testing policy can be subverted, but it is one of the, if not the, most stringent testing policy in existance. Again, no system is perfect. But the NFL is doing everything it possibly can to prevent steroid use, and that includes a whole range of products that are not only not steroids, but also perfectly legal supplements.
In addition, the NFL is just as stringent with testing and enforcing out the use of recreational drugs.
Contrast this with MLB, which is currently doing the very least it can possibly get away with doing to prevent steroid use.
So you tell me, is the problem just as rampant? It could be, but if it is, there is quite literally nothing more that can be done to discourage it.