NYCkayaker Anabolic steroids et.al.

[mike]

I was listening to the  testimony yesterday of Mr. Clemens, my favorite
statement was Representative  Dan Burton discounted Mr. McNamee's  testimony
as he declared his hero worship for Mr. Clemens.  To bring this back to the
kayak world, Representative Burton is well-known for his statement in
another congressional hearing on the US War on Drugs, Burton proclaimed that
the US military should place an aircraft carrier off the coast of Bolivia
and crop dust the coca fields). 
 OJ "the juice" Simpson is one of many egocentric sports figure who have a
violent history, and due to their superstar status were given too many free
passes for acts of violence. 
Hearing Mr. Clemens repeated denials under oath of his recent steroid and
HGH use. Shows the lengths someone will go to avoid the stigma. In reality,
the use of anabolic steroids was common during his high school and college
days; he was in Texas of all places! The continued denials from retired
cornered athletes who are more concerned about their facade than the loss of
money shows how established the shame is. I am sure many of the local yokel
high school coaches that were involved in the last two generations just
considered it a secret but embedded part of the sport. They themselves did
it in high school, it helped them get a scholarship. It evolved into a do
not ask do not tell policy in the last 10 years when the daylight started
penetrating the shadows. 
The pros and scouts that is another story. Maybe the deal for silence for a
presidential pardon stuff holds true. Clemens knows a lot, perfect for that
saying "he knows where the bodies are buried" so they have to take care of
him. The problem with the use in  sprint kayak type sports, is a couple
years of use off the radar use, will give some permanent gains due to the
increase of the size of bones and skeletal size. A test going back five
years still does not give a level playing field.
 I am hoping for some kind of DNA testing that will show any use, be
interesting to see how far back a shadow is cast.
>>
>>Did I mention the fact that the Giants won the Super Bowl?
>>On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:51:14 -0500
>>  L Bleich <kayakmidwife at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>> I never answer these e-mail discussions - I usually just
>>>read them -
>>> but I had to put in my two cents.  It's really good to
>>>see all these
>>> discussions about steroid use in sports, since it's such
>>>an important
>>> current issue.  I think that last discussion about it
>>>not being
>>> harmless was excellent and well stated.  In fact, I
>>>wasn't aware of the
>>> violence (both against self and others) connected with
>>>steroid use, but
>>> it certainly makes sense.
>>>
>>> I also feel badly for athletes, such as Marion Jones.
>>> It seems to me
>>> that if this problem is so widespread, that it should be
>>>addressed
>>> universally, and not by singling out individuals and
>>>ruining their
>>> lives.  It kind of reminds me of things like alternate
>>>side parking,
>>> when occasionally the police decide to enforce the "law"
>>>and give
>>> tickets for  double parking, when it's been accepted
>>>practice for
>>> years.  I think it would be much more fair to promote
>>>some kind of
>>> educational and warning approach prior to enforcing a
>>>law that has not
>>> been enforced for years, as opposed to retroactively
>>>singling out
>>> athletes who have been working hard all their lives and
>>>punishing them
>>> after the fact.  Maybe that would provide some
>>>preventive help  to the
>>> next generation of athletes - who knows.
>>>
>>> Laurie Bleich
>>> On Feb 8, 2008, at 12:09 PM, Rich Kulawiec wrote: