Sports and Drugs — An Unending Story

The recent revelations of Alex Rodriguez's steroids use in 2003 have prompted me to revisit the issue of drugs and sports.

I was particularly struck by an article that ran in Sports Illustrated nearly a year ago, when Brett Favre's "retirement" from pro football was on the cover.

The article was written by Jack McCallum, and it essentially told readers not to blame sports for the prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs.

"We are a juiced nation," he wrote, making the point that there is a lot of money to be made. McCallum went on to quote Dr. Mark Gordon, a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, who said a 2004 study indicated that more than $1 billion was spent annually on legal human growth hormones (HGH). "And it's safe to assume it's gone up in the last four years," Gordon told McCallum.

It's hard to argue with some of McCallum's conclusions about steroids use in other segments of society — Hollywood, for example, where a plastic surgeon told McCallum, "If you're an actor in Hollywood and you're over 40, you are doing HGH. Period. Why wouldn't you? It makes your skin look better, your hair, your fingernails, everything."

McCallum wrote that "steroids are all over the culture," and I'm sure that is true. And surveys suggest that the lure of the good looks that steroids can produce is more enticing to young people than the desire to excel in sports. I was a teenager once myself, and, while I was never inclined to play football in high school, I did wish I possessed the sexy body that I believed the girls wanted. If steroids had been around in those days, I might have been tempted to take that shortcut if I had believed that it would mean I could have any girl I wanted.

But medical science is providing more and more evidence that steroids use can have deadly consequences — whether the objective was to be more sexually appealing or to be the next Babe Ruth.

Peer pressure isn't just tough on adolescents, who tend to think they are indestructible, anyway. Adults are subject to even more pressure — to keep up with others, to constantly compare themselves and their accomplishments to others.

No one likes to get older. But it's a natural part of life. Some steroids have a legitimate role to play — but that's a decision for a qualified physician to make, in relation to recovery from an injury. The unauthorized use of steroids, whether administered by a coach or a teammate or the athlete in question, needs to be stopped.

Sports boards and organizations need to focus their efforts on cracking down on this, even if means toppling all the Alex Rodriguezes from the pedestals on which they are perched. Baseball is paying for two decades of neglect. The other sports need to follow its lead and put the well being of their athletes ahead of trophies and revenue.

But even if the subject of steroids is adequately dealt with, sports still will need to be diligent about responding to the presence of anything that gives even a subtle hint of the existence of cheating.

It's a problem with no ultimate resolution, a story without an end.