College football - Steroids?

[Champsheart]

Originally Posted by Nors

I do all that, but at what point do the good guys who bust their *** get discouraged by those that are cheating?

I'm so proud of my kid, no one works harder year round in the batting cages and off season conditioning, it just annoys me the cheaters have a leg up long term......

I do not know man, I do not know!

All you can do is educate, and be there for your son!
Know who he is, and what he does, who he hangs out with, and do your best to put him around good people.

That is all you can do as a parent.

And in my case put faith in the lord, and hope my sons, I have 2, do as well.

It seems likes it gets harder and harder to raise our children, you just have to be there, support them, and do what you can, and hope they make the best decisions, and when they do not hopefully they learn from them before it is too late.

That's all I know.

It is just a shame we even have to talk about this concerning 10 year olds.

[Nors]

Originally Posted by Champsheart

I do not know man, I do not know!

All you can do is educate, and be there for your son!
Know who he is, and what he does, who he hangs out with, and do your best to put him around good people.

That is all you can do as a parent.

And in my case put faith in the lord, and hope my sons, I have 2, do as well.

It seems likes it gets harder and harder to raise our children, you just have to be there, support them, and do what you can, and hope they make the best decisions, and when they do not hopefully they learn from them before it is too late.

That's all I know.

It is just a shame we even have to talk about this concerning 10 year olds.

Great discussion, my son will do the right thing and give it 100%. A shame some kid WILL cheat and get ahead. Thats Wrong, but rewarded.....

[Hostile]

Originally Posted by mr.jameswoods

My stance on this steroid issue is if we really wanted to rid sports in general of steroids, we would do it. The baseball 5 strikes rule is just an example of truly relunctant we are to enforce any type of rule to ban steroids in the game.

What shocks me more is how there is no formal testing in high school sports. They tried to enact formal steroid testing in high school athletics in California and Governor Arnold Schwarzeneger rejected it citing that it didn't clearly distinguish betwee steroids and legal supplements.

They could have more random drug testing on-site that include a formal blood test instead of urine which could enable players to acquire and substitute another person's urine.

[View Full Quote]And yes, I do think professiona and college sports influece high school students and their behavior. If I'm a naive high school baseball player and I see McGwire and Bonds hitting 70+ homeruns, you better believe I would try to take steroids as well. They don't look too unhealthy to me. Many athletes believe short term use can't harm you unlike taking heroin and crack. (This is not true but this is how someone uneducated about steroids would think abou the matter).

This is what scares me as a future parent because steroids will be even more rampant in the future as more and more of the best athletes are shown to have taken steroids. Unless professional and high school/amateur athletics is serious about banning steroids, it will get worse.

It amazes me how ignorant the public is in regards to steroids. I can tell you how lethal steroids can be if misused. They can lead to heart and liver failure. And I'm doing research right now that shows an association between cancer and steroids since cancer is basically uncontrolled cell growth. We have no idea what the long term ramifications of steroids are. Yeah, you might feel cool when you are in your 20's but when you are having a heart attack in your 50's and you have excess fat build up and breasts, you will probably regret taking steroids.

[Hostile]

Originally Posted by jterrell

Excellent POST!!
Arnold of course used steroids extensively.

I know many people who have used them and actually know enough to know the best combinations and what not.

I might have used them myself if I wasnt scared of ending up a Eunich. The guys who used them did benefit athletically by quite alot. They also were very hard to hang out with because of severe mood swings. And they could throw a mean punch often knocking guys out with one swing. It definitely changes you both mentally and physically. Guys become cocky and confrontational to the extreme.

[View Full Quote]The issue at the high school level is bad. It has been discovered that alot of Metroplex schools in upper middle class and above neighborhoods are plagued by steroid use/abuse. The teams winning state titles and such. Kids getting college scholarships are using. Its a really bad situation. Dealers pray on these kids often offering the first doses free. The problem with stopping it is how often can you afford to test and how good are the tests?

When I was in high school we were tested once at the start of football 2 a days. Basically same as college. College does also test entering bowl season for bowl teams but thats obviously 12 weeks away from the initial test which means a 6 week cycle on and a 6 week cycle off put you passing both tests easily.

There was only 1 kid at my high school that used because it was a very poor high school but it is a major problem at richer schools. That one kid made all district as a center. Under the pile he liked to hit you in the crotch. He would spit in your face and other such niceties. He was in trouble at least twice for fighting with his girlfriend. A fairly low key kid early on his roid rages became legendary.

This issue does need to be addressed.

Professional athletes take designer roids and are monitored by doctors. High school kids take farm animal drugs and are risking serious health issues at an alarmingly high rate.

Great post JT.

When I played I knew the guys who were juicing. I saw kids get bigger, stronger, and faster. These things work. That is why they are called "the vanity drug."

I'll be the first to admit, I seriously considered taking them. I wondered how fast I could get. I knew that speed was a huge advantage to get me to my dream of playing in the NFL.

I knew the guy on the team who was supplying them. I can't really say why I never used them because in my mind I had rationalized why I should. That's the true danger of this for youth. It is so easy to see these incredible athletes and all that fame and celebrity does for them and to want it too. I wanted it. What kid doesn't?

The education about steroids in this country needs to get better. The testing procedures need to get better. The sports organizations need to pull their heads out of the sand and pretending to be ostriches because it isn't going to go away. These designer steroids that Balco was providing were undetectable until someone provded a sample.

It's scary.

[Hostile]

Originally Posted by Nors

What scares me - my 10 year old son who has legit worked hs *** off past few years broke all the local home run records. Actually hit a 260 foot home run last year.

What does all this tell him? To cheat and hit it further? Those that do are rewarded?

The best thing you can do is while these stories are hot ake sure he sees how offended you are by this. Sports are about integrity and heart. If you can impress that upon him while he is still impressionable maybe he'll pay attention. Very few kids that I know want to embarass their dad or sully the good name he has given them.

[jterrell]

Originally Posted by Nors

What scares me - my 10 year old son who has legit worked hs *** off past few years broke all the local home run records. Actually hit a 260 foot home run last year.

What does all this tell him? To cheat and hit it further? Those that do are rewarded?

You can tell him about the Plano kid who committed suicide after a depression he suffered from quitting the roids.

I had a college roommate from Grapevine who used in high school but stopped in college and he ended up just plain fat with no muscle tone at all. The roids only help you when you're on them. He also liked to use other drugs when he wasn't cycling on and it became a real problem for him in college. He is an alcoholic and drug user last I heard and was wasting his Management degree from Tech.

I know another guy who is now a competitive body builder that is still juicing up but his college g/f told me he was completely useless as a man in the bedroom now except when he was on the cycle. She had to move away because when she broke up with him he was irrational and violent. She was his HS sweetheart and was really broken up about what the roids did to him but he wouldn't quit because of the bodybuilding. He owns a private gym in an upscale area where he takes on a few select clients and my guess is gets them the roids too. At Tech he went from a RB to a LB in 2 years but was never more than a depth guy like me anyways.

If you're Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and others then the steroids is a sucess story but for 99% of the folks its not and many times its a straight nightmare.

[Nors]

Originally Posted by jterrell

You can tell him about the Plano kid who committed suicide after a depression he suffered from quitting the roids.

I had a college roommate from Grapevine who used in high school but stopped in college and he ended up just plain fat with no muscle tone at all. The roids only help you when you're on them. He also liked to use other drugs when he wasn't cycling on and it became a real problem for him in college. He is an alcoholic and drug user last I heard and was wasting his Management degree from Tech.

[View Full Quote]I know another guy who is now a competitive body builder that is still juicing up but his college g/f told me he was completely useless as a man in the bedroom now except when he was on the cycle. She had to move away because when she broke up with him he was irrational and violent. She was his HS sweetheart and was really broken up about what the roids did to him but he wouldn't quit because of the bodybuilding. He owns a private gym in an upscale area where he takes on a few select clients and my guess is gets them the roids too. At Tech he went from a RB to a LB in 2 years but was never more than a depth guy like me anyways.

If you're Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and others then the steroids is a sucess story but for 99% of the folks its not and many times its a straight nightmare.

If nothing else there is a heightened awareness to the downsides of Steroids. I ran track at the National level in high school. In the early 80's they were not really in track. There were a few weight lifters football types who did it but I always thoght that was totally stupid. In College you saw a lot of Roid rage fights/drinking issues. I just never saw the appeal, but that appeal has grown and grown.....

There is another Balco up and running, another step ahead.....

[joseephuss]

It is scary stuff. Pro athletes also work with knowledgable trainers that tell them exactly how to take steroids. What doses, how often and such, so even though they can be dangerous they are taking the least amount of chances in most case. How many high school kids can do that. They just get the stuff and start taking. That can make an already bad drug worse.