A Strength and Conditioning Program That Works: Six Seattle Players Busted for PEDs Since 2011

[Guiness]

But back to PEDs, I belive there are some meds that serve as masking agents by blocking or diluting definitive proof of steroids or weed. Adderol, a stimulant, would serve to make someone feel more alert and wired (it's the opposite of what stimulants do to a person diagnosed with ADHD, funny enough). I don't believe it has any drug-masking properties.

Some folks on the board speculated that the diuretics in StarCaps served as masking agents for marijuana. I can see how turning on the waterworks would reduce clear readings for specific substances. Still, the league does not ever say what the substance is, so the playes are able to get the first volley in the court of public opinion.

Charles Rogers of the Lions received a suspension, ostensibly for masking agents, before playing in his first game.

RBAloha says masking agents are only a myth, which relieves me greatly.

Remember Ben Johnson? He of the 9.72 100m in Seoul? Not a bright boy, his idea of a masking agent was apparently to drink 10 beers as quick as he could right after the fateful race in an effort to dilute his urine! Diuretics work that way, lowering the levels of banned substances to the point that they are undetectable, or at least at allowable levels. I'm not sure about ones that 'scramble' the chemical signal, do you have any examples NB? I'd like to read about them.

[pbmax]

Is Greenies all the 70s Steelers were taking? I always thought they were the pioneers of juicing the NFL.. hasn't seemed to tarnish anything they've done.

All? Probably not. They could have been taking them, and it would not have been uncommon though greenies were just amphetamines. Baseball clubhouses used to keep a jar, like they were M&Ms, in the clubhouse.

Steve Courson is the only player I know of on the 70s Steelers to cop to steroids except Bradshaw. Courson himself was a late stage Steeler dynasty player. Jim Haslett said he took them when he played and was influenced by the Steeler's Super Bowl teams. Dan Rooney then gave what might be the textbook definition of a statement in denial:

Rooney rejected Haslett's claims, noting the Steelers were known for smaller, quicker linemen who ran trap plays that required they be agile, not bulky.

"This is totally false when he says it started with the Steelers in the '70s," Rooney told the Post-Gazette. "(Then-coach) Chuck Noll was totally against it. He looked into it, examined it, talked to people. Haslett, maybe it affected his mind.

"Chuck Noll told the players, 'Hey, this stuff doesn't do you any good. If you just do the work, lift, things like that, you'll be all right,"' Rooney said.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/8322840

Yes, Chuck Noll, the guy benefitting second most over possible steroid use conducted an investigation and found everyone to be clean. Slam. Dunk.

Given the day and age, the suspicion is that the Steelers would have used anabolic steroids common to Olympic athletes a decade earlier. Bradshaw at one point admitted taking them, then backtracked and said what he took wasn't what we think of as steroids today (?) and Courson said Ham and Lambert were adamantly opposed to taking them.

But the most damning info is simple inference.

[During recent spate of former player's deaths s]even died of heart failure: Jim Clack, 58; Ray Oldham, 54; Dave Brown, 52; Mike Webster, 50; Steve Furness, 49; Joe Gilliam, 49; and Tyrone McGriff, 41. (In 1996, four years before the steady succession of Steelers deaths, longtime center Ray Mansfield died of a heart attack at 55.)

There is speculation that steroid abuse could have played a role in some of the deaths, but no hard evidence. It’s just as plausible that weight issues were a factor.

via http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2...rom-the-grave/ originally from the Pittsburgh Press Gazette.

Clack, Mansfield, Webster, Furness and McGriff all played on the LOS.

[smuggler]

Rooney really is a special kind of idiot to even speak about it, let alone expect people to buy his bullshit sandwiches. This is definitely a case of the cover-up being worse (or more disgraceful) than the actual crime. At least in my book.

[RashanGary]

The NFL is a gladiator sport. I think all concern over being fair and just goes out the window when you play a game that causes head injury, death, paralysis, back injury, and many other forms of bodily harm. Football is dangerous. You do what it takes to win and do what it takes to make your body stronger than their bodies.

Honor is a virtue, but it does not come before self-preservation. I'm sure you can find graveyards filled with people who died with honor and car lots loaded with football players who couldn't make it in the NFL, but sell cars with honor.

I certainly respect people who conduct themselves with honor, but it can cross the line from honor to stupidity.

[Cleft Crusty]

Really though who are we to demand entertainment then question the manor in which professional athletes accomplish it?

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

[bobblehead]

This might sound ridiculous, but if this is your profession and there are MILLIONS of dollars on the line: why WOULDN'T you take HGH? Seems kind of like the cost of doing business.

I mean, guys do a lot of shit for a lot less than $10mil a year. I'd take it for a few years to set my kids up and their kids up for life especially if it was the difference between 5mil a year and selling insurance.

Save me the integrity stuff please. This is a gladiator sport and the NFLPA's reluctance to institute HGH testing makes it obvious that it's a big part of the Bigger / Stronger / Faster mentality of the league and its players.

HgH has virtually no negative effects. It helps immensely with recovery. In larger doses (which have mild side effects) it increases muscle mass. I can't think of a single reason an NFL player would NOT take it (unless they are REALLY honorable).

[bobblehead]

there's absolutely no downside to taking various growth hormones. Only positives! What could possibly go wrong??

And he looks better than he did at 69. Doc Life works out at my gym (although I only see him about once every 3 months....works out at 5am). He takes Testosterone and HgH...and measures every ounce of food he eats.

[bobblehead]

Cancer

NO basis for this statement (like most of your posts). Although some detractors have THEORIZED that HgH causes cancer that hard statistical data says it actually REDUCES chances of getting cancer. As a growth agent though, if you do get cancer it can prolifierate the spread.

[bobblehead]

If I could legitimately get my hands on some HGH, I would use it (note: not abuse it).

Our wonderful representatives in congress decided that you can not have this. We need you to die early, not milk the system into your 90's.

[bobblehead]

The NFL is a gladiator sport. I think all concern over being fair and just goes out the window when you play a game that causes head injury, death, paralysis, back injury, and many other forms of bodily harm. Football is dangerous. You do what it takes to win and do what it takes to make your body stronger than their bodies.

Honor is a virtue, but it does not come before self-preservation. I'm sure you can find graveyards filled with people who died with honor and car lots loaded with football players who couldn't make it in the NFL, but sell cars with honor.

I certainly respect people who conduct themselves with honor, but it can cross the line from honor to stupidity.

Game of thrones: Catelyns sister "you do not fight with honor" Bronn: (nodding to dead body falling into pit) "He did"

[denverYooper]

Game of thrones: Catelyns sister "you do not fight with honor" Bronn: (nodding to dead body falling into pit) "He did"

Great scene.

[Cleft Crusty]

And he looks better than he did at 69. Doc Life works out at my gym (although I only see him about once every 3 months....works out at 5am). He takes Testosterone and HgH...and measures every ounce of food he eats.

Clefty was concerned about increase in nipple size morso than cancer. Also that he lost fifteen years of his life.

[Cleft Crusty]

NO basis for this statement (like most of your posts). Although some detractors have THEORIZED that HgH causes cancer that hard statistical data says it actually REDUCES chances of getting cancer. As a growth agent though, if you do get cancer it can prolifierate the spread.

Actually, the aspect related to cancer that is known, is that some cancers have increased GH production, so that GH might exacerbate an already cancerous situation. But the point is the direction: some cancerous cells generates GH. Very little is known about the oncogenic potential of GH, although it's role in the treatment of various stature defects is pretty well known and beneficial.

[hoosier]

HgH has virtually no negative effects.

Are you talking about Rx HGH or illegally obtained? If legal then known negative effects, in addition to the speeding of previously existing cancers, include contributing to hypertension, diabetes, as well as lesser ills like edema and neuropathy. If it's illegal HGH, who really knows what you're putting in your body.

[RashanGary]

Game of thrones: Catelyns sister "you do not fight with honor" Bronn: (nodding to dead body falling into pit) "He did"

My fav show EVER! Game of Thrones, that is. Not any particular episode. They all sort of build on and off each other.