Two former University of Waterloo football players who transferred to another college in order to fulfill their dreams of playing college football were denied eligibility. The former Warrior football players had to seek another college football program after the Waterloo Warrior program was shut down for a year after a steroid investigation. The harsh sentence for the football team has been criticized for punishing innocent players who were not involved in doping. [Read more...]
Steroid Testing in the NFL is a Failure
January 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment
A new report suggest that while the NFL’s Policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances is a public relations success, its effectiveness at actually reducing steroid use among football players may be a failure. The Wall Street Journal recounts an incident last week where a reporter observed a player receiving advance notice of a steroid test from the team’s head trainer. Doping flourishes in sports like cycling and track and field which are subject to the most rigorous drug-testing standards presented by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Other sports, such as NFL and MLB, have much more lax anti-doping rules.Anti-doping experts feel that the NFL might as well abandon drug testing if they are going to give advance notice to players. [Read more...]
Canadian Football League – Summer Camp for Violators of NFL Steroid Policy
November 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The Canadian Football League (CFL) is the only professional sporting league in North America that has not yet implemented steroid testing for its football players. Former WADA chief Dick Pound had previously called the CFL a “summer camp” for NFL players suspended for violations of the NFL policy on anabolic steroids and related substances [Read more...]
Football Player Sues Supplement Company for Undeclared Steroidal Ingredient
March 12, 2008 by Leave a Comment
No sooner than I finished writing an article critical of the supplement industry does a professional football player file a lawsuit against a supplement company for containing steroids in their supplements (due to either contamination or intentional “spiking” of the ingredients). It gives me no pleasure to write this story because the defendant is a friend of mine.
Former NFL running back Femi Ayanbadejo has filed a lawsuit against Author L. Rea of ALR Industries. He claims an undisclosed ingredient in ALRI Max LMG caused him to fail an NFL doping test leading to his release by the Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears. Ayanbadejo tested positive for a “form of nandrolone.” Ayanbadejo’s attorney is blaming the positive steroid test on the manufacturer for possibly intentionally “spiking” the supplement with banned substances or contamination from the manufacturing facility.
I have not had a chance to review legal documents in the case. The owner of ALR Industries did not seem to be aware of the lawsuit and could not provide me with any insight into the case.
But on the surface, I’m not sure it has merit from a legal standpoint. [Read more...]
Does Texas High School Steroid Education Video Work?
February 5, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The State of Texas University Interscholastic League (UIL) produced a steroid education video entitled “The Making of a Champion.” The steroid education video was released in conjunction with the introduction of steroid testing in public high school sports in Texas.
The video features lengthy segments featuring high school teenage athletes who used steroids and suffered. The video implies that anabolic steroids caused stroke and paralysis in one case; it implies that steroids caused suicide in the other case (Taylor Hooton). This type of “scare tactic” approach is common in state produced steroid education and anti-drug productions. [Read more...]
Drug Testing to Reduce Steroid Use by High School Athletes
January 26, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Most people at every point on the steroid regulatory spectrum, from the advocates of steroid legalization to anti-steroid zealots, agree that anabolic steroid use by teenagers is bad. There are a few people who believe steroids are good for children, pre-teens and teenagers. But in general, most people agree with government efforts to reduce steroid use in teenage athletes. Unfortunately, they seem to accept all anti-steroid efforts without question regardless of their efficacy or lack thereof. People seem to be content with “feel good” endeavors that accomplish little. [Read more...]
Gatorade a Gateway to Anabolic Steroid Use in High School Athletes?
Many people believe that dietary supplements, specifically sports nutrition supplements, are a “gateway” to anabolic steroid use. It is the steroid war’s version of the “gateway drug theory.” While I agree that teenagers should not be permitted to purchase or use stimulants and steroids sold as dietary supplements, I do not subscribe to the “supplements as a gateway to steroids” theory.
Chris Connolly, the head football coach and athletic director of Dolgeville High School in Dolgeville, New York, has taken the gateway theory, as it applies to suppplements, to the extreme. [Read more...]