The California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), better known as the producers of the “Got Milk?” campaigns, has decided to re-release two of the five “Got Milk?” spoofs of the steroids in baseball scandal. This was timed to take advantage of the heightened media coverage and public awareness resulting from the recent allegations of steroid use by MLB baseball players in the Mitchell Report. [Read more...]
Evidence of Steroid Use in Baseball
December 17, 2007 By Leave a Comment
The Mitchell Report made some nice weekend reading; it was a good piece of investigative journalism on the history of steroid use in professional baseball. I’ve offered my criticism of the Mitchell Report as being an overpriced review of secondary sources that was extensively documented elsewhere. But I must admit there was a good amount of primary source reporting in the testimony of Kirk Radomski and Brian McNamee (thanks to the U.S. Justice Department).
The allegations and naming of specific baseball players was the sensationalistic information that the public eagerly consumed. Some news organizations dismissed all of this as “hearsay.” This is incorrect. Willamette law professor Jeffrey Standen offers an excellent clarification: [Read more...]
Therapeutic Use Exemptions for Performance Enhancing Drugs
December 17, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I’ve previously discussed known loopholes for testosterone use in drug testing programs. And of course, the fact that growth hormone use is undetectable via drug testing urinalysis makes it an easy and attractive drug for the athlete seeking performance enhancement.
Just as problematic is the loophole of “therapeutic use exemptions” (TUE) for performance-enhancing drugs on the banned substance list. In many cases, an athlete can use performance enhancing drugs (even steroids) with impugnity if they are granted a TUE for a medically documented condition.
The therapeutic use loophole is not widely publicized by WADA and other drug testing organizations because it does not contribute to the appearance of an effective drug testing program and a “clean sport.” [Read more...]
BALCO "Cream" Protocol and Problem with Drug Testing
December 16, 2007 By Leave a Comment
What if every baseball player used the BALCO “cream” according to protocol? Would anyone fail the current MLB doping controls?
I could figure out how to take a fair amount of testosterone and you’d never catch me, and if I can say that, a lot of others can too.
Who is accredited with the aforementioned statement? Patrick Arnold? Victor Conte? [Read more...]
Baseball Players Who Use Steroids Can Be Victimized by Gamblers
December 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
According to the Mitchell Report, the use of anabolic steroids by athletes is not simply an ethical problem or a health problem. Cheating with the use of performance enhancing drugs is a “broader and more nuanced activity” that can seriously threaten the integrity of baseball.
Baseball players who use anabolic steroids are vulnerable to being victimized by gamblers:
[D]rug dealers could blackmail a player to alter the outcome of a game in exchange for maintaining the secrecy of the player’s substance use. Such threats to the integrity of the game are as serious as gambling. [Read more...]
Recommendations for Steroid Education in Baseball
December 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
The Mitchell Report noted problems with current steroid education programs in MLB that focus on severe steroid dangers and deleterious side effects:
[T]hese health risks… generally will not deter a player from using these substances. This is because players who use or are considering using performance enhancing substances do not consider them dangerous if used properly. This view is reinforced when players see that other players who they know are using performance enhancing substances arc not experiencing the adverse health effects described in the educational materials.
This makes sense. If steroid use is rampant and the clubhouse, yet no one is experiencing any of the negative side effects, then why would players give any credence to the MLB “steroid education” programs? Perhaps overstating and exaggerating the side effects and related scare tactics are not effective in a drug education program? [Read more...]
Mitchell Report's Ignorance of Steroid Use in Professional Baseball
December 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
The Mitchell Report reveals the general ignorance about steroid use by Major League Baseball players and many other athletes in competitive sports. I would hope that the investment of millions of dollars into steroid use in MLB would result in a basic understanding of the various steroids used by baseball players and the quantities involved.
But apparently this was not within the scope of their investigation. Instead, investigators relied on a survey of bodybuilders and weightlifters to document and determine the manner, methods, and quantities of anabolic steroids used by professional baseball players and presumably all competitive athletes. [Read more...]
Mitchell Report's Bias Against William Llewellyn and Anabolics 2007
December 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
The highly anticipated Mitchell Report on the “illegal use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players in major league baseball” was publicly released today. Dozens of writers will offer their commentary on the 400+ page report (including appendices). I am fairly certain my commentary in the next few days will be a departure from the norm.
The first thing that I want to bring attention to is the extent of bias against author William Llewellyn and his exhaustive anabolic steroid reference manual, Anabolics 2007. His 1000+ page reference is the most exhaustive treatise of performance enhancing substances used in competitive sports. [Read more...]
Cheaters in the Doping Investigation
Much has been made of the lack of integrity in professional sports, most recently in baseball’s Mitchell Report, with revelations of widespread use of anabolic steroids, testosterone, and growth hormone. But few reporters seem to be interested in investigating the alleged improprieties of federal investigators involved in the crusade against doping in sports.
Roger Clemens’ defamation lawsuit against former trainer Brian McNamee vaguely hints at impropriety by federal investigators, including Jeff Novitsky, during their interrogation of McNamee. There is a long trail of alleged investigative misconduct that has followed Jeff Novitsky since the beginning of the BALCO scandal.
[Read more...]