Tags: stob crew

If prisoners in a random federal penitentiary were asked what percentage of them were guilty of their crimes, how many would be honest and admit that all or the vast majority of them deserved to be behind bars? It’s merely human nature to put any type of blame on your own shoulders and deflect criticism.

With sports and steroids intertwined so much today – and the ridiculous negativity that it has spawned – asking a professional athlete if he feels his brethren are using is not a true test. After seeing the results of the recent poll in Sports Illustrated, you will feel that it is more comical than accurate.

320 NFL players were surveyed and 32 percent said that zero to four percent use performance-enhancing drugs. Only 12 percent said what most of us would surmise – that 30 percent or more are using. From this group, the highest according to position were defensive lineman, who had 23 percent avoid their noses growing.

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The other numbers were: five to nine percent using (23%); 10 to 19 percent using (20%); and 20 to 29 percent using (12%). A mere one percent answered “not sure,” most likely from the kicker category.

Including the six players recently suspended for using Star Caps (although five of them have stayed on the field by appealing), a total of 20 NFL players have been suspended for violating the substance-abuse policy in the past two years. In comparison, Major League Baseball had seven suspensions (two for Neifi Perez) in the same time frame.

Are NFL players using PEDs at a high rate? It would seem to be a good argument that they are just by the sheer brutality of the sport and the appearance of many of them. It is obvious why they would rather keep things behind closed doors and in reality, that is the proper way to do it. Why give people like Joe Biden any more ammunition to blow this thing out of proportion any further?

At some point, the five NFL players who used Star Caps are going to have to pay the piper. The NFL is going to have to enforce their anti-doping policy, as flawed as it may seem. In this day and age of ‘act before react,’ the league is going to have to make an example out of someone.

By having a Minnesota judge extend the injunction on the mandatory four game suspensions, the five players (Kevin and Pat Williams of Minnesota; Charles Grant, Duece McAllister and Will Smith of New Orleans) were able to participate in this past Sunday’s games and next weekend. The next court date is December 22.

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Regardless if these players used Star Caps as a steroid masking agent or not, the banned diuretic substance Bumetanide was still used. The NFL has been projecting a no-nonsense attitude with off-the-field issues, so they will at least have to give the impression of coming down hard on these players. All of this attention – even if the players themselves want to clear their names – cannot be good for a league that has kept the cleaning of their house out of the public eye, unlike Major League Baseball. Perhaps a better way of settling this would have been to cut the suspension to two games, reason being the confusion of Star Caps being on ‘the list’ or not. That way, the league would be giving in some and the players would still have felt that they received somewhat of a pass.

All of these court proceedings have made this a stand-off, and no one will be the winner in that.

It’s going to be a hard sell for big and burly professional football players to convince anyone that they only took a product that is marketed as a weight loss drug for middle-aged women. The model on the company’s home page (www.starcaps.com) brings back memories of Mae West, for Christ’s sake! (No offense, Nikki Haskell)

StarCaps even had to put a disclaimer on their website and “temporarily suspend shipping” due to the lawsuit. Now, I totally understand that these players are just covering their asses by blaming the product, but the fact remains that a diuretic such as this is also used as a masking agent for steroids, more specifically, the banned substance bumetanide.

What may be an important piece of evidence is that Dr. John Lombardo (the Steroid Policy’s Independent Administrator) was aware of StarCaps containing bumetanide back in 2006, but failed to inform NFL players because he did not want to line up their excuse for them if they were caught using a masking agent.

Three players on the New Orleans Saints (Duece McAllister, Will Smith and Charles Grant), two Minnesota Vikings (Kevin Williams, Pat Williams) and one Atlanta Falcon (Grady Jackson) all failed drug screening tests for bumetanide. All but Jackson, who has already served his suspension, can miss four games each if found guilty. They have filed appeals with the league and are awaiting hearings.

It’s not too late to catch the third installment of MuscleSport Radio, the weekly Internet podcast bringing you the best of bodybuilding, pro sports and anabolic steroids. This week’s special guest was none other than Gunter Schlierkamp, who speaks frankly about some of the frustrations he faced in bodybuilding and why he has turned to acting the past two years and not the Olympia stage. Gunter also comments on the passing of the great Ben Weider and what the entire Weider family has meant to his career.

The World Series and the bad weather effecting it is also discussed on this show, as well as the seven NFL players testing positive for the diuretic Bumetanide.

All past broadcasts are archived and can be heard via MuscleSport Mag, Blog Talk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com) and iTunes.

Please be advised that we have already scheduled our special guest for the Tuesday, November 18 show – legendary bodybuilder Boyer Coe.

Be sure to listen live every Tuesday afternoon from 3 to 4 pm (Eastern time). Our call-in number is (347) 884-8157.