Juicing

Steroids in the NFL has become sort of a hidden obvious story. Tons of ex-players have admitted to using – Terry Bradshaw, Jim Haslett, Mike Golic, Lyle Alzado, Tony Mandarich, Bill Romanowski, The Boz, etc. Those are just what came to the top of my head. And that is not counting the guys who were clearly caught – Luis Castillo, TJ Slaughter, the Panthers and that doctor (Jeff Mitchell, Todd Sauerbrun & Todd Steussie), Shawn Merriman, Matt Lehr, Rodney Harrison, Onterrio "Whiz Kid" Smith (okay, maybe that was pot), etc. And with all the Steelers that have died it is clear that the Steel Curtain was really the Steroid Curtain.

Nor were they the only ones
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/story/2009/02/19/nflrpa-steroid-survey.html

In time plenty of these guys are going to drop dead of heart attacks.

(By the way here is a great story about the first steroids before the Steelers http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=3866837 )

Now testing was in place, so while some guys are using I don't think it is institutional the way it was in Pittsburgh. Plus by now everyone knows about them - so every team has a few users. How many Raiders were caught up in BALCO (Tyrone Wheatley for one)? Dana Stubblefield was too.

It is just a dirty part of the game I love. With sports you just try to love them for the artistry of the game and try not to think of the bad, even as the ESPN shoves more and more of it into your face. It’s not always easy, sometimes thinking about all the crippled retirees struggling because they played before the money got huge or all the concussion victims turns me off from the game. Sooner or later push is going to have to come to shove on concussions – they are just going to have to force players to retire.