Drugs and Football

[FourBear]

Just how widespread is steroid use in the NFL? Seems like the officials in the MLB make a bigger stink about it than in the NFL, but maybe I'm just missing all the headlines.

[druzus]

your guess is as good as mine, honestly

[kelkat]

My guess is that it's even more so in football where you have to be even bigger than the next guy. It's just no one has started the finger pointing that was in baseball. They had to know that it was going on in baseball BEFORE now. You can look at some of the older cards of some of the record holders and tell something was up.

[19nazzy]

I'd be interested to know what percentage other than the O-Line and D-line players that use steroids

[kelkat]

Just like in baseball, no one will ever say they did the steriods (or few will anyway) and so you will never get an accurate count.

[DirtyHawgs]

I would say its very wide-spread in one way or another. Just they know how to "beat the system". Until they make a big deal of it, they will continue to find ways to beat the system and get an edge...

[kelkat]

I hate that, too. It takes all the challenge and magic out of the game. I think that they should wipe clean all the records that are "drug tainted". To me they become meaningless.

[19nazzy]

Originally Posted by kelkat

I think that they should wipe clean all the records that are "drug tainted".

Agreed. But that's easy to say but harder to do.

[Slashmire]

Like above, I'm sure there's plenty of people using them...but the rules are not strict enough...and it's now hard to control...

[triumph]

It is one of those things that makes you wonder. Due to the size of the guys and the torture they go through, you have to wonder if they are just much better at covering it up.

[kelkat]

I don't think that they have to cover it up. It seems to me that no body is looking. That's the only way I think it could have gotten to this point.

[Mustaf]

I also wonder about painkillers... how much Demerol, Codeine, or Oxy might some of those guys might go through?

[Brown_23]

If baseball players are doing it for size then NFL players are in a heartbeat as well. Similarily noone is going to admit anything. Maybe the NFL has such a easy going policy about it as the constant negative attention baseball is receiving for a few years now.

Sports are a business based on entertainment, if Steroids equals entertainment, then Steroids help the business.

Also, wrong place but I will say it anyways. Not a fan of Barry Bonds, but his numbers stay without asterisk, how many homeruns has he hit off pitchers on steroids? If anything, 1990-2010 gets an asterisk.

[kelkat]

I say forget the asterick and nix the names altogether. If you can't do it right, don't put yourself up there with the greats.

As for the painkillers, I hadn't thought about that. Do they test for that at all? You can play a lot harder if you don't feel anything.

[druzus]

hmmm.. well. somthing tells me if they were on codine, oxycotin, or demoral these guys would not be on the feild at the same time those drugs are taking effect. you cannot play football (or any sport for that matter) on these drugs. well, lets put it this way...you can, but you wouldnt be earning your paycheck if you were (youd look like a chicken with its head cut off on the feild). i think what mustaf was getting at is how much pain killers they are on or prescribed for after their season, or after injuries, or whatever.. because a lot of these guys are constantly hurt or injured. but, for the most part, i dont think they do a lot of that stuff...except for major injuries. just my first thought.