Going With The Flow

Funny you bring up the football and other sports thing. I was talking to a coworker yesterday whose cousin used to play for the Bills and another NFL team. He said "they're all HGH positive". Of course it makes them bigger, but a huge reason is because of the recovery. He hated his "job" because of the stress/pressure that came with it. It boggles my mind, too, why they don't crack down on it in team sports.

Because major team sports are multi-BILLION dollar industries. The leagues don't want to risk blowing that up. Although in the case of baseball, it was pretty clear that most good players were cheating, and no one seems to care anymore.

The NFL obviously has some huge PED issues, but that has taken a backseat to concussions in terms of what people care about. I think everyone pretty much knows that a lot of football players are using PEDs, but its a very entertaining sport, so we let it slide for the most part.

There's always been the argument that steroids don't help you in skill sports like basketball... but something like HGH would be a tremendous advantage for recovery. I'd be surprised if the NBA was a totally "clean" league. There is just too much $$$ to be made. Guys will take the chance.

I supported Lance for a decade, gave him the benefit of the doubt, believed in him, was inspired by him... and now I feel like a total dope for falling for it. Yeah, he was the best of the CHEATERS. Big deal. I have zero respect for him anymore. I'd love to jump into one of those random trail races he's always doing in Aspen and kick the $hit out of him.

The worst part of all is what you said - "Many gave up the sport because of it." That's what is really sad to me.

Yes, I agree. If you can recover faster, then you can train hard every day. Football is a dangerous sport to have the drug problem run wild..

Well put, Jake.

Must be why the average life expectancy of an OL is ~55 years?

Well, PEDs also can cause a lot of problems. I agree that concussions shouls be a huge priority, but you can do both. They could enforce the "no PEDs" without losing any money at all...everyone would still watch.

Also, no one responds to medication exactly the same way. I respond to an Excedrine different than my wife does. Lance was never a climber until 1999.

Definitely different for everyone. I was on steroids for the past month and all I did was lose weight and muscle mass :) Probably wasn't the same type of steroid though - I was just trying to reduce inflammation.

haha yeah Andrea you weren't on ANABOLIC steroids :-)

Matt - I'm guessing bulking up to 400 lbs doesn't help w/ the life expectancy either.

Chad - that's exactly why the whole "let everyone use drugs and that will level the playing field" argument is bogus

EPO and testosterone supplements are both very common for the recovery of say, testicular cancer. So for Lance to say, he "never" took these substances would have been a lie anyway. He was pretty careful to say, he never tested positive for them. Not that he never took them. I would go as far as to say that back when he won his first Tour, "Everyone" at that level was using EPO, it wasn't a banned substance, and they were all pretty open about the fact they took something.

My other favorite is that they should just allow PED's in sports since it is happening anyway. So exactly when do you want your children taking PED's? College? High School? Middle School?

Hey Andrea, how did the steroid work for you? I have had chronic tendonitis in my hamstring for about 8 months now and I'm considering taking one to help me get over it.

If you just watch old clips of pro sports from 20 years ago you can see a huuuuge difference in the size of the athletes in all of the major sports. There are a few high school football players that work out at my gym and they are massive. When I see them I think about how much bigger they are than kids I played with back in high school in the day and it looks to me like they are on the juice as well.

Honestly the steroid didn't work very well for me...but I have a lot more going on than just a hamstring strain. I know a lot of people that swear by them and others that it didn't work at all. It just depends on the nature of the injury.

Yay running pic!!!

Drugs are bad. Except for the fun ones...

Thanks Andrea and btw your new profile pic is awesome!

Lulu- Please list the fun ones. :)

Very interesting post!

I saw that you had a great run yesterday. How are you feeling today?

woohoo - running picture!

Lance reminds me of my 4-year-old. You can literally catch her doing something she's not supposed to and she'll deny it at first. Actually, she's more mature because she will own up to it later.

This lie was worth at least $50,000,000. And that's just to him personally. Billions of dollars if you count LiveStrong and all the products his name sold. It's a little harder to own up to that. I'm not supporting his lie in any way, just saying I think the spiral effect was way more than he imagined when he took that first injection.

If Lance didn't dope and didn't win, Livestrong wouldn't exist. Ironic that his selfish pursuits have served society well. In my mind he is still a bad*** on the bike and he worked harder than most to achieve his success. Can anyone name even a semi successful cyclist who didn't dope? "everyone is doing it" obviously isn't an excuse but at least his fame has done some good and has inspired other cancer survivors. The alternative would have been giving the titles and fame to guys like Ullrich who may or may not have started a foundation to help millions.

That's what sucks about the whole thing... the foundation has done a TON of good, and the inspiration Lance gave to people all over the world was priceless... but its a shame that it took such a massive lie to bring about something good. You wish something like Livestrong that brings people together could happen organically and honestly. Hopefully its big enough now where it can distance itself from Lance/cycling and be its own entity.

I was as big of a fan as anyone, defending him for years... but I just can't root for the guy now. I just hope he disappears from the public spotlight.