MLB Steroid Melodrama

[Djaughe]

.... are you sure about the actual tape?

lol...I can only go off colemens public statement and bo's attorney holding a video tape inwhich the article cites...

 

[Kolo]

In a story published March 24 under sports editor Jim Mohr's byline, dietary expert Ellen Coleman was quoted as saying she knew personally that "Bo Jackson lost his hip because of anabolic abuse."

I've wondered about this. Heavy steroid use causes avascular necrosis, or loss of blood supply to the bones. It manifests itself most often around the ends of large bones, including the hip joint. Severe asthma sufferers are usually treated with massive amounts of steroids, and they commonly have hip problems as they age.

 

[Pariah]

I believe him. Some people are just freaks of nature. I think Bo was one of those people. I think he blew out his hip because of all of the crazy stresses he put his body under for so long. Moving a big body like that at the speeds he did, with the sudden changes in direction must wreak havok on a body.

 

[Pariah]

"We retract the quote and the further statement that the speaker personally witnessed this damage to his life. We apologize to Mr. Jackson, without reservation."

It's refreshing to read a statement like this. Our society needs more of it instead of CYA and grandstanding, IMO.

 

[NickelBack]

It's refreshing to read a statement like this. Our society needs more of it instead of CYA and grandstanding, IMO.

Amazing what the threat of a law suit will do!

 

[Southpaw]

I've wondered about this. Heavy steroid use causes avascular necrosis, or loss of blood supply to the bones. It manifests itself most often around the ends of large bones, including the hip joint. Severe asthma sufferers are usually treated with massive amounts of steroids, and they commonly have hip problems as they age.

There you go. That was basically my point. Bo ended up threatening to sue everyone, but hasn't done so. I guess I would be more inclined to believe what was on tape if I heard it , rather than see an attorney waving a tape over his head. Has anyone seen Bo lately?

 

[Ryanwb]

I used to be a huge Angels fan and I saw Bo play in person. I watched him hit a moster homerun and then barely walk around the bases his hip was so bad. They guy just had that physical freak thing going on.... A real shame about his injury he would have been one of the greats

 

[cards 24-7-365]

Several years ago, one of my professors in grad school mentioned the link between steroids and avascular necrosis - especailly of the hip. The professor also hinted that steroids could have caused Bo's injury. This professor had spent some time on the medical staff of an NFL franchise and at the division I football level for many years.

I would hope that is not the case as Bo was one of my child hood idols. I just think he might have been one of those rare athletes that was just made better than the rest - like Jordan and Vick.

 

[Shane]

Several years ago, one of my professors in grad school mentioned the link between steroids and avascular necrosis - especailly of the hip. The professor also hinted that steroids could have caused Bo's injury. This professor had spent some time on the medical staff of an NFL franchise and at the division I football level for many years.

I would hope that is not the case as Bo was one of my child hood idols. I just think he might have been one of those rare athletes that was just made better than the rest - like Jordan and Vick.

They were on steroids too!

 

[arthurracoon]

Piedra suspended for failing drug test

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_y...lug=ap-rockies-drugs-piedra&prov=ap&type=lgns

Colorado's Piedra suspended for violating baseball's policy on performance-enhancing drugs

April 12, 2005
DENVER (AP) -- Even though Colorado Rockies outfielder Jorge Piedra is on the club's minor league team he is facing a major league penalty for violating baseball's new policy on performing-enhancing drugs.

Piedra on Monday became the second player identified under the league's tougher rules and he began serving a 10-day suspension with the game at Arizona, the commissioner's office said. The Rockies lost 2-0.

The Denver Post reported that Piedra expected the suspension. He told the newspaper the positive test may have been caused by pills he took from a previous injury.

He could not be reached by The Associated Press for comment.

``My understanding is that he is not filing an appeal,'' said Gene Orza, chief operating officer of the players association.

Piedra was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs of the Pacific Coast League on Wednesday and sent back down the next day.

``It's unfortunate,'' said commissioner Bud Selig, who was in Boston for the Red Sox-Yankees game. ``I'm afraid this probably won't be the last one.''

Tampa Bay outfielder Alex Sanchez was suspended for 10 days last Monday. He said he tested positive from a supplement he bought over the counter before Jan. 15, when it was made a controlled substance.

Selig wouldn't say whether he believed Sanchez. ``I want to be kind,'' Selig said. ``He did not fight his suspension, and I'll rest my case on that.''

Under the new policy that took effect last month, steroids and other performance-enchancing substances are the only drugs to draw a 10-day suspension. Baseball officials and the players' union agreed they would not disclose the exact substance for which a player tests positive.

Piedra has what is known in baseball as a split contract, and gets paid at a yearly rate of $84,280 when he is in the minor leagues and $317,000 -- $1,000 over the minimum -- when he is in the majors. The suspension will cost him $17,322. Had he tested positive under the minor league policy, Piedra would have faced a 15-game suspension.

The Rockies issued a statement Monday calling the situation ``unfortunate.''

``As an organization we have, and will continue to support Major League Baseball and its drug-testing policies,'' team president Keli McGregor said.

Colorado manager Clint Hurdle declined to comment.

Before the Rockies' game at Arizona on Monday night, second baseman Aaron Miles noted Piedra is extremely popular among the players.

``I think if you asked everybody in here, everybody would say he's a good guy,'' Miles said. ``I guess it shows that no matter if you're in the minor leagues or the big leagues, your name is going to come out.''

The 25-year-old from Van Nuys, Calif., had a pinch-hit single in the Rockies' 14-6 loss to San Diego on Wednesday. He was called up for one day to replace injured outfielder Dustan Mohr. Piedra hit .297 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in 38 games with the Rockies last season.

Even though he plays in the minors, Piedra is subject to the new major league substance abuse policy because he is on Colorado's 40-man roster.

 

[asudevil83]

another guy, not admitting to steriod use, and only saying that it was probably some other pills he took.

based on what these guys are saying, it sounds like EVERY over-the-counder pill has steriods in them.

 

[Skkorpion]

Another liar.

 

[Stallion]

If Bo was on the juice, it started in college, because he was a beast at Auburn. I would tend to believe him because, as some of you have said, he's been really big for so long.

The Bonds change just while in the majors has been staggering and hard to ignore.

 

[Lefty]

Could Jason Schmidt be suffering from steroid withdrawal?

Very interesting.
http://p080.ezboard.com/fgiantsvirtualforumfrm2.showMessage?topicID=2042.topic

 

[WizardOfAz]

Love those threads steeped in facts!?!

 

[moviegeekjn]

So.... what other rumors can we cook up and spread around message boards (since the media seem to pick up on some of them)

 

[NickelBack]

DL with a sore shoulder:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_y...aA--?slug=ap-giants-schmidt&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

[Southpaw]

Anyone know Carl Everett?

Now you do.

In Everett's world, Wrigley's extinct


By Teddy Greenstein
Tribune staff reporter

June 14, 2005, 11:06 PM CDT

The world already knows Carl Everett believes dinosaurs never roamed the planet. After all, there's no mention of them in the Bible.

But the White Sox's designated hitter unleashes a swarm of new opinions in the July issue of Maxim magazine. The highlights:

Wrigley Field is the worst park in the majors: "They need to implode Wrigley."

Most baseball fans don't know diddly: "Fan is short for fanatic—he's crazy about something he really doesn't know about. And it's proven that 99 percent of baseball fans have no idea what they're watching."

Jose Canseco is a "bitter, ignorant individual."

The congressional hearings examining steroid use were a waste: "We have a war going on—I have family in that war—yet we're talking about steroids. … If everybody in the world got on steroids, we'll still lose more kids to a war than we will from steroids."

Everett has had gay teammates, whom he has accepted, but: "Gays being gay is wrong. Two women can't produce a baby, two men can't produce a baby, so it's not how it's supposed to be. … I don't believe in gay marriages. I don't believe in being gay."


Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune

 

[Southpaw]

Everett's big mouth not what Sox need

June 16, 2005

BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Knowing Carl Everett to be intellectually loopy and quite irrelevant in the big world, I am not interested in any of his social opinions. What does concern me, though, are the damaging effects he could have on the special chemistry of the White Sox if he reverts to his Mount Everett self and keeps spewing needless lava.

So much for the new Carl, the measured Carl, the professional Carl. His penchant for controversy has spilled over at an odd time in a strange forum, Maxim magazine, a post-frat skin rag that published Everett's rants about homosexuals in baseball, the ignorance of sports fans, the congressional steroid hearings and even his disdain for Wrigley Field. It makes no sense why an inconsistent, aging slugger who has bought into a cohesive, selfless, problem-free success story would go Rodman on us, right there alongside the "Hometown Hotties.''

You just hope this isn't the re-emergence of Bad Carl. Because as folks know in other towns -- especially Boston, which saw him attack an ump, serve a 10-game suspension and launch expletive-filled tirades at his manager, a teammate and a sportswriter in the same half-season -- the eruption of Mount Everett can ruin a ballclub.

I don't know if the Sox have any gay players. Nor do I care, as long as they're earning their paychecks and signing autographs for kids. But Everett cares. Perpetuating the belief that baseball is filled with 12th-grade-educated cavemen, he issues an out-of-nowhere warning to any homosexual teammate who would dare mention his gay lifestyle. Interestingly, Everett says he has been on teams with gay players, though he doesn't name names and doesn't say where. He also says he is willing to accept those players, bless his heart. But just make sure you keep it to yourself, OK, dude?

If not, beware of his wrath.

"Gays being gay is wrong,'' Everett says. "Two women can't produce a baby, two men can't produce a baby, so it's not how it's supposed to be. There's no connection there. It's totally wrong. I don't care what anybody says.

"He can be gay, but he ain't gonna impose it on me. I don't worry about what he's going to do off the field, but if he asks me, I'll tell him it's wrong.''

On gay issue, Everett's a dinosaur

Sometime in the 21st century, I'd like to think a baseball team would accept a gay teammate without getting in his face about it. The guy would be lonely, ostracized and ridiculed behind his back, but I'd like to think they'd respect him when he hit a game-winning homer or made a diving catch. College lacrosse doesn't compare to the spit-and-scratch world of big-league baseball, of course, but progress was made recently at Dartmouth College, where a talented goalie named Andrew Goldstein was a popular team member regardless of his sexual preference. A baseball clubhouse is probably a generation or two away from a similar story, as Everett's words confirm.

Not that the man doesn't like sex. In the same question-and-answer session, folks will be pleased to know King Carl likes sex better than hitting a baseball. When your batting average is down around .265, that's understandable. "What feels better? Any man will tell you sex,'' he says. "Nothing feels better than sex, unless you are talking about going to heaven.''

Um, why is he even talking about these matters? Who cares what he thinks about gays, sex or the price of bubble gum? He is Carl Everett, B-list ballplayer. When Ozzie Guillen took a slur-filled blowtorch to Magglio Ordonez earlier this season, at least he did so as the manager and aimed his disgust at an opposing player. Everett's comments serve no one, least of all himself.

How would you like to be a fan today, having been insulted by King Carl? After years of management blunders, fan-unfriendly episodes and late-season letdowns, Soxdom finally has found bliss in a first-place club -- only to have Everett put down spectators.

"I don't care what the fans think about me because I don't go home with fans,'' he says. "My job is to help my teammates win. I don't sleep with the fans. ... Fan is short for fanatic -- he's crazy about something he really doesn't know about. And it's proven that 99 percent of baseball fans have no idea what they're watching.''

'The hearings were stupid'

He must be referring to the government-commissioned study on baseball fans and attention spans. I'm glad he approved of those findings. Unfortunately, Everett sounds a little bothered by the Capitol Hill steroid hearings that brought baseball to its knees and made buffoons of Bud "Hear no evil'' Selig, Mark "Speak no evil'' McGwire and Sammy "Speak no English'' Sosa -- nicknames courtesy of "Saturday Night Live.'' I sympathize with Everett when he says he has a family member fighting in the Middle East. But as a baseball player, he must separate warfare from an urgent health and competition issue that affects America's youth.

"The hearings were stupid. Congressmen are being idiots,'' he says. "We've got a war going on -- I've got a family in that war -- yet we're talking about steroids. More people are going to die in that war than from any steroids. If everybody in the world got steroids, we'll lose more kids to a war than we will from steroids. So that's not an issue Congress should be involved in.''

Congress can't be involved in both issues?

Naturally, Everett thinks using steroids isn't a form of cheating. "There are guys in the Hall of Fame who used spitballs,'' he says. "They cheated; it actually helped what they did. But as far as a physical stat, I don't think steroids help much. You've got to hit a ball that's going 95 [mph]-plus. You've still got to hit a ball that's changing directions. Maybe it helps you strength-wise, but as far as hitting the ball, it does not help.

"It's illegal to spit on the ball and throw it, too, so there's a lot of things that are considered cheating. It's not cheating until you get caught.''

Shut up, already

Anything else? Well, Carl thinks Chris Rock should be the baseball commissioner and says poor people rarely kill themselves "because they can't get any lower than they are.'' Oh, and he can't stand a certain North Side shrine.

"They need to implode Wrig-ley,'' he says. "It's a deathtrap for the players. The grass is so thick. You still have metal gutters. You have a concrete wall where the player can't play the way he wants to play because he's got to worry about killing himself. The only reason it's still in existence is because of all the bars around there, and it would take revenue from the city. It's a terrible field.''

Finished? All done? Talked out? Brain entirely drained?

Let's hope so. Molten lava doesn't mix well with a pennant race.

 

[Lefty]

It's amazing how some players who were thought of using steroids are not putting up the numbers they put up in the past. Seattle had enough of Mr. Boone's mediocrity. They released him today.

 

[boondockdrunk]

It's amazing how some players who were thought of using steroids are not putting up the numbers they put up in the past. Seattle had enough of Mr. Boone's mediocrity. They released him today.

Futher proof against those players (ie Dibble) who say that steroids have no affect on home-runs or production.

 

[Southpaw]

..... and Jason Schmidt's fastball. I wonder when we ever find out Dibble was a juicer.

 

[AZZenny]

Chad Scarberry, the one DBack's minor leaguer who has been caught, has not been pitching well at all since returning from his suspension. I always laughed when guys said pitchers didn't use juice - Leo Mzzone once said pitchers were the ones who introduced steroids decades ago.

 

[Lefty]

Kevin Brown is another classic example of a pitcher who has been tied with using steroids in the past and is now a broken-down pitcher.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Palmeiro

Baltimore slugger Rafael Palmeiro is just three hits away from becoming the fourth player in major league history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 homers. He won't have an easy time accomplishing the feat against Boston starter Tim Wakefield.

Palmeiro, who has struggled throughout his career against the veteran knuckleballer, will try to move closer to his historic feat when the Orioles wrap up a four-game series with the AL East-leading Red Sox at Camden Yards.

Palmeiro went 2-for-3 with a homer and six RBIs in Baltimore's 9-1 win over Boston on Saturday. The future Hall of Famer helped the Orioles move within three games of the first-place Red Sox, and back into second place in the East, a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees.

He's also pleased to be on the verge of completing his chase for 3,000 hits.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/preview?gid=250710101