Politicians do some good

BY JIM VARSALLONE  [email protected]

Just think if Congress did not step into the pot hole, no pun intended, of athletes dealing with performance enhancing drugs and other illegal substances.

It's fair to say this problem in sports started in the 1980s, escalated in the 1990s and reached new heights in the 2000s with pro, college and even high school athletes using steroids, weight gain and weight loss products, pain pills and other substances to gain an unfair edge, heal faster, relieve stress.

Check-off the list with me. Major League Baseball, the National Football League and World Wrestling Entertainment did not sink their teeth into the problem until the politicians began their witch hunt. Thank you Jose Canseco.

Even though steroids were illegal, steroid testing never really served as a major issue in Major League Baseball. However, after Congress's involvement stemming from the BALCO steroid scandal, which involved allegations that top baseball players had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball finally decided to issue harsher penalties for steroid users.

The policy, which was accepted by Major League Baseball players and owners, was issued at the start of the 2005 season.

Also in 2005, Rep. Tom Davis, the head of the House Government Reform Committee, said the NFL's steroids policy was tough but not perfect, adding he planned to introduce a bill governing drug testing across the spectrum of U.S. sports.

In prepared testimony submitted to the committee, then NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL Players Association chief executive Gene Upshaw said the league was tripling from two to six the number of random off-season tests for players.

They also said the league and union agreed to add new substances to the list of banned performance enhancers, to test for designer steroids and to lower the testosterone ratio threshold.

After the death of wrestler Eddy Guerrero in November 2005, WWE implemented a Wellness Program, a comprehensive drug, alcohol and cardiac screening program.

When wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife, 7-year-old son and himself last year, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back in that profession, Congress started to question WWE. The multi-million dollar company began to tighten the reigns on its program, making it stronger, tougher with stricter penalties for violators.

Since Congress requested information from TNA Wrestling, the company instituted drug testing.

TNA's official response: ``TNA Entertainment has an active and strict drug and alcohol policy that includes random testing of its performers on an ongoing basis for prescription and illegal drugs as well as performance enhancers.''

Congress will grandstand, but that's politics. Instead of ridiculing those politicians, we should be thanking them for actually getting pro sports groups, college athletics and high school sanctioned sports leaders to act.

C'mon. Until the politicians took the issue to task, what had Major League Baseball done? Major League Baseball turned its head until our political leaders confronted MLB's hierarchy about the problem. The commissioner, the owners, the players, the players' union. Congress did what they did not.

After 10 to 20 years of watching sports police themselves with little done on the matter, something is being accomplished through Congress.

I'm all for letting our groups handle their own messes, but when they can not do it and people are hurting themselves and dying, then let Congress take the lead. Don't be naive.

A newspaper columnist or television analyst can side pro or con with the issue of steroids, performance enhancing drugs and other legal or illegal substances in sports, but after that one column or 30-second rant, it's usually onto the next subject.

The media did break a story on athletes including pro wrestlers who took steroids, HGH, GHB and other products. Some on the list claimed it was prescribed legally by a doctor.

Dr. Todd Schlifstein, a sports medicine rehab physician at NYU Medical Center's Risk Institute in Manhattan, said: ``They know where to get it, but no one really knows exactly what they're taking and how to take it. You can buy the stuff online.

``There are so many ways to get the legal drugs without the proper medical supervision. There are multiple different people to get multiple different drugs. You can see a different doctor in every town. They know who to go to.''

The media continues to follow the steroid cavalcade with the focus on big-name athletes. Congress has plenty to do with the continuing coverage because of its own investigations and hearings, targeting the stars.

We need this continuing coverage to force their hand and hopefully help decrease the problem. It's a trickle down effect, and the kids are the splash.

Joe (Simon) Malenko, who wrestled internationally in the 1980s and 90s, said: ``[Pro wrestling] takes its toll on a person with years of abuse on your body and mind. It leads to a lot of substance abuse on the narcotics side. It's kind of the same deal as in the [football] movie North Dallas Forty. You take something to help you out.

``Nobody wants to hear you can't get in the ring and perform because everyone's body is hurting. You don't see your kids, your wife, your family because you're on the road so much.''

Generally, the media treated pro wrestling like a cartoon or circus act through the years and turned its back on other sports until Congress waged its war on drugs in sports.

Now we are seeing results. Kids are getting the right message.

It's not perfect. Nothing is, but it's better than doing nothing or very little.

This is an important issue, and I'm glad to see politicians doing some good.

It's bad enough they are still debating health care reform, border control and budget cuts with the usual party politics rather than the parties working together to solve the problems.

Well, if it takes steroids in sports to finally get politicians to work together, then good. More can be done, but this is a solid start.

Still, I understand Congress, sports groups and businesses can only do so much. It is up to the individual, and each individual should be held accountable for his or her own actions. No one is forcing him or her to use these substances or become a pro athlete.

Dr. Michael Brannon, a forensic psychologist in Fort Lauderdale and a former pro wrestler, said: ``In essence, it is the fault of the person who continued to engage in those behaviors and didn't take responsibility for what he was doing.''

The lure of big bucks in pro sports can make people do strange things to reach or maintain a certain level. I'm sure athletes will try to find other ways to gain an unfair advantage, human nature, but the more education and things done to combat it, the better overall for the sport, for the kids.

In an interview several years ago with then World Championship Wrestling star Chris Benoit, he said, ``Every time I go to the ring, I give all that I feel that I can give. A lot of times, people don't realize, wrestlers go to the ring hurt. I get hurt every match. Something or another gets banged up. The severity varies. Your shoulder joint might be really sore or stiff, or you might have a pulled muscle, but you still go to the ring and give your all.''

In the grand scheme of things, there is no proof steroids lead to death nor make people kill others. Cocaine, marijuana and alcohol can do more damage to a person's well-being than steroids. If you abuse steroids and other like products, you can damage your body.

A combination of steroids, weight gain/weight loss supplements, pain pills, drugs (illegal or prescribed legally), sleep medications, alcohol, head trauma and mental anguish is the bigger issue.

Unfortunately, pro wrestlers have mixed a fruit cocktail with those ingredients. The combination is deadly. Important to note, of all the wrestlers who died young, Benoit is the only one who killed others.

Schlifstein said: ``You have the stress of working all the time and traveling all the time and trying to raise a family. You have pain killers, narcotics and steroids along with medications to help you sleep. It could be like a time bomb waiting to go off.''

Politicians do some good

BY JIM VARSALLONE

[email protected]

Just think if Congress did not step into the pot hole, no pun intended, of athletes dealing with performance enhancing drugs and other illegal substances.

It's fair to say this problem in sports started in the 1980s, escalated in the 1990s and reached new heights in the 2000s with pro, college and even high school athletes using steroids, weight gain and weight loss products, pain pills and other substances to gain an unfair edge, heal faster, relieve stress.

Check-off the list with me. Major League Baseball, the National Football League and World Wrestling Entertainment did not sink their teeth into the problem until the politicians began their witch hunt. Thank you Jose Canseco.

Even though steroids were illegal, steroid testing never really served as a major issue in Major League Baseball. However, after Congress's involvement stemming from the BALCO steroid scandal, which involved allegations that top baseball players had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball finally decided to issue harsher penalties for steroid users.

The policy, which was accepted by Major League Baseball players and owners, was issued at the start of the 2005 season.

Also in 2005, Rep. Tom Davis, the head of the House Government Reform Committee, said the NFL's steroids policy was tough but not perfect, adding he planned to introduce a bill governing drug testing across the spectrum of U.S. sports.

In prepared testimony submitted to the committee, then NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL Players Association chief executive Gene Upshaw said the league was tripling from two to six the number of random off-season tests for players.

They also said the league and union agreed to add new substances to the list of banned performance enhancers, to test for designer steroids and to lower the testosterone ratio threshold.

After the death of wrestler Eddy Guerrero in November 2005, WWE implemented a Wellness Program, a comprehensive drug, alcohol and cardiac screening program.

When wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife, 7-year-old son and himself last year, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back in that profession, Congress started to question WWE. The multi-million dollar company began to tighten the reigns on its program, making it stronger, tougher with stricter penalties for violators.

Since Congress requested information from TNA Wrestling, the company instituted drug testing.

TNA's official response: ``TNA Entertainment has an active and strict drug and alcohol policy that includes random testing of its performers on an ongoing basis for prescription and illegal drugs as well as performance enhancers.''

Congress will grandstand, but that's politics. Instead of ridiculing those politicians, we should be thanking them for actually getting pro sports groups, college athletics and high school sanctioned sports leaders to act.

C'mon. Until the politicians took the issue to task, what had Major League Baseball done? Major League Baseball turned its head until our political leaders confronted MLB's hierarchy about the problem. The commissioner, the owners, the players, the players' union. Congress did what they did not.

After 10 to 20 years of watching sports police themselves with little done on the matter, something is being accomplished through Congress.

I'm all for letting our groups handle their own messes, but when they can not do it and people are hurting themselves and dying, then let Congress take the lead. Don't be naive.

A newspaper columnist or television analyst can side pro or con with the issue of steroids, performance enhancing drugs and other legal or illegal substances in sports, but after that one column or 30-second rant, it's usually onto the next subject.

The media did break a story on athletes including pro wrestlers who took steroids, HGH, GHB and other products. Some on the list claimed it was prescribed legally by a doctor.

Dr. Todd Schlifstein, a sports medicine rehab physician at NYU Medical Center's Risk Institute in Manhattan, said: ``They know where to get it, but no one really knows exactly what they're taking and how to take it. You can buy the stuff online.

``There are so many ways to get the legal drugs without the proper medical supervision. There are multiple different people to get multiple different drugs. You can see a different doctor in every town. They know who to go to.''

The media continues to follow the steroid cavalcade with the focus on big-name athletes. Congress has plenty to do with the continuing coverage because of its own investigations and hearings, targeting the stars.

We need this continuing coverage to force their hand and hopefully help decrease the problem. It's a trickle down effect, and the kids are the splash.

Joe (Simon) Malenko, who wrestled internationally in the 1980s and 90s, said: ``[Pro wrestling] takes its toll on a person with years of abuse on your body and mind. It leads to a lot of substance abuse on the narcotics side. It's kind of the same deal as in the [football] movie North Dallas Forty. You take something to help you out.

``Nobody wants to hear you can't get in the ring and perform because everyone's body is hurting. You don't see your kids, your wife, your family because you're on the road so much.''

Generally, the media treated pro wrestling like a cartoon or circus act through the years and turned its back on other sports until Congress waged its war on drugs in sports.

Now we are seeing results. Kids are getting the right message.

It's not perfect. Nothing is, but it's better than doing nothing or very little.

This is an important issue, and I'm glad to see politicians doing some good.

It's bad enough they are still debating health care reform, border control and budget cuts with the usual party politics rather than the parties working together to solve the problems.

Well, if it takes steroids in sports to finally get politicians to work together, then good. More can be done, but this is a solid start.

Still, I understand Congress, sports groups and businesses can only do so much. It is up to the individual, and each individual should be held accountable for his or her own actions. No one is forcing him or her to use these substances or become a pro athlete.

Dr. Michael Brannon, a forensic psychologist in Fort Lauderdale and a former pro wrestler, said: ``In essence, it is the fault of the person who continued to engage in those behaviors and didn't take responsibility for what he was doing.''

The lure of big bucks in pro sports can make people do strange things to reach or maintain a certain level. I'm sure athletes will try to find other ways to gain an unfair advantage, human nature, but the more education and things done to combat it, the better overall for the sport, for the kids.

In an interview several years ago with then World Championship Wrestling star Chris Benoit, he said, ``Every time I go to the ring, I give all that I feel that I can give. A lot of times, people don't realize, wrestlers go to the ring hurt. I get hurt every match. Something or another gets banged up. The severity varies. Your shoulder joint might be really sore or stiff, or you might have a pulled muscle, but you still go to the ring and give your all.''

In the grand scheme of things, there is no proof steroids lead to death nor make people kill others. Cocaine, marijuana and alcohol can do more damage to a person's well-being than steroids. If you abuse steroids and other like products, you can damage your body.

A combination of steroids, weight gain/weight loss supplements, pain pills, drugs (illegal or prescribed legally), sleep medications, alcohol, head trauma and mental anguish is the bigger issue.

Unfortunately, pro wrestlers have mixed a fruit cocktail with those ingredients. The combination is deadly. Important to note, of all the wrestlers who died young, Benoit is the only one who killed others.

Schlifstein said: ``You have the stress of working all the time and traveling all the time and trying to raise a family. You have pain killers, narcotics and steroids along with medications to help you sleep. It could be like a time bomb waiting to go off.''