The Ongoing “Scandal” of “Steroids” in Sport “Well put me in coach, I’m ready to play today…Look at me…I could be…centerfield.” Creedence Clearwater Revival Welcome back friends and haters alike! Thank God Spring has sprung, and the Major League baseball season is finally here! It’s time to dial up the 100 mile per hour heaters and bring some heavy lumber! I, for one, want to see some 500 foot blasts to dead center field. I am a sports fan friends,particularly football. The spring games in college football have come and gone, and it’s looking like another awesome season to come for our beloved Ohio Sate Buckeyes. Personally, I’m already jacked up for the trip to California to face the ‘mighty Trojans.' This is the year that Coach Tressel evens his record in BCS Championship games. Virtually everyone is coming back and Chris Wells will be a juggernaut this season. Mr. Butkus will be Mr. Butkus (by the way, Marcus Freeman plays beside him), our quarterback is a fifth-year senior. I smell another title game friends…GO BUCKS!! Let’s get back to the season at hand. I remember as a young boy,watching with my Dad,as Reggie clobbered those three dingers in the ’78 Fall Classic. My Dad raised me a Yankee fan. Of course, we’re also Reds fans. Is there a baseball fan from that era that doesn’t remember the Big Red Machine? I got to tell you folks, I don’t give a damn what Pete Rose did off the field. He belongs in the Hall. The record he set has a fair chance of never being broken. That particular record had belonged for many decades to Ty Cobb, a Hall-of-Famer. So, ethically and morally, Pete Rose was most definitely not Captain America; however, on the baseball diamond, he will forever be Charlie Hustle. Obviously baseball (as well as other major league sports) has endured its share of scandal with the whole ‘new discovery’ of steroids in the majors. Anyone who can find his or her ass with both hands can see that Barry Bonds is quite bigger than he was when he broke into the show as a slender leadoff hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in the day. He was always a great player, a multi-time most valuable player, in fact. However, I am almost certain that he never hit more than 45 homers in a season prior to the year he broke Mark McGuire’s single-season record. That being said, 756 home runs is a monumental achievement. People have a tendency to forget that the 500-plus club is a pretty elite group, and normally partial criteria for induction to the Hall of Fame. Bond’s numbers are nothing short of gaudy; although, if Alex Rodriguez remains healthy and decides he still wants to play, Bond’s career mark won’t stand for long. I still believe in my heart of hearts though, that if Big Mac had stayed healthy, Bonds would be chasing his record. There are some, a lot of people in fact, who say that McGuire, Sosa, Palmiero, and others shouldn’t be considered for induction to the Hall because ‘they cheated’. If that is the case, then Bonds can’t possibly be inducted either. So, tell me, how you can justify keeping the all-time career home run king out of the Hall of Fame. I think that Bond’s comments on his Hall status were arrogant and ill-advised. I am not a Barry Bonds fan, but I cannot help acknowledging his tremendous accomplishments on the field of play. I believe that the whole purpose of the Hall of Fame is to acknowledge the greatest players in the history of the game based purely on their performance on the diamond. Ty Cobb and his accomplishments on the baseball diamond are prominently displayed in the Hall of Fame; although, by many accounts, the man was an asshole. Did he cheat? Who’s to really say definitively? The game has changed, people. The whole issue is more than a little ambiguous. The only people who understand the dynamics of personal fitness training and sport specific training, in particular, are elite athletes and qualified, knowledgeable personal trainers and certified strength and conditioning professionals. As a certified personal fitness trainer knowledgeable in exercise physiology and sport specific training, I can definitively say that, because an athlete stacks on 10-15 pounds of lean mass in the off season is not necessarily an indication of anything more than determination, hard work, and dedication to a solid training program, coupled with the sincere desire to be the best athlete they can be. Let’s dispel another myth while we clear the air here. Ignorant, narrow-minded individuals are fixed on the term ‘steroids’ (this includes prominent members of Congress, as well as some of those in the media). Performance-enhancing supplements are, in no way, limited to anabolic steroids when you get right down to it. A good,complete mutli-vitamin is a performance-enhancing supplement manufactured by man. Protein powders and Creatine Phosphate (that the body produces naturally in modest quantities ), likewise, are performance-enhancing supplements by definition. These supplements aid the cells of the body in recovering from intense bouts of exercise and provide additional spurts of energy needed, particularly in heavy workouts. It is my contention, that if the first ‘performance enhancing supplements’ hadn’t been formulated and marketed, then people in the know would suggest that today’s athletes have an unfair advantage based on highly advanced training techniques not practiced in the Babe’s era. That would be a fairly accurate assessment, by the way. Today’s athletes are increasingly stronger, faster, bigger, and possess significantly more endurance due to modern exercise physiology and a deep understanding of sport-specific training that wasn’t known when Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays were exceptionally-gifted natural talents. I believe that any of us, with even a vague understanding, can accept that last statement as fact. Now people are climbing all over Roger Clemens. Allow me to refresh your memory. The Rocket was dominant as a rookie. Roger Clemens is, without much serious debate, the most dominant pitcher in the modern era, bar none. Maddux is likewise a deserving future Hall of Famer. Their practice and technique on the mound were as different as night and day. Maddux was crafty and had masterful control of his pitches. Clemens simply overpowered hitters with a 100 mile per hour fastball. Both men represent the best of the era and between them have won some 700 combined ballgames. Leave the man and his many CY Young Awards alone (another record that Clemens owns). In all honesty people, if you are a die-hard sports fan, you don’t want to see performance enhancing supplements, in general, banned from sport. Major League baseball understands that the fan wants to see dominant 100-mile per hour pitchers. They want to see 500-foot blasts on the diamond, and exceptional athleticism on the football field, as well as the basketball court. It is the greatness of the Alex Rodriguezs and the Adrian Petersons and LeBron Jamess of competitive athletics that true sport fans want to see. What’s next? Should we tell our athletes they are no longer permitted to retain the services of exceptional personal trainers to improve their athletic performance? Given the advances over the decade in training principles, wouldn’t the ‘purists’ say this is an unfair advantage? Of course, they would. In closing, I am not an advocate of anabolic steroid use, or the use of Human Growth Hormone. My personal feeling is that the results are usually significant; however, the long-term implications of steroid use are not good. Human Growth Hormone has been available for some time, but the long-term detriments are still largely unknown. If you are a competitive athlete trying to improve performance, my advice to you is to seek the services of a certified personal trainer knowledgeable in sport-specific training. If you sincerely want the results and are consistent in your training, the results will come. Call me. I’m still taking new clients! Play ball!!!