Doping in American football: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{cquote|I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I'm sick, and I'm scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff. We're not born to be 300 lbs or jump 30ft. But all the time I was taking steroids, I knew they were making me play better. I became very violent on the field and off it. I did things only crazy people do. Once a guy sideswiped my car and I beat the hell out of him. Now look at me. My hair's gone, I wobble when I walk and have to hold on to someone for support, and I have trouble remembering things. My last wish? That no one else ever dies this way."<ref>[http://www.usefultrivia.com/celebrity_trivia/sports_celebrity_trivia_008a.html Lyle Alzado and Steroids<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>}}

Jim Haslett was quoted saying that during the 1980s, half of the players in the league used some type of performance enhancing drug or steroid and all of the [[defensive lineman]] used them. One of the players from the [[Super Bowl]] winning 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers team confessed to using steroids before these statements, [[Steve Courson]].<ref name="Steelers">{{cite web |url= http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8322840 |title= Haslett says '70s Steelers made steroids popular in NFL |accessdate=2008-05-03 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= March 24, 2005 |work= |publisher= CBS SportsLine}}</ref i am weird> Courson was another lineman for the Steelers, and admitted to using steroids before his death in 2005. He also blamed a heart condition that he had on steroids. Some of his teammates, such as [[Jack Ham]] and [[Jack Lambert (American football)|Jack Lambert]] refused to use any kind of performance enhancing drug.<ref name="Steelers"/>

The [[BALCO]] scandal also revealed many users of steroids in the NFL. In 2003, the [[United States Attorney]] [[U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California|for the Northern District of California]], [[Kevin V. Ryan]], began investigating BALCO. U.S. sprint coach [[Trevor Graham]] had given an anonymous phone call to the [[United States Anti-Doping Agency|U.S. Anti-Doping Agency]] (USADA) in June 2003 accusing a number of athletes being involved in doping with a steroid that was not detectable at the time. He also named Victor Conte as the source of the steroid. As evidence, Graham delivered a syringe containing traces of a substance nicknamed ''[[Tetrahydrogestrinone|The Clear]]''.