Steroids

Sports Illustrated is reporting in this week's issue that disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson received injections of anabolic steroids in late May from a doctor on the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitt's. The magazine identified the physician as Jamie Astaphan, from whom Johnson had sought treatment for a hamstring pull suffered 10 days earlier. Astaphan denied the story to reporters in Toronto and again last night on ABC's "Nightline. " "These charges are totally untrue and unfounded," he said.

The NFL took steps yesterday to toughen its stance on the use of steroids, advising teams that players who test positive for steroid use a second time might be subject to disciplinary action. The warning was contained in commissioner Pete Rozelle's annual drug memo, sent yesterday to all NFL training camps. The 15-page document did not describe what kind of punitive measures would be established. "The language on steroids has been in the contract for over a year," said NFL spokesman Joe Browne.

Bodybuilders, weightlifters and powerlifters - men and women alike - have muscles packed on muscles, meticulously trained to snap to attention when pumped up under the bright lights of competition. Where does all that beef come from? A lot of it is from hard training, of course, but many believe there is a shortcut to Mount Olympus via a path paved with anabolic steroids. An estimated three million Americans - professional and amateur athletes in sports where strength is critical - use steroids illegally.

Washington Nationals manager Frank Robinson thinks steroids have created a "cloud over baseball" and that new penalties against steroid use aren't strong enough. In his most extensive comments to date on the topic, baseball's No. 5 all-time home-run hitter said yesterday many fans are willing to ignore steroid use because they enjoy the "home runs, the RBI, the big explosion offensively" of the last few years. "But I'll tell you one thing," Robinson added. "The players that play this game do care, and the players that have played this game care.

Ben Johnson admitted for the first time yesterday that he was a steroid user. The Canadian sprinter, who was stripped of a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul after he tested positive for the muscle-building drug, said at a government inquiry here that he began using steroids in 1981 after being urged to do so by his only coach, Charlie Francis. For the first three years that he took them, Johnson said, he did not even know they were called steroids. He took them, along with his vitamins, because his coach strongly encouraged him, he said.

Athletes and drugs have become an all-too-common combination. And while drugs and alcohol have ruined - and, in some cases, ended - the lives of college stars and professional players, another drug problem exists quietly in the background of athletics. In some cases, it has been given tacit approval. For more than a decade, anabolic steroids, drugs that cause rapid muscle development, have been used by professional and amateur athletes. The most noticeable users have been the competitive bodybuilders, whose glistening, articulated biceps and pectorals are the equipment of their sport.

Barry Bonds was randomly tested for steroids before San Francisco's game Friday night against Los Angeles. All major-league players must undergo the testing. "I'm glad this is finally happening," the Giants slugger told MLB.com. "They'll get the results and it will clear my name. " Meanwhile, the Giants fan who caught Bonds' 700th home run is being sued by another man who says he was the rightful owner of the ball. According to a restraining order to be filed in state court today, Timothy Murphy said Steve Williams stole the historic blast from him during a melee in the bleachers at SBC Park on Sept.

Five more Olympic weightlifters were suspended for failing drug tests, including two who were barred shortly before their competitions, the International Weightlifting Federation said yesterday. The athletes tested positive for steroids in compulsory pre-Olympic drug tests of all 260 weightlifters. The competitors expelled were Wafa Ammouri of Morocco, Zoltan Kecskes of Hungary, Viktor Chislean of Moldova, Pratima Kumari Na of India, and Sule Sahbaz of Turkey. The federation suspended Nan Aye Khine of Myanmar on Monday for failing a drug test following her fourth-place finish Saturday in the 48-kilogram, or 105-pound, class.

Prosecutors in San Diego say they suspect that Chargers linebacker Steve Foley was on steroids when he was shot three times by an off-duty police officer. "His history of aggressive and even violent contact with law enforcement indicates the possibility of more than mere alcohol involvement," criminal investigator Dan Nordell wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant. "[Steroids] can cause erratic behavior in those that use them. This has been given names like 'roid rage for the uncontrollable outbursts and violence experienced by some users.

Baseball players ended decades of opposition to mandatory drug testing yesterday by agreeing to be checked for illegal steroids starting next year. Under the proposal, which addresses one of the key issues in contract talks, players would be subjected to one or more unannounced tests in 2003 to determine the level of steroid use. If the survey showed "insignificant" use, a second round of tests would be set up in 2004 to verify the results. If more than 5 percent of the tests were positive in either survey, players would be randomly tested for 2 years.

The San Francisco Giants plan to give away a Rory McIlroy bobblehead later this year. Huh? No one knows if the star golfer, who comes from Belfast, Northern Ireland, even follows the game of baseball, let alone a team on America's Left Coast. As usual in baseball these days, there's a marketing angle here. The giveaway date (June 12) takes place the same week the U.S. Open is being held at Olympic in San Francisco. The game is being pitched as "Irish Heritage Night.

WASHINGTON - Amid his year-by-year narrative of his complex relationship with Roger Clemens and performance-enhancing drugs, Brian McNamee weaved in a tale of two wives. He said it was his own wife who nagged him into keeping evidence that has become crucial in the trial of the storied pitcher, and it was a request from Clemens' wife that led to what McNamee called a "creepy" injection scene in a bathroom. Clemens' personal trainer testified Tuesday for a second day in the perjury trial, pushing his running total to roughly 10 hours on the stand, including the first few moments of what portends to be a grueling cross-examination that will continue Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Speaking softly, nervously, and in detail, Brian McNamee testified about the life-changing moment when, he said, he first injected Roger Clemens with steroids. The government's star witness in the Clemens perjury retrial took the stand Monday and told the jury that he injected one of baseball's most successful pitchers with steroids about eight to 10 times when they were with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998. "I knew what I was doing was illegal," McNamee said.

As an undergraduate at West Chester University in the 1980s, Kevin Guskiewicz spent summers working at Eagles training camp. He even remembers meeting safety Andre Waters a couple of times. Neither could have known how their paths would cross 20-some years later. Guskiewicz went on to work as an athletic trainer for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is now, as a professor at the University of North Carolina, one of the world's leading experts on concussions and the long-term damage they cause.

Andy Pettitte is on track to start on Sunday at Yankee Stadium against the Seattle Mariners. "Everybody's in agreement he's not going to benefit from any more time below," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday. Pettitte retired after the 2010 season and sat out last year. The lefty, who turns 40 next month, returned to the team in spring training and has been pitching in the minors. But the plan could shift if rain hangs around, Cashman said. "We have weather issues all week and reserve the right to change our mind," Cashman said.

WASHINGTON - Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens sat some 20 feet apart, Pettitte on the witness stand and Clemens at the defense table trying to avoid going to jail. The topic: a remark about human-growth hormone Pettitte recalled hearing from his longtime teammate, mentor, and workout partner a dozen years ago. "Roger had mentioned to me that he had taken HGH," Pettitte testified. "And that it could help with recovery, and that's really all I remember about the conversation. " The rest of the details are fuzzy.

Do you ever drive around your neighborhood and notice who the big-time recyclers are - or aren't? Do you ever feel guilty when you put something in the trash because you don't feel like walking to the recycling bin? Do you toss food scraps in with the other garbage? If you said yes, you're not alone. Only a third of the trash that could be recycled or composted actually is. No wonder the typical household trash can is always overflowing. That means we can all do a bit better. I want to share some simple techniques to put your recycling routine on steroids.

The arrival of the Hall of Fame ballot in the mail used to be a highly anticipated event in my household. I couldn't wait to see the first-time names because memories of those players would come rushing back. I looked forward to exploring the names and numbers on the ballot before deciding who I thought was deserving of a spot in Cooperstown. Now, thanks to the taint of the steroid era, the arrival of the ballot brings dread instead of anticipation, suspicion instead of admiration.

Barring an appeal, the sentencing of Barry Bonds on Friday in a San Francisco courtroom will bring the federal government's nearly decade-long investigation of a Northern California-based steroids ring to an anticlimactic end. Federal guidelines suggest a prison sentence of 15 to 21 months and prosecutors want the home-run record holder to serve time - but federal probation officers have recommended probation and a period of house arrest....

ROBBINSVILLE, N.J. - Four athletes tested positive for steroids during the 2010-11 school year, NJSIAA officials announced Wednesday. It was the most positive tests in the five-year history of the testing program. The previous high was two, said NJSIAA executive director Steve Timko. "It only reinforces the need for testing and how important it is to maintain this program," Timko said. "One [positive test] is too many. " Timkos said that because of confidentiality rules, the NJSIAA could not say what sports or even what seasons the positive tests came from.