The Steroid Question

[la_samtyr]

I meant to add this on yesterday but I forgot. So here goes. By now almost everyone knows something about the MLB steroid scandal especially re: Barry Bonds. For the very few who don't, it essentially comes down to this. Since steroid use by athletes is illegal, *a lot* of sports records are being called into question. One woman, a track star (don't remember her name, sorry) actually came forward and admitted she used. The pundits seem to agree that since she 'fessed up, it'll probably go easier on her. But as for most of the guys, who *aren't* admitting much of anything... :/

*ANYWAY*--my point is: Since a lot of these records are being questioned--or are going to be--sooner or later, someone is going to ask: What about Gretz? Did he use them? After all, Gretz didn't just break records, he *shattered* them as he set new ones! *61* NHL records! The consenus is that he simply *saw* the game differently than anyone else; that he had the rare ability to anticpate where the puck was going to be and went there. Not to mention the fact that the game was played differently then--no trap, for one thing. But I digress.

Now there's probably no way of knowing if Gretz did or didn't use steroids but personally I don't think he did. Why? Well, for one thing--and to me the most obvious--is that he never changed much in size. Oh sure, he changed some; after all, any athlete will change slightly as they age/mature into adults. But he never bulked up. Gretz is only 6', iirc, and never weighed much--if any--over 200 lbs. I think he was about 180 lbs or so. And judging by the pics of him w/Team Canada this summer, he's still essentially the same size. Now if he had ever looked like a smaller version of, say, Chris Pronger or Derian Hatcher, then you could be pretty damn sure that the man w/the needle wasn't too far away. But since Gretz is probably one of the top five most-photographed athletes in the world, and since none of his pictures show any such radical change, I think it's safe to say that he didn't use any form of steriods.

That's not to say that no hockey player has ever used steroids but it's more probable that the ones who do or did are defensemen--the goons and the cement heads.

Well enough of my boring little lecture for today. I'm off to bed now.