Steroids and other drugs

With the Olympics coming up, I keep hearing about athletes failing drug tests. It made me wonder...are performance-enhancing drugs a problem in the NHL or in NCAA hockey? All of the Div I scandals I can think of relate to were either for scholarship abuse or physical/verbal abuse.

Not sure........but watch steroids become a problem at NC State :

[sportsillustrated.cnn.com]

Well, there is the problem of the basketball players murdering each other at Baylor under the tutelage of erstwhile Cornell coach Dave Bliss.

For NCAA sports as a whole, not just hockey, the scandal that isn't, because we all ignore it, is that at so many schools, student-athletes are not. They're quasi-professionals who don't get paid except scholarship money.

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

Well, there is the problem of the basketball players murdering each other at Baylor under the tutelage of erstwhile Cornell coach Dave Bliss. [/q]


Allegedly.

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

Well, there is the problem of the basketball players murdering each other at Baylor under the tutelage of erstwhile Cornell coach Dave Bliss. [/q]

When did he coach at Cornell?

[Q]When did he coach at Cornell?[/Q]
He was freshman team coach my freshman year, '66-'67, while he attended grad school. I don't know if he had any more years here, but my recollection is that he went from Cornell into the Army, but somehow got a job a Knight's assistant at Army, rather than having to really do military time and end up in Nam.

Bliss ('65 MBA '67) was assistant under Jerry Lace 1969-71. He was assistant for the mild mannered Bob Knight at Army before and Indiana after.

Concerning the steroid issue, there is heavy steroid abuse among NCAA hockey players and NHL players. As a former OHL player, I too have seen steroid abuse rampant on teams-in fact, around 50% of the players use it in my eyes. It does not result in a better athlete-only a stronger, bigger, faster, and more aggressive one. One can usually determine whether a player is using steroids or not by observing their physical appearance. Physiologically speaking, steroid users tend to exhibit androgenic effects (masculinization) with exceedingly high muscle mass to low percentage of body fat (vascularity) ratio. It is estimated by the center for disease control that 12% of high school boys in Louisiana use steroids presently, and I would estimate the percentage would be much higher for university students. So as you can see, the problem is not at all sports related, as many of those who choose to take steroids are not athletes. It is a question of socio-cultural values, ethics, and aesthetics. The days of the Wayne Gretzkys and Lemieuxs are over, what, with the big contracts and all. MLB and other leagues turn a blind eye to the steroid issue-the testing program being implemented more of a joke, really. It is hard to beleive the steroid testing program is wroking in the NFL-it is a PR stunt to put us all at ease. I have a friend playing hockey at Wisconsin and he revealed to me that steroid abuse is very common practice among the athletes in his dressing room. Many of them have turned to HGH while others entertain knowledge of the testing program, which may be easily circumvented, according to him. Just because we are not catching cheaters does not mean most athletes at that level are not cheating. It is a sad fact, but probably around 25%-50% of NCAA hockey players use some form or method of illegal doping, while professional sports that percentage may well exceed 50%.