Football Players and Steroids

The use of steroids by professional athletes and sports persons is an open secret now. The stories about pro sports stars taking steroids in sports led sports organizations and leagues to fabricate strict polices on steroids.

There are cleansing drinks that can be bought from the health food stores that can totally remove all traces of drugs from a player's system. But there is no way that a concoction like this could help a steroid-using NFL player at all times, because random drug tests means that he will never know when to expect one. He may think that he'll never get caught, or that he's playing the best he has in his career. What the NFL player who decides to use steroids should know, though, is that he can and will be caught, sooner or later. He may get away with it for a while—even a long while, but with rules becoming stricter and stricter, he will eventually be caught, and dealt with accordingly.

Presently, steroids stand banned by the International Olympic Committee, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and many professional sports leagues including the Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League, and National Hockey League.

The National Football League (NFL) brought out its policy of steroids in football as early as 1987. The NFL banned the use of steroids in football players because steroids have potentially dangerous side effects and they give players an unfair advantage.

Lyle Alzado is probably the most famous instances of the use of steroids in football. The Brooklyn, New York born footballer, Alzado is one of the most remembered US sports stars to admit to abuse of steroids in football. Alzado, who died of brain cancer at the age of 43, asserted that his use of steroids in football directly led to his final illness. Using natural growth hormone, harvested from human corpses, as opposed to synthetic growth hormones, Alzado now lies buried at River View Cemetery in Portland.

Vernon, Connecticut born Bill Romanowski is another famous instance of the use of steroids in football. Romanowski was infamous for his altercations in game. Romanowski revealed in a book that he was using steroids in football, and he was introduced to several performance enhancing compounds, notably anabolic steroids by Victor Conte, the founder and president of Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO).

Upper Marlboro, Maryland born - Shawne Merriman - an American football outside linebacker for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL was suspended for using steroids in football in 2006. On October 22, 2006, reports were made public by CNN that Merriman would face a 4 game suspension for violating the NFL's steroid policy.

On October 22, 2006, CNN reported that Merriman would face a 4 game suspension for violating the NFL's steroid policy. Chris Mortensen of ESPN cited a source that claimed the suspension was "definitely for steroid use and not a 'supplement-type' suspension.”

Many NFL players are so desperate to enhance their performance that they are willing to risk getting caught and suffering the repercussions. They think that steroids are so great, like a magic drug, when in fact they are the total opposite. Sure, they can increase a player's energy level, stamina and muscle definition, but what they don't realize, though, is that they're risking more than just being suspended from the NFL. They are also risking their health.

Surely no man, especially popular NFL players, would want to suffer from any of these horrible side effects. If they want to be the best professional football player there is, then they need to workout regularly and practice as often as they can. Remember: Practice makes perfect. So whatever goal a professional football player sets for himself, he can, and will eventually reach it, and even exceed them—without the illegal usage of hazardous steroids