Other sports guilty of steroid abuse

In response to Kevin Alexander's June 26 column "Juice junkies":

By:

Posted: 6/29/06

I completely agree with the column on steroid and supplement use in professional sports. While the use of these drugs by professional athletes is horrible for America, children and the sports themselves, baseball is not the lone culprit. The media needs to stop criticizing, and the government needs to back off the MLB. They are the only sport (of the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL) that actively catches drug users on a normal basis. This isn't because only baseball players are using supplements. If you honestly believe that the NHL tested 1,406 players this year and not a single one of them used anything, you are being way too naive. Other organizations test at times when players can easily avoid being detected, while baseball tests players year round, and also tests for many more substances than other sports. I'd guesstimate that at least 10 percent of NFL players use supplements, most likely many more. How are they avoiding detection and penalties? While baseball has its problems, let's not be naive and think only the MLB has steroid use.

Daniel Nieswiadomy
Class of 2007