seems like everyone is taking supplements these days?

just wondering to what extent athletes are taking supplements

it seems almost rampant in MLB, how many in preps are taking things?

That's disturbing

Unbelievable. Wish I had never clicked on that link. I'm probably now on some FBI watch list.

Rico, I don't know what your purpose on this site is. Maybe you're trying to stir up controversy. Maybe you're a kid looking for a magic pill to turn you into a baseball player. Maybe you're a reporter trolling for a story. I don't know and don't care. But you're wasting your time here. Most of the people on this site are not going to be drawn into your conversations.

hopefully the moderator will delete this before some of the players on this site see it

Why is this subject so hush-hush??

quote:

Originally posted by Rico:
Why is this subject so hush-hush??

It is not hush-hush. It is stupid. Real Ballplayers Don't Need Supplements.

The why do so many of them take 'em?

Rico have you bought and allowed your kid to take this product or taken it yourself?

There are thousands of legal (I guess safe?) "supplements" on the market. You can buy them at any Nutrition Store in the country. You can even buy some supplements in a grocery store.

These of course are different than steroids or HGH which require a prescription.

We live in a funny world where people can smoke tobacco and drink whiskey as much as they want legally. Yet both of those things are known to create premature death in many cases.

So while I'm smoking a big cigar and belting down some booze it seems hypocritical to cut down baseball players based on health reasons.

So the only thing left is to base the argument on whether or not this is cheating. If it is illegal it is cheating. If it is legal it's OK.

I knew players who would drink a gallon of black coffee before a game. Guess it makes them more alert or something thus giving them an advantage. Caffiene is legal!

There really are legal supplements that help the muscles recover more quickly. There are legal supplements that help people get stronger quicker.

They are legal without a prescription. I still feel sorry for Mark Magwire because the stuff he was "caught" with was sold over the counter at nutrition stores.

These days it's about Steroids and Human Growth Hormones. Both are used a lot in the medical field. They require a doctors prescription. These things are much different than the over the counter supplements.

BTW, you eat too many eggs... you are likely to die! Drink too much beer... you are likely to die! Smoke too many cigarettes... you are likely to die! You drive your car too fast often enough... you are likely to die! Wait... That one is illegal!

So though the health concerns are very important, especially when it comes to our kids, most people don't really take care of themselves that great. We just want our kids to be different/better than we were. We call upon experience in an attempt to make that happen.

These guys cheated! that is what this is about if we are talking about baseball. Then again, players have been cheating in baseball since the game began.

Finally, how do we tell our kids that this stuff can harm them in their middle ages when they watch things like ultimate fighting on TV. I guess it's better than the old gladiator days. Talk about short life spans. Then there's WAR, that's kind of risky for your health, too.

Steroids are a bad thing! But it's real easy for me to see the temptation involved. We grow up in a competitive world where winners are cheered and looked upon as heros. Losers are booed and called "goats". Maybe we need to redefine what winning is, but that isn't likely to happen anytime real soon with all the examples out there.

So this problem belongs to all of us. Most all of us are indirectly responsible for placing so much importance on winning and being a star player. We created a monster!

Just my thoughts... probably wrong again.

Great points PG and I think the discussion is a valid one. I find it disturbing that the link was added to the discussion it looks like an advertisement.

I think that the lines are so blurred, that when something is marketed as legal HGH it further leads into a gray area.

I also understand the reasons why someone may do it, I just don't want it to be blurred that line between right and wrong. I have two boys who play ball. I don't want them to smoke or drink, I want them to quit drinking soda and eating at fast food restaurants, I definitely don't want them taking steroids or HGH. Any thing that can be done to help all parents keep these things out of kids hands are a good thing. Keeping legal HGH sites off the HSBBW is a small price to pay.

Both great posts. Hypocritical society we live in.

deldad,

We know a young boy (senior in high school) who just never grew. He was "tiny" and wasn't growing. The doctors prescribed some type of HGH and he got bigger. Not real big, but much bigger and stronger than he was.

This year he made the all state team. Is this cheating? Or in his case do we just dismiss it because the doctor prescribed it and he probably won't end up playing in the major leagues. What about the other "small" kids who might have benefitted had their doctor prescribed it? Was it fair to them that this kid passed them by? What is considered big and strong enough?

Only reason for bringing up these things is that I believe this is a very complex problem. And it really does belong to all of us. As always, education is the key because baseball players will always be looking for an advantage.

I don't like the term "Legal HGH" and agree it should not appear on the HSBBW. Playing baseball without fast food? Is that possible?

Their are many uses for all these medicines. And no the young man in your post didn't cheat. Had he been in the one tenth of one percent that has the skill to play professional baseball and took steroids or HGH to improve his performance, I think that line is very clear.

Yes it is complex but in order to get a handle on it somebody has to start drawing some bright lines.

Rico you didn't answer the question are you as a player or your son taking the item you linked in the initial post?

PG, just because I can do something doesn't make it right. Just because someone has wronged me and I am justified in rebuking them doesn't mean I should do it. We shouldn't necessarily define responsibility by what is legal and what is illegal, but what is right and what is wrong.

Bum,

I agree with everything you have said.

I don’t blame you and I don’t blame me or any other specific person. I blame all of us because we are responsible for creating an environment where fame and fortune, success and winning, cheering and booing, are so important. While not agreeing with it, I can understand how someone might be tempted to risk their health or even their life in order to achieve success.

In many cases the talk revolves around breaking a darn baseball record and whether we should place an asterisk next to the record or keep someone out of the Hall of FAME.

Why is that so important? Doesn’t this speak volumes of what is right and/or wrong about US (our society).

We even talk about, take polls and place great importance on achievements and FAME while we are discussing the topic of steroids and HGH.

Right and wrong are not always defined the same by everyone. Thus we do need laws to guide us.

So if it's OK to take a smaller kid and make him bigger.....everyone is alright with this?.....then why isn't it OK to take a man and make him bigger?

You people don't make sense. You're giving that kid a pass. Making him bigger and better. And you're OK when he beats out other kids who have done it without HGH or steroids? H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-S

quote:

by rico:
if it's OK to take a smaller kid and make him bigger.......
then why isn't it OK to take a (big) man and make him bigger?

hey, if you're gonna use logic here I'll have to re-think some stuff

Rico,

No one here "gave" the kid anything.

A doctor prescribed it. He had some type of condition that was not allowing him to grow normally.

I'm fairly certain it was all done legally. So I'll ask again...

Is this right or wrong in this case? Would this be considered cheating?

It did result in him becoming a better player than some others!

Asking for opinions... Not claiming that it is right or wrong. I'm not qualified to determine that.

Of course I mean a prescription.

Under your logic, if a grown MLB player gets a prescription, it's OK for HGH and steroids?

The kid is small? So what? That's nature. Hey, I could say, I'm only 5'10" which is small for a pitcher, make me bigger. I'm only 5'8" I wanna be a linebacker, make me bigger. Where do you draw the line?

Ankiel says he took it to help him recover from elbow surgery? Well, why can't ANY MLB player take it to recover from any injury whether small or large?

Ankiel got his 12-month supply from a Florida pharmacy that was part of a national illegal prescription drug-distribution operation!

His doctor was featured on 48-Hours for some kind of fraud!

Any player can get a prescription, you know. Have you checked out the history of Ankiel's doctor? You should.

Glaus - "According to the report, Glaus received the prescriptions from Ramon Scruggs, a physician at the New Hope Health Center in Tustin. The state medical board put Scruggs on probation in March, part of a settlement after a board complaint that he "prescribed approximately 6,073 prescriptions of dangerous drugs or controlled substances over the Internet without a good faith examination of the patients."