I think Big Papi is winning me over - even if I don't want him to

[steve B]

As another bit of info, when the whole PED thing was starting to come out I had an acquaintance who had been a competitive weight lifter and wrestler in the late 70's.

He said he had known for years that many baseball players were taking something. He also said the stuff he knew didn't actually make you stronger, what it did do was put your recovery ability sort of off the charts. So instead of having to train with lots of weight on for instance Monday and then needing to do lighter weights Tuesday and Wednesday before going back to the big weight Thursday. Steroids let the users train with lots of weight every day, and that's what built the mass and strength.

The down side was that peoples joints are only built for the slower increase in strength without the steroids. The added strength was able to cover for that for a while, but eventually the users would have breakdowns in joints and tendons etc.

That was when the light went on for me. I'd thought it was odd that so many very fit athletes were coming up with muscle and joint problems. Pulled this, torn that - at a rate I didn't recall seeing before. I'd figured the money made them more cautious about playing hurt, but he said that was how he knew lots of players were on something. He'd seen it before.

Steve B