Bush urges end of steroid use in pro sports

Reuters | Tuesday, January 20, 2004

[JohnHuang2]

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush, former part-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, urged those in professional sports on Tuesday to end steroid use because it sends the wrong message to American children.

Bush said some professional athletes were not "setting much of an example" for young people by using performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids that can build muscle and stamina but may have dangerous side effects.

"The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character," Bush said in his annual State of the Union Address.

"So tonight, I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now."

A longtime sports fan who rattles off baseball statistics like an expert, Bush was managing general partner of the Rangers in the 1990s before running for president.

Performance-enhancing drugs like steroids are banned in most sports although enforcement of the rules varies. Major League Baseball only recently began its own program to eliminate steroids from the baseball diamond.

Several NFL players have recently tested positive for a new designer steroid and American track athletes and baseball stars have given evidence to a San Francisco grand jury investigating a California lab suspected of producing the steroid.

The World Anti-Doping Agency late last year bitterly attacked baseball and NFL authorities for not cracking down harder on drug cheats, and suggested the International Olympic Committee consider imposing sanctions on U.S. sports in a bid to make the White House act.

01/20/04 23:38 ET

[Flux Capacitor]

Barry Bonds is deeply saddened.

-Dan

[AAABEST]

Uh-oh. I get worried when the President discovers a problem.

I hoping he's not going to set up an anti-steroid department now as part of his cabinet.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Bold and courageous!

[ladyinred]

I hope he does so it will cause such a snit! The WOS will be the new by line around here!! :-)

[ClintonBeGone]

Uh-oh. I get worried when the President discovers a problem.

Yeah, where the hell did this one come from? I can picture his speechwriter, on deadline, sitting on the crapper. He gets to the sports page and finds an issue for his final paragraph. "Honey, I'm done! I'm done!" she replies "thanks for sharing".

[ambrose]

oh man, do a before and after... Bonds as a Pirate, then as a Giant...

[Archangelsk]

Remember the movie "Jerry McGuire?" Remember Cuba Gooding's line, "show me the money?" Sorry, Mr. President, but there is nothing on the face of the Earth that will prevent athletes, and the kids who worship them, from taking performance enhancing drugs until the salaries these overgrown adolescents earn are brought under control.

[Corin Stormhands]

I don't think so. On just about everything else he listed an appropriation. On that one he was calling for some leadership from the professionals. Not that we'll see it, but I think he was saying "You guys need to clean up your act."

[ClintonBeGone]

The WOS will be the new by line around here!! :-)

LOL The dopers here have no interest in this. They're all just fat flabby pot heads.

[xrp]

Maybe he is adopting Daschle's view of "to professionalize, you federalize" so all Pro Sports athletes will be government workers?

[Archangelsk]

Not that we'll see it, but I think he was saying "You guys need to clean up your act."

And I'll bet a fat man to a skinny mule that not one individual that the President was directing this to heard his speech.

[dts32041]

Just part of the expansion of Medicare and amnesty for illegals.

[xrp]

until the salaries these overgrown adolescents earn are brought under control.

So, in other words, stop watching and going to the games of the NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL, etc.

[Corin Stormhands]

I'd agree, except for the Patriots QB (sheesh! what's his name) that was there. Still, it's good PR for the message to kids.

[Jeff Chandler]

When he came to that part of the speech my thought was "Where the heck did THAT come from?"

[bluefish]

They're all just fat flabby pot heads.

Well, with the Feds already cracking down on the best fat burner on the market.. (ephedrine) - what do you expect?

[sinkspur]

Just part of the expansion of Medicare and amnesty for illegals.

Huh?

[sinkspur]

Well, with the Feds already cracking down on the best fat burner on the market.. (ephedrine) - what do you expect?

There's no such thing as a "fat burner." That's all hype. If you're exercising, you don't need some goofy pill.

[Jeff Chandler]

...dopers ...fat flabby pot heads.

LOL! Munchy madness.