Chicago Bears fullback Fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo will be suspended for the first four games of the season for popping positive for steroids. Ayanbadejo, who was released by the Arizona Cardinals after failing the test, claims that an OTC supplement called Max LMG was the cause.
I’m fairly ambivalent about steroids in sports, myself. I figure adult atheletes are grown-ups and can weigh the risks and benefits for themselves. I understand that allowing them could possibly skew the risk-reward ratio if players believed that too many of the people they compete with are taking them, but the playing field would nevertheless be level if they weren’t banned.
But they are banned, in every major sport. And the players know it. The “supplement” excuse has been proffered a number of times in the last few years and it just won’t fly anymore. Maybe the first couple of times, one could give a player the benefit of the doubt on that score. But not in 2007.
It’s just too easy to take a sample of whatever “supplement” you’re thinking of taking to your team doctor and get an A-okay from him first. And they know it. If a player can’t be bothered to take that simple little step before putting something in his body it not only negates the excuse, frankly, it also looks a little suspicious.
