13% of Sports Coverage Roid Related

Today, May 22, 2008, the NYT devoted 13% of their Sports articles to steroid related topics.

Most professional sports leagues always state that there is not a problem in their league; the cheaters are in the other sports. Today, two leagues, the NFL and MLB were linked with some of their athletes allegedly using PED's while track & field was further being disgraced by new developments in the Trevor Graham trial.

When will roids in sports be taken seriously? Does half the articles in the Sports section need to be about PED's before the general public even raises an eyebrow? Do we need articles implicating every sport: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA. The reason why PED's are so rampant is because they work; athlete's wouldn't use them otherwise.

The NFL article referenced a steroid dealer, David Jacobs, who provided documentary evidence to NFL officials that implicated several players with the use of PED's. Jacobs has said he provided two players with roids and HGH and that these players would then supply others. Previously, the NYT reported that prosecutors reliing on information provided by Jacobs, investigated Matt Lehr, a lineman for the New Orleans Saints, and suspectied that he was distributing PED's.

MLB's coverage was an update on the Roger Clemens perjury investigation. Federal agents interviewed Kelly Blair, the owner of 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness in Pasadena, TX. The agents inquired whether Blair ever provided PED's to Clemens and his relationship with other players. Blair said he has never met Clemens. The feds have been focusing their investigation in the Houston area looking to link Clemens with PED's after 2001.

The Trevor Graham case is unfolding like a hot new HBO drama; you can't wait to get to the next episode. I'll recap the events at court from Wednesday through the end of the week later, but Wednesday's teaser had Trevor Graham, the coach accused of lying to federal agents speaking his mind. On a recorded conversations after December 2005: referring to the investigators: "I told them nothing, nothing." Another conversation has Graham tell the confessed drug dealer turned cooperating witness, Angel Guillermo Heredia, "it would be stupid, stupid" for Heredia to talk about their activity.

Trevor, in the future, you might want to avoid repeating the most incriminating word of the audiotapes. Telling the authorities "nothing" implies you were hiding something; saying it would be "stupid" to talk about their activity implies that you were involved in illegal activity which you could not discuss freely. This does not look good for you, TG.

Today is epic: three articles, three different sports which if the public is paying attention illustrates how pervasive PED's are in all sports. Instead most readers probably skipped these articles and went straight to the Yankee box score to see who hit a HGH aided HR. This message is not being skipped by the youth.