I remember when Willie Mays retired from baseball. It was the first time I'd ever even considered what a professional athlete made, money-wise. That was it for me, money to play a game? How the hell does a guy get that gig?
At that point, by having exceptional athletic talent, nurturing it, catching a break, being in the right situation. If you had the talent and the situation came up right, you could be a professional athlete. If you avoided injury. If you worked hard. If you were able to work out long and hard with very little time in between workouts.
It's a little different today. The Mitchell Report showed us how different it is. Steroids. Human Growth Hormone. Other shit nobody even talks about yet.
First it was steroids. Back in the 80's there were rumors. Some guys were hitting the 'roids. I was skeptical. Maybe I was just naïve. Maybe I didn't want to believe the game wasn't on the up and up. I mean, how much could steroids help a ballplayer?
Over the past four days, and once again tomorrow, I have been adminstered 250ml of a steroid,
Methylprednisoloneto help with an exacerbation of my MS symptoms. How much can steroids help. I can talk first hand about how steroids have helped an MS patient. It's like I've turned back the course of my disease by six months. For the first time in half a year, I can say that I don't feel worse today than I did yesterday.
I follow a very limited exercise program. It's a program that wipes me out. On the Solu-Medrol, I can do more exercise. I have, over the past four days, doubled my exercise routine. I can walk pretty effectively without a cane. I can get things done like I used to. It's absolutely amazing.
If steroids can do that for me, what could they do for a finely tuned athlete? Imagine a 21 year old outfielder, struggling in the minors, he just needs a break to get to the bigs. Imagine if he could work out twice or three times as often. He still has to have talent, but he can make his body better at an amazing rate, a rate that would be impossible without steroids.
Drugs, any drugs are not good or bad. They are completely neutral. What we choose to do with them is good or bad. For me steroids are great. For that 21 year old outfielder, steroids are cheating. It's also cheating for all of the juiced pitchers he's facing.
In reality my major league dreams were over in my pre-teen years. I never had the drive of a Willie Mays and nowhere near his talent. I'll soon be 43 years old. I have Multiple Sclerosis. The Mitchell Report is out and baseball is cracking down on steroid users like myself. I guess I'll never play in the major leagues
A dream of my childhood is gone, partially (not even close to entirely, though) because I'm a steroid user. The dreams of my adult life, to have a job, to be a productive member of society, to live a life as normal as possible continue because I'm a steroid user.
In an added plus, I played guitar for about an hour after my IV. I can't remember the last time I just sat down and played. It was amazing. I don't (and most certainly shouldn't, given my ability) measure my personal worth by how much or how well I play guitar, but all of my song ideas come from noodling on the guitar. You can't noodle on the harp. At least you can't sing at the same time.
Side effects:
- I'm not sleeping well
- My mouth tastes horrible, like I've been sucking on a nickle
- In spite of 2, I'm still really hungry
- I'm really horny
- I've had a needle in my arm the past 4 days
- I have less excuses than I did four days ago
BOJProud Steroid User