Bradshaw: We did steroids

People get all caught up in the untruth of this being the "Steroid" generation with Bonds, McGuire and others. The true generation was back in the 70's when it was legal, easy to get, no known side affects like now and increased performance. You were almost an irresponsible athlete not to take them. Almost like not drinking coffee or ginseng for energy in the morning.

Nobody is exempt from criticism or speculation from that decade to now. It is unfair these guys get the raw shake just because it is now illegal. I get that they knowingly do it with it illegal but they just want to keep up with the Joneses of decades ago when records were set as well.
 
What is funny is that Bradshaw declares they only did them to recover faster from injuries.

Well, that is exactly what steroids do. The speed up the recovery process (among other things) and enable you to recover quicker from your workouts and thus, workout longer or more often.

The ignorance is astounding.
 
And because of their chemical strategy, the Cowboys and Raiders are kept from at least one more Superbowl each. The Steelers are the team of the decade, stock over a dozen guys in the HOF, and the Cowboys can't even get Drew Pearson and Ed Jones in.

Give the Cowboys one more Superbowl win in the '70s. Landry woul have 3 Superbowl wins, two Superbowl losses, and two NFL championship game losses to the Packers in the '60s, all in a 13 year span. The man who invented the pro-style 4-3 defense, men in motion as an ofensive staple, and reintroduced the shotgun would be remembered as one of the three greatest geniuses of the game.
 
I did my HS Senior theme (in 1980-81) on the growing abuse of steroids in the NFL. One of my sources was a Sports Illustrated article where Steve Courson (I believe) admitted to his use of steroids and suggested it was widespread. His justification was that he felt like others (mostly linemen) were doing it & if he didn't do it he was putting himself at a disadvantage.
 
No one loved the Cowboys of that era more than I did and no one still holds grudges against the Packers and the Steelers better but I'm going to guess thatTex Schramm and the administration may not have encuoraged steroids but it was only because they didn't understand them. If they had, they'd have had the players doing them too. Besides, who thinks maybe they were doing them too?
 
If steroid use was that widespread (& all evidence says it was), then there's no question players for the Cowboys, Oilers and every other NFL team were using them as well.
 
The article is a little misleading, or at least unclear. Bradshaw appeared to be saying steroids were used to recover from injury, i.e. they were used temporarilly and for a specific theraputic purpose. That is a big difference from taking them every day for years in order to get huge, much less taking all of the exotic stuff guys do now that turns them into muscle-bound freaks. As I read the article, Terry seems to be saying that they were legal and lots of people were using them, but not in the same systematic way that they were used later as part of a training regimin.

As I recall, Jack Lambert played LB for the Steel Curtain at 6'4" and 210 pounds -- he was downright skinny (look at old pictures of him -- he had bird legs and skinny arms). If he was roiding and taking HGH like Barry Bonds, he would have been 260+ with that frame. Their OL averaged something like 265. Even Mean Joe was only 270 or something.

I'm not saying that some players in the 70's didn't take them to enhance their games (as opposed to being prescribed liberally by doctors to help with injuries) -- I'm sure some did. But there was an exponential explosion of size, stregth and speed that occured between 1985 and 2000. When the Fridge played, he was one of the very few 300+ pound linemen in the NFL. Now, every single OL in college football AVERAGES more than that.

Thus, it seems pretty clear that roid use took off in Football in the 80's, not the 70's, and was followed by baseballl about a decade later.
 
Bradshaw said on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday, "We did steroids to get away the aches and the speed of healing. My use of steroids from a doctor was to speed up (healing after) injury, and I thought nothing of it. ... It was to speed up the healing process, that was it. It wasn't to get bigger and stronger and faster."


Corticosteroids are given to many athletes and non-athletes in the form of cortisone shots to promote healing. Cortisone shots are legal and allowed per NFL rules and other leagues' substance policies. Anabolic steroids are not allowed by leagues.
 
Feloin made the point better than I did. Anyone who compares Lambert or Ham or Bradshaw to Bonds in terms of body type will realize that that were not taking the same thing or for the same purpose. Not only were those guys skinny (by today's standards), they didn;t gain 50 pounds in the last 5 years of their career or do the football equivalent of suddenly starting to hit twice the number of bombs they had put up in the first decade of their career.
 
"MJD" doesn't know the difference between corticosteroids and anabolic steroids. If you saw sportscenter this morning, they discussed the story and explained why it's a non-issue.

I can't read his mind, but as I understand, Bradshaw was referring to corticosteroids (anti-inflammatory medications, like cortisone) which reduce the inflammation associated with injury (or any other type of inflammation). He was not referring to anabolic steroids (muscle builders, like testosterone). Both medications are derived from the same basic "steroid" molecule, hence the confusion in the names.

This is a non-story. Corticosteroids are still legal and commonly used in medical practice. No comparison to the current "steroid" issue in sports is warranted. The illegal "steroids" are the anabolic steroids. The writers either don't know what they're talking about or are just trying for cheap headlines and "this is what is wrong with America" emotions.
 
it was obvious terry did steroids. in "failure to launch" you couldn't see his sack when he was naked feeding the fish.
 
I think Bradshaw meant anabolics ( the 'bad' steroids), then realized he screwed up after fielding some angry calls from some people, and someone helped him spin it to "I was talking about cortisone". Even though the full term is corticosteroids, nobody refers to cortisone shots as 'steroids'.
 
When did Bradshaw say "I screwed up I meant to say cortisone?" I hadn't seen that. I took it as the media misinterpreting what he said. He seemed to be describing cortisone. He's talked about this before - taking cortisone steroids. Most people know cortisone is a steroid and people refer to it as a steroid.
 
Surely he isn't so ignorant that he would confuse the two, but you never know. Even if he was taking Corticosteroids, not everyone else was.

There is a lot of misinformation on this thread. Especially about the "exotic" stuff. The exotic stuff actually came first. Dianabol and Primobolan would probably be considered "exotic" by most, but they were the first ones taken by athletes and weight lifters. Testosterone came later. Testosterone is by far and away the most common steroid used.

Make no mistake. They were using anabolic steroids then, just as they are now. They weren't illegal to possess (even if not from a doctor) until the early 80's I believe. Anabolic steroids will most certainly help you recover faster from injuries... without a freaking doubt. It is widely known that steroid use in the NFL started right about the time they became popular with weight lifters. In the 70's.

Just because TB wasn't working out to make the most of his use has nothing to do with the fact that his body was chemically enhanced. He used a drug that helped his body become stronger, faster, and heal quicker.... regardless of whether that was his intention or not.

Bozworth was caught juiced up in what 1986? Do you think he was the first of many that were using? Are you freaking crazy? It was probably MORE rampant in the 80's than now. In the 70's it was probably used by a decent amount of players, but you have to understand it was really new to the scene. Just like HGH. It took several years of HGH being available before the sports community started taking it... inclding bodybuilders.
 
I have always paid attention to these things. Two players that I would bet 100K did steroids are David Boston and Dan Cody.

David Boston: Anyone seen the before and after pics of this guy? Sure he was ripped at tOSU, but no way a 26 year old man can put on 40lbs of lean muscle in 5 years, much less 1 year. The thing is, the public was so ignorant about steroids and how the body works in general, they didn't think anything of it. I remember reading articles about his insane training methods and all this stuff. No doubt he worked hard. Steroids don't make it where you don't have to work hard. But human bodies cannot make these kinds of changes, at that age, without steroids. Can't happen.

Dan Cody: Hey, I'm a Sooner, but I am realist. I have not problem calling him out. Does anyone remember what Dan Cody looked like as a freshman? How about when he came back from his "year off". Now, this one is a bit different because he was still at an age where major changes can happen with natural levels of testerone and HGH. However, his results were VERY dramatic. He came back a monster. He wasn't even the same player anymore. Didn't look the same or anything.

You can say, well maybe he hit a growth spurt or is a genetic freak. Sure it is possible, but let us just look at the examples we know about McGwire, Bonds, Sosa. Three biggest homerun hitters. Three steroid users. It sucks for the few guys that can do this naturally, but they are the exception.... not the rule.

Not to mention that both of these guys started to have all kinds of injuries, possibly related. It is common to put on either 1. too much muscle to quick, or 2. simply put on more muscle than the framework of your body was meant to maintain. David Boston has been one huge injury since his "body transformation". Dan Cody? Who knows.
 
well then i guess we have to take him at his word, but i'm still very skeptical. that shows a level of ignorance that is pretty astounding considering the level of interest in steroids and sports these days.
 
hey, he's just being honest. i would guess there were a lot of players in the late 70's juicing cowboys included! not a big deal to me.


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Lyle Alzado and that other Raider retard are the poster boys of true anabolic steriod use in the 70's. Didn't Alzado die as a result?
 
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