THE 'ROID REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF FEB. 17

by Gary Gaffney, MD, Steroid Nation

Baseball, hockey, soccer, bobsledding, cheer-leading, and ethics. Oh yeah, and brothels. Common connection? Steroids and PEDs.

Last week, we ended the 'Roid Report with the question "Did Roger Clemens attend the 1998 Jose Canseco party". We expected that question would stagnate as a rhetorical quandary. Then, someone allegedly discovered a youngster who snapped a photo at the Canseco party placing the Rocket in the Canseco pad. How long before the US Justice Dept. subpoenas come crawling out like a reliever from the bullpen for a Clemens perjury indictment? One Minnesota writer thinks Clemens will be a legal pinata if that happens.

The Rocket's friend Andy Pettitte also had some 'splaining to do, when media reports linked some of his HGH use to his father. Pettitte's father apparently procured HGH to self-treat a serious cardiac condition, from a gym owner down around Houston. This brought the Houston area gym -- "1 on 1 Elite Personal Fitness" -- under the press microscope. The owner -- a Kelly Blair -- appears to be involved big time with 'roids, perhaps even supplied by bodybuilder Craig Titus, currently awaiting trial for a gruesome murder of his female assistant. MLB players including Richard Hidalgo trained at Blair's gym; the same Hidalgo who produced a blow-out stat year in 2000 while with the 'Stros.

Spring training began in earnest for MLB, even as the repercussions of the winter's Mitchell Report continued to be felt around the league. Apparently oblivious to Mitchell's work, the St. Louis Cardinals invited old juicer Juan Gone Gonzalez to Redbird spring training, as if Mark McGwire and Rich Ankiel weren't PED legacy enough under the Arch. As Juan Gone worked out, Barry Bonds -- awaiting a perjury trial -- wished he could. Milwaukee's Greg Zahn says he was never artificially enhanced; someone else forged that check to Metboy steroid distributor Kirk Radomski. And Hank Steinbrenner wonders why the press is so fascinated football.

Speaking of football, soccer superstar Renaldo suffered a third serious knee injury, one that may be career-ending. A Brazilian physician voiced an opinion that Ronaldo's European clubs juiced his muscles up with PEDs, thus overdeveloping his muscles leading to tendon and ligament damage as his career unfolded.

Last week we also found out that cheerleaders juice up to enhance their cartwheels. A former cheerleader from Texas came forward to 'bring it on' about her high school 'roid use. It appears that teenage steroid use is alive and sick.

Things appear to be heading drastically downhill as a Canadian bobsleigh pilot will be sitting out a winter or two after he tested positive for nandrolone, breakfast of champions. An icy reception will also be expected when Congress looks at PED use in the NHL; Dick Pound accused the NHL of skating on thin doping ice a long time ago.

Lastly, as an Indian paper revealed that young girls take steroids to enhance maturity in brothels, Dave Krieger asked the question: 'When did the ethics die'? Indeed, when did winning become primary over fair-play? That complex question may take a bit longer than it takes to snap a photo of Roger Clemens's attending a Jose Canseco fiesta.