I read about the symposium yesterday and commented how I would not be able to make it as that I had work that day, and to top it off I was bar tending that night. Anyway, at the bar, I strike up a conversation with a patron and we start discussing sports. Turns out he's a lawyer/sports writer/entertainment lawyer?? who claims to be deeply involved in the whole steroid ped debate. Honestly I thought he might be full of hot air, but he asked me to come around from behind the bar and showed me a picture of Clemens, Palmerio and McGuire swearing before congress and sure enough he was sitting in the audience in the background. I mention the symposium to him and he had no idea about it. He was not familiar with the names Dave Palumbo and Rick Collins, but his eyes lit up when I mentioned Gary Wadler. He went on to tell me how he was a friend of "Garys" and had his number programmed into his phone. Anyway he went on to tell me about the "devastating health effects" of steroids. Blamed steroids for the "rise of violence in professional sports", blamed steroids for Chris Benoit's suicide/murder binge and for basically "every time an NFL player smacks his wife or grabs a knife". Now I was at work so it was not the place to correct this gentleman, but honestly I was disgusted. Disgusted that someone who was so well educated could so blatantly misconstrue facts. The worst part was I believe that he believed everything he said. I politely mentioned that Chris Benoit was on a cocktail of drugs including pain killers, anti depressants and alcohol, but predictably, that was met with "all relating back to his steroid use". He told me his name and I did a quick google search. The other things we discussed checked out referring to his background in sports and entertainment, so I guess he's legit. It just pisses me off that someone who has got it this wrong, believes and fights so hard.
.gif "IP Gear")
