Part 2: “The Bad” I am going to look at some more stories about Drugs in Sports. Some traits of alcohol and drug use are handed down from parents to offspring. In my case this was true for alcohol, I drank when I was younger but overcame this form of addiction as it got boring or not enough for me, both my parents were alcoholics their whole lives. Drug use I picked up very later in life, I found out my son was biologically not mine at 41 years old, I suffered a downward spiral for 7 years, thankfully I am clean now.

A lot of these athletes in this article were some favorites of mine. You can obviously tell I was not one of the crybabies that used to complain about this one or that one “juicing.” I still believe that the ‘steroid era’ was great for baseball after the 1994 Strike, so many fans came back in flocks when the players in MLB got bigger and so did the numbers. The numbers got inflated immensely. I did say this article wasn’t going to be all about baseball like Part 1. I am going to start out with one and the obvious one in a lot fans’ eyes.

Barry Bonds a star in the making ever since his Arizona State University days, Barry hit .347 with 45 HRs and 175 RBI in university. Anybody can throw numbers at you all day long with regards to Bonds. Barry was a Hall of Fame player before he was halfway done his career. People believe the year Bonds starting “juicing” was the year after the Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chase for Roger Maris‘ 61 home runs in 1998, jealousy is what was rumored to spark Barry’s use of steroids, by this logic as I stated Barry was already a HOF worthy player, he had over 400 HR and almost 500 stolen bases with countless MVP awards before he began “juicing.”

All this should be in Part 1 really, and I wanted to put it there. The reason is sad to me that I have to list this one under “The Bad” is so many fans and writers are still against any PED usage in baseball and sports. Stats say Bonds should be in the HOF being the leader of a lot of categories MAINLY the HR leader with 762 HR and all the accolades he accumulated along the way too. Sadly Barry Bonds will be labeled as a cheat and likely never get the nod to the Hall. Chalk this one up as one huge BAD.

Jose Canseco for obvious reasons is not in the HOF either, simply put this was ‘bad’ cause Canseco was a snitch, he is reason so many players will not be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He outed several players in his book “Juiced.” Canseco was blackballed from the league. His name however, will always be thought of when anyone thinks of steroids in baseball.

One more baseball player needs mentioning, Josh Hamilton was a phenom in the making, but like a lot of athletes success got to be too much too quick. Josh’s first bout with addiction came after a car accident where he and his parents were all injured in the accident. His parents went home to North Carolina and he was left alone to deal with his injuries, this is where Hamilton would come to start drinking and using cocaine for the first time. 2001 came around and the fondness for crack developed. Hamilton failed his first drug test in 2003 he blamed lingering injuries and was demoted to the minors for a month. In 2004 the addiction snowballed even more failing more tests he missed the whole season. 2006 another season long suspension. This story is a sad case of what could have been for sure, potentially putting up Mickey Mantle like numbers, instead Josh’s career doomed from injuries and drugs.

Sugar Ray Leonard professional boxer, some would say a legend of the sport. Sugar Ray retired a few times from the sport in the 80s, looking for a substitute from being in the ring he found a substitute, that substitute became cocaine. He said he used coke whenever he missed the thrill of being in the ring. He also admitted to abusing alcohol, and his wife testified that the former boxing champion would become physically abusive to her while under the influence of alcohol. Leonard said his drug abuse stopped in 1986 when he woke up and said, “What I saw in the mirror was scary.” Leonard came back from retirement a couple more times and beat Marvin Haggler to win the WBC middleweight title in 1987. Drugs and alcohol made Sugar Ray violent where he shouldn’t have been, outside the ring.

Shawn Michaels WWE wrestler, yes wrestling these days is entertainment but you do need to be an athlete to perform. Michaels’ Career: 24 years spanned from 1984-98, 2002-10 if you want to count wrestling stats he is a decorated competitor: 14 WWE Championships and 4 WWE World Championships.

Shawn Michaels Came up in the 1980s and started using drugs early on, cocaine the drug of choice by Michaels and lots of wrestlers back then. Michaels in the 1990s switched to pain killers and drinking as injuries piled up slowing him down especially in 1998 when a back injury kept him from wrestling for 4 years only gave him more of a reason to use painkillers and muscle relaxers, and that’s when Shawn hit the bottom. He did come back to wrestle again but never at the peak of what he was in the 90s.

Floyd Landis & Lance Armstrong both Tour de France cyclists, both extremely successful in their heyday with numerous yellow jerseys between the two. Both of these superb athletes were stripped of all their titles for doping allegations which later proved to be true, both cyclists did admit later in life to using PEDs their whole career. Lance may not have gotten caught if not for Floyd, Floyd like Jose Canseco was a whistleblower.

Diego Maradona one of the greatest soccer players to ever live. Maradona was part of several World Cup teams notably 1986 team being the big one where Argentina faced England, He dominated the 1986 competition in Mexico. In a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over England, he scored two of the most memorable goals in World Cup history. One goal had hit his hand but the referee mistakenly thought the ball hit his head, the goal is now remembered as the “Hand of God” goal. Maradona did not play in the 1994 World Cup or I should say didn’t finish the tournament as Diego tested positive for ephedrine and was suspended. He was previously suspended before that in 1990 for cocaine possession and served a 15 month suspension.

Do we all remember football star Johnny Manziel? Texas A&M college football Quarterback, only freshman to win the Heisman Trophy at QB in 2012. Jump ahead to 2015, Manziel got hooked on OxyContin and also used Cocaine everyday in the 2015 season. Manziel went on a ‘5 million dollar bender’ by the end of 2016 the Cleveland Browns released Johnny. “Win or lose, where’s the booze?” was Manziel’s new attitude. Johnny Manziel was later diagnosed with bi-polar and did attempt suicide, Johnny says he purchased a gun and one night tried and the gun misfired.
Former football player Shannon Sharpe once asked Johnny how did you lose 40 pounds so fast in 2015? Manziel’s simple response was a “strict diet of blow.”
Johnny Manziel went on to try his luck in the CFL with a couple different teams, he couldn’t even succeed in a lesser league. Alcohol, pain killers and cocaine took a promising career from ‘what coulda been’ to sh*t.

Ben Johnson Canadian sprinter who “Disgraced a Nation.” Ben Johnson was caught for using steroids at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. The fastest man on the planet was a farce. Johnson, like Manziel and others have tried comebacks and in this case did not succeed either. In 1991 Johnson attempted a comeback after his ’88 suspension, He failed to qualify for the ’91 championship in Tokyo. In Grenoble France in 1993 Ben Johnson failed another drug test. in 1999 Johnson failed another test one in which he was using a diuretic to help mask anabolic steroids. Johnson later admitted to using steroids from 1981 right up till the end of his career in 2008.

Michael Phelps nothing exceptionally bad stands out as bad, Phelps did have a DUI during his career in 2004. In 2009, a picture of Phelps allegedly smoking pot from a bong at a party appeared on social media.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this portion of the series titled: “The Bad”

Stay tuned for Part 3: “The Ugly”

Photo Credit; Sports Illustrated, Fan Arch, Brattleboro Reformer, Boca Raton Magazine, KTLA, The Guardian

***Are you interested in sports betting? If so make sure to use our promo code below where you can get your deposit matched (up to $1000), use promo code Sportz***

***Have you tried Dubby?? Are you looking for a Pre-Workout??
our promo code : WeLikeSportz for 10% off!