With Arnold Schwarzenegger being sworn in as California Governor yesterday, ESPN.com's Tom Farrey takes a hard look at how Arnold's rise in the Bodybuilding game fueled the growth of steroids use, and how his new political career might begin to change people's minds about steroids:
As Schwarzenegger rationalized as recently as 1996, "It was what I had to do to compete. The danger with steroids is over-usage. I only did it before a difficult competition -- for two months, but not for a period of time that would harm me. And then afterward it was over."He got what he needed. He moved on.
He didn't die.
His back erect and his smile as bright as the mid-day sun, Schwarzenegger, now 56 and California's governor, seems the picture of health and vitality. Large-living proof of how synthetic hormones can actually enhance a person's existence. The new, updated role model for steroids, to replace that of the withered Lyle Alzado.
While Farrey ignores many facts about the dangers of steroid use (and uses some quotes from IOC member and international doping czar Dick Pound in an odd fashion), he has written a pretty compelling piece that puts Arnold right at the center of the movement that jump-started steroid use in this country. To see what I've said about this issue before, click here.
UPDATE: My favorite libertarian, Radley Balko, has his own thoughts on baseball's steroid problem.
