Androstenedione and other NCAA banned steroids were back in the news this summer.
Drug testing at the Pan American Games in Canada revealed athletes' use of anabolic steroids and street drugs. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study evaluating the health effects of androstenedione use -- a study that led to a week-long series in the Tank McNamara comic strip. And finally, just a few hours before Mark McGwire hit home run No. 499, he announced that he had discontinued his use of androstenedione.
Sport isn't any closer to consensus on the "andro" issue than it was last summer when McGwire's use of androstenedione was revealed and store shelves emptied as young people, including college athletes, sought the edge that supplement marketers claim comes from their company's latest chemical breakthrough. Current federal legislation allows for the sale of androstenedione and other hormones. Some sport organizations will not institute a ban because the product is "legal."
The JAMA study by Douglas King et al. (JAMA. 1999; 281:2020-2028) found that androstenedione supplementation did not increase testosterone concentrations in blood or enhance skeletal muscle response to resistance training in their 30 male subjects. They did observe that the androstenedione users showed decreases in their high-density lipoprotein ("good cholesterol") concentrations and that androstenedione users experienced increased estrone and estradiol concentrations. Putting it very simply, the study found that andro didn't work but that its use could cause adverse health effects.
The study's findings about health effects need to be taken seriously by the federal government and athletics organizations. At the same time, the study leaves many questions unanswered and more research independent of the supplement industry needs to be conducted. The study's subjects were men who did not participate in resistance training previously and were given daily oral (300 mg.) doses of androstenedione over eight weeks. College athletes are well-trained individuals
who are known to administer much higher doses of androstenedione over longer periods of time and through various routes (for example, injection). The study was not designed to replicate these conditions.
Tank McNamara picked up on the study's findings and did college athletes a favor by reminding them about the NCAA's ban on androstenedione. Educating athletes that over-the-counter supplements contain banned substances remains one of our biggest challenges. College athletes need to fully educate themselves about their use of supplement products, and they need to understand what is at stake if they use them.
Post this and other articles about supplements in places where athletes will read them.
Sport must continue to advocate for more research into the health effects of supplement products and intervention by the federal government to remove androstenedione and similar agents from the market.
Frank D. Uryasz is the director of the National Center for Drug-Free Sport.
Letter to the Editor -- Student answers Conference call to lead
I am a sophomore at the State University College at Geneseo, and I attended the NCAA Foundation Leadership Confer-ence in May.
The reason for this letter is to express the tremendous impact the conference made in my life. Before coming to this conference, I did not realize the importance of being a student-athlete. I did not completely recognize that others (especially younger children) have high levels of respect for not only our athletic ability but also for what we do off the courts or playing fields. This conference also taught me not to be afraid to challenge the process because change does not come instantaneously.
I have so many ideas that I want to -- and will -- suggest to my athletics director, and I now know how to present those ideas to her through such ways as brain mapping, using research, and developing contacts and supporters.
At this time, I consider myself a developing leader. I immediately put to use the tools I acquired into my everyday life. I have taken on the role of working more with children. I have also been elected to serve on the E-Board of my internship program. Over the past months, I have gained the confidence to become a leader and, moreover, the knowledge of how to be one.
I want to thank the NCAA staff for allowing me to realize that everyone has the power inside to become a leader. Having tremendous people like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Robin Roberts, an incredible staff and great student-athletes present at the conference had such a tremendous impact on me and motivated me to go back home and start making positive changes within my community.
Tiffany A. Courtney
State University College at Geneseo
Opinions -- New CBA approach: Athlete opportunity or exploitation?
Perry Watson, men's basketball coach
University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit News
"I am one of those people who don't believe college is for everybody. Just because a guy happens to be a basketball player, it is unfortunate we force him to be a student. I don't think Isiah (Thomas) is going after high-school guys. But what if a guy can't hack it academically and wants to play?"
John Chaney, men's basketball coach
Temple University
New York Post
"Check out how few non-first-round picks play. Leaving early to get drafted in the second round is a ticket to the welfare rolls."
Steve Lappas, men's basketball coach
Villanova University
New York Post
"Most of the kids we recruit want to go to college. They wouldn't get the hype and television appearances in a minor league."
Jay Greenburg, columnist
New York Post
"You can't educate people who don't want to be educated, which is why an alternative for pro basketball prospects who have no intention of staying in college longer than two years is an idea whose time has come. The NBA, which has never had to pay player development costs, whose commissioner, David Stern, is on record with his desire to curb the flow of teenagers into the league, has an ethical obligation to help fund such an endeavor. ...
"Both the professional league and colleges claim to have the best interest of the young men at heart. But the NBA's real concern is being forced to take unfinished players while universities are mostly bemoaning the premature loss of their drawing cards. ...
"So the schools must stop dangling these tasty carrots without receiving iron-clad promises in return. The NCAA should change the letter-of-intent into a full four-year contract requiring the school to follow through with the free ride, regardless of coaching changes or the players' performance. In return, the kid commits to completing his eligibility.
"There could be windows to transfer with the same sitting-out period the NCAA stipulates now. But if a kid turned pro, the school could come after he and his parents for what it had spent on his education. That means anybody who leaves early had better be sure an NBA signing bonus is forthcoming. With a one-round-only draft and some restraint shown by NBA teams, marginal pro prospects won't be enticed to come out. ...
"(The proposal) is pragmatic enough to keep the athletic factory revenue streams flowing and still allow college presidents to sleep at night, knowing they are serving, not just using, their student-athletes."
Jim Haney, executive director
National Association of Basketball Coaches
USA Today
"Since Kobe Bryant came out, at least from what I've been told by our coaches, there's been a stronger shift of high-school kids who are now seriously considering whether they ought to go straight to the NBA....
"Obviously, Kevin Garnett is notable, but Kobe is in L.A., Kobe's on the Lakers. It's just different. There's more fanfare, and Kobe's a more spectacular kind of talent. About the time he came out, in my mind, we went to another level."
"I don't know whether it's our society, but it's not just a matter of getting there, it's how quickly you can get there. Saying you're going into the NBA draft coming out of college isn't as glamorous as saying that you're putting your name in coming out of high school."
Athletics and education
Editorial
USA Today
"At the least, the NCAA should allow the youngsters to play sports without going through the charade of attending class. It could offer them scholarships that are redeemable at any time in the future. And it should allow boosters to finance the activities of the athletic programs. As it stands now, a player who is found to have accepted money, gifts, a job or even a meal from an agent or a booster is kicked off the team and ruled ineligible to play again.
"Instead of imposing a minimum-age requirement, as suggested by NBA Commissioner David Stern, to keep some athletes from leaving early, the NCAA and NBA should support a minor-league system to allow players a chance to hone their skills without having educators hopelessly trying to force-feed them education."
Eligibility standards
Dick Baddour, director of athletics
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Greensboro News & Record
"I don't think there's any question that the best predictor of success in college is courses selected in high school. I think we can do our students a better service by requiring them to take more courses in high school, and that's where I would personally put the emphasis."
Drug use
Charles Yesaus, professor and researcher
Pennsylvania State University
South Bend Tribune
"I deal with the dark side of sports. There is a continued expansion of drug use in elite sport. It has exploded and is in more sports.
"I don't think the fans care. They want to be entertained."
I-A football playoff
Craig Thompson, commissioner
Mountain West Conference
San Diego Union-Tribune
"I think it's something that needs to be looked at very hard if the exclusionary system that is in place right now remains. If our Mountain West Conference champion is 11-0 this year and we have a repeat of BYU in 1996, something is very wrong. You can go to all the computers and rankings and polls and supposedly objective criteria you want. It still comes down to someone saying 'I think San Diego State is the 25th best team' and another person saying the 20th and another person saying the 50th. It's stupid."
Graham B. Spanier, president
Pennsylvania State University
Chronicle of Higher Education
"I am in a very small minority or presidents who are even willing to talk about (a playoff). There's a great concern about commercialization, professionalism and extending the season, and I can tell you that most of the presidents I've spoken with are not persuaded by the money that's potentially on the table."
By Frank D. Uryasz