We’ve written a couple of items about Terry Bradshaw’s stunning (to us, at least) steroids use admission, and his subsequent effort to explain that, when he talked about steroids, he wasn’t talking about steroids.
We also talked about the item at length with Dan Patrick (his show can be heard on demand at any time, for free), and with Chris McClain of WFNZ in Charlotte.
We’ve got two more things to say about the situation.
First, and as we’ve previously said, the reference to steroids was meaningless if Bradshaw was merely referring to the same kind of anti-inflammatory steroids that can still be used legally by NFL players.
Second, the notion that Bradshaw’s steroids were prescribed by a doctor doesn’t automatically mean that it wasn’t an anabolic steroid. As we told McClain, the team that plays in his market had several players during their Super Bowl season who were reportedly getting steroids via prescription from Dr. James Shortt.
Third (okay, we’ve got three things to say), it’s amazing to us how quickly the media has accepted Bradshaw’s self-serving “clarification” and moved on. Yeah, he’s a Hall of Famer and, by all appearances, a great guy. But so what? Do only assholes use steroids? If the media has any interest in developing a better understanding of precisely how prevalent the use of these compounds was in years before they were banned and/or illegal, admissions from key players of that era can’t be pooh-poohed when the player in question tries to talk his way out of the poo-poo into which he inadvertently buried his foot.
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June 25th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
In regards to the statement “it’s amazing to us how quickly the media has accepted Bradshaw’s self-serving “clarification” and moved on.”
Doesn’t PFT do the same thing? There are some things you treat as a sacred cow and some items you have an absolute hard-on for. Tsk, tsk . . .
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Rating: 4.45 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Nobody wants to know. In fact we’ll go out of our to not know. Let the icons of the past remain icons of the past.
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Rating: 2.6 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I don’t care if Bradshaw used steroids in the 70’s - his whole offensive line has admitted to using them already. Does that mean that Bradshaw’s and Franco’s accomplishments should be diminished? After all the guys opening the holes and giving Bradshaw time to hit Swann and Stallworth 70 yards downfield were on roids. It was a different era - they were all on speed too. Read Stabler’s book about the Raiders of that era (THe Snake - I think). Doctors still prescribe steroids for any number of ailments - so I am sure in the early stages that they were often prescribed to help someone heal from an injury.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 8 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
If they weren’t illegal back then, what difference does it make who or how many players used them? Players nowadays are bigger than they ever were back then so maybe they were used for healing more so than having a competitive edge. These players didn’t have guaranteed contracts and got paid paltry salaries compared to today. If they didn’t play, they didn’t get paid. So, they stayed on the field by any means possible. I’m not saying it was right, but it wasn’t wrong by NFL rules either.
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Rating: 4.7 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
So what you’re proposing is equal opportunity witch hunts?
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Maybe nobody is up in arms about it because Jim Haslett’s admission of steroid use back in 2005 already outed the Steelers as the pioneers of steroid use in the NFL during the 70s.
Bradshaw was there for that entire decade, so it would make sense that he’d at least dabble in substances that were, at the time, completely legal.
Wake us up if Bradshaw admits to snorting coke off Loni Anderson’s ass while on the set of Cannonball Run.
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I think the reason that the media moved on from the story is because it’s a “non-story.” Obviously, if he admitted using steroids and they checked on what he admitted using, they may have been legal back when he played. It’s like when you talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger about when he was body lifting. He admits upfront that what he took is considered a steroid now, but wasn’t considered a steroid back then. Probably the same case in Bradshaw’s case because half the steroids being used back then are on the shelf because they can’t compete with HGH.
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Rating: 4.7 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Mike, I’m going to take it a few steps further and let everyone know that had Bradshaw been black he would be OSTRACIZED! Please people! Think of one time that a black man has been able to backtrack so fluidly and forgiven. He was a great QB but he should have been a corner the way he’s backpeddling.
There is a double standard in America.
You should have reset the turd watch to zero.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
@axel foley
Apparently your either a self pitying sanctimonious “dick with ears” or a paranoid “hater”. Get a grip and be a man instaed of pissin’ an moanin’.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Why does race always have to be brought up? I guess Vick’s criminal behavior and subsequent jail time has left the door wide open for blacks to claim a double standard with every issue. Ever.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
There is actually an interesting sidebar to Florio’s witch hunt - first let me state that I am a lifelong Steeler fan and bleed Black&Gold - and TB is one of my favorite Steelers - BUT - he was not the best Steeler Quarterback in the 70’s - and the guy who was became a very tragic story of what drugs can do to you…
Any guesses…
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Terry is just lucky he didn’t play for the Bengals or this story would be all over the place……Im just sayin
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Rating: 1.8 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Axel Foley. I can think back to yesterday and Shaq’s rap about Kobe. It’s over by today. Maybe your argument would work in the 70s or 80s, but not now. Also Charles Barkly has said some very sketchy stuff and he’s always been forgiven.
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
“Think of one time that a black man has been able to backtrack so fluidly and forgiven.”
Please. Jesse Jackson. Marion Barry. Everyone on ESPN was already forgiving Michael Vick the day after he was sentenced.
The only double standard is that there is a standard of stupidity…and you have doubled it.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 25th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Florio, you’re like Scrappy Doo with this story.
Relax.
I hear Willie Joe liked booze. Let’s get after that next.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
June 26th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I think it is very disrespectful to speak of the dead in this manner. Can’t the man just rest in peace?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
June 26th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Joe Gillem(spelling), bdhumbery. Wasn’t he also the first black quarterback drafted in the NFL?
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June 26th, 2008 at 12:44 am
bdhumbert indicates that he thinks Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam was better than Bradshaw. Ridiculous. Bradshaw is one of the top 15-25 quarterbacks of all time. Gilliam had some talent but never really did anything with it. He played fairly well at the start of their first Super Bowl season, but he finished his career as a 44 percent passer, with almost twice as many interceptions (17) as touchdowns (9). Maybe he would have been a good quarterback if he had worked at it and applied himself; maybe he was just a gunslinger who threw into coverage a lot. It’s a huge leap to suggest that he would have been a great quarterback had he only avoided using drugs.
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June 26th, 2008 at 1:17 am
You think Florio would lighten up a bit on Bradshaw since he did once falsely report him dead. That should have earned the man some slack.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 26th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Without steroids, maybe the awful 212:210 ratio would be reversed … or worse.
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June 26th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Anyone who saw “Failure To Launch” has to realize Bradshaw did not use many steroids…..and has not saw a gym in years.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Some players right now, possibly LaDainian Tomlinson, may also be taking a nutritional supplement, by that particular substance could be outlawed by 2030. Who knows. All I can Say is Bradshaw did his thing and did it well enough to put the steelers over the top several times. And I really don’t think he took any type of steroid to increase his body mass, he wasn’t all that bulky. Just a natural bodied quarterback like John Elway.
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June 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Yea Axel, you took it a few steps further - back into the dark ages. It’s people like you that keep racism alive, bravo. C’mon, Michael Irvin & Ray Lewis just off the top of my head. But, I don’t want to get into this stupid and worthless argument because your comment has no place in 2008!
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 26th, 2008 at 9:25 am
The reason its no big deal…is its no big deal…He clearly was not taking the kind of steroid that are illegal ..He said in the interview that this happened maybe three times to him during his career..thats clearly because of injury and it maybe was a case of a team doctor giving him a shot during the week…Dont you have to take anabolic steroids in cycles? Maybe someone could let us know?
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June 26th, 2008 at 9:31 am
“Without steroids, maybe the awful 212:210 ratio would be reversed … or worse.”
Today that sounds really bad. But back then, passing offenses weren’t so complex (this is before west coast and high % passes remember). These were some of the best numbers of the time. Compare these with the other HOF qb’s who played in the 70s (you know, the ones without 4 rings)
Also, Tom Brady’s regular season numbers were not nearly HOF (before this past season) but everyone considered him a lock because of playoff cred. If you are clutch multiple times in the playoffs, and are good/average (not great) during the regular season, are you not worthy of the HOF?
Actually, you could take Swann and Stallworth and apply this principal to them as well. Regular season, good recievers, not great. Playoffs and Super Bowl, spectacular.
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