EliteFitness.com Member in Sports Illustrated Steroid Bust Story - Articles and Blog

The April 24th edition of Sports Illustrated recently dove into the world of steroids with several captivating and controversial stories dealing with the subject. Maybe the most interesting aspect of all this is that EliteFitness.com was brought up in the lead story and one of our forum members had his postings published in the article.

Sports Illustrated covers football, Sports Illustrated covers basketball, they cover baseball, hockey, tennis, track & field, soccer and well, basically they cover a lot of sports.

And all of this is interesting... to an extent. So while I enjoy reading about the latest happenings in the sports world and checking out the gripping human interest stories about athletes that grace the pages of SI, they all took a back seat when I opened the April 24th edition of Sports Illustrated.

To my amazement, there were not one, not two, but three stories that revolved around different steroid and bodybuilding-related topics. I’ll definitely have to say that I didn’t agree with most of what was said in this feature but the articles that comprised it still made for some great reading. The lead story was especially interesting since it brings up EliteFitness.com and even takes the liberty of quoting forum postings from one of our members.

This article in the three part feature concentrates on the build-up, tension, and emotions that surrounded “Operation Gear Grinder” – the full scale investigational assault that was launched against the biggest corporations in the Mexican steroid industry and ended with the crackdown on eight pharmaceutical companies that made an estimated 56 million dollars off of steroid sales in the U.S. alone.

The story also focuses on the lead agent in the case and how he felt sympathy for a man named Don Hooten, whose 17 year-old son’s suicide received national attention after it was reported he was using steroids. The agent, called Jack in this article, had seen Hooten on 60 Minutes telling the heart wrenching story of his son Taylor’s death and said that he gained more motivation to help stop steroid trafficking after viewing this.

While Jack and the rest of his team’s bust may not have ended steroid trafficking, it was still a huge blow to the industry as Operation Gear Grinder has slowed the importation of Mexican steroids into the U.S quite a bit. The operation also produced one of the biggest steroid-related arrests in history as Alberto Saltiel-Cohen, a major pharmaceuticals executive, was apprehended as well.

This is where EliteFitness.com and the forum posting come into play. Here how we\'re mentioned in a excerpt from the Sports Illustrated article:

“In the days after the arrests bodybuilders and weightlifters posted messages on U.S.-based websites like EliteFitness.com, expressing concern that supply lines would be cut off for the popular steroids produced by companies like Saltiel-Cohen\'s Quality Vet. "This is the worst news I\'ve heard in a long time," wrote ryan04. "R.I.P.-QV ... you\'ve been a friend to us all."

While the pipeline of steroids coming into the United States is not totally cut off, Mexican businesses that sell steroid just across the border are certainly hurting as, in an excellent display of unbiased journalism, the rest of the story centers on the negative repercussions of the operation. One of these repercussions is that dozens of farmácias in Mexico have been forced out of business due to the fact that most of their business relied on the sale of anabolic steroids to keep their doors open.

There is also an excellent quote towards the end of the story where the author of Anabolics 2006, William Llewellyn, told the writer, “Nobody wants kids taking steroids, but all this is going to do is drive the market further underground. You\'ll see more counterfeit [steroids] and more tainted products, which can cause infections or worse.” And this quote couldn’t be truer as the article goes on to finish up by saying that cheap imitations are already being found in Mexico and new labs are springing up as well.

So the first story that focuses on Operation Gear Grinder is definitely a quality piece of work and presents both sides of the story fairly. Unfortunately, the second article in this three piece feature doesn’t quite duplicate the same feat as it is an obvious attempt to take the misfortunes of one individual and turn them into a crusade against the use of steroids.

This article opens with an over the top sensationalistic paragraph that sets the tone for the whole story about how an amateur bodybuilding was crawling on the floor in pain while his mother was calling 911. Then it jumps straight into how this Texas bodybuilder, Brad Cunningham, is an anabolic steroid user who relied on the companies that were targeted in Operation Gear Grinder to get him what he needed.

Eventually, the story reminisces on the previous years of Cunningham’s life and how he had dreams of becoming a pro bodybuilder and one day winning the 2006 NPC Heart of Texas Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Championships. This all culminates with the article reverting back to how he had become the steroid user that was lying on the floor having a heart attack. Cunningham would survive his heart attack, and stroke that followed, and is still recovering physically.

While what happened to Brad Cunningham is definitely tragic, the article fails to mention that incidents such as these are rare among people who juice and that other factors could have caused his condition as well. Luckily, the third installment of this feature doesn’t involve as much shock reporting as the Brad Cunningham story did. It basically sums up some of the steroid prevention programs that are being implemented in various Texas high schools, most notably Plano West Senior High.

The SI article mentions that the “Atlas and Athena” program was introduced to the school after some unfortunate and controversial incidents took place in the North Dallas area. One of these incidents was the previously mentioned suicide death of Plano West baseball player Taylor Hooten, where a large portion of the blame was placed on his use of steroids. The other incident happened at nearby Colleyville Heritage High where nine athletes admitted to using steroids amid a school investigation.

It also got into how many schools have steroid testing programs (only a few and that’s good since there’s certainly more pressing financial issues that need addressing in most schools) and how many schools use the Atlas and Athena steroid education program.

I was, however, disappointed that there was nothing mentioned in the way of education on how steroids can be used safely by adults. After all, there is always going to be people who want to use the ultimate methods of muscle enhancement and won’t settle for anything less. And sadly, some of these users may feel like they have no one to speak to and will rely on the advice of dealers and end up misusing steroids or even worse, seriously hurting themselves all because they thought that here was nowhere to turn.

Another disappointing aspect of the article was that the first and second segments never mentioned that other factors could have been present in both Taylor Hooten’s suicide and Brad Cunningham’s heart attack. The simple use of steroids does not lead one to commit suicide and while steroids can cause some strain on the heart, if they are taken properly one should not suffer a heart attack if they’re knowledgeable about what they are doing, work with a doctor, and monitor their blood pressure.

But in fairness to Sports Illustrated, these may be subjects for future issues of the magazine and the three articles in the April 24th feature might simply represent the beginning. Nevertheless, I enjoyed some of what was presented in the stories and hope to see some articles in upcoming editions of SI that deal with what people on the other side of the fence think.

Here\'s a link where you can discuss the mention of EliteFitness.com on the Forums and read the entire Sports Illustrated article.
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