There is a bandwagon that exists in the media today. tatsächlich, many politicians, reporters, writers and TV personalities have jumped on this bandwagon and have rode it towards more fame and glory for themselves. This bandwagon centers around the topic of steroid use and its message is that there are few things more sinister, more evil than one who chooses to use or sell steroids. And with every ridiculous, crackpot study that is released claiming 1 von jeder 10 middle school girls is juicing in hopes of losing more weight, the bandwagon becomes larger and larger.

Das ist, warum, when I was watching the ESPN2 show Cold Pizza, I expected more of the same after they announced one of the guests was going to be discussing the Carolina Panthers off-season steroid troubles and the upcoming trial of Dr. James Shortt - the Doc who allegedly juiced them. (Read all about the Dr. James Shortt trial that we reported on last October)

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The guest’s name was Scott Dodd and he is a reporter for the Charlotte Observer. Big deal! He was just going to be another steroid basher out to win the hearts of America and make a bigger name for himself. Nothing that I had seen recently or read lately gave me any reason to think differently.

The interview between Dodd and the Cold Pizza’s Skip Bayless proceeded like a normal sports-oriented interview. They talked quite a bit about the NFL and how the Carolina Panthers would fare in their NFC championship game. There were also humorous quips like "Charlotte\'s the city of Billy Graham, but also the city of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, so we\'ve learned to take the good with the bad."

But I still hadn’t seen anything extremely interesting until the subject of the Panther’s off-season troubles was brought up. The first thing that caught my attention was when they started talking about the two Panther cheerleaders who were reportedly caught having sex in a Tampa Bay nightclub bathroom. While this has nothing to do with the James Shortt trail or steroids, I was still glued to the television for obvious reasons.

Then came what I had been waiting for as Skip Bayless asked Scott Dodd about the James Shortt trial (set to begin in March and reported by us here) and how the Panthers were dealing with their implication to Shortt. Here’s where Dodd would cry for the three Carolina players in question to be banned from the NFL and where he would also condemn James Shortt to death by lethal injection for distributing steroids to patients. Aber zu meiner Überraschung, he spoke of more important issues that have surrounded the Panther team throughout their short history.

Issues that may be long forgotten by some like former Carolina star running back Fred Lane being murdered by his wife and how former wide receiver Rae Carruth was convicted of murder conspiracy after his pregnant girlfriend was gunned down in 1999. He closed by saying that, in light of events such as these, “maybe a few players shooting themselves up with Human Growth Hormone doesn’t seem so bad.”

I don’t think that this could have been put any better. And sometimes it’s too easy to forget about the real problems that face the world. Episodes such as the ones involving Fred Lane and Rae Carruth are almost common occurrences in big cities. So why are newspapers and TV shows so focused on demonizing steroids?

While Scott Dodd’s comments on a single episode of Cold Pizza may not stop the world from turning, it’s nice to see that unbiased journalism still goes on even today. It’s a shame that more journalists don’t seem to take the commonsense approach to steroids like this one. But hopefully, we’ll continue to see more media members buck the trend of ripping on steroids and get back to reporting the real issues facing the world.

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