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Volume CXXXII, Number 17 |
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Ephedra makes it a life and death game
J.P. BOX
COLUMNIST
Vince Lombardi once said, "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing." The greatest coach in NFL history is wrong-dead wrong. Mental, physical, and emotional sacrifice has always accompanied athletics in the United States. Only today, that sacrifice can lead to death.
Welcome to the life story of Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Steve Bechler. After a late-season promotion to the big leagues last summer, Bechler busted his butt to get ready for the 2003 Major League Baseball season. His low-90s heater moved, and his curve ball had some serious bite.
After spending the better part of the past three years in the purgatory of Minor League ball, the 23-year-old Bechler was determined to stay in the Bigs. However, his bulky frame betrayed his desire to be a conditioned player capable of pitching late into a game.
To compensate, he turned to ephedra, a substance that causes weight loss and energy gain. If this story sounds too good to be true, it is. Bechler died of a heatstroke on February 17, just a few days after reporting for Spring Training. Although ephedra has not been officially cited as the cause of death, evidence suggests that the drug played a key role.
The NFL, NCAA, and IOC (International Olympic Committee) have all banned the use of ephedra for health concerns. The Food and Drug Administration reports ephedra use is responsible for 88 deaths and over 1500 health problems, including strokes. Tack one more person to that total-a Major League baseball pitcher's dream landed him in a mortuary.
But come on! How could Bechler have been that stupid? Clear evidence proves the substance's volatility. I mean, how did he ever get his hands on this deadly drug? Surely this stuff isn't just sitting on the shelf at your local GNC! Actually, it is.
But if you don't want to hop in your car, surf the internet and you'll find great deals in no time. At bizrate.com, I found 77 different ephedra products that I could have shipped by tomorrow. My favorite is Black Cross' "Pure Ephedrene" - for only $11.99, you get 60 pills. The recommended dose is one tablet every four hours. How often do you have to take this crap!?
Perhaps until it kills you-Bechler is nonliving proof of that. In a sport where batters are finding an edge in steroid use, it is only natural that a pitcher would turn to an artificial enhancer. In the end, this crazed competition didn't improve the quality of life for anybody-it took it away.
Unfortunately, Steve Bechler's tragic tale is not an isolated incident; rather, it is indicative of sports competition entering the twenty-first century. The price of success has become prohibitively expensive, pushing amateur and professional athletes to the brink and beyond.
Just last fall, Korey Stringer-the Pro-Bowl offensive tackle of the Minnesota Vikings-collapsed and died of a heatstroke during Training Camp. Weighing in at approximately 335 pounds, Stringer was hell-bent on shedding pounds and proving his durability to teammates.
After vomiting three times during the warming practice, Stringer stumbled into the air-conditioned training room where he collapsed and died. Doctors discovered that his body temperature had risen to 108.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Like Bechler, Stringer was known to use ephedrene supplements.
Do you think that professionals are the only ones dying from over-exertion? Think again. According to a study conducted by the University of North Carolina, 18 high school and college athletes have died from heart-related complications since 1995. With the widespread sale of dieting supplements, that number will only increase in the foreseeable future.
After all, ephedra products garnered $1.24 billion in 2001 for 80 companies. That kind of sales total indicates the drug's widespread popularity in the amateur and professional ranks. In the United States, billion-dollar industries don't disappear overnight.
However, one drug cannot be blamed for turning sports into a game of roulette. Rather, the competitive drive and the obsession with winning push coaches as well as athletes to neglect health concerns. Heck, playing with pain is just part of the game. Short-term rewards are willingly substituted for long-term health-even when the athlete hasn't reached high school.
A 1997 Globe study revealed that 33 percent of athletes under 15 years of age played through serious injuries. Additionally, according to a 1996 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report, more than 201,000 youth basketball players required hospitalization due to injury. Football, baseball, and soccer tallies came in at 167,000, 147,000 and 69,000 respectively. Is this the price of competition?
Growing up, you may have thought that sports were a matter of life and death, but your parents and coaches assured you that they were not. Steve Bechler, Korey Stringer, and a host of others beg to differ.
Winning isn't everything.
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