Former smokers can be the most vehement anti-smoking advocates. So, it figures that former steroid users would become the biggest critics of the drugs in sports and their impacts. Irony be damned.
The former world champion body-builder made the comment on CNN’s Sunday news and talk show, “State of the Union,” though he opted not to single out Yankees star Alex Rodriquez, or address the use of steroids among competitors during the “Pumping Iron” era that put Schwarzenegger on Hollywood’s radar screen.
“I think it’s important to get the message out that we should not use drugs. I think we have a certain obligation as athletes to inspire young people. When someone wins an Olympic championship or a boxing championship, whatever it may be, you’re not only a champion, but you’re also an inspirational vehicle for young kids and for people in general to stay fit, to lose weight and all of this,” he said.
I have no idea why these kids would get the idea that steroid use can be profitable. I mean, it’s not like Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire and Alex Rodriguez made boatloads of cash thanks in part to their use of….. oh, yes they did, didn’t they?
And without steroids, Schwarzenegger himself would have been someone remembered within bodybuilding circles not but not have moved into the popular culture, made boatloads of cash as an action movie star then parlayed that into a top political office.
If you want to get kids to stop taking steroids, punish those that did and take away the rewards. Until then, it’s all political talk.
