July/August 1990 - Vol 4 Num 4 (Second Look)

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If I Should Die Before 1Win. ..

R. GABE MIRKIN, author of The Sportsmedicine Book, polled more than 100 runners with the question, "If I could give you a pill that would make you an Olympic champion, and also kill you in a year, would you take it?''

More than half said yes.

When you' re young, and especially if you're an athlete, it is easy to view yourself as something special, somehow immortal.

"It could never happen to me," right? "I'll be the one to beat the odds," you say.

But it's hard to figure out what the odds really are. The world of sports presents a confusing jumble of mi xed messages about drugs and alcohol. Breweries are advertising at virtually every sporting event we attend or view on TV. We have athletes involved in anti-drug campaigns, and we also have athletes being arrested and destroyed and dying from their involvement with drugs.

Substance abuse is one of the most complex and pervasive

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problems facing our society. And the questions about substance abuse in sports are very difficult to answer. For example: How would sports survive without the millions of dollars in sponsorships from alcohol advertising? How can athletes who are not taking steroids compete against the bigger, faster, stronger athletes who do? If an athlete wants to waste his money, his life, and his talent on drugs, can we stop him? Do we have the right or the responsibility to try? And what is the impact on young people who see their favorite stars arrested for drug use? Or who see them succeed in spite of abusing drugs or alcohol?

I find it ironic that athletes, of all people, are even involved in drugs. The picture of the athlete being a perfect specimen of health and fitness is rapidly being replaced by one of the athlete handing over his specimen for a mandatory drug test.

But perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised. The extra leisure time and the off-seasons that athletes have, the large amounts of money made available to them, and the never-satisfied desire for that competitive edge-all of these contribute to the opportunity and motivation for the athlete to use drugs.

It 's no coincidence that two of the stories in this issue are from baseball, long considered America's pastime. Now unfortunately, drugs are becoming America's pastime, and baseball- along with most other sports-is fighting for its existence against the ravages of substance abuse. As part of this battle, two pitchers, Mike Norris and

Steve Howe, tell of the remarkable depths to which they plunged and the difficult steps they have taken in dealing with their cocaine addictions.

But not all athletes use drugs.

Also in this issue, we'll see that steroids played an indirect role in Jill Sterkel's remarkable swimming career, although she refused to take them herself. And Sara Anderson makes some interesting observations about the mixed messages sports fans routinely receive as they follow their favorite game. Finally, we'll take a step back to view the drug issue from the perspective of control and discipline.

It's important to remember that all of us must deal with these questions. Not one of us is exempt from having to decide whether or not we will step over the line and begin using drugs and alcohol. Because of the pressures our society places upon us, that can be a tough decision. And the ensuing battle against addiction is even tougher. But there is hope, and there is help. As we take a second look at drugs, notice that these athletes recognize that this is a very real battle- to the finish-of life and death. • Dave Burnham is chairman emeritus of the International Sports Coalition, an association of sports ministries from around the world. He also appears regularly as a teacher on the televi· sian program Day of Discovery.

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: COVER. DON SMIH1; p. 2 (upper left) Michael Forrest; p. 2 (upper right), V.J. Lovero; p. 2 (lower right), Tony DuHy/AIIsport; p. 3 (top left), Caryn Levy/AIIsport; p. 3 (left center), Don Stock; pp. 4·5, Otto Gruele Jr./AIIsport; p. 6 (top), V.J. Lovero; p. 6 (bottom), Oakland Athletics; p. 7, Don Stock; pp. 8· tO, Tony DuHy/AIIsport; p. 12 (left), Stephen Green; pp. 12·13, Caryn Levy/AIIsport; p. 14, Jonathan DanieVAIIsport; p. 15, John G. ZimmermafiiSports Illustrated; p. 16 (inset), George Tiedemann/Sports Illustrated; pp. 16-18, Dave Stock; p. 19 (top to bottom), Kirk Schlea/AIIsport, Otto Gruele Jr./AIIsport, Boston Red Sox, J. Sebo/Atlanta Braves; p. 24, Caryn Levy/AIIsport.

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Seven Year Stretch The A's Mike Norris is back, pitching the straight and narrow

By Ross Newhan

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Float Like a Butterfly Olympic star Jill Sterkel leaves steroids in her wake

By Rick Wattman

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DEPARTMENTS

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Training lip Mike and the mechanics of pitching With Dave Stewart

12 Under the Influence

Remote Control

The confusion of mixed messages about drugs in sports

By Sara L. Anderson

The power struggle of substance abuse

By Dave Egner

16 That Was Then, This Is Now Pitcher Steve Howe strikes out the past With Kyle Rote Jr.

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For Athletes Altered States

By Dr. Glenn Town

19 Trivia Quiz Test your sports knowledge

By Rick York

Volume< , Number< SECOND LOOK~ MAGAZINE A DISCOVERY HOUSE PUBLICATION PUBLISHER MatM R. De Haan II: EXECUTIVE EDITOR Oavoll<Krllam: CONSULTING EDITOR Ralph O.olinger: MANAGING EDITOR Rd< Watlmarl; ART DIRECTOR Sieve Gier; PRODUCTION Craig GMdo; PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Laoron Pedroza: MARKETING DIRECTOR Craig Finl<el; PROOUCTION MAN路 AGER Tom Fehen: COVER PHOTO Don Smilh

SECOND LOOKn~ rs published six times a year by Discovery House Publishers. Oi$00Very House Publishers is affiliated with Radio Bible Cia$$, a nondenominational ChriStian Otganization whose purpose Is to lead people of aN nations to faith and maturity in Jesos Christ by teaching prindples from the Bible. Printed in USA. Copyright 0 1990 by Discovery House Publishers, Gland Rapids, Mdllgan. Bible quotations, unless other路 wise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 0 1973, 1978, 1984, International B1b!e Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. SECOND LOOKI'Ij is produced by New Focus, Inc., Vanlf Tower, Second Fk>of, San Bernardino. CA 92401. Subsctiptions are available for $15/year or $19.50 outside the U.S.A. (in U.S. Iunds) by writing to SECOND LOOKr" subSCfiptk>ns.

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DRUGS â&#x20AC;˘ COVER STORY

SE"E

Pitcher Mike Norris makes afresh start with the world champion Oakland A's after coming to grips with his substance abuse

MEMBER OF the Oakland Athletics again, having gone 7 years between major league appearances because of a wrenching battle with substance abuse and an ailing shoulder, Mike Norris peered through the mist of memory and focused on New Year's Day 1986.

Norris sat by his locker in the Seattle Kingdome as he began the 1990 season and recalled that day he now considers the lowest of lows: waking up knowing he had gone through $300 in cocaine, but being determined to return to the bar where he had begun his 1986 New Year's celebration.

"There I was at 10 in the morning, in the same place, wearing the same clothes, having the same thing to drink, when I fina lly realized how ridiculous and repulsive I had become," Norris said.

"My self-esteem was zero. I'd brought embarrassment and humiliation to my mom, my family, and myself. I'd been arrested. I'd gone through four drug programs. My career seemed to be over, yet it was weird.

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Now a middle reliever on the A's stellar pitching staff, Norris has few opportunities to step to the mound. In 1980, his best season, he pitched 284 innings with a 2.53 ERA. SECOND LOOK

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V.J. LOVEAO

"There are three things you can look forward to with cocaine: hospitalization, incarceration, and death.

I'd done two of the three."

"As low as I was, I knew I was finally ready to do something about it because I'd had enough. I was tired of it. For the first time, I truly didn't like myself. I mean, the Lord works in mysterious ways.

"I go through $300 in drugs on the last day of '85 and begin '86 knowing I'm through with it. That's why I consider New Year's Day my new birthday. It was the start of my new life."

Insistent that he has been clean since that day, Norris is beginning a new career at 35, a comeback that boggles the mind.

Seven years between appearances? The average major league career lasts about 5 years.

And for Michael Kelvin Norris, who began his major league career by shutting out the Chicago White Sox in 1975 and who was 25 when he won 22 games with the A's in 1980, the larger question, for a time, was how long his life would last.

"There are three things you can look forward to with cocai ne : hospitalization, incarceration, and death," Norris said. ''I'd done two of the three. It was the next step. The only way out of the misery, the madness."

The addict takes it one day at a time.

Today, Norris is a long way from the cheap motels he often woke up in with no recollection of how he arrived.

The $4.3 million he received on a 5-year contract signed after the 1980 season is gone. He will be paid the major league minimum of $100,000 in 1990, but that is far better than the unemployment of 1987 and 1988.

Better yet is the emotional charge of climbing a major league mound again, as he did on April II in Oakland, shutting out the Minnesota Twins for two innings in his first big league appearance since August 6, 1983, a span of 2,439 days. There were standing ovations from a crowd of 27,775, and the public address system blared "What Is Hip" by Tower of Power, his theme during what Norris calls his salad days.

"To know I hadn't been forgotten and to be pitching again in the big leagues was the most incredible feeling I've ever experienced," Norris said. "As high as I was, there was a time I'd have automatically gone out and

gotten loaded, but I don't need it anymore and I don't think about it anymore.

"It's gone, over, past. I blame myself for all the years I could have been productive, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I have to take each day as it comes and build on that."

The A's reopened the door in the spring of 1989, inviting Norris to Arizona and a shot at a minor league contract. In the previous five seasons, he had pitched a total of only 69 innings, all in the minor leagues.

Norris, however, said he never lost hope.

"I don't mean this as a knock at a guy like Tommy John, because he's a great pitcher," Norris said. "But I kept seeing him throw his 79 mph fastball and signing cont ract after contract. That alone was a motivation for me. I kept telling myself, 'I can do that. All I need is a chance.' · "I mean, I felt I was as capable as a lot of other pitchers as well."

Norris spent most of the 1989 season at triple-A Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League, a measure of "character growth," he says, and "a humbling test of will in my favor." He was 6-6 with a 3. 18 earned-run average, and went 3- 1 in his last five starts.

"The more innings I pitch, the stronger my arm is getting and the more velocity I have," Norris said. "I'm at about 84 or 85 [mph] now. I never threw more than 88 anyway, so I' m not that far off. It's no secret that the screwball has always been my 'out ' pitch, and now that I'm seeing a hitter only one time [per game] anyway, I'm going to go with my best pitch."

Ste ve Stone of the Balt imore Orioles won the American League's Cy Young Award in 1980, but no one pitched better than Norris, who worked nine complete games in which he gave up fou r hits or fewer, and was second in the league in victories, ERA, strike-outs, complete games, and innings pitched.

That was the year when the late Billy Martin, then the A's manager, seemed to overwork his young and talented rotation. Norris pitched 284 innings, almost 140 more than the previous year, but he doesn't believe

TRAINING TIP • WITH DAVE STEWART

MIKE AND THE MECHANICS ... OF PITCHING • DAVE STEWART is a world-class pitcher for the former high school catcher, offers the following tips: world champion Oakland Athletics. He has won more • Mechanics Get someone to explain the basic victorie s (62) in tile last 3 years than any other mechanics of throwing a pitch-everything from windAmerican League pitcher. In 1989, Stewart earned the up, to delivery, to balance-just like Mike did for me.

World Series Most Valuable Player award.

You can't always tell what you are doing right and what Of teammate Mike Norris, Dave says, "When 1was just you are doing wrong unless you work with someone coming up in the minors with the Dodgers back in 1975,...,....,........111111 who can watch how you throw.

76, Mike did me a big favor by teaching me the mechan• No fear You need to get over the fear of people hitics of pitching. He got me off to my start in professional ting the ball. The best thing they can do is hit the ball; even then there's a chance for them to be put out if the ball, and that was at a time when he was coming into his own as a major league pitcher." The 9-year veteran rightball is in play. When you look at the averages-good hander continues, "It impressed me to see an athlete l-~~~~e- hitters averag e about three hits out of ten atgive of himself to a young guy coming up who he didn't Dave Stewart bats-things are in the pitcher's favor. even know. He just met me on the field and I asked him if • Play catch I believe that pitching is like playing he would show me some things about pitching. He said sure, and catch with the catcher. When you're playing catch, everything is nice and relaxed and free. The game is much more fun when he wound up turning me around."

And to others who are learning how to pitch, Stewart, himself a you relax. • 6

SECON D L OOK

was that it was sold as an it led to his subsequent shoulder problem. echelon type drug that wasn't addictive."

"My problems developed Norris pau sed, hi s face the next year when we were ou t so long because of the tightening.

"What it is, is the closest strike. I mean, everyone thing to the Devil on Earth," thought the season was over he sa id . " I mean, yo u can and I didn't stay in shape the stop, thinking that if you start way I should have, and when again it will be at the beginwe finally came back [after ning, but it's rea ll y at the missing 52 days] I tried to do same leve l where you too much too soon. Even then, stopped. I don 't know how it didn't really set in as to how bad my arm was until the folmany times I was told that but lowing year." didn 't want to believe it. I had to experience it for myself. It Norris finished with a 12-9 was frightening." record in '81, and attempted to On that morning in 1986, the pitch through the pain in '82 first morning of the new year, and ' 83 , producing a combined record of 11 -16 and Norris recogni zed that he would have to come to grips making hi s last big league wi th it by himself, that he appearance-before this year - in August 1983. would finally have to live alone for a time, isolate himse lf, That Nove mber, he had rebuild his self-esteem. surgery to repair nerve blockThroughout the ordeal and age in his shoulder. recovery, there were friends " When a doctor tell s you who provided support. Among that you have only a 30 percent them, Norris said, were Dave chance of pitching again, after OON STOCK Stewart, Rickey Henderson, being the best pitcher in the Receiving several standing ovations upon Claude ll Washin gton, and game only 2 years before, it's a his return to the A's lineup, says Mike, was tremendous blow," Norris said. "the most awesome thing I ever experienced Norris' attorney, John Lence.

He also cited his mother's "I was told not to pick up a ball in my career." unwavering love, the patience for a full year. The problem was, I should have been comof the A's front office, and a ing to the park and staying in shape. Instead, I stayed pivotal meeting in the spring of 1986 with a Bay Areahome with people I thought were my friends. I mean, based flight attendant named Lenise Patrick.

Norris began an impromptu conversation with her '84 was a nightmare."

Involved in drugs since 1979, Norris said the injury on a flight from Chicago, after he had met earlier in and surgery took his use to new levels. the day with then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth in New York, been robbed by a teenager who promised He was arrested for possession at an Oakland hotel and to secure Norris a cab amid the snow in Manhattan, again while driving on Interstate 580, but the charges were dropped in exchange for his enrollment in rehabiliand was forced to take a later fl ight when he missed his original connection because of his fu tile pursuit of tation programs that didn't help him cure his problem.

Why did he start using drugs in the first place? the thief. " I' ve beaten myself up looking for a reason and It was as if he and Patrick were destined to meet.

"For 3 straight hours we talked about nothing but never fo und it," said Norris, a San Francisco high school star who carried the weight of great expectations God and the Bible," he said. "She was beautiful, intelliinto a major league career with his hometown team, his gent, different from anyone I had ever met."

They have been together since, and plan to get mardoor always open, his'phone always ringing.

"It's amazing how ignorant! was to think some peo- ried this winter. Norris credits her with helping him ple were my friends. As soon as my life started to go cope with his insecurities. His highs now, he said, come down the tubes and I couldn' t do anything more for through his Christian faith and an awareness of spiritual them, they were like rats jumping off a sinking ship. I and environmental beaut y. "For 5 or 6 years I was mean, the phone suddenly stopped ringing. I suddenly laughing on the outside and crying on the inside," he found out who my real friends were. But I don't blame said. "Now I can look myself in the mirror and say, 'You're a decent human being.' My self-esteem is back. anyone else. " I thin k there were several factors, including the I don't worry and wonder about how I screwed it up. superficiality of the game itself. There's so much idle The Lord has rewarded me."

The A's, of course, are monitoring his progress time that it can easily happen. There was a lot of drug use in baseball then. It 's amazing now to see how the through random testing-both in the laboratory and on game has cleaned itself up, but it became a social thing the mound. â&#x20AC;˘ to do throughout the league then.

Copyright, 1990, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted by permission.

"And the big lure, the big deception with cocaine,

TTTTTTTTTTTT MIKE NORRIS went to church every Sunday while he was growing up. So how did he get so involved with drugs?

"It was peer pressure, wanting to be like one of the other guys," he says. "I didn't let God help me."

Just like being born in a bakery wouldn't make you a loaf of bread, being born to a family that goes to church doesn't automatically make you a Christian.

Mike realized the resources were there to beat the drugs and that he had to make a choice. Now he is focu sing his energy on staying clean. "The Lord fixed my life.

Now all I'm trying to do is walk His path ."

Like Mike, each of us has to decide how to respond to what we hear. Will we just say no, or will we give in to peer pressure? Will we heed the warnings about drugs, or will we take the risk? Which path will you follow? â&#x20AC;˘

S E CON D L OOK

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DRUGS â&#x20AC;˘ FEATURE

Steroids indirectly touched Jill Sterkel's swimming career in 1976 and 1988.

Between the headlines is a dedicat worked Oly

woman in the world has won medals in Olympic Games 12 years apart. Now in her 30th year of life, after being a member of four U.S. Olympic teams, Jill Sterkel is ready to .. . try to make the U.S. team once more, this time to compete at the World Championships in January of 1991.

Her preparations recently brought her to the U.S. .Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs. Altitude trai ni ng they call it- up where the air is clear (hopefully), and thinner (definitely) than back home in Austin, Texas-{)r most other places you can swim in the United States, for that matter.

Sterkel is still competing because she likes to challenge her abil ities. She will have to swim the 50 meter freestyle in about 25.3 to 25.5 seconds at the July qualifying meet in order to make the World Championship team. Her best time in the event to date is 25.5. But somewhere inside her, Jill feels there is more potential she has yet to tap.

"I'd like to find if there is some way I can go faster," she says.

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"I had my personal best time in the 50 at Seoul in 1988, and I was 27 then. I know I can do it. It's just a matter of going from point A to point B"-a rather modest simplification of the complicated mechani cs of stroke technique, breathing, strength , and endurance, combined with a dash of the physics of surface tension and resistance.

Her life right now, however, is less than ideal for refining her skills and sharpening her considerable strength in order to shave mere hundredths-of-a-second off her time. As an ass istant sw imm ing coac h for th e 1990 NCAA champi on Lady Longhorns, and as a student working towards a masters degree in sports admin istration, training time is at a premium. Not to mention the difficulty of enteri ng enough meets to keep her competitive edge. " It has been hard during the year. This is definitely not an effecti ve way to train," she says of her hectic schedule. "The week after we won the NCAAs [in March], I

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swam in the National Short Course championships, and I only did average."

If a powerful world-class athlete wants to label her fourth place finish in the 50 yard freestyle and her gold medal in the 400 yard relay at the national championships as "average," perhaps it is not wise to disagree.

"But I couldn't expect to do better for the way I've been able to train. There's no way I could do better and still live," laughs the veteran of some 15 years of international competition. "I simply have to work. U.S. Swimming helps a little, but you still have to have at least a parttime job."

Sterkel's first experience in a swimming pool was that of clinging to the side in abject fear: she didn 't like the water. But at 5 years of age, Jill began swimming lessons. And the rest, as they say, is history.

She rose to national prominence in the sport, and she achieved international acclaim by winning a gold and a silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games. She qualified for her first U.S. Olympic team in 1976.

Jill still holds seven of the top-10 best times- including the record-in the 100 butterfly at the University of Texas, but her Olympic fame has come in the freestyle sprints.

The Games that year were in Montreal, Quebec, and the East German women were dominating the pool am id repeated criti cism that they were "doing things" to help them go faster. To Jill, who had just turned 15, the allegations that the East German women had become competitive swimming machines by using steroids seemed more like rumors.

"You have to remember, I was pretty naive. At training camp I heard all the talk, but it didn 't seem li ke anyth ing had been proven," she recalls. "Besides, if I were to condemn them all, saying they were all on drugs, there's no way I could go in to try to beat them, because I'd have already sold myself short. I felt good about the training I was doing, and that was enough for me."

As the events came and went in Montreal, however, the East Gem1ans kept winning races. In fact, they captured II of the first 12 gold medals. In the thi1teenth and final swimming event, 15-year-

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"Part ol qualifying lor the team is passing the drug tests, too."

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old Jill Sterkel and her teammates surprised the world by winning the 400 meter freestyle relay. It was the only gold medal the U.S. women would win at the 1976 Olympics.

Looking back with the perspective of history and the subsequent revelations of how much steroids had inn uenced the results, Jill is somewhat disheartened at having worked so hard without being able to test herself fairly agai nst the best in the world. "To me it doesn't make sense to use steroids. It's like cheating to give yo urself an advantage and then winning. It just wouldn 't be satisfying," she says. "The essence of sport is challenging yourself, measuring yourself aga inst other swimmers and ultimately against the clock. But I' ll never know if I could have been the best, and that's frustrating to me. I don 't want to make excuses, because maybe they were better. On the one hand you wonder, and on the other all you can do is look at the results."

After the disappointment of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boycott- in which Jill was picked to win three gold medals-she wasn't looking ahead to 1984, much less 1988. But once again steroids would play an indirect role in her career, this time with an ironic twist.

Jill retired from swimming after earning a gold medal at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. While swimming for exercise in 1987- rehabilitating her knee following surgery-she decided to take a run at Seoul in '88. At the Trials that year in her home town of Austin, Jill barely missed qualifying in event after event. She was seventh at 100 meters, while only the top six qualified.

She fell seven-hundredths of a second short of a second place finish in the 50 meter race; only the top two in that event would make the U.S. team.

But her tearful disappointment was surprisingly turned around when teammate Angel Myers, the top finisher in the freestyle sprints, tested positive for steroids and was dropped from the team. Although she felt bad for Myers, Jill was overjoyed to be named to replace her. "It came as a complete surprise. I would have preferred getting to the team differently," she says, "but I had worked hard to get myself into position to be third. And part of qualifying for the team is passing the drug tests, too."

Sterkel recently attended a presentation about drugs in sports and was discouraged by what she heard from the speaker. "He said that we'd never be able to completely remove drugs from sports. It's awful that winning at any cost means so much. If wi nning and money and recognition- instead of challenging yourself to do the best you can-are the only reasons for sport, then I guess he's right."

As for her own competitive drive"Jill says, "I'd rather do it on my own. If you take steroids, it 's not you competing, it's the substance. Unfortunately, a lot of people think it will make them better. Sure, it may increase performance for that time period. But what happens down the road a few years? All the time now we' re hearing about athletes turning up dead. And I can't believe athletes would want to trade medals for death."

Confronted with the argument that everybody's doing it, and that you can' t hope to compete against them unless you do too, Sterkel counters that that's simply a cop out. "It's just cheating. If you 're trying to test yourself to the fullest in sports, then why do it wrong? How excited can you be over your accomplishments if you cheated to get there? It would be li ke wearing fins in a

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race," she quips. "For me, it would be a compromise of my beliefs to use drugs to try to swim faster.

"The bottom line is that I was given th is talent by God, and it has been a blessing for me. To tarnish that by using steroids would be like saying to God, ' You didn't make it good enough.' It would be like slapping Him in the face and saying that I can do it better."

At the Olympic Games in Seoul, Jill did it better than she ever did before, and she went one up on any other woman in sports history. At 27 years of age- 12 years after winning her first Olympic medal- Sterkel captu red an individual bronze in the 50 meter freestyle, turn ing in her personal best time in the event.

Ironicall y, she ti ed with an East Genm n, Katrin Meissner, for the third place finish. The top U.S. qualifier at the trials, Leigh Ann Fetter, fi nished fifth .

Sterkel received a second bronze medal as an alternate on the 400 meter relay team.

But according to Jill, the medals and records aren't important aspects of her life now, even though she continues to compete in swimming. "They're a reminder of those times, but it's just history for people to know and see. I'm glad it doesn't come up all the time," she says laughing. "I like being just Jill Sterkel, not Jill Sterkel, comma, former Olympic medalist. That's not a big part of my life now, and I like people to accept me for who I am, not for what I' ve done."

Or what she will do. Back at the University of Texas, where she continues to prepare for the '91 World Championships, she is regarded as the catalyst around whom one of the dominant swimming programs in the country was built. As an assistant coach since 1984, Jill has helped coach Texas to six NCAA championships in the last 7 years. And she continues to contribute from both the deck and the pool as a coach and mentor for the younger swimmers.

"I have to keep in mind that when I'm in the water tra in ing alongside the team , I' m still a coach.

Sometimes that's hard when I'm not doi ng as we ll as I'd like," she confesses. "But I try to have a good attitude, since my input to the team is as much in my example as it is in what I say."

In 1983 the university honored Sterkel's contribution ¡to the swimmi ng program by creating the Jill Sterkel Leadership Award. It has been presented to the top female athlete at the school every year since.

In her own college career from 1979-1983, Jill won 20 national titles. She helped lead the Texas to AIAW national titles in 198 1 and 1982. She was also the overwhelming choice for the 198 1 Broderick Cup, honoring her as the most outstanding female athlete- among all sports- in the nation. And Jill 's school record in the I00 butterny, set in 198 1, still stands.

To stand next to this nearly 6-foot powerhouse of water-churning strength is to be impressed. But the impression belies the gentle spirit within. Quiet, somewhat shy, and only occasionally rowdy, Jill also seems to enjoy mak ing people laugh, including her teammates. One of her biggest kicks is cavorting through a game of water polo, which she has taken up in recent years. And if women's water polo should ever become an Olympic event, don't be surprised to see her on the victory stand, once again extending her world record span of medal-winning years. â&#x20AC;˘

DRUGS â&#x20AC;˘ FOR ATHLETES

The results of steroid use in training can keep you on pins and needles

BY DR. GLENN ToWN Dt: Glenn Town is director of the exercise physiology lab at Wheaton College. He is also a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and a frequent contributor to Second Look. In this article, he reviews some of the current medical information about steroids.

SIDE FROM the wide!y discussed rul es prohibiting the use of steroids in sports, what do we actually know about their effects on the human body?

The term "anabolic . . .. . steroids," or simply "steroids," refers to a group of powerful compounds that act like natural male hormones. Unfortunately for the scientific community, steroids can't legally or safely be tested in the laboratory at the same levels they are abused by athletes. But many ham1ful effects have been seen in athletes using them without supervision, and even in patients being treated with the substances under a physician 's care.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently announced plans to study the evidence that users of anabolic steroids become psychologically dependent on them. A study publi s h ~d in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1988 discussed this dependency: more than one in four heavy users of anabolic steroids said they would not quit, even if the drugs were certain to increase their risk of liver cancer, heart attack, or sterility.

It is unfortunate that early

male secondary sex characteristics (such as deepening of the voice, reduction in breast size, male-pattern balding, beard growth, etc.) remain after cessation of steroid use.

The effects on the central nervous system are also significant, including increased moodiness and aggressive behavior, as well as a reduced sex drive.

The information available on the effects of these drugs on younger athletes is scarce. But it is expected that

efforts to educate people about steroids were directed toward discounting their actual effectiveness. It is now generally acknowledged that steroids can be shown to enhance performance by increasing strength, body weight, and muscle mass, w h~n used in conjunction with a weight train ing program.

They have not, however, been shown to increase respiratory or cardiovascular capacity or performance in endurance events, although they are being considered for use in enhancing recovery rates. Today strength and speed, tomorrow faster recovery: there will always be new ways to abuse your body by taking steroids. But now more than ever, the serious risks involved in

using steroids are becoming widely known. .

The liver is readily affected by steroid use, as it plays a central role in the breakdown of many drugs. Studies show that liver structure and function can be seriously damaged by the use of high doses of steroids.

Steroids have also been associated with an increase in the number of risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease.

Some research even suggests that steroid use can lead to damage to the heart muscle itself.

The effects of steroid use on the male reproductive system include reductions in sperm production and tissue changes within the testes. Females taking steroids have been found to have reduced

steroids used prior to or during puberty would have a greater impact than does adult steroid use. This is because young people normally have lower concentrations of the natural form of these compounds in their blood.

The medical consensus on steroids suggests that adverse effects will result from their abuse. Until considerably more research has been completed, caution should be emphasized where steroids are concerned: their use by athletes is potentially hazardous. â&#x20AC;˘ Summary brochures and copies of ACSM position stands and opinion papers are available from: Public Information Departme/11, American College of Sports Medicine, P.O. Box 1440, /ndianapolis, Indiana 46206-1440.

SEC OND LOOK

11

DRUGS â&#x20AC;˘ FEATURE

HERE YOU ARE, stretched out in Dad's easy chair, a bag of corn chips in one hand and the TV remote in the other. The track and field competition you're watching is interrupted by a "Just Say No" public service announcement. So, you hit the button for WGN just in time to hear legendary Chicago Cubs sportscaster Harry Caray warble about his favorite beer and his favorite team. Skip to the next channel and the same beer company advises, "Know when to say when." Find a golf tournament in progress, and who do you see during the commercial break but Ron Cey and Bob Uecker pitching lite beer.

Talk about mixed messages. Advertising campaigns tell kids that "drinking alcohol looks very glamorous, that it's the macho thing to do," says Bob Newton, former offensive guard for the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks. "To be a beautiful woman you have to drink wine coolers. To have any fun at all you have to have a beer in your hand." Newton, a recovering alcoholic who is now a lic ensed chem ical dependency counselor in the Seattle area, says "by the time kids are 18 years old they are going to receive more than I00,000 messages to drink."

Newton recalls an article written about how alcoholism Beer belting baseball broadimpaired his personal life and caster Harry Caray loves his Cubs and invites singalong career and about his subse- fans to join him in a brew. quent recovery. "It was published in a magazine distributed to every coach in college football. I mentioned in that article that my main problem was beer drinking, and on the back page of that article was a full-page beer ad." Newton protested to the editor, who said the magazine, published by the college football association, would continue to accept advertising for beer.

But there's more than advertising involved in this.

Baseball players are saluted with "This Bud's for you!"

STEPHEN GREEN

l2

SECOND LOOK

while vendors in some parks shut down beer sales after the sixth or seventh inning. Brawls that break out among the inebriated in the stands are sometimes cheered. Some still think it's cute, or maybe macho, to drink.

On one hand, young people are told that drinking impairs judgment, slows reflexes, and ruins a person's health. On the other hand, as a society we seem to encourage fascination with the glamorous, fast-lane lifestyles of high-profile athletes. In the past, hungover players who could still savage the opposition or hit home runs were considered heroes.

We also warn of the evils of cocaine and other addictive drugs, pointing to the overdose deaths of NBA first-round draft pick Len Bias and Don D~uo testing and Rodgers of the Cleveland Browns. In the meantime, enforcement Sports Illustrated and other sources have charged that the in spo~ts have been NFL drug testing and enforce..................................................... ment program is erratic: " ... sadly e~~atic the league had in certain cases ignored positive tests for cocaine and in other cases taken action against players whose urine contained traces of marijuana byproducts too minute to be conclusive."'

Anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are yet another critical matter. Recent ev idence indicates that steroid abuse can contribute to emotional outbursts and increased violence, as well as a myriad of physical ailments including acne, jaundice, heart and liver disease, sterility, testicul ar at_rophy, and body hair and deeper voices in women. And, while they may increase strength and muscle size, Newton believes athletes who use steroids are more injury prone. "Their muscle mass may be stronger, but their tendons and ligaments that are holding the muscle mass to the bone do not grow larger and become weak," he says, based on his observations of athletes on steroids.

In spite of the warnings, though, "there is a high prevalence of steroid use in high school, college, and the pros," Newton says. "I know there are parents and coaches who are encouraging kids to use steroids to get that edge."

Federal Drug Administration Commissioner Frank Young

BY SARA L. ANDERSON SE C OND

LOOK

13

Some athletes are motivated to use steroids for reasons beyond

.....................................................

becnming atop athlete

estimates that 10 percent of all high school students use steroids.2 So why do athletes risk their health- their very lives? "We have this philosophy of winning at all costs," Newton says. "Tt starts with kids playing Little League baseball and then football. You have coaches demanding that they win. They develop self-esteem by winning. If that means costs to their health, so be it."

Ron Evans, son of former Seahawk star Norm Evans, and himself a former UCLA noseguard, says he first heard about steroid use among weightlifters the end of his senior year in high school. "I heard that some of my friends were doing it- they didn't tell me but I found out," he recalls. Why did they do it? "There's pressure to win at all costs," he says. "All the pros are big and strong, and when you're young that's the easy way out.

"I never had pressure from a coach [to use steroids]," Evans says, add ing that he did feel pressure from coaches to bulk up. At 235 pounds, Ron played opposite linemen 55 pounds heavier, whom he suspected of being anabolic steroid users. Even deliberate overeating didn't put on the weight Evans felt he needed. The issue for Ron, however, was neutralized when he was sidelined after his third knee injury.

Some athletes appare ntly are motivated to use steroids for reasons beyond becoming a top athlete. In Ashtabula, Ohio, Benji Ramirez, a 17-year-old defensive tackle, collapsed during practice and died of an

apparent heart attack. Benji died of cardiac arrhythmia, caused in his case by an enlarged and diseased heart.

The coroner stated in his autopsy report that he believed the use of anabolic steroids contributed to the young man's death.

But "Benji was not a diehard football player. He used steroids because he wanted to be big and get girls," one of his friends said .J Evans says the ego boost that steroids produce gives young athletes added incentive to use them.

So much for the hand-wringing over the problem.

What do we do about it? First, there are some indications that attitudes are changing. The January 8, 1990, Sports 11/ustrated reported the deaths of former baseball player and manager Billy Martin and Hall of Fame hockey star Doug Harvey. Martin died of injuries sustained in an alco hol-related automobi le accident.

Harvey died of cirrhosis of the liver.

"Both men lived hard, drank hard, and died too soon," the author stated with a tone of sadness. "Harvey and Martin were products of an era in which pro athletes were all but expected to be hard drinkers. Drinking was an act of manhood, and drunkenness was fodder for jokes," the article went on. "'We used to tease each other about whose liver was going to go first,' said Martin's old drinking buddy and Yankee teammate Mickey Mantle last week." The conclusion: "Alcohol plagued the lives of Harvey and Martin, and it cut them short."4 JONATliAN OA.NlEliALl SPORT

For the fifth straight season, All-Star Glenn Davis led the Astros in home runs (34). But Davis declined to be toasted by a beer company for each circuit.

14

SECOND LOOK

track and field, has begun a tougher In his biography The Mick, Mantle program of more testing for steroids, himself expresses regret that his heavy masking agents and diuretics, the last drinking put great stress on his family and may have shortened his career by of which are used to flush steroids a few years. from the body.

Still, eve n with tes ting and Then there's Houston Astros first threats of suspension, steroid use baseman Glenn Davis, who asked that may not drop significantly unless team announcers not toast him with athletes' perspectives on winning, "Thi s Bud's for you " after every fame, and their future undergo radihome run. Davis explained, "I speak cal change. Evans, while glad that to a lot of kids about alcohol abuse. I he could play football for a time speak about morals and ethics and and receive an ed ucation from a values. So I was very concerned about big- name school , has advice for being portrayed as a person who leads hi gh school all-Americans with a double-standard kind of life, saying their eyes on college stardom and one thing and doing another."s Newton, who also works as public the pros. "College football is overrated; pro football is overrated. relations director for Valley General Guys don ' t realize until they 've Hospital in Monroe, Washington, and counsels 14-to-24 year old chemical- In 18 years with the Yankees, been in college 3 or 4 years that they're just numbers," he says. ly dep end ent men at the Circle S Mickey Mantle was a 20-time And Newton points to the fact that Recovery Ran ch in near by All-Star and three-time MVP. Leavenworth, believes drastic steps But the era's most popular a minute percentage of college player regrets the cost of his seniors actually play in the pros and should be taken. He favors banning heavy drinking. "the average football player in the all alcohol advertising, a two-billionNFL plays 3 years ... if you make dollar-a-year proposition. "It's a sad it. " He adds, "I would stay away commen tary to any athlete who from anything that's going to endanger the rest of your played professional sports to get up there with a beer in his hand and influence young kids," he says. "It's a sad future and to concentrate on schooling. When you're out commentary by any professional sport that any of its of football, you're forgotten and you still have the rest activities are promoted by the alcohol industry." of your life to live."

Newton, who often speaks to young people in schools So the next time you're couched in front of your TV, trying to sort through the mixed messages, remember that and other settings, urges that abstinence from alcohol be a pervasive part of elementary school curriculum. "The you are the one who decides what path to follow. Steroids may give you a temporary edge; recreational drugs may average age to start drinkin g is now 9," he says.

'Talking prevention to a teenager is basically useless; offer a temporary high. But the message athletes-and you talk prevention in elementary school. When you' re the rest of us- must listen to is that the results of drug in high school you talk intervention and treatment."

More stories about the downside of taking steroids and alcohol abuse will are also surfacing, as in the case of Benji Ramirez' last a lifetime ... however long or short that may death. Witness also Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson's loss of a world record and the Olympic gold medal, and turn out to be. • former professional football player Steve Courson's Sara L. Anderson is need for a heart transplant as a result of his steroid use.

Or even former top-twenty heavyweight boxer Bob the editorial director of Bristol Books in Hazelton 's tragic loss of both legs to blood clots and gangrene, resulting- you guessed it- from his use of Wilmore, Kentucky, and a frequent conanabolic steroids.

Horror stories notwithstanding, a player who thinks a tributor to Second big-name college scliolarship or a pro contract is only Look. When pressed, she will admit to a inches away is probably less than eager to be educated mild, though not cliniabout the dangers of steroid use. "One problem with cal, "addiction" to trying to educate youth is that young people tend to chocolate. believe they're immortal," says a report in the FDA Consumer. "Death, they think, is for old people.

I. "Scorecard," Spom lll11strated, June 26, 1989, p.l9.

Another difficulty is that many of the bad effects of steroids might not show up for a decade or two after the 2. "TI1e Death of An Athlete," Sports lllllstrated, February 20, user begins taking the drugs. Cadiovascular problems 1989, p.75.

3. 1bid., p.72. and liver tumors I 0 years down the road aren't going to 4. "Scorecard," Sports get much consideration from a high school senior trying lll11strated, June 26, 1989, p.7. to make first-string linebacker."6 5. "They Did The Right Thing," People Weekly, Fall, 1989.

The NFL, which began testing for steroids in training 6. "Athletes and Steroids: Playing camp in 1987, has proposed to do more random testing, a Deadly Game," FDA and The Athletics Congress (TAC), which governs U.S. Cons11mer, November, 1987, p.21.

THISIS THEFDA-APPROVED labeling for one anabolic steroid, carried on the package insert.

NOTE: The adverse readions on the label have been noted when the drug Is taken inprescribed amounts. Athletes often take these drugs in much higher doses. t

WARNINGS: • Peliosis hepatis, a condition inwhich liver and sometimes splenic tissue is replaced with blood-filled cysts, has been reported in patients receiving androgenic anabolic steroid ther· apy. These cysts are sometimes present with minimal hepatic dys· function, but at other times they have been associated with liver failure. They are often not recog· nized unUI life·threatening liver failure or intra-abdominal hemorrhage develops. Withdrawal of drug usually results in complete disappearance of lesions.

• Liver cell tumors are also re· ported. Most often these tumors are benign and androgen·depen· dent, but fatal malignant tumors have been reported. Withdrawal of drug often results in regression or cessation of progression of the tumor. However, hepatic tumors associated with androgens or anabolic steroids are much more vascular than other hepatic tumors and may be silent until life·threatening intra·abdominal hemorrhage develops.

• Blood lipid changes that are known to be associated with in· creased risk of atherosclerosis are seen in patients treated with androgens and anabolic steroids.

These changes include decreased high·density lipopro· tein and sometimes increased low·density lipoprotein. The changes may be very marked and could have a serious impact on the risk of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. t Source: FDA Consumer, November 1987

SECOND LOOK

IS

TEVE HOWE was going to be baseball's wondrugs and to change my life. I simply could not do der kid of the I980s. The ace left-handed relief it without Christ. I had the best treatment centers, pitcher was the I980 National League Rookie of the best psychologists that man could offer, and it the Year as a Los Angeles Dodger. He helped didn't work. But as soon as I made a total committhe Dodgers win the World Series in 198I and ment to Christ in 1988, things started to happen. was selected to the All-Star team in '82. In Kyle: We've had a chance to talk to some other 1983, pitching better than eve1; he had em ERA people, li ke John Lucas. You may be familiar with of 0.00 until June 29. But he was later suspendhis comeback from substance abuse to be able to ed from baseball for cocaine addiction. In and play agai n in the NBA. John mentioned that his out of relwb, Steve seemingly blew every chance addiction began long before he ever got involved with drugs. So how do you break the cycle? he got. But that was then. Now he's clean, and hoping to stay that way. When Kyle Rote Jr. Steve: You break the cycle by turning your life talked with Steve about his over to Christ and letting DRUGS â&#x20AC;˘ INTERVIEW Him dictate your life. And we remarkable story, he was pitching and coaching for all have to be accountable to the Salinas Spurs, an indesomebody. There's a network pendent minor league team. of churches, and every town I get in I call the church immediately, and I make myself Kyle: One of the first things I'm curious about is, it's got to feel good just to be back. accountable to somebody. I go to these people and say, Steve: Absolutely. It 's been a long hard ''I'm having a hard time with battle. But the Lord requires us to go through trials. And with that He shows this today. Someti mes l strugwhat He can do in your life. I've made gle with this." It's just honest mistakes in my life, and I paid dearly tal k about where I'm at that for them, but for the first time in my day. life, I can say that things are okay.

Kyle: Has it been difficult Kyle: Are people at all skeptical to get away from the people, of your ability, both to pitch and to as yo u pointed ou t in your stay clean? How do you analyze book Between the Lines, who were "ju st waitin g to do those areas of your life as you look drugs with Steve Howe"? toward the possibility of someone offering you another chance at the Steve: This year, 1990, is an exact paral lel to 1986 , major leagues? when I was in San Jose. The Steve: I don't think anyone has Lord gave me an opportunity ever questioned my abil ity. They know I can pitch. Hey, I'm leftto learn then, but I wanted to do it my own way. So consehanded and lefties are tou gh to find. I throw the ball 90 mph quently I fell.

This year, I've run across consistently, and that's maybe I percent of major league baseball pitchers. the same people, I've been in the same circumThe most skepticism is about whether I have stances, I'm in the same league, I'm doing the changed my life around and got it in order. . same things, and the Lord has carried me through And the only thing I can do about that is walk those things. That's the difference. Because I've as I talk. put my trust in Him. All that the Lord requires of There are other factors too: I'm tested for us, I'm finally realizing, is that we rely on Him. drugs every other day. But I'm not worried And His promise is that He will carry us through. about my future. A guy asked me one time, So I just hang on to that.

"What do you think. your chances are?"

Kyle: You've been around an industry, as I And I said, " Well, if it 's God's will , have for a long time, in which we point out role they 're 100 percent." If He doesn't want models. How do you view the responsibility of me in baseball, He's got something bet- athletes to be role models? ter for me, and I guess I' II do that.

Steve: When I talk to kids today, I tell them Kyle: I was reall y im pressed that as a professional athlete I have a responsibility recently when a former general man- to conduct myself in a good manner. But I also tell ager of yours, Harry Stavronos, them that God's Word should be our standard. We from the San Jose club you were should have God as our role model, not man. I on, was reported as saying that the don't care who you are, if you' re making fifty mildifference in your life is one word: lion dollars a year- which is what kids so often Christ. foc us on, or they foc us on some aspect of you r Steve: That's the truth. I tried game, rather than your walk in life. If you base to do what I could to get off your values on what man does, somewhere along

Suspended from baseball six times, former Dodger Steve Howe is back on the mound, trying to earn another shot at the major leagues

WITH KYLE RoTE JR.

SECON D

LOOK

17

the line, you know, we all fall short of the glory of God. But He tells us to put our eyes on Him, and that He'll carry us through anything.

Now if you need some help, I'll try to help you. But please, don 't model yourself after me. Model yourself after Jesus and you can't go wrong.

Kyle: One person in your life who seemingly didn't fall was your wife, Cindy. She was strong enough, not only in her love for you but also in her love for the Lord, to do the unpopular thing, which was to stay with you.

Steve: She definitely is a gift. And God gave her a gift to hang on to that love. It had to become very unconditional , because at that time I didn't have anything to give her. I was spiritually bankrupt. The world today says, "If you don 't like something, get riel of it."

That 's totally the opposite of what the Bible says. It 's happening all over, so I consider it a true miracle that we're together today.

Kyle: It's fantastic the way things have turned out for you. But we don't want people to think that it's a fairy tale-that there was no damage or hurt. What are some of the costs of working through a crisis like this, phys ically, emotionally, or from a family standpoint?

Steve: The number one cost was the lost time Cindy and I could have spent together, which we will never recover. In a material sense, it probably cost me in the area of six million dollars. My family would have been financially set for life. But in looking at that, the Lord has shown me that if I'd had the six million dollars, I probably would have killed myself the way I was going, and I probably wouldn't have looked to Him. So the cost . . . it's only money. But it has meant total redemption in my family, and that 's the key. The family is intact.

Kyle: And then you were given the opportunity to join a minor league team, and you pitched very well going into May. Were you disappointed about having to have am1 surgery?

Steve: Actually, it was a blessing in disguise. I was throwing the ball 90-plus miles-per-hour with a torn labrum in my shoulder and I didn't know it, pitching through tremendous amounts of pain. I hadn' t even given up a single run at Salinas. So I went in and got it taken care of, and I was throwing again 2 weeks after the surgery, only without the pain. The doctors were saying, "This thing is unbelievable." And I said, "Yeah, but it's believable to me, because I know that God is capable of doing anything."

Kyle: Any concerns about your future in baseball?

Steve: Som etime~ my wife and l get a little antsy, because we don 't know where we're going to go. It's that blind faith we' re choosing to follow-we trust in things that we can't see. I told my wife the other day, what's funn y is that God already knows. If I'm going to be playing baseball, He knows what uniform I'm going to be weari ng, He knows the days I' m going to be pitching, He knows how I' m going to do, He knows how much I'm going make, and He knows what I'm going to do with that money when I make it. I said, "That's God! So why should we won¡y about it?" God's already got the plan worked out-He already knows.

Kyle: Now that you r priorities have changed, do you think you can accept living without baseball aga in if you have to, if that's part of God's plan?

Steve: Yes. That 's what I had to come to grips with 18

SECOND LOOK

Howe had 10 strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA in the nine innings he pitched for Salinas before his injury.

Known affectionately to his teammates as "The General," Steve is also the Spurs pitching coach.

I was so confused, I didn't know whether to wake up or throw a slider or go. to sleep, or cry or laugh

when I took that year off. I had to give up baseball because I knew that as long as l had baseball, at that point in time, I wasn't going to sell out to God. I had to take that year and place myself in someone else's hands and say, "Heal me, fix me. Give me some answers." He did that. And by also giving me a clear mind- renewing my mind- He enabled me to make some clear decisions.

Why do I want to play baseball? Number one, it's what l do-it's what I do best. Number two, to provide financiall y for my family. Num ber three, the Lord allowed me to walk away from the game, having shaken the drug issue. And that is a testimony to what Christ can do. So even if I only throw one pitch, even if I don't get back into the major leagues, the drug cloud is removed.

Kyle: We occasionall y hear talk that the Dodgers still haven't been able to replace you. There must be some pride in that, but also a sense of loss for what could have been.

Steve: In the baseball world, that's good to hear.

But when I was with the Dodgers, it was a really di fficult time for all of us. I was so confused, I didn't know whether to wake up or throw a slider or go to sleep, or cry or laugh or whatever. When I was on the baseball field, that 's where I got all my self-esteem, and so my values were placed in wins and losses.

Unfortunately, we're not always going to win. But with Christ, we can be winners. The things of the world aren't necessarily going to go our way all the time, but we wi ll wi n in life. The world is goi ng to throw us change-ups and curves and sliders every single day. With the strength of Jesus Christ, we can overcome that.

Kyle: What practical insights do you have for a young person who's dealing with that peer pressure to have that first drink or to experiment with drugs for the ftrst time?

Steve: Here are some real simple things. Take them to heart. First, if somebody who claims to be your friend puts demands on you that you must drink or do drugs to be his friend, he definitely is not your friend. Number two, at any time that you're weighing the pros and cons of what you should or shouldn't do, just ask yourself one simple question: Would Christ do this? Would Christ sit down and smoke a joint? Would Christ go out and get drunk? Would Christ beat up His neighbor? And if you don't know Jesus, you give Him a try, and then you compare your life to the way it was before Christ.

Like it says in the Bible, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." If God didn't de liver on His promises, He wouldn't be God. I can't put it any simpler than that.

Kyle: Steve, your life certainly is an example of "W hat does it profit a man to gain the who le world"-even six million dollars-"if he should lose his own soul." You' ve already achieved a greater victory than any World Series could ever give you, and you've overcome yourself and allowed God to begin to li ve through you by giv ing you r life back to Him. Although most of our readers will never be able to play pro baseball, all of us must face that same challenge of who's going to be in charge, us or the Lord. â&#x20AC;˘

A former pro soccer player and three-time winner of ABC-TV's "Superstars" competition, Kyle is also a TV sports commentator and speaker from Memphis, Tennessee. His interviews with sports personalities appear in each issue of Second Look.

many games did it take Wilt to reach the l 0,000 point mark?

A. 2 15 B. 23 1 C. 236 D. 25 1

BY RICK YORK

13.

Who was the first player to have 200 steals and 200 blocked shots in the same season?

14.

How many times did the Lakers reach the NBA Finals during the 1980s?

15.

Who broke Gale Sayers' NFL record for total yards by a rookie?

A. Marcus Allen B. Eric Dickerson C. Tim Brown D. Curt Warner

1. Who had the most hits from

7. Who had the most hits from

1980-89?

A. Eddie Murray B. Robin Yount C. Wade Boggs D. Dale Murphy

1960-69?

A. Hank Aaron B. Willie Mays C. Roberto Clemente D. Frank Robinson

2. Who had the most RBI from

8. Which pitcher had the most

1980-89?

A. Eddie Murray B. Dale Murphy C. Mike Schmidt D. Dave Winfield

3.

Which pitcher had the most victories from 1980-89?

A. Fernando Valenzuela B. Dave Steib C. Nolan Ryan D. Jack Morris

4. Which pitcher had the most victories from 1970-79?

A. Gaylord Perry B. Tom Seaver C. Steve Carlton D. Jim Palmer

5. Who hit the most home runs from 1970-79?

A. Reggie Jackson B. Willie Stargell C. Johnny Bench D. Lee May (Top to bottom): Murray, Yount, Boggs and Murphy; Who had the most hits in the '80s?

8. Who hit the most home runs from 1960-69?

A. Hank Aaron B. Willie Mays C. Harmon Killebrew D. Willie McCovey

18.How many seasons did Tom Landry coach the Dallas Cowboys?

A. 26 B. 27 C. 28 D. 29

17.

Which record did the Pittsburgh Steelers' Harry Newsome set in 1989?

18.

strikeouts from 1960-69?

A. Sandy Koufax B. Jim Bunning C. Don Drysdale D. Bob Gibson

True or False? Pete Weber has won the Professional Bowlers Association's three major events (The National Championship, The Firestone Tournament, and The U.S. Open).

9.

19. Who was the first woman

Which NBA player fo uled out a league-leading 14 times in the 1988-89 season?

A. Grant Long B. Rik Smits C. Manute Bot D. Rick Mahorn

10.

How many points did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar score during his career?

A. 36,501 B. 37,787 C. 38,387 D. 38,567

11. How many games did it take Michael Jordan to score 10,000 points?

A. 303 B. 316 c. 325 D. 333

12. Wilt Chamberlain scored 10,000 points faster than any other player in NBA history. How

in Ladies Professional Golf Association history to win $500,000 in a season?

A. Betsy King B. Amy Alcott C. Patty Sheehan D. JoAnne Carner

20. Who was the last PGA player to win consecutive U.S. Open Championships?

ANSWERS:

1. B. Robin Yount; 2. A. Eddie Murray; 3. D. Jack Morris; 4. D. Jim Palmer; 5.

D. Willie Stargell; 6. C. Hamwn Killebrew; 7. C. Robe1to Clemente; 8. D. Bob Gibson; 9. B. Rik Smits; 10. C. 38,387; 11. A. 303; 12. C. 236; 13. Akeem Olajuwan; 14. 8; 15. C. Tim Brown; 16. D. 29; 17.

Having the most punts blocked in a season; 18. True; 19. A. Betsy King; 20. Cu1tis Strange.

SECOND LOOK

19

â&#x20AC;˘ I was standing in the Rose Garden, wired on cocaine. Nothing new about my being that way ... I'd even played wired in some games, including our semifinal win over Memphis State in the NCAA Final Four at Lexington, Kentucky, 5 days earlier. And now that we were the best, the team that had just upset Georgetown for the 1985 National Championship, it was business as usual for me. President Reagan was welcoming my teammates and me at the White House and giving his speech on how inspirational our victory was. And the cocaine had me floating in my own private world.I 20

SECOND

LOOK

Q

()

0

HE YOUNG MAN who wrote those words played for Villanova. They had just stunned the hoops world by knocking off the heav ily favored Georgetown Hoyas. They were the NCAA champs. It should have been the highest moment of thi s college athlete's life. But as he himself said, "We were national champs. We could do just about anything we wanted.

And I wanted to do cocaine."

Sure he did. And why? Because he was addicted. His life was driven not by a desire to succeed or achieve or win but by the cells of his body and the silent voice in his midbrain screaming at him that if he didn't get a fix before long he'd die.

â&#x20AC;˘ A MATTER OF CONTROL What had happened to this talented young athlete? He had let a powerful and dangerous drug take control of his life. With him it was cocaine. With others it's marijuana or alcohol or amphetamines or heroin. But the result is always the same. The addictive substance takes charge. It makes demands; the person complies. And if the addiction is not broken, the outcome is an ugly, violent death.

The Bible has a lot to say about what we should let control us. It couldn't be any plainer than this: "Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me''-but I will not be mastered by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"-but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body (I Corinthians 6: 12, 13).

Here it is in simple words: "I will not be mastered by anything! " Paul was talking about food, drink, and sex. But the "anything" can include drugs and alcohol. The person who wants to honor the God who gave

him life and to care for the body entrusted to him by his Creator will not let anything other than the Lord Himself be his master.

The basis is found in verse II , where Paul said, "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." It doesn't make sense for anyone to place himself under the control of an addictive substance. And the Christian athlete has a special reason to keep himself free of enslavement to any substance: He is the Lord's.

Because of that, he also has a special responsibility to his own body. In verses 1_9, where the specific warning is against sexual sin, Paul wrote, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?" God the Holy Spirit lives within those who are Christians. They are "bought at a price"- the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus on the cross for their sins. Paul summarized the principle like this: "Therefore honor God with your body" (v.20). And you can't do that if it is under the control of beer or wine, joints of marijuana, lines of cocaine, or hits of heroin.

â&#x20AC;˘ WHY DO ATHLETES USE DRUGS? Athletes are not the only people to use drugs, of course. But many athletes do, and whenever something goes wrong it gets national media attention. Here are the main reasons athletes use drugs: 1. Recreation. Some athletes use drugs just to have fun. It may be beer or marijuana or crack cocaine, but it's just to be out with the boys and to have a good time.

2. En hance Performance. Some athletes look to substances for a competitive edge-an advantage. The temporary feelings of well-

BY DAVE EGNER SECOND

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21

being a person gets from alcohol, along with a boost in confidence before the depression sets in, encourages some players to drink before competition. Others turn to the quick energy burst or heightened awareness they believe comes from amphetamines.

A few years ago, 70 percent of NFL players anonymously interviewed said they used speed or Dexedrine or some other amphetamine before a game because they thought it made them play better. Exhaustive tests have shown, ho wever, th at with both alcoho l and amphetamines the improved performance is in the player's mind, not out on the field.

Many young athletes and professionals use anabolic steroids to help build muscles and improve strength and performance. Whether or not this can be shown, the dangers-liver damage, zero sperm count , shortened long-bone development- far outweigh any gain in performance they might actuall y receive. And in many major competitions such as college events and the Olympics, as well as professional leagues, the use of drugs is forbidden, so those who win by using drugs also risk losing by disqualification.

3. Kill Pain. Some athletes use codeine, a pain killer, over a long season to kill the pain before they play, building up an addiction they later have to break-if they can. Ot hers use loca l anesthetics such as Novocaine to reduce pain so they can continue playing.

Still others use anti-inflammatory drugs to prevent or reduce swelling near an injury. These drugs override the body's natural reactions, thus magnifying the potential for more serious injury.

Basketball star Bill Walton was playing an important NBA game when he went down with a foot injury. He was given medication to kill the pain and sent back onto the floor. He didn't feel it when the bones broke.

The result? A very bad injury that kept him on the sidelines nearly 2 years and greatly limited his career.

God bu ilt pain into our bodies for a reason. It 's a sharp, undeniable signal to the brain that something is radically wrong. To run through that caution light and risk more serious or pennanent damage is hardly worth the fleeting moment of glory that might come with a wi n- in what is, after all, only a game.

Alcohol and drugs put you altha marcy of a chemical with the power to enslave,

â&#x20AC;˘ THE APPEAL OF DRUGS Why would a young athlete abuse alcohol or drugs?

To those on the outside, it seems that he already has everything going for him- that he doesn't need an artific ial stimulant.

Len Bias, University of Maryland basketball star and number one pick of the Boston Celtics, is a tragic case in point. He had been selected first in the college draft on June I7, 1986. The next day a sports clothing company signed him to an endorsement package wort h millions. What more could he want? The next night, June 19, he freebased enough pure cocaine to give hi m a massive heart attack. His life was just beginning when it was suddenly over. Why? We' ll never really know.

The appeal to use drugs was there and apparently he could not resist.

Athletes are susceptible to the allurement of drugs for a number of reasons, which are easy enough to point to but seemingly impossible to control: l. A Feeling of In vincibility. Because athletes are 22

SECOND

LOOK

wasta, and kill.

usually in superb physical condition and can perform better than most of thei r peers, they feel that nothing can hann them.

2. The At hletic Lifestyle. The media has often put athletes on life's fast track. They are living where the excitement is. They are young and they often have plenty of money. Because of travel requirements, they often have large blocks of time to kill on planes and in hotel rooms.

In his book Stretching the Limits, Lee Tarpley called cocaine "a prop for a glamorous lifestyle."2 How right he is. Check out virtually any sports section or magazine to see the ever-growing list of athletes whose careers-and lives-have been hindered or ended by drugs.

3. Age. Young people (ages 18-24) are considered prime targets by drug pushers. Many young athletes making money in sports are in those ages, and their large salaries are often the first income they have ever had to manage.

4. Special Treatment. All their lives, good athletes have received an undue amount of attention. Many of them get the idea that they deserve whatever they want; that they have the right to make their own rules about life.

5. Vulnerability. Superior athletes are surrounded by people who want to please them. These people, looking to gain favor, will pressure the athlete to enjoy life by dri nking alcohol or doing drugs.

6. Pressure. Family, friends, coaches, or al umni groups can also put tremendous pressure on the young athlete to excel. Some can't face the thought of a weak performance or a bad game. No one wants to be the player to miss the free throw and lose the game. And so the appeal to use alcohol or drugs to cope with it all; to provide a competitive edge-an equalizer.

â&#x20AC;˘ DRUGS AND YOU Most people begin using alcohol and drugs in their teens and early twenties. It's a wonderful time of life.

You are discovering who you are, and you have a fut ure filled with potential and promise. You are asserting your independence, proving you can make it on your own. You are clarifying your sexual roles and . finalizing your personal moral standard. You are learning to cope with authority through school officials, coaches, and bosses. And you are selecting goals that will give your life meaning.

If you choose to use alcohol or drugs, you rob your, self of the rights and pleasures of emerging adulthood and the wonders of personal fulfi llment. One by one these options drop away as you get deeper and deeper into substance abuse. Alcohol or drugs graduall y take control out of your hands-and God's hands-and put you at the mercy of a chem ical with the power to enslave, waste, and eventually kill.

God didn't create us to bow to the gods that live in the bottle, the straw, the capsule, or the needle. He made us to enjoy life to the fullest- in all the autonomy and freedom He could give us. He made us to reach the potential He Himself poured into us through our own hard work and His good grace.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity," Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy, "but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-disci pline" (2 Timothy

l :7). These same qualities are available to us. We do ha ve at our disposal the "power of God, who has saved us" (v.8). We can love people and God in an unselfish way. We are able to exercise self-discipline: the self-discipline we need to accept our own responsibility for life, to excel in a chosen field, to turn our lives over to God, to keep ourselves pure, to achieve worthwhile goals.

Think about it. When you're drinking or drugging, you lose all of that. You lose the power to control your own actions. You get to the place where the only thing you are capable of loving is the temporary sensation the drug produces. You lose control. You can't put on the brakes any longer. One drink and you can't stop until you're drunk.

You'll do anything from throwing a game to throwing a career for one more fix or one more bottle of booze.

• BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT Here is how the Bible says it. "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5: 18). Once again, the issue is control. If anything is to control us, it is not to be ethyl alcohol in some attractively marketed package such as a lite beer or wine cooler. These substances appear harmless in the ads so frequentl y associated with sporting events, but they have the power to kill us.

It is also not to be cannabis rolled in a joint, cocaine sniffed through a straw, or Benzedrine taken in a capsule.

It is not to be some psychedelic drug with initials like LSD or PCP that can send us flying or drive us into the pits of despair. If we are to be controlled by anything, it is to be the Holy Spirit of God. He will lead us, not into isolation and addiction but into "paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (Psalm 23:3).

We began by quoting Gary McClain of Villanova. He is one of the lucky ones. He's still alive. "I was trying to be the image of Gary McClain, champion, when I was really Gary McClain, drug addict. ... I went away to a rehab center. I'm lucky to be clean. Lucky to have real friends who stood by me when others turned their faces. Lucky to be alive.... "J What about you? Who is at the controls of your life?

Don't let what comes out of a bottle or a pack or a needle or a capsule lead you. When you put those things in charge, you crash and die. It's inevitable. It always happens, no matter how strong or how much in charge you think you may be.

How much better to turn your life over to God, who loves you and is cohcerned about you. Place the controls in His hands. Say with Paul, "I will not be mastered by anything" except the Lord Jesus Christ. •

Dave Egner is Senior Staff Writer for Radio Bible Class in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a frequent contributor to Second Look . Just prior to writing this article, Dave completed a graduate level course entitled "Substance Abuse and th e Social Worker," at Grand Valley State University.

I. Willers and Vcnturclli, Dmgs And Society, (Boston: Jones and Banlell,

1988), p.25.

2. Solomon Snyder, MD, ed., Drugs In Sports, (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987), p. lll.

3. Willers and Vcnturelli, p.25.

BIBLE STUDY • A SECOND LOOK AT DRUGS

Perhaps you've heard it said, "We are creatures of habit." Webster's defines habit as "an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary." Drug users know the truth of this definition all too well. But how are good habits formed? Simply by continual, disciplined repetition. Let's discover what the Bible has to say about forming good habits.

1. What do Proverbs 19:1 8 and 19:27 say about discipline?

2. According to Proverbs 20: II , how does a young person distinguish himself?

3. Read Hebrews 12:1 -11 and Deuteronomy 8:5,6. Can you rightly say, "Because my parents didn't discipline me, I will always have bad habits"? Why or why not?

4. What was the apostle Paul 's attitude toward self-imposed discipline, according to I Corinthians 9:24-27 and I Timothy 4:7? Would you rather discipline yourself or have God discipline you?

5. What wonderful truth from I Corinthians I 0: 13 should we memorize and meditate on when facing the temptation of bad habits?

6. According to I Corinthians 15:33, what is a sure cause of forming bad habits?

7. What would be a useful way to form good habits, according to Proverbs 27: 17?

8. What good, new habits are you presently forming? If you don 't have any, write one down that you'd like to develop, and stick it on your bathroom mirror. Read, think, and practice it for 30 days straight. Get on the road to forming good habits today!

-Ralph K. Drollinger

It's How You Play the Gan1e

-By DarrowParker

WHICH OF THESE LISTS best describes you?

•Ordinary, average, and acceptable.

•Outstanding, superstar, and all-American.

Most of us find ourselves in the first group. We work as hard as we can, yet we never reach the dizzying heights of superstar status.

Because we live in a society that idolizes winners, it's easy to feel bad when our extraordinary efforts produce only ordinary results. We may feel tempted to take drugs to boost our performance-or to escape the reality that we just aren't superstar material. But being "ordinary" is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, there's something to be said for giving it your best shot-regardless of the outcome.

The Bible contains all of the philosophy of life we need. One thing it doesn't say is, "No matter what you do or how you do it, make sure you win!" Rather it says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Colossians 3:23). That's very similar to the often-criticized saying, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." It says that if you do your best, play by the rules, and develop good character, then no matter how you fared against the competition, you can be proud of what you've done.

Which is more important to you: A philosophy that says win at all costs, or one that makes you a winner in God's eyes? • Adapted by permission from Our Daily Bread Campus Journal, ©1989. This helpful devotional series is available free of charge from Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49555, orcat/1-800-722·3398.

SECOND LOOK

23

EvERY ATHLETE wants to be the best. Training techniques keep improving all the time, and some competitors are willing to pay almost any price to be number one. But how far is too far? What kind of risks should you take? Which mles can you

bend to get a little extra edge on your competition?

Perhaps you'll never get caught using drugs to help you; perhaps you will. But what does using drugs to get an advantage say about you as a person? And what will the drugs do to your body after you're all through with sports?

Second Look magazine addresses a variety of life's difficult issues- like drugs-with a fresh approach.

II IJI

TAKE ASECOND LOOK AT THE REAL ISSUES IN SPORTS ... AND LIFE. Discovery House Publishers Box 3566 Grand Rapids, MI 49501-3566

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