You know, I've never been one to pay a lot of attention to professional athletes.  I got it very early on, when I was 7 or 8, and Pete Rose, PETE ROSE of all people, was crucified for betting against his own team.  That right there showed me that athletes, no matter how talented, aren't any better than me except at their sport.  And maybe getting the chicks.  And arm wrestling.  And probably a bunch of other stuff, but you know what I mean.

Then there was the drugs thing, steroids and such.  Then Mike Tyson beating his woman and later eating an ear. Then Michael Vick with the dogs.  And Michael Phelps with the pot.  And now the new thing seems to be hgh.  Look here, here, here, here, and here.  These guys are exactly the people I would have looked up to if it hadn't been for Pete Rose, and I don't know.  Maybe hgh isn't necessarily dangerous; after all, there is a 60 year old man who's been dosing up with it for a while and he looks phenominal.  He has also been lifting weights for quite a long time and was in better shape than most people will ever be before he started.  Bottom line for me, though...hgh is regulated by the FDA.  That means it has the potential to be dangerous.  You can bet that if it's found to be safe, or at least when the risk is fully understood, whatever benefit it has will be available to us all.  In fact, that it is such a promising drug is reason enough to feel assured that researchers everywhere are trying to get ahead of it.  So in the meantime, world-class athletes, be better role models.  Practice hard, play fair, and have the grace to acknowledge when another athlete is simply more talented, more practiced, better coached, or whatever.