According to authorities, hundreds of dollars worth of anabolic steroids were found in Richard Thomas’ home in Stoney Creek Drive. Last May, deputies and federal agents set up an entrapment delivery of a package with contraband sent from overseas.

He confessed to selling anabolic steroids to professional athletes. He pleaded guilty to federal charges last Tuesday.

Records show that the packages came from various countries such as China, Russia, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.

Federal agents initially intercepted a suspicious package in May 21. The package came from Slovakia. It was addressed to a certain “Mahlon” Thomas in Lakeland.

Polk County Sheriffs wired the package with an electronic beacon so they would know if the package was opened.

Thomas admitted to being the biggest steroids provider in Central Florida. He even claimed to have supplied players from Washington Capitals Hockey team and Washington Capitals baseball team.

Books about steroids, blister packs of Valium, packaging labels, firearms, a digital scale, and bodybuilding photos and trophies were also found in Thomas’ home during the search.

According to NY Daily News, MLB is also conducting their own investigation regarding Thomas’ claims.

From TBO:

TAMPA – A Lakeland man who told authorities he sold steroids to professional athletes pleaded guilty today to a federal steroids charge.

Richard Thomas, 36, faces up to five years in prison on a charge of possession of steroids with intent to distribute.

While steroids remain on vogue in the Major League, sports officials in Pierce College make sure that their athletes don’t follow suit. What the baseball players do in pro sports is being emulated by the younger athletes but this is not however a concern at the said institution because they maintain their stand against performance enhancing drugs that have ruined many careers. There is an intense competition in collegiate sports: hoping for a shot in the pros, maintaining good grades and scholarships. But cheating just isn’t one of the means to cope with these tremendous pressures. And using steroids is a form of cheating.

Androgenic-anabolic steroids are derived from testosterone which is a potent hormone secreted from the male testes. Testosterone is responsible for the primary and secondary sexual characteristics in men. When it is in its synthetic form it is used to treat pubertal deficiencies like growth problems and underdeveloped masculine characteristics in boys. But eventually steroids found its way in professional sports. Their high availability encouraged many to abuse them, causing increased incidents of steroid overdose and complications because they can cause very potent side effects.

From The Round Up News:

One of the most recognized cases of steroid use in sports was in 2003, when Major League Baseball outfielder Barry Bonds was involved in a steroid scandal after his trainer, Greg Anderson, was accused of and charged with supplying anabolic steroids to a variety of athletes.

Many coaches in the Pierce Athletic Department feel strongly about the use of steroids in professional sports negatively influencing younger students.

“I think it’s a bad thing,” said John Bushart, assistant coach of the Pierce baseball team. “Obviously, a lot of Major League players have done it and I don’t think it sets a good example for young kids.”

The National Collegiate Athletic Association or the NCAA formulated a banned substance policy that required drug testing among college athletes. Since Pierce College doesn’t have any problem with steroids use among its players, they find no need to impose a drug test. However, they do comply with the policy instituted by the NCAA.

The opening of the new season in less than a week and the MLB is bruised and battered of everything it has to deal with in the off-season. They barely had their rest from the controversies, they are now about to face the pressure of the ballgames. However, before they do so they have to pay attention, at the very least, to what the fans are saying. They have grown tired of the steroids talk and they want some action, pronto. Some excitement was stirred when the news about Alex Rodriguez and several other ball players got involved with performance enhancing drugs. It gave the fans and the media something to talk about for a while. But when it started to dominate the headlines longer than it should, baseball buffs are getting annoyed. They want the old baseball game back.

In a way, the MLB did their best to put the issue under control by imposing penalties on those who are caught on dope. The first offense gets a 50 game suspension, second offense-100 game suspension and a lifetime ban on the third offense.

From The Daily News:

Moving forward there needs to be and outrage – the kind being directed at the crooks who hijacked our economic system. In the end, the marauders who molested Wall St. are no different than professional athletes who use steroids; both are consumed by the money to be made when you toss the rules aside and are governed by nothing more than gluttony.

“Ban ‘em for the whole year,” Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said last month.

While Ortiz’s suggestion is a good start, MLB needs to be tougher than it has ever been before. Here’s what the new punishments should be: a first offense gets you a year ban; a second offense gets you banned for life. No exceptions.

Fay Vincent, who was commissioner in 1989-1992 said they are all working towards a lifetime ban for the offenders. That should make them think twice before they touch any of the banned substances.

“Naive” and “stupid,” these are Alex Rodriguez’s excuse when he admitted his steroids use. For now, he’s off the hook for that. But the next time anyone makes “stupidity” “ignorance” and “naiveté” an excuse to use steroids, they should be penalized. These are no longer valid excuses with quite a number of sports superstars being investigated and facing criminal charges and suspensions due to the use of performance enhancing drugs. The media has made sure that the people were aware of what these banned substances are and what they can do.

What is more alarming are the deaths of several WWE contenders, the latest of which was Andrew “The Test” Martin that can only be blamed on steroids. 21 months ago, wrestler Chris Benoit killed himself after he shot his wife and son and Eddie Guerrero died of a heart attack. Both deaths were attributed to steroids.

From the Northern Star:

There is no better word to describe this string of drug-fueled deaths other than “ludicrous.” More and more big name athletes are admitting to at least having tried banned substances in not just wrestling but all sports, including baseball’s Alex Rodriguez, who said he was “stupid” and “naïve” to do so. But it’s overwhelmingly clear the message the “big four” sports leagues and WWE are sending to its performers: be “stupid” now, don’t be sorry later.

As it stands, the first violation of WWE’s wellness policy is punished by a 30-day suspension without pay. Major League Baseball imposes a slightly harsher punishment for a first offense: 50 games without pay. The NFL, NBA and NHL all adhere to similar programs, and all tend to let their players off the hook far too easily.

Because of the alarming reports of steroid use and the fact that it has gone down to young athletes, more stringent rules were being imposed in the professional sports community. But as methods to detect steroids continue to improve, the steroids business is becoming more and more lucrative. Something has got to be done to curb the use of steroids if it cannot be stopped.

While the Major League Baseball continue to battle it out with the steroids issue, the McQueen Lancers do preventive measures in making sure that the young athletes stay clean while playing on the field. McQueen coach Brian Nelson says there are no evidences to prove that the steroids problem have reached their baseball teams. But with the steroids scandal all over the media, there is no telling when the student athletes get curious and try out the substances as well.

From News 4:

“These people they look up, their idols, unfortunately are in the media way too often for breaking rules and making baseball a dirty game right now,” McQueen Head Coach Brian Nelson said. “So we are just trying to send a message that we are going to do it the right way, and that’s keep it clean.”

Anti-steroid banners are posted throughout McQueen’s stadium, including on the outfield fences, the dugout, and the snack bar.

The McQueen Baseball Boosters Club received the $50 thousand grant that made the campaign possible. They applied for the M.L.B.’s Baseball Tomorrow Fund grant and received the money for the anti-steroids campaign and field renovations.

The anti-steroid campaign also aims to reach out to the kids through the Babe Ruth State Championship. This would teach elementary kids the importance of playing fair and not cheating with the use steroids.

Steroid use is like an epidemic. It starts with a few bunch of pros injecting themselves or taking orals to give themselves a boost of energy in their work outs. Then when they start playing better, run faster and pitch harder they take more PEDs so they could push harder into their training. Before they know it they get tested positive and face charges.

In Tampa, Florida fans watched Yankees star Alex Rodriguez board the vehicle to take him to his meeting with the Major League Baseball Officials. The MLB representatives came from the Department of Investigations and Labor Relations. The commissioner’s office issued a press release where the A-Rod was described as “cooperative.

A source familiar with the meeting divulged that Rodriguez was questioned about his cousin Yuri Sucart who allegedly injected him with the steroid and Dominican trainer Angel Presinal who was accused of supplying them.

Rodriguez’s lawyers, Jay Reisinger and James E. Sharp were with him at the meeting. The MLB was represented by Michael Weiner, general counsel for the players union; Dan Mullin, MLB VP for Investigations; Rob Manfred, MLB vice president for labor relations; Dan Halem, VP and general counsel for labor.

From Sports Network:

Saying he was “curious” and calling it a “stupid mistake,” Rodriguez gave details about how he and cousin Yuri Sucart experimented with steroids from 2001 through 2003 while he was a member of the Texas Rangers. Sucart allegedly purchased and injected Rodriguez with steroids.

Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, results that were supposed to remain anonymous under an agreement between Major League Baseball and its players union, but Sports Illustrated broke the story on February 7 and two days later the three-time AL MVP admitted to using banned substances for a three-year period.

Rodriguez’s admission of using steroids has propelled him into the spotlight. His decision to move from the US team and play for the Dominican Republic gave his popularity another boost. Joe Girardi in the NY Daily News said “I think he’s coming through really well… We’re playing games now, which we all know he loves to do, he’s able to free his mind of it for a time.”

Just how much would the next would-be sports hero pay you if you tell him that there is a “performance enhancing drug” that is better than anabolic steroids, can be bought legally and easily, and is safe for the body? Thousands of dollars perhaps. Interestingly, this “alternative” is something that most people eat everyday. Athletes and bodybuilders should have this in their diets and probably they are just not aware of its effectivity. This supplement provides the body with the needed boost in energy and strength by providing a good source of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and the like. The perfect performance enhancers are vegetables. Literally.

From The Huffington Post:

Study after study–from the work of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of the China Study, to that of my own father, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, gold-medal winner at the 1956 Olympics and author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease–show that the only way to enhance performance and stay healthy is to eat a plant-based diet.

It’s not just doctors who endorse this message—more and more outstanding athletes are showing people there’s a better way. These men and women include Tony Gonzales, record-setting tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs; Salim Stoudamire, plant-eating guard for the NBA Atlanta Hawks; Martina Navratilova, the world’s winningest tennis player; and my very own hero, Dave Scott, six-time winner of the hardest endurance race on the planet, the Hawaii Iron Man triathlon.

And, what about seven-time Tour de France winning cyclist Lance Armstrong, the most tested athlete on the planet? He’s never tested positive, and he’s an 80 percent plant-strong guy.

Instead of selling their soul to the devil short-term, these great athletes bought their long-term health by eating nothing but plants.

So exactly what do vegetables do? They prevent the development of health risks such as atherosclerosis and high blood pressure that steroids cause. They are anti-aging agents meaning they can have protective effects on joints and muscles. They enhance performances by promoting energy production and indirectly, muscle formation. What’s best is that if you use vegetables, you won’t get caught or charged or punished.

Just this weekend, reports came out that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan back in 2003. He was still with the Texas Rangers then and that was the season when he first received his Most Valuable Player award and broke 300 career home runs. Of course, there was no sanction for using performance enhancing drugs until 2004 and the samples for those tests were supposedly destroyed and the results kept confidential. Unfortunately, the list came up during the BALCO investigation and the laboratory that did the test still had the samples.

From Washington Post:

According to the report, Rodriguez was one of 104 players on a list of positive tests that year, when baseball instituted “survey” testing to determine the extent of steroid use in the game. Those supposedly anonymous results were seized in April 2004 by federal agents investigating the Balco steroid ring, which did not involve Rodriguez. The legality of that seizure is the subject of a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, Calif.

A message left for Rodriguez’s publicist yesterday was not returned, but Rodriguez, who has repeatedly denied having used steroids, is quoted by SI.com as declining comment. “You’ll have to ask the union,” he reportedly said. “I’m not saying anything.”

Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations, would not discuss the validity of the story, saying in a statement that the 2003 survey testing was “intended to be non-disciplinary and anonymous.”

While the accuracy of the report is still in question, MLB officials chose not to condemn anyone. For Rodriguez, he won’t be facing any legal charges unlike Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens who are now fighting in court. Nevertheless, many believe that the news of the baseball superstar using steroids could greatly affect his name and status as the highest-earning baseball player in MLB. It can also make people question his MVP award and his chances in the Hall of Fame.

We can’t seem to get enough of Jose Canseco, and here’s the latest update on the former MLB slugger.

Canseco, aka ‘The Godfather of Steroids’, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in connection with the importation of performance-enhancing drug into the United States from Mexico.

Canseco was sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation after he entered his guilty plea.

Canseco told the magistrate, Judge Ruben Brooks, he was sorry that he did not declare to border agents that he had with him the HCG vials.

Canseco was detained by customs officials on October 9 at the San Ysidro border when mislabeled vials were found in his vehicle. Said vials reportedly contained human chorionic gonadotropin and Canseco was unable to present prescription to justify the presence of the compound in his vehicle. Canseco was with a woman and the woman’s ‘minor’ daughter.

It was reported that the Cuban-born outfielder tried to smuggle in HCG, a fertility drug, to normalize his hormonal level. He was a self-confessed steroid user, and he blames his use of these controlled compounds as the cause of his hormonal levels being depressed.

And with his latest probation predicament, we’re sure it’s not only his hormonal level that feels depressed now.

Jose Canseco, the self-proclaimed “Godfather of Steroids”, is in a ditch again. Deep, deep legal ditch by all accounts.

The former slugger and now author of two tell-all books on steroids use in the Major League could be behind bars for a year and fined $1000 if he would be proven guilty of misdemeanor with Introduction into Interstate Commerce of a Misbranded Drug.

He was arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego appearing before Hon. Magistrate Judge Ruben B. Brooks. His next court appearance is Nov. 4 at 9 a.m.

It was last Thursday when Canseco’s vehicle was inspected by Customs and Border Protection agents who found six vials of the human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and ten syringes in the vehicle’s center armrest compartment. Canseco, accompanied by two female companions, was entering California via the San Ysidro checkpoint. He was subsequently detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was released 10 hours later.

In 2005, the Cuban-born Canseco admitted to using anabolic steroids in his initial tell-all book entitled Juiced: Wild Times,  Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big. Not many were happy with his revelations in the book. He implicated big names in the Major League, including his former teammates Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi.

In his sequel to Juiced, Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball’, Canseco linked such big names like Alex Rodriguez to anabolic steroid use. Here’s an excerpt from his second book:

When someone gets around to writing the real history of baseball, I’m going to be remembered as the guy who did more to change the game than any other player. And I did it twice. I fundamentally changed the way the sport is played. The first time was when I introduced my fellow players to steroids, launching the Steroid Era, a decade that saw superhuman athletes breaking all of baseball’s storied records. And the second time was when I saw that things were getting out of control, and that I had to tell the truth about what was going on.