The Incredible Bulk Blames NFL Shortcomings on Addiction to Painkillers and Alcohol
Former NFL player Tony Mandarich admitted to abusing steroids, pain killers and alcohol while he played college football for Michigan State University. Mandarich acknowledged using the performance-enhancing drugs during an interview for Showtime’s Inside the NFL with Armen Keteyian in September 2008 after years of denying anabolic steroid use. The interviewed marked the first of Mandarich’s appearances on the interview circuit promoting his forthcoming book, “My Dirty Little Secrets - Steroids, Alcohol & God: The Tony Mandarich Story.” The official publication date of the book is March 23, 2009.
The fact that Tony Mandarich, or any college of professional football player for that matter, used anabolic steroids is not particularly earth-shattering. However, Mandarich’s insistence that he did not use anabolic steroids in the National Football League (NFL) seems dubious. Sports writers have embraced the story of redemption from the evils of anabolic steroid and prescription drug abuse; they have largely accepted Mandarich’s version of his performance-enhancing drug use without reservation.
"The way I cheated on the drug test in college would not have worked in the NFL," according to Mandarich. "That's why I stopped." His stated reason for discontinuing the use of steroids when he entered the NFL was the impossibility of avoiding detection by the NFL’s anti-doping testing procedures. The NFL number two overall draft pick in 1989 passed three collegiate drug tests for steroids: one in January 1988 before the Rose Bowl, one in January 1989 before the Gator Bowl, and one at the NFL-sponsored National Scouting Combines in February 1989.
Matt Chaney, the author of “Spiral of Denial: Muscle Doping in American Football”, does not believe Tony Mandarich is being completely honest about his steroid use in the NFL. “That’s illogical. Testing was and remains a joke in college football, but it’s just as useless in pro football or any other sport, as Mandarich surely knows,” according to the author of the definitive history of anabolic steroid use in American-style football. “Given his NCAA football experience, Mandarich assuredly didn’t fear NFL urinalysis, as he feigns today during interviews for the book. Moreover, he regained massive weight following an illness, including muscle, to come back at 311 pounds for Indianapolis in 1996.”
The former NFL draft bust for the Green Bay Packers made a successful comeback in 1996 and played for three seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. Mandarich gained 60 pounds of muscle in the year prior to returning to the NFL as big and strong as ever. He squatted 680 lbs.; the 1996 squat far exceeded his previous personal best squat of 550 lbs during his steroid-fuel college years. H recently joked that the gains were the result of “creatine.”
Tony Mandarich admits anabolic steroids contributed to his success in college but denies using steroids in the NFL even during his successful comeback in 1996 that was accompanied by massive weight and strength gains. Even though most people attribute Mandarich’s poor performance in Green Bay during the 1989-1991 seasons to the discontinuation of anabolic steroids, Mandarich is quick to redirect blame to his addiction to alcohol and Stadol. “There are other factors that were involved that nobody knows about that were way more of an effect on why I had the huge downfall in Green Bay than steroids (such as) drug and alcohol abuse,” explained Mandarich. He views his catastrophic bust in Green Bay as a reminder of "what alcohol can do to you."
Tony Mandarich’s denial of steroid use as an NFL football player remains one of the most puzzling admissions in his new autobiography. After making a steroid confessional following twenty years of denial, why would Mandarich selectively tell the truth about his history of performance enhancing drug use? “He doesn’t cross a certain line by alleging pervasive muscle doping in The League,” according to Matt Chaney. “He acknowledges problems both personal and institutional, like abuse of pain-killing drugs, yet he suggests anabolic steroids and HGH don’t impact competition.” And of course, a redemption story doesn’t work if the protagonist fails to repudiate ALL drug use, especially anabolic steroids.
Sources
“Twitter: @Tony_Mandarich,” March 16, 2009
“Media’s Dopey Redemption Theme Ridiculous for Baseball,” March 14, 2009
“Tony Mandarich explains why he stopped taking steroids in NFL,” March 10, 2009
“Tony Mandarich Is Very, Very Sorry,” March 9, 2009
“Showtime Inside the NFL with Armen Keteyian,” October 4, 2008
“Tony Mandarich eyeing NFL comeback,” April 25, 1996
“The Big Enchilada,” April 24, 1989
“Spiral of Denial: Muscle Doping in American Football” by Matt Chaney
“My Dirty Little Secrets - Steroids, Alcohol & God” by Tony Mandarich
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