Former Chicago Bear player Dick Butkus has joined a parent, Don Hooton in his war against steroids. Don Hooton established the “Taylor Hooton Foundation for Fighting Steroid Abuse” in his son’s honor, who comitted suicide after abusing anabolic steroids.
This renowned former football player who took retirement in 1973 because of knee injuries said that the linkage of steroids with sports has really disgusted him. “As an ex-football guy, I still enjoy watching it,” Butkus told Reuters in a telephonic interview.
Butkus started a campaign,”I Play Clean,” which focuses on the various dangers of doping and is aimed at high-school students. While referring to baseball’s appearance before Congress, he also said, “It just disgusts me and I hope it doesn’t come to a point where I’m sitting there watching a Senate hearing and have them drilling some ex-football players on their steroids habit.” “I want to lick this before that happens.”
From Reuters:
Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus, who was renowned for playing with a menacing fury, is putting his passion into the fight against steroids.
Butkus said the linkage of steroids with sports disgusted him and the former Chicago Bear is tackling the problem by delivering a message on the dangers of doping through his “I Play Clean” campaign aimed at high-school students.
Last month’s admission by baseball’s highest-paid player Alex Rodriguez that he had taken steroids from 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers, threw light once again on performance-enhancing drugs in sports, something Butkus abhors.
“As an ex-football guy, I still enjoy watching it,” the gruff Butkus told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“It just disgusts me and I hope it doesn’t come to a point where I’m sitting there watching a Senate hearing and have them drilling some ex-football players on their steroids habit,” he said, referring to baseball’s appearance before Congress. “I want to lick this before that happens.”
The campaign is also a great boost and chance for the National Football League to clear its image from its past steroid cases. In 2006, Shawne Merriman got four matches suspension because of steroid use. 1997 Defensive Player of the year, Dana Stubblefield was also sentenced two years’ probation charges for his lying about steroid use. And the recent one which caught all the attention once again on the use of drugs is Alex Rodriguez, baseball’s highest-paid player.
Through his campaign, Butkus wants to highlight the side effects of steroids. According to doctor Gerard Varlotta, Director of Sports Rehabilitation at NYU Medical Center, drugs use can cause infertility, suppress growth, lead to tendon rupture and cause cancer and tumors in the liver. Besides these, they can also cause heart problems and have psychiatric effects.
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