Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 10, 2008
Viva, Viagra!

Via Big League Stew, it looks like you can add Viagra to the list of performance enhancers. The New York Daily News learned Roger Clemens took Viagra, and players are using it to increase blood flow to muscles:

Clemens wasn't alone. The pitcher, who is believed to have scored the drug from a teammate, joined the burgeoning number of athletes who have turned Vitamin V and its over-the-counter substitutes into one of the hottest drugs in locker rooms.

The drug is so widely used for off-label purposes that it has drawn the attention of anti-doping officials and law-enforcement agencies in the United States and beyond.

"All my athletes took it," BALCO founder Victor Conte, whose acolytes included Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds and Marion Jones, said of an over-the-counter supplement he claimed mimicked the effects of Viagra.

"It's bigger than creatine. It's the biggest product in nutritional supplements."

Plus, it has nice side benefits. Soon, somebody will put together the all erectile dysfunction team. Right now, Viagra isn't covered under MLB's drug policy, and I wonder how much more effective it is than ibuprofen in promoting muscle healing.

Update: J.C. Bradbury talked to exercise physiologist colleagues who don't think Viagra does much to improve athletic peformance.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:18 AM | Cheating | TrackBack (0)
Comments

wow

Posted by: Gill at June 13, 2008 07:37 PM

wow

Posted by: Gill at June 13, 2008 07:37 PM
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