Bigger Stronger Faster (2008) Movie Script

CHRIS BELL:
January 23, 1984.
It was a day that
changed my life forever.
PRESIDENT REAGAN:... The muscle,
the moral courage that built
the greatest, freest nation
the world has ever known.
CHRIS: Ronald Reagan
was our President
and there was trouble
brewing in Iran.
I was just a kid,
but I knew
who was behind it.
His name was
The Iron Sheik.
ANNOUNCER:
From Tehran, Iran,
weighing 258 Ibs,
The Iron Sheik!
COMMENTATOR: They have a lot of
hate in their hearts for this man.
Iran- number one!
U.S.A.-
CHRIS: You see, Reagan
may have freed the hostages
but The Sheik still had
the championship belt.
There was only one man
that could save us.
I am a real
American...
ANNOUNCER: From Venice
Beach, California,
the incredible
Hulk Hogan!
COMMENTATOR: And the
Hulkster rips off that shirt.
CHRIS: But three
minutes into the match
Hulk Hogan was locked in
the dreaded camel clutch.
COMMENTATOR:
It's over for the Hulk.
CHRIS: This move would snap
the back of a normal man,
But this wasn't
a normal man.
This was Hulk Hogan
and he was fighting
for our country.
The Hulkster got out
of the camel clutch
with the Sheik
on his back,
dropped the big leg
and he pinned
the Sheik.
Hulkamania was born
and the message was clear-
You don't mess
with Hulk Hogan
and you certainly
don't mess with America.
I must break you.
CHRIS: Look what
happened to Ivan Drago.
He tried to mess
with America
and Rocky
kicked his ass.
And then when the Vietnamese
were holding P.O.W.S
Rambo went in and
he kicked their ass.
And in the spirit
of Rambo
let me tell you we're
gonna win this time.
CHRIS: Then came
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
The ultimate
ass-kicker.
I never saw "Gone With
the Wind" or "Casablanca,"
but I can tell you every
line of every Arnold movie.
"Crush your enemies, see
them driven before you
and hear the lamentations
of the women. "
"Dylan,
you son of a bitch. "
And they go bam! And they're all oiled
up and their veins are popping out.
I have the power!
TV ANNOUNCER:
Better, Stronger, Faster.
CHRIS: I was just 12 years old
and there was an explosion
of ass-kicking in America.
REAGAN: And like
our Olympic athletes
we set our sights
on the stars
and we're going
for the gold.
the eye of the tiger.
CHRIS: I wanted to
tear off my shirt
and be ripped, tanned
and larger than life.
But in reality
I was a fat, pale kid
from Poughkeepsie.
You see, I come from
an overweight family.
My parents were always a
little on the heavy side.
I couldn't ask
for a better mom.
She did everything
for her three boys.
We went to church
three times a week
and she even taught
Sunday school.
My dad was always
there for us too
and he even coached
our little league teams.
I love my dad, but he
was never really my hero.
I didn't want
to be like him.
I wanted to be
like Arnold.
Problem is, I was always
too small, too short.
People would say, "Hey, Little Bell.
What's up, Little Bell?"
And I didn't want
to be Little Bell.
I wanted to be
Big Bell.
My older brother Mike
was a little chubby
and every morning
when he went to school
he'd get on the bus and the
kids would call him Pugsley.
He didn't like that
too much,
so he beat
some of those kids up.
That's where he got
the nickname "Mad Dog. "
Mark was
the baby of the family.
He had a hard time
in school.
He was separated
from his friends
and put in the class
with the special kids.
It didn't make him feel
very special at all.
He hated school,
So he spent all of his
time playing sports.
He'd come to the dinner
table dripping with sweat.
Mad Dog and I
nicknamed him "Smelly. "
So I was the short kid,
Mad Dog was the fat kid
And Smelly had
a learning disability.
Okay, I get it.
We're never gonna make it, right?
But for us, we knew
muscles were the answer
and the Hulkster
showed us the way.
Train, say your prayers,
eat your vitamins.
Be true to yourself,
true to your country.
Be a real American.
CHRIS: So we started
training in the basement.
We'd body-slam
each other,
drop elbows, D.D.T.S
Double noggin knocker,
the abdominal stretch,
the iron claw,
the Boston crab
the piledriver.
And when Mad Dog
was too tough for me
I would break out
the steel chair.
My mom's brother John
was a bodybuilder
and he gave me and my brothers
our first muscle magazines
and showed us
how to work out.
And the next Christmas
instead of video games
we got the Hulkamania
workout set.
Are you ready to feel the power?
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are
the power team!
CHRIS: Mad Dog became the
captain of the football team
and Smelly and I both started
competing in power lifting.
ANNOUNCER:
Chris Bell is next at 425.
CHRIS: Soon I was the
strongest kid in my high school.
Then I broke
the New York State record.
And that's when I first got
accused of using steroids.
I knew guys who used
them, but they were losers.
If my heroes didn't need
steroids then neither did I.
By the time
I was a senior
I was one of the strongest
kids in the country.
Hulk Hogan was always
talking about
"hanging and banging down at
Gold's Gym, Venice Beach, brother. "
I thought, "that's
where Arnold trains.
that's where
I need to be. "
I was gonna be
an American hero
And I was willing to do
whatever it takes.
CHRIS: It's been 15 years
since I got to California
and now
I'm 33 years old.
When Arnold was 33
he'd already won
the Mr. Olympia
seven times.
Stallone had already made
"Rocky I and Rocky II."
And the Hulkster
had already been
the heavyweight champion
four years in a row.
I really thought muscles
were gonna be the answer.
But all they got me was a
job selling gym memberships.
I still train
every day at Gold's,
But the only thing left of Arnold
is a cheap mural on the wall
and a bunch of guys telling
stories about the old days,
like my buddy Paul.
It's changed a lot in
all these years, you know.
How long
have you been here?
Since 1980.
Of course, Arnold was
on the scene and Arnold-
Nobody had ever seen anybody
who looked like Arnold.
Sylvester Stallone had
just done the "Rocky" movies
and he was the type of
guy that I could relate to.
CHRIS: Paul even got a chance to
work with Sly in "Over the Top. "
I should be able to
blow them away real easy.
PAUL: I couldn't believe
the dream was coming true.
And did you get a chance
to do it again?
No, but I'm hoping
to get back in shape
to be able to make that
a reality.
You can be
on the street one day
and you can be in the
penthouse the next.
Anything's possible.
This is
my humble abode.
- Your humble abode right here?
- Yeah.
So do you actually
live in the van?
I actually live-
well, I sleep in it,
let's put it
this way, yes.
You sleep in it. And
then you train over here.
I train here, yeah.
You would see
vans like this-
Guys would come from
all over the world,
sleep in their cars,
this and that-
Anything to get a chance
to train at Gold's Gym
because we had
something special here.
What would you say
to people that say,
"the dream's over, man.
You're 50 years old. "
What would you say
to those people?
They're the ones
that are short-sighted.
Now in six months I
could still be in the van,
but if I can
outlift everybody,
I can outsquat them, outbench
them, out-dead-lift them,
Who's the king?
Guys like you and me
Can fulfill our dreams.
We can train.
Game ain't over.
The sun is shining.
And it ain't over.
CHRIS: Is that gonna
be me in 20 years?
I did everything
my heroes said-
I trained,
I said my prayers,
I had my vitamins.
Where did I go wrong?
- Hey, good morning.
- Good morning.
How are you?
I always make the cookie bars
'cause cookie bars are important.
What teams did you
make these for?
I made them for Arlington
football teams
first time ever
they won a ball game.
They used to call them
"Rosie's cookie bars"
and they really believe that
they help them win all the games.
Wouldn't that be like
performance enhancement?
It's not an enhancement.
It's a little bit of sugar,
which can get you going,
carbs.
But it's all natural
ingredients.
There's no steroids
in here.
Eating your mom's cooking is sort
of comforting, don't you think?
Sure.
Things change,
but the cookie bars remain,
that's for sure.
CHRIS:
My mom likes to think
that the world is as pure
as her cookie bars.
But life isn't always
like that.
And a lot of things we grew up
believing ended up not being true.
First I found out there's
no such thing as Santa Claus
or the easter bunny.
That kind of sucks.
Then I saw
this news report.
REPORTER: The Iron Sheik
had been arrested recently
along with wrestler
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
while driving along
the Garden State Parkway.
The Iron Sheik was charged with
possession of cocaine and marijuana.
What has interested most
wrestling fans in this case
is that the Iron Sheik and Hacksaw
are known to be adversaries.
So why were they
traveling together?
CHRIS: Yeah, I thought
these guys hated each other.
COMMENTATOR: Wham! Right on
the back of the Iron Sheik!
CHRIS: Was their feud all made up?
Was wrestling fake?
Who's left
to believe in anymore?
Well, at least
I still had my heroes.
Those guys would never
let me down.
I need a hero...
REPORTER: Today Hogan
admits the famous physique
was the result
of 12 years of steroids.
CHRIS: Truth is, all my heroes
had a dirty little secret.
Hollywood actor Sylvester
Stallone has been charged
with importing
bodybuilding drugs
when he visited Australia
last month.
- MAN: Did you take steroids?
- I take them.
I took them, yeah,
up until the competition.
CHRIS: I was always
against steroids
and when I found out that
all my heroes used them
I'd like to say it didn't
bother me, but it really did.
I can't imagine
how my mom would feel
if she found out
that both of my brothers
are on steroids
right now.
My older brother
started using steroids
when he went to play
Division I football
at the University
of Cincinnati.
When I got to Cincinnati the
practices were so grueling,
much more than
what I expected.
Coaches would say, "you gotta
get bigger, stronger, faster. "
- CHRIS: Was it intimidating?
- Oh, man,
A lot different than I
thought it was gonna be.
SHELDON BELL: He called me from Cincinnati
and asked me for money for steroids.
I said, "what do you need that for?"
he says, "I can't compete here. "
So I'm like, "I don't know what
that is. It sounds like drugs. "
He goes, "it is drugs. " I said, "I'm
not gonna send you money for drugs.
If you want drugs
go get a job. "
I remember at one point I
think you maybe came home
for a break
or you did something
and you told me, "hey,
come here, help me out. "
And you pulled down your pants and you're
like, "you have to inject this in me. "
And I hated it 'cause I was
totally against steroids.
And you were like, "come on,
just do it. You have to do it. "
You gotta help your big brother out,
man. So it was no decision at all.
Everybody else that was
doing well was on 'em.
CHRIS: Shortly after
getting on the juice
Mad Dog quit college to
pursue an even bigger dream.
COMMENTATOR:
Oh, look at that now!
Here we go!
Mike Bell!
CHRIS:
I couldn't believe it.
That was my big brother
wrestling on T.V.
COMMENTATOR: Right
hand by Bell. Oh, man!
CHRIS: Mad Dog wanted
to be a superstar,
But he was what they call
a "jobber. "
That's the guy they pay
to get beat up
to make the other guys look
good. He didn't care, though.
He was gonna get himself a contract
and headline "Wrestlemania. "
COMMENTATOR: Why did you
even come in the ring?
You should have
gone home, dummy.
CHRIS: But he never
got the contract
And eventually
the W.W.E. stopped calling.
Why did you think
you didn't make it?
Probably mostly
my own fault.
I went from being a guy
who used steroids
to a guy who used
steroids and pot.
And I still needed
to escape reality
so I started taking ecstasy,
cocaine, acid, painkillers.
COMMENTATOR: Mike Bell is where
he does not need to be now.
He's in the wrong corner
and he's paying the price.
CHRIS:
Mad Dog always told me
that he'd rather be dead
than average.
And when he thought
his dream was over
he couldn't cope
with the failure.
MIKE: So I had a
bottle of liquid lead,
a bottle of NyQuil and four
boxes of sleeping pills.
I went down
to the river
down by
the railroad tracks,
parked my car,
took everything.
ROSEMARY: And he tried
to walk into the-
He tried to walk
into the Hudson river.
CHRIS: So did you take
all the sleeping pills?
- Everything.
- And the lead additive?
There's no way I should be
alive right now. There's no way.
CHRIS:
It's 10 years later
and despite everything
that happened
Mad Dog is still trying
to get that contract,
Trying to keep
the dream alive.
'Cause I've been
all over the world
from Singapore to Louisville,
and it doesn't matter-
You line 'em up,
I'll knock 'em down.
I can see why
you never made it.
CHRIS: Mad Dog used to wrestle
in front of a television audience
of 10 million people
every week,
but tonight he's wrestling
at the Portuguese Men's Center
In front of 200 people
for about 50 bucks.
CHRIS: And instead of
wrestling Bret the Hitman Hart
He's facing Midgeto
And he's getting
his ass kicked.
Come on, man,
come on.
CHRIS: My baby brother Smelly
was always trying to keep up
and despite everything
that happened to Mad Dog
he followed in his
footsteps anyway,
becoming a pro wrestler
and using steroids.
The reason I decided
to use steroids was simple.
I just needed
to get bigger.
That was
pretty much it.
CHRIS: But unlike when Mad
Dog started using steroids,
Smelly had a wife
to consider.
When you got married
did you ever think
that your husband would be
injecting himself with something?
No, that didn't even enter
in my conscious thought.
When I first met him
he was against steroids.
He was like,
"you don't need to do it.
I've never done 'em. I
just don't believe in 'em. "
MARK: I was pretty upset about it
Because I didn't want it to come
to that. I was kind of scared.
I didn't want to inject
this oil into my body.
I thought
it was weird.
He's not a huge guy,
you know.
He's 6' if he's lucky
and so I knew that it was
definitely going to help
because that's
what it does,
what steroids do-
make you bigger.
She basically said,
"do what you need to do. "
ANDEE:
Here's Jake with the daddy.
CHRIS: After their son
was born Smelly decided
The life of a pro wrestler was
not exactly what he wanted anymore.
Here's my little Jake
in his swing.
Mark: Looking back, I don't
really know what the hell I wanted.
Having a contract means
that you belong to W.W.E.
And you have to travel.
I was married with a kid.
I mean, that's really
all I need-
A house, a kid and a wife. I'm set.
One, two, three!
CHRIS: They settled
down in the suburbs
and Smelly even
opened up his own gym.
Yeah, my little brother
gave up
the wrestling dream for
a respectable family life,
but he didn't quite
give up everything.
MARK:
Now that I'm into it
I realize it's not really
all that bad. I love steroids.
I think I'll probably be
on and off of them
probably forever.
This is what you trained
for! This is what you do!
Come on, boy!
ANDEE: I thought that
we had an agreement
that he did it
for wrestling.
Now he's not
wrestling anymore
so naturally I thought
he would just stop.
MARK: In my mind there's no excuse
for not being as strong
as you possibly can be.
You do what you gotta do
to win.
ANNOUNCER: Come on, Chris,
let's do this now.
ANNOUNCER: Let's give it up
for him. It's a lot of weight.
MAN:
There it is.
Come on now!
ANNOUNCER: Smoke
show! Come on, Chris.
- Take it, take it.
- MEN: Take it, take it.
ANNOUNCER: Nice
try, Chris, nice try.
MARK:
If you are apprehensive
about taking a steroid
or you're apprehensive
about trying
some new methods
then maybe you're not
cut out to be a champion.
ANNOUNCER: In first
place, Mark Bell.
CHRIS: I guess I'm not
cut out to be a champion,
because I tried steroids but
I felt so guilty I had to stop.
- Are you gonna win worst overall lifter?
- Yeah.
CHRIS: And now I can't even compete
In the sport
I grew up loving.
I mean, my baby brother
just beat me by 130 Ibs.
We all grew up
in the same house,
so why are my brothers fine
with steroids but I'm not?
What would you say
the differences are
- between the three kids.
- Between the three?
Well, I always kind of
say it like this-
you were in the middle
of two guys
that were very
strapping, athletic,
and you were tiny
and short in stature,
so I worked extra hard to
make you feel extra special.
One day I took you
in your room-
I don't know if you remember
this conversation where I said,
"Christopher, what's the
best part of an Oreo cookie?"
What is the best part
of an Oreo cookie?
- The middle.
- The middle. That's right.
So even though you have two
sides of a cookie on this end,
the middle part is
the most delicious.
Everybody wants the middle.
They even made double stuff.
CHRIS: Yep, this is pretty
much how it was growing up.
Mom stayed at home
with the kids
while Dad wore a suit
and tie and went to work.
He was at I.B.M. for 20
years until he was downsized.
But now he has his own
business doing taxes.
SHELDON: Everybody thinks
that success in America
is in the amount of dollars that
you have. And that's not true.
The real true heroes
are people
who go to work every day
and do their job
and bring up their kids to
the best of their ability.
CHRIS:
I wanted to be Hulk Hogan.
I wanted to be Arnold. I
wanted to be Sylvester Stallone.
Did you have heroes like that
growing up, when you were a kid?
SHELDON: Yeah, we
did. We had heroes
like Mickey Mantle,
Roger Maris.
But I knew I could
never aspire to it
because back then
you grew up,
you graduated, you got
married and you had kids.
CHRIS: Yeah, my dad
had the American dream-
you know, marry your
high-school sweetheart,
buy a house and take your
kids to see the Yankees.
But things are
different now.
And even baseball's changed
from when my dad was growing up.
And now when I think
of baseball
I don't think about the
Babe or Hammerin' Hank.
I think of steroids.
COMMENTATOR: This one is a
monster! It is out of here!
CHRIS: After the strike of
'94 baseball was almost dead.
But then Mark McGuire
and Sammy Sosa
started smashing
home runs,
racing toward the
single-season record.
You see,
about 1000 years ago
Babe Ruth had 60 home
runs in one season.
And then when my
parents were still kids
Roger Maris hit
number 61.
He was the home-run champ
for 37 years
until Big Mac came along
and crushed that record
with 70 home runs
and baseball was saved.
COMMENTATOR:
Gone!
Mark McGuire, you have just
broken the home-run record.
What are you going
to do next?
We're going
to Disney World.
CHRIS: I guess Barry Bonds
wanted to go to Disney world too
'cause in 2001
he smashed 73 bombs
to break McGuire's record.
COMMENTATOR:
This is the one!
There's a new
record homer!
CHRIS: See, baseball
players used to be scrawny,
but now these guys were
jacked and it was cool.
They started looking
like pro wrestlers.
JOE BUCK: If you were to
construct a home-run hitter
in a lab, put him together,
he'd look like that.
CHRIS: Turns out, that was
kind of what was going on.
The man with ties
to some big-name athletes
has been charged
with providing
performance-enhancing
drugs to the pros.
CHRIS: The guy with the pencil-thin
mustache is Victor Conte.
He used to be the bass
player for Tower of Power,
but when that career
didn't work out
he did what any failed
musician would do-
he started selling undetectable
steroids to athletes.
REPORTER:
Will you name names?
There will be
naming of names.
CHRIS: Conte's files
named over 250 athletes,
including the home-run
king himself, Barry Bonds.
And then something
even crazier happened-
Jose Canseco
wrote a book.
The surprise wasn't that he was
literate, it's what he wrote about.
He said he'd been taking
steroids since '86,
that 80% of baseball
was on the juice
and that he personally
injected his former bash brother
Mark McGuire
in the ass.
But why, Mr. McGuire?
Do you want to know
the terrifying truth
or do you want to see me
sock a few dingers?
Dingers!
Dingers!
Ooh.
All right,
Congress wants to haul
a bunch of baseball players
up to Capitol Hill
to talk about steroids.
CHRIS: In 2005 Congress
spent 151 days in session.
They spent eight of those days
debating steroids in sports.
That's more time than they
spent on national healthcare,
why the levees broke
in New Orleans,
and more than ending
the war in Iraq.
Apparently,
the United States Congress
takes this whole national
pastime thing kind of seriously.
I'm a baseball fan.
I always have been.
Let me just start by saying
that I am a huge baseball fan.
For me baseball is not a game,
it's a passion.
We have every right
to be concerned
that the national pastime
and all that it represents
has been threatened by the
selfish actions of a few.
There's something simply
un-American about this.
CHRIS: If using steroids makes
the Bash brothers un-American,
what does that make
the Bell brothers?
Congressman Kanjorski, do you
think that this is not a matter
for the U.S. Congress
to be deliberating?
I just don't think
it's necessary.
Why are we just gonna
call seven people
and of what importance
are they?
In the last 52 years
we've only done it 25 times.
by the un-American
activities committee.
Are you now or have ever been
a member of the Communist Party?
Well, sir, I'm not here
to talk about the past.
I have never
used steroids, period.
Did you know that other
players were using steroids?
I have never seen a syringe.
I have never seen steroids.
But in locker-room gossip-
you may not have seen it.
People talk, right? "this guy's doing
something, that guy's doing something. "
Now Mr. McGuire, would you
like to comment on that?
You don't want
to comment?
Are you taking the fifth?
This is about values.
It's about our culture.
It's about who we
define ourselves to be.
When we want to define
to a foreign country
what we're about and
you're gonna show a film,
what would you
go show?
CHRIS:
Hey, how about "Rocky IV"?
There's nothing
more American than that.
The big Russian trains
in a high-tech facility
with a whole team
of scientists and trainers,
and of course
he takes steroids.
Meanwhile, Rocky's
out there lifting logs,
chopping wood, training in
a barn the all-natural way,
'cause only Commies would
take steroids, right?
Sure, Sly,
whatever you say.
Truth is, steroids were
the secret weapon
that helped American
fight the Russians
on the Olympic
battlefield.
And it all
began here,
York BarHenry
in Pennsylvania.
CHRIS: When you
were an Olympic coach
did you see a lot of
steroid use going on?
Much.
- Yeah.
- Much.
Smitty's 83,
one of the old-timers.
He was the coach of the Olympic
weight-lifting team back then.
Was it ever thought of
as cheating at that point?
No. No, because we figured
everybody was taking it.
We figured
even steven.
Smitty told me the story
about how anabolic steroids
were first introduced
to the U.S. Olympic team.
It was the late 1950s
and the Russians were
dominating America
in the space race
and at the Olympics.
But one night the
Russian coach got drunk
and told
the American coach
they'd been injecting their
athletes with steroids.
The American coach
raced home
and developed an even more
powerful steroid
specifically
for team U.S.A.
So if steroids actually helped
America beat the commies,
How did it get
such a bad rap?
MARIA SHRIVER: Last week former
N.F.L. Defensive lineman Lyle Alzado
told N.B.C. News that
steroids were the cause
of his inoperable
brain cancer.
How long were you
on steroids?
Most of my
pro career.
You know,
I played 16 years.
And it got me where I wanted
but also got me very sick.
CHRIS: Lyle Alzado went from being
the toughest son of
a bitch in the N.F.L.
to being a sad
dying man.
Everything I saw on T.V.
taught me that steroids kill.
Some alarming news
about steroid use tonight.
REPORTER: A drug bust
in Phoenix, Arizona,
not for heroin
or cocaine,
but for something
just as dangerous.
Health damage from steroids
can include
heart, joint
and reproductive problems,
this is a drug
that kills.
What happens is that
these retarded idiots
that give us the news,
these talking heads
that babble on T.V.
give us this rhetoric
that comes from
not one single expert.
And they say ridiculous things
like steroids will kill you,
they'll rot your kidneys,
they'll give you cancer,
they'll do all these horrible
things that are just not true.
CHRIS: John Romano is the senior
editor of a bodybuilding magazine
and he disagrees with what his
media colleagues think of steroids.
Well, how come we hear
constantly in the news
that people are dying
through taking steroids?
- Show me the bodies.
- Lyle Alzado.
Lyle Alzado didn't die
from steroids.
I trained with him
for two years.
He didn't die from steroids.
He died from a brain tumor.
I don't know of any of
my colleagues that link
his central nervous system
lymphoma to his use of steroids.
CHRIS: Dr. Charles
Yesalis has published
over 70 articles
on the use of steroids
and is one of the top experts
in the world on drugs in sports.
- Are steroids killing people?
- good question.
They've been
used in medicine
since the late 1930s.
I hope we haven't been
purposely killing people.
Can they be used safely?
Yeah.
These drugs are a boon
in the medical profession.
They're a miracle drug for
people with muscle wasting.
They are a miracle drug
for burn victims,
for cancer patients, people
recovering from surgery.
CHRIS: And for people with
A.I.D.S. like Jeff Taylor.
Jeff has been fighting
H.I.V. for 25 years
and he says
steroids saved his life.
Back in '92 I was
down to two "T" cells
and very sick. I'd
developed P.C.P. pneumonia.
Both my lungs collapsed.
I almost didn't make it.
I came out of a hospital
weighing 125 Ibs.
So I started researching and
found a clinical trial in L.A.
They were studying Anavar,
an old bodybuilding drug,
to test how it worked
for people with H.I.V.
So I signed myself up,
got a fairly high dose
and responded amazingly.
I gained 30 Ibs
in six weeks
and I gained
JOHN ROMANO: So these drugs
have cognitive powers-
if you're sick
they'll help you;
if you're a healthy athlete
they'll kill you?
How can you say steroids are
a national public health crisis
when you have people dropping dead at
a rate you can measure by the minute
as a result
of alcohol and tobacco?
CHRIS:
According to the C.D.C.,
tobacco kills about 435,000
Americans every year,
alcohol kills
about 75,000,
and deaths from anabolic
steroid abuse- three.
But steroids also show up
in some other statistics-
emergency room visits.
But it's not exactly
number one on the list-
that would be alcohol;
or number two-
that's cocaine;
or number three-
that's marijuana.
Gotta be top 10,
though, right?
Uh, not quite.
How about top 25?
Top 100?
Keep going.
Try number 142.
That's even
after multivitamins.
yabba-dabba-doo yabba-dabba-doo,
Flintstones vitamins...
DR. YESALIS:
Education is important,
but what you have to
watch out for
is emChrisishing.
If you look
at "Reefer Madness,"
it caused you to be a
stark-raving, murdering lunatic-
Very funny to watch because
it goes so over the edge.
The next tragedy may be
that of your daughter,
of your son,
or yours.
Physicians and sports
scientists have done that
with the best of
intentions in this area-
"Oh, steroids
are going to cause you
to drop over dead
in your tracks" and so on.
And the athletes are looking
around saying, "Jesus,
haven't seen
that many guys die. "
Are steroids
killing people?
Steroids clearly are
killing people
both in the short term
and in the long term.
CHRIS: Dr. Gary Wadler is an advisor
to the world anti-doping agency
and the media's go-to guy
when it comes to steroids.
We know it's been associated
with stroke
in young people
for which there was no
other obvious explanation.
We know it's been
associated with heart attacks
for which there was no
other obvious explanation.
We know
it increases clotting.
What bothers me are people
like Dr. Gary Wadler
who's a physician
and going before Congress
and saying these things,
and when confronted-
"Please produce
a single article
that shows any of this in any
scientific way," can't do it.
CHRIS: Dr. Norm Fost is a
professor of medical ethics
with a research focus on
performance-enhancing drugs.
So I'm not denying
that there aren't
some serious adverse effects
from anabolic steroids.
It's just that we haven't been
able to demonstrate any of them.
Maybe that's because
we don't study them.
One of the problems
with the ban on steroids
is that it's impossible
to do the kind of research
that would answer
these questions.
Some purists would like
to see those studies done.
Well, I can assure you
they never will be done.
It would be a totally
unethical study to do.
So we have to use the
information we have at hand.
Depression, convulsions,
anxiety, jaundice,
myocardial infarction-
which is heart attack-
eczema, abscess,
vaginal pain,
vaginal discharge.
You wanna know what I'm reading
this from? What does that say?
- "Vitamin c. "
- Thank you.
I mean, look, peanuts are
dangerous. You understand?
There are people
that take a peanut
and have a peanut and they
go into anaphylactic shock.
Okay? The airway closes
up. That's it. They die.
Now does that mean
that we ban peanuts
and sue God
for making them?
- No.
- Right.
What we do is we say,
"okay, peanut warnings. "
There is no safe drug.
There is no safe drug
that ever exists.
There's always
the benefit-to-risk ratio.
You name the drug-
"X" percent of people
will suffer
adverse effects.
CHRIS: Do you feel
any side effects ever?
MARK: Yeah, I've had
some side effects-
acne, hair growth.
Some side effects
that I've had are-
What do you mean by hair
growth? On your head?
No, just on my chest
and my back and stuff.
I never break out.
My back doesn't break out.
I don't get hairy
from it.
You get a little
testicular atrophy,
but then they come back.
It's normal.
- Your balls shrank?
- The balls shank.
- Who needs 'em?
- Who needs 'em?
What about testosterone?
I have some friends who say
it is like a wonder drug.
It makes them feel great.
It makes them feel,
you know, frisky
and young and it's
great for their skin.
The negative side effects would
be my lovely singing voice,
hair like a monkey
from my head to my toes,
I mean, hair growing out places
you don't even want to talk about.
I mean,
I want to stay feminine.
And I think that's why
I get so much work.
It's because I still
look like a woman
and I still have
hard muscles.
DR. COLKER:
In my experience,
steroids are just gonna make
you more of whatever you are.
If you're a jerk
and you take steroids
- You're a super jerk, right?
- An asshole.
You've seen that, right? You
go beyond. You're an asshole.
ANDEE: I've never seen Roid Rage.
I've never seen any
difference in his personality
or how he is with me,
how he is with Jake.
It hasn't done
anything
that all those after-school
specials tell you that it's gonna do.
Bryce, I gotta
get bigger, man.
- Here, this might help.
- Steroids?
WOMAN: What is going on with you?
God damn it!
CHRIS: While I was visiting
my brother and his family
they told me they were
thinking of having another child
but that another possible side
effect of steroids was on their minds.
If you couldn't have
another kid
would it be something
that you'd regret
because you did
steroids?
Yeah. If it was
simply from that, yeah.
I'd probably regret it.
But there's a lot of things
people regret in their
lives, so I'm not, you know-
it's a decision I made and it's
a decision I'll have to live with,
whatever
the consequences are.
CHRIS: It's been 15
years since Alzado died.
- Why did you lie to me?
- I was afraid...
CHRIS: Looking back at
Maria Shriver's interview
I can't help
but wonder,
why wasn't she asking
the real questions like
"is this gonna happen
to my husband?"
Did she really
believe Lyle
or was this
just the beginning
of the steroid myth?
And even though the experts
know a lot more about steroids,
you sure wouldn't know it
from watching the news.
Tonight, one of the nation's
most serious drug problems
and it's only getting worse.
It's steroids.
Professional wrestler
Chris Benoit
killed his wife,
his seven-year-old son,
and then hung himself.
Why did he do it?
Steroids found in the house.
Steroids cause
suicidal tendencies.
MAN: They hallucinate.
They hear voices.
MAN #2:
Depression, paranoia.
Steroids could be
the actual cause...
Speculation
is running wild.
Do you think these drugs
could affect one's mind?
Now we know.
- Testosterone...
- Steroids...
CHRIS:
Let's cut through the crap.
This is steroids 101.
First of all,
the term "steroids"
Is often misused to describe
any performance-enhancing drug
When in fact
many of these drugs
are not actually
steroids at all.
So what are steroids?
Well, steroids are
synthetic versions
of hormones that your body
produces naturally,
like cortisone-
that's a steroid.
It signals the body
to break down inflammation.
Birth control pills
are steroids too
Made from the female
sex hormones
estrogen
and progesterone.
But the steroids that get
all the negative attention
are anabolic steroids,
Made from the male
sex hormone testosterone
which tells the body to
increase muscle size and strength
and helps to recover
from workouts faster.
Like any drug, anabolic
steroids do have side effects.
And if you abuse them the
side effects will be worse.
For men,
they can cause acne,
hair growth,
raised cholesterol,
shrink your testicles
and lower your sperm count,
which could even
make you sterile.
But all of these
side effects
are reversible
when you go off the drugs.
Otherwise, steroids
don't cause baldness,
but if it runs
in your family
they might make you
go bald faster.
And they can also cause
gynecomastia,
or what the gym rats call
"bitch tits. "
For women, in addition
to acne and hair growth,
steroids can cause a deepened
voice, menstrual problems
and can enlarge
the clitoris.
And some of these
are not reversible.
And for kids,
some experts think
steroids can stunt growth by
closing growth plates prematurely.
But that's actually
never been proven.
There's also no proof that steroids
cause cancer, kidney failure,
and only oral steroids
in high dosages
can cause
liver problems.
And it's true that steroids
can be one of 1000 risk factors
that could lead to heart
disease, but then again
low testosterone is
another big risk factor.
And Roid Rage? Steroids
can increase aggression,
but that only happens in
about 5% of the population.
And even then, they
can't make you psychotic.
And as for the long-term
side effects,
we don't know. No one's
ever done those studies.
At what point do we say
that a behavior is such
that people just shouldn't
be allowed to engage in it?
I mean, we do
allow people
to do lots of things
that can hurt themselves.
REPORTER: America's new
junkies- plastic surgery addicts.
I've had my eyes done,
rhinoplasty, chin cleft,
pectoral implants,
bicep implants,
buttock augmentation.
And those are the ones
I can remember right offhand.
TV NARRATOR: Common sense tells
you this is dangerous and foolish.
You wouldn't risk your neck
in a trick like this.
Common sense tells us that
being shot out of a cannon
Is dangerous business.
Handling dynamite-
This too
looks dangerous.
RICK COLLINS: Whether
it's bungee jumping
or skydiving
or black-diamond
skiing-
All of them
are fun to do
But would subject one
to tremendous risks
with no real
necessity.
And so if we allow
all of those other risks,
why is it that we're
taking this position
with respect
to anabolic steroids?
COMMENTATOR: And it's a fair start.
CHRIS:
A Canadian sprinter
Ben Johnson
defeated his archrival
Carl Lewis
in the 100-meter sprint
to become the fastest man
in history.
MAN: It sure got our spirit up.
Just great.
Hey, Benny!
CHRIS:
But 24 hours later
he tested positive
for steroids
and they gave the gold
medal to our guy, Carl Lewis.
COLLINS: There was an
international uproar
over the idea
that this Canadian sprinter
had gotten an advantage
based on his use
of anabolic steroids
for its performance effect.
And Congress responded
by holding some hearings.
Ben Johnson would not
have been in the finals.
He probably would not have
been on the Olympic team
had he not
taken steroids.
CHRIS: Congress wanted to pass
a law that would control steroids
the same way as drugs
like cocaine and heroin
and they called experts
from the D.E.A.,
the F.D.A. and the American
Medical Association.
But they all testified that
steroids should not be treated
like illicit drugs. So Congress
disregarded their experts
and in 1990 they passed the
Anabolic Steroid Control Act,
turning non-medical users
into federal drug criminals.
COLLINS: This wasn't so
much about health effects.
It was really on what
these things do that's good
in the sense that
they build muscle,
they improve the way
that people can perform.
And that
in a sports context
was seen
as the ultimate evil.
If we took a pie chart
of steroid use
and we looked at
what percentage of that pie
is comprised
of athletes
it would be a very very
small slice of that pie.
The overwhelming
majority of the pie
is comprised of the
recreational gym rat
who's doing it purely
for cosmetic reasons.
The irony is
that we've addressed
a sports cheating issue
by creating a law
that affects all the folks
who aren't cheating in sports.
REPORTER: One look at
Gregory Valentino's arms
and you know
something's going on.
The 40-year-old is charged
with criminal possession
of anabolic steroids
with intent to sell.
CHRIS: Some people may
call Gregg Valentino
a freak and a felon.
I call him a neighbor.
He lives down the
block from my grandma.
He also happens to have the
biggest biceps in the world.
Holy crap.
Do you have difficulty
with just sort of
the regular things in life,
like making a sandwich?
No. No no.
I can hit a 90-mile-an-hour
fastball.
Any body wants to
challenge me- let's do it.
I'll show you.
Watch this.
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Come on, Gregg.
Oof!
I told you
I'm no Barry Bonds.
I'm a red-meat man.
I eat a lot of red meat.
Why do you think people
in America are so uptight
About steroids
and steroid users?
Because they fear-
they fear
what they don't know.
You know?
That's ugly. Who the hell
would want to look like that?
I don't want
to look like that.
Why did you want to look
like that then?
Um, I mean,
I like being big.
I had small-man complex, you know.
I'd be like, "I don't
want to be little. "
I wanted to be taller. I couldn't
grow taller, so I grew wider.
Personally I think in the
picture that you showed me-
- Oh, I look better.
- Your arms look a lot better there
than they look now, right?
Wouldn't you agree?
Without a doubt.
I would rather look like
that. Do you think girls
look at me and go,
"oh My God, that's hot"?
They like...
"that's -ing gross. "
I walk into a club and the hottest
girl could be there with her boyfriend
and her boyfriend
will see me
and mush her in the face
to get over to me
just to say to me, like,
"dude, what the -?"
You're getting attention from
the guys, not from the girl.
I don't give a shit. It's
attention. I can't explain it to you.
It's like a mindset. Does
that make sense or no?
But I tell you what-
when I'm done
my biceps are humongous,
humongous.
Like that- bam!
For myself, I'm kind of
on the fence.
I have two brothers.
They're both taking steroids
right as we speak
right now.
I don't know
if I want people
to think
I'm not cheating
or to look at me
and say,
"Wow, you know, you
really have a great build. "
But do you think I should
take steroids to get there?
I think steroids are
as American as apple pie.
We live in a society
today that-
You got M.T.V.
And reality shows,
Madonna's making out
with Britney Spears,
Rap music and all that shit, and
you're worried about steroids?
Kids are like, "-
you, cop. - you, man,"
Playing video games like grand
theft auto where you're killing cops.
That's worse influence in my
opinion than steroids will ever be,
than Barry Bonds
hitting home runs.
There's a big difference
between a kid taking steroids
who's only had hair on
his dick a couple of years,
as opposed to a grown man
who's looking to perform better
At a better level
in sports.
And where is Schwarzenegger
in all this?
I mean, he is the
poster boy for steroids.
He's the poster boy for "hey,
look, look at me, look what I did.
I came, I conquered,
I kicked ass. "
That autobiography says he
was doing it when he was 15-16.
Hey, he won Mr. Universe
at 19 years old- 19.
Did you ever see what he
looked like when he was 19?
Do you think it was god-given
genetics or do you think
that maybe he took the
performance enhancers?
A lot of people
idolize these guys,
whether it's a rock star, a
bodybuilder, a movie star, whoever,
and all of a sudden
you get to meet them
and, man,
is it a let-down.
Because they're never ever
what they appear to be.
The guy you see
in public like this
has got the middle finger
under the table going like this.
It's never "what you see
is what you get. "
It's "what you see is
what they want you to see. "
Everybody idolized
Schwarzenegger growing up.
Everybody thought,
"man, I wanna lift weights
and life a pure life
like Arnold.
And I'm gonna eat all my vegetables
and take my protein shakes.
Maybe I'll move out to
California, train at Gold's Gym.
And I'm gonna get really
big. I'm gonna win contests.
I'm gonna be
a movie star too. "
ANNOUNCER:
Please welcome a man
whose story embodies
the American dream.
One thing I learned
about America is
that if you work hard and
if you play by the rules
this country is truly
open to you.
You can achieve
anything.
Dude, that is-
That is a pipe dream.
That is
a pipe dream, okay?
To get where
Arnold got in life
you have to be willing
to step on a few fingers
and step on a few friends
and fuck a few people over.
You don't get to that
level without that.
In this world you're
either the barracuda
or you're that little minnow
swimming around like this.
And Arnold's
the barracuda.
And we'll all exercise
a little bit together
with the dumbbells. Come on
now, let's do some presses here.
CHRIS: In the same year
that George Bush Sr. signed
the Steroid Control Act he
also made Arnold Schwarzenegger
the chairman of the President's
Council on Physical Fitness.
So I'm confused.
Was the President saying
that a former steroid user
could still be a
role model for kids?
- Are you gonna exercise?
- Yeah!
We're gonna
pump up muscle!
TV NARRATOR:
Enter Steve Rogers,
Too puny to be
accepted by the army,
but willing to risk
death for his country.
He's changing
right before our eyes!
TV NARRATOR:
Suddenly it is over
and America has
a new champion.
CHRIS: Why do you think in America
superheroes are so important?
STAN LEE:
People need heroes,
Whether in real life
or in fiction,
because they need somebody
to inspire them,
something to aim for,
somebody to try
to be like.
I think any boy
would want
to be built like
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Did you ever want to be
big a muscular like that?
I wanted to be a little-
when I'd go to the beach
I used to wish that my
arms were a little stronger.
I looked more like
the 98-Ib weakling.
Did that ever inspire you,
that Charles Atlas comic strip?
- Did that inspire some of your characters?
- It inspired everybody.
CHARLES ATLAS: Let me teach
you how to become strong.
When you're young
you get impressions
That pretty much
last you all your life.
If you step up
and show up
and play hard,
you're gonna play.
All right,
get a break.
Rock 'n' roll, fellas!
CHRIS:
Smelly's now a coach
for the local high-school
football team.
Kind of like Arnold, he just
wants to give back to the kids.
MARK: Going to school
was pretty painful for me.
Oftentimes I can find
the kid who is like me
and maybe doesn't have
the best confidence
and show him
how to lift weights
and build him up
physically and mentally.
BOY:
He's the kind of guy
who would get in your life
and slowly turn it around.
He keeps me going. He keeps
me motivated about something.
When he works with those
high school kids
that's his passion.
Not a lot of kids
Have a strong male figure
in their life.
I mean, a lot of people-
they're usually very selfish,
but he's not. I've never really
met anyone that's like that.
CHRIS: There's a gym
in Columbus, Ohio,
Where the strongest guys
in the world train.
It's called
West Side Barbell.
And this is where Smelly learned
from his role model, Louie Simmons.
I've got a philosophy like
many- when you go to war
you go to kill.
You don't go to get killed.
There's nobody
in this place
that's not trying to be the
best athlete in the world.
Everybody here is trying to
achieve an elite level of success.
Pretty much as you're a kid you
always want to be the strongest.
I always wanted to be
the strongest guy.
And I still want
to be that, you know.
SIMMONS: In 1959 my
father showed me a book.
It was about the Russians
taking testosterone.
So I said,
"what the hell?
First chance I got, I'm gonna
do some of this. " and so I did.
I've actually been on
anabolic steroids for 36 years.
Matt, Matt, Matt,
Matt, Matt, Matt!
Up up up up up!
CHRIS: Is it something I
should be morally battling
or should I be fine
with doing it?
Your morals are
your morals, not mine.
Who am I to judge you? And
who are you to judge me?
You want to be strong
or you want to be weak?
But you can't be strong
without doing steroids?
You can't be
as strong as possible.
If you want to reach the top
you're gonna have to do it.
Everybody thinks anabolic
steroids is the easy way out.
The people that train
with anabolic steroids
train way harder
than people that don't.
Regardless of what people
think of Barry Bonds,
you can't take
a bottle of testosterone,
put on Barry's
baseball uniform
and make him hit
Barry's got to go out, train
and hit the 700 home runs.
But what if
the scientists came up
with something better
than anabolic steroids?
You see cows, you see
immense, powerful cows,
And they basically have
changed their genes.
If they can change your
genes, would that be illegal?
What would they do then?
Just ban sports in general?
Oh My Lord.
When people see these,
is the first question
"how many hormones
do you pump into them?"
Well, it's two comments.
One would be,
"oh my gosh, what did you
do to that thing?"
And secondly, "it looks
like Arnold Schwarzenegger. "
CHRIS: This is a
Belgian Blue Bull-
2600 Ibs, all muscle,
all natural.
So tell me again,
you're all natural?
You're not
taking anything?
I think you're ready
for Congress.
He has
a genetic mutation
that allows him to grow
double muscle.
And scientists
have figured out
how to genetically alter
humans the same way.
Dr. Lee Sweeney is
using this technology
to try to cure
muscular dystrophy.
It's obviously going to become
more and more evident
that what we call talent
is really
genetic variation.
There's genetic enhancement
available that might be able
to give you what
nature didn't give you.
Trying to figure out how
to do it in the safest way
Is something that
hasn't been worked out.
If you find out
that it's safe,
would you be somebody
who would say, "hey-"?
Yeah, I would be
first in line.
'Cause it seems
like this is
the future of sports-
gene doping.
Gene doping, yeah.
I wouldn't do it.
Will gene doping ruin
sports in America?
I don't think so.
I mean, I think
any time there's
a new technology
everyone says, "okay,
we have to stand back
and think about what this is
really gonna mean to society. "
And I think
that's the debate
we will come to
in the coming decades.
TV NARRATOR: Good sportsmanship-
you know what that means?
Play fair.
CHRIS: When I was a kid
cheating was pretty clear-cut,
like when the million dollar
man hired the referee's
evil twin brother to cheat
the Hulkster out of his title.
COMMENTATOR: Is that Dave
Hebner or is that Dave Hebner?
You know, cheating in other sports
wasn't all that different.
Remember when Joe Necro
was hot-scuffing the ball
with an emery board?
COMMENTATOR: Something
came out of his pocket.
Chris: And what about when the
Patriots were playing the Dolphins
And they hired
an ex-con to clear
a spot in the snow for
the field-goal kicker?
You can't do that.
I think it's
the most unfair thing
that I've ever been
associated in.
CHRIS: Or like when Rosie
Ruiz won the Boston Marathon.
The mystery woman winner. We
missed her at all our checkpoints.
CHRIS: Why take steroids
when you can take a bus?
And who can forget
when Tonya Harding
hired a goon to take out
Nancy Kerrigan's knee?
Why? Why?
I guess if you can't
beat 'em,
beat 'em
with a lead pipe.
But somehow steroids
seem kind of different.
I thought in undergraduate
school and in college
I was a pretty good
athlete.
But I find
myself angry,
angry in my gut
because these are the same guys
that would have taken me out,
taken me out
not because they had
more god-given
natural talent than me
but because they enhanced
with artificial means.
CHRIS: If using
steroids is cheating,
seems like a whole bunch of other
stuff should be cheating too.
Take Tiger Woods, for example.
He had Lasik eye surgery
and now his vision is 20/15.
That's better than perfect.
WOODS: My eyes are stable.
My game's a lot better.
I felt pretty good
coming in.
CHRIS: In a game that relies
so much on depth perception,
wouldn't superhuman vision
be a performance enhancement?
Then there's
cortisone shots.
They helped Curt Schilling
win the World Series.
And those are
steroids too.
Truth is, corticosteroids can have worse
side effects than anabolic steroids,
but they're used
in sports every day.
He had a 20-minute
cortisone shot
after Monday's match after
his back tightened up.
CHRIS: Here's an even
more confusing example-
Floyd Landis claims
that he did not take steroids
to win the Tour De France.
LANDIS: Truth is, I
didn't use testosterone
like I'm accused of doing.
I didn't cheat.
I didn't do anything
outside of the rules.
I won the Tour clean
and I deserved to win.
I'm proud of it
and I always will be.
CHRIS: But he did sleep in
his own altitude chamber.
I got my
altitude chamber
out by the garage
these days.
So you made this?
Yeah, it's not actually
that hard to make.
I didn't make the pipe. I got the
pipe from some construction site.
They were putting in
a water main.
Is the result
pretty good?
For me it makes
a difference, yeah.
And how long do you
stay in here for?
Just sleep in there all night.
I don't know, six or seven hours.
Is your wife like,
"what are you doing?"
"I'm gonna sleep
in the chamber. "
She hates it.
So you just climb
in there?
Yeah, you want
to try it out?
You won't have a monitor
in there, but I have it set
to, like,
about 13,000'.
CHRIS: See, sleeping
in an altitude chamber
produces a lot more
red blood cells,
which means more oxygen
in your system,
which means more endurance for a
cyclist or a long-distance runner.
There are four ways to increase
your red blood cell count.
You can sleep in an
altitude chamber like Floyd
or you can just train at the
U.S. Olympic training center
at 6,000'
in Colorado.
Then there's
blood doping.
That's when you draw your own
blood a month before the big race,
then re-inject it
the night before.
Finally, there's a drug
called E.P.O.
which simply
tells your body
to produce more
red blood cells.
So that's four ways to
do the exact same thing,
but two are allowed
and two are cheating.
You done yet?
Hey.
That's kind of weird.
No, it's nice, man. Once you get used
to it it's nice sleeping in there.
SCOTT REID: What's heartbreaking
is my eight-year-old-
his two favorite athletes are
Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong.
My four-year-old is obsessed
with Floyd Landis.
So what do you tell these kids?
I talk to people all the time
That they go, "who can
my kids believe in?"
And I want to tell them
is "nobody. "
I ask not to be judged
and much less
to be sentenced
by anyone.
You can't trust anybody now because
the testing is so ineffective.
You don't know who's really
clean, who's really dirty.
CHRIS: Were you taking any
sort of drugs for that race?
Not what they
fined me with, no.
- But you were taking other stuff.
- Other stuff, yeah.
But isn't that
still cheating?
Still cheating, yeah,
like everybody else.
So that's how
you justify it-
- Everybody's cheating?
- Yes.
When I interviewed Ben
Johnson he basically said,
"look, everybody was
on something. "
Well, you know, Ben-
and bless his heart,
he's got to say
everyone was on something.
That's justifying
his own means.
So he has a problem
with you beating-
he has a problem-
he has a problem
- of, you know, me beating him.
- Yeah.
When we were taking
that victory stand,
we were on the stand
and he got the gold medal,
he didn't smile.
He never smiled.
He never celebrated.
And the thing is,
he couldn't really inside share
in the joy of winning. He cheated.
You cheat.
Everybody cheats.
Nobody in this world
is perfect.
Nobody in this life
is perfect- nobody.
They know that in 1988
six Americans at least
tested positive in Seoul.
And they all shut up
because the biggest money
comes from America.
So who's gonna
get shafted,
Americans
or Ben Johnson?
DR. WADE EXUM: I think that Ben
Johnson was unfairly singled out.
I think that there's
always scapegoats.
Is there a lot of drug use
going on in Olympics?
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
CHRIS: Dr. Exum was the
Director of Anti-Doping
at the U.S. Olympic Committee
for 10 years.
He thought his job was
to stop drugs in sports,
but his bosses had
other priorities.
He told me that over
failed their drug tests,
including Carl Lewis,
and they were
covered up.
Nobody believes Carl Lewis
ever failed a drug test.
- Do you have any proof?
- Oh, certainly.
We have just boxes of proof
for everything that I say.
There it is,
book three.
Here's a letter from
then Executive Director
Baaron Pittenger
to Mr. Lewis.
CHRIS: "I must confirm that the
analysis for your specimen 'B'
was positive for
pseudoephedrine, ephedrine,
And phenylpropanolee-
lamine-
- Is that what is is?
- Phenylpropanolamine, yeah.
IOC banned stimulants.
By policy of the U.S.O.C.,
this finding is cause
for disqualification
from the Olympic team
to the 1988 Summer Olympic
Games in Seoul, Korea. "
Wow.
This is basically
a letter that said
that you had failed
the test
and that there was a
consequence to that failure.
As we all know,
that didn't come about.
You actually received
a letter, or a call-
- Yes. - -that you had
failed the drug test-
- Right. - -because
of some stimulants?
Yeah, it was like
a cold medicine type thing,
the herbal supplement.
They made up this term. It
was called "inadvertent use"-
an athlete took something
without meaning to take it
or without meaning to gain
an advantage from taking it.
Mm-hmm.
And so they made that up
to basically kind of
let people off the hook?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Carl's story is-
it's been a cold medicine;
it's been a tea; it's been
some kind of a nutrient.
- It's a stimulant. - CHRIS: So
you're saying these athletes-
they know what's on the
banned substance list?
They totally know.
They are bombarded with
the banned substance list.
A lot of people say
you failed the drug test,
you raced against
Ben Johnson,
and that maybe-
maybe the gold medal
- should go to the guy next on the stand.
- I understand.
There are a lot of people that are
going to go to their graves saying,
"I know he did it. " and you
know what? To hell with them.
DR. EXUM: You really cannot
fault the athlete for doing that.
You can't fault Carl
when Carl's belief is
that the system sets some rules
and that you need to follow them.
And they made an
exception in his case.
They made an exception in
a lot of people's cases.
But it's the system
that actually teaches
athletes to think that way.
You know, for me
the whole "level playing
field" was a myth.
If we could not do anything
to take doping out of sports
then doping was
meant to be in sports.
The first all-drug Olympics
opened today in Bogota, Colombia.
Athletes are allowed to
take any substance whatsoever
before, after, and even
during the competition.
Oh! He's pulled
his arms off!
He's pulled his arms off. That's got
to be disappointing to the big Russian.
Yeah!
What has made
every major sport
a multi-billion-dollar
entity?
Well, after you
distill it all down,
it's the desire
of the customer,
the fans that fill
these seats and others,
to see bigger-than-life people
doing bigger-than-life things.
CHRIS: What do you think about
athletes using steroids in sports?
Steroids?
I love it if they're on my team.
I think it's totally wrong,
totally wrong.
- Worst offense. Throw them out.
- It's cheating?
Hell yeah, it's cheating.
Are you kidding me?
MAN: Oh!
MAN: It all gets back to money.
As long as people
continue to buy
Mark McGuire shirts,
Barry Bonds hats,
we're feeding
that monster.
You vote for the Raiders
by wearing the Raiders hat.
You cast your vote for
Nike with your T-shirt.
You know, every day when you
pick a dollar out of your pocket
you're voting.
And if you don't like
athletes juicing up, then
don't vote to have that done.
Don't buy their stuff.
Don't go to the game.
Do steroids.
Become governor.
Be big and strong,
no girly man.
- The Giants, baby!
- Whoo!
Shockey!
Whoo!
CHRIS: Since the
steroid scandals broke
sports revenue has gone
through the roof.
People are buying more tickets,
T- shirts as souvenirs than ever.
So if this is what we
the people are voting for,
why did Congress
get involved?
They always tell you that
if you have a problem,
Talk to your
Congressman.
Lucky for me, my
Congressman is Henry Waxman.
- Hey, how are you?
- I'm fine. How are you?
Very nice to meet you.
Chris Bell.
CHRIS: He's the one who called
the baseball hearings
in the first place.
He's got to have
some answers.
I think it's important
for sports figures
in major league sports
not to be allowed
to use steroids
under any circumstance.
And for young people-
we certainly don't want
them to be using it.
So the drug is
a restricted drug.
It's not-
there's not a-
Let me-
Brian, is it illegal
to use-?
it's illegal-
it's legal
under some circumstances.
What's-?
BRIAN: It's legal
with a prescription-
- legal with- okay.
- -A medical prescription.
It's legal with
a medical prescription.
And the other drug
was the...
testosterone or just
steroids in general.
Well, I think that
they're also banned.
They're already banned
in professional sports.
Brian, am I right?
Speak up if I'm wrong.
- Yes.
- Okay.
Well, these products
are already banned.
Cigarettes
and alcohol
are legally
available,
but not if you're
under the age.
And I think the age
is 18 for both
all around the country.
Is it 18 or 21? I'm
getting confused. What?
- BRIAN: 21.
- CHRIS: 21.
- Okay, so strike that.
- That's all right.
President Bush allotted
$15 million
for steroid education.
Where has
that money gone?
Um, I don't know.
Do you know?
Okay, we don't know.
- Okay.
- So...
JEFF TAYLOR:
It's a war on drugs
and Congressmen want
to be tough on drugs,
so they just
demonize them all.
And they say, "oh, our children
are being exposed to them.
They're gonna kill
our children. "
And they just paint
everything in black and white.
And they really don't
see the areas in between.
For those of us
who live in the grey areas
and whose life
depends on it.
It's a very
important issue.
Politicians
are always looking
for an issue
to get behind.
They're always looking
for something
to be able to say
to the public,
"hey, look at what
my legislation's doing.
Look at what
my bill has done.
I'm out there.
I'm protecting you.
I'm protecting
the children. "
CHRIS: Turns out the
most important witness
at the baseball hearings
was not a famous athlete.
Taylor Hooton was
a 17-year-old kid
who committed suicide and
his father blamed steroids.
I believe
the poor example
being set
by professional athletes
is a major catalyst
fueling
the high usage of steroids
amongst our kids.
And parents
across America
should hold you
accountable
for behavior
that inspires our kids
to do things that put
their health at risk
and that teaches them
that the ethics
we try to teach them
around our kitchen table
somehow don't apply
to them.
Please help us to see
that our children's lives
were not lost in vain.
You have the power
to do something about it
and we're counting
on you to do so.
JOHN SWEENEY:
Donald Hooton coming in
and putting
a human face on it
was more powerful
than the scientific-
the statistics
or any of that stuff.
CHRIS: On average,
commit suicide
in America.
And most parents
never know exactly why.
I wanted to find out why
Donald Hooton is so sure
that the answer could
be as simple as steroids.
- How are you doing?
- Fine.
- Chris Henry.
- Don Hooton. Nice to meet you.
This is a very very
competitive community
all the way from
athletics to business.
So you wind up
in an affluent area
where these kids can afford
to play with this stuff.
And of course in
hindsight as we look back,
all of the signs were
staring us in the face-
The behavior problems,
the physical changes,
but we had no idea
what we were looking at.
If we go back
to the medical textbook,
the depression that comes
along with steroid use is bad,
but it's worse in that
four-to-six-week period
following stopping
using this stuff.
And it was
during that period
that his mother
found him
hanging on the door
in his bedroom.
Jeez.
Taylor Hooton's dad,
Don Hooton,
called me shortly after
Taylor had taken
his life.
Together we came up
with the idea
of creating
a private organization...
...to educate
the public
about the dangers
of anabolic steroid abuse.
This is Taylor's room.
You don't have to come
in here long to realize
Taylor was
a baseball player.
'Cause he started maybe
five years old in T-ball.
But Taylor was
a great kid.
We took Taylor
to a psychiatrist
and she put him on
a low dose of Lexapro.
And as far as I know,
this is the only
steroid-related case
that this well-meaning
psychiatrist had ever had.
And when the psychiatrist
recommended that Taylor go cold turkey
and stop using steroids...
it was a formula
for disaster.
I feel terrible, obviously,
about Taylor Hooton,
But Taylor Hooton had
a lot of problems
and he was on other drugs.
According to some
newspaper accounts,
he was on S.S.R.I.S-
antidepressants
which have been shown
to be associated
with suicidal ideation
and suicidal behavior.
So whether his suicide
was due to Lexapro
or due to steroids
or due to depression
or due to stress
of being a great athlete,
there are five other
things- I don't know.
Do you think
that perhaps-
when I look
at your website,
The Taylor Hooton
Foundation-
do you think
it's a responsibility
to include
antidepressants in there
just in case
there are critics
or just to raise
the awareness
of how dangerous perhaps
antidepressants may be?
No, I don't.
And the reason is,
our battle is not with antidepressants.
Our battle's with steroids.
The National Institute
on Drug Abuse said
the dangers
of anabolic steroids
are temporary
and reversible.
My son is dead.
All of the intellectual
arguments
about whether or not
steroids are dangerous
or not
don't matter to me.
I know
they're dangerous.
I saw it with my own eyes
and I watched my son die.
The only evidence I need
is the pictures of my son
that are on the wall
behind you.
Mm-hmm.
JOHN ROMANO:
Look, I have a son too.
And the last thing in the
world I could ever imagine doing
is burying that kid.
And it would probably
ruin me for the rest
of my life.
And I can see
where having a cause
to sort of assuage
the feelings of guilt
and depression that are
following my son's death
would probably be helpful. "Let's
not let this happen to somebody else. "
But they're chasing
the wrong thing.
They're not
doing it right.
We're working
with major league baseball
to make that happen now
where hopefully
in each local stadium
there's gonna be
a steroid awareness night.
Do you find it
ironic at all
to have a steroid
awareness night for baseball
in a stadium
that sells alcohol
which is responsible for
a lot of deaths as a drug?
Alcohol's legal to sell.
And we can argue
all day long
Whether tobacco kills
and whether alcohol kills,
and there's a clear
distinction in my mind
between tobacco
or alcohol
and steroids and
methamphetamines and coke.
- Thanks for sharing that with us.
- All right.
I know how hard
it can be and everything.
This is
important stuff.
MARK: Anybody who
asks me about it-
I let them know.
I tell them why.
I tell them how much I
take. I'll tell them anything
- they want to ask me about them
'cause I think- - What about the kids?
The kids are different
because-
a couple kids asked me in
front of the whole group
and I had to lie
about it
because this whole steroid
thing is just out of hand.
I know coach Henry
doesn't take any steroids.
He's just 100% strong.
I think somebody asked
him if he was on steroids
and he said no. And I
completely believe him.
He just teaches that
steroids are basically-
they're a cheap way
out of doing hard work.
MARK: I say they're not for kids.
Steroids are not for kids.
That's plain and simple.
You should achieve
things naturally
and then maybe you
should think about them
when you're
an adult.
The main reason why
I don't take steroids
is 'cause he got it into my
head that I don't need 'em,
that I got the potential right now as
a teenager to get as strong as I want.
MARK: What good would it do them
to know that I take steroids?
It wouldn't do them any
good. They'd just be like,
"oh, man,
he's a cheater.
Would you ever tell our
parents that you do it?
Um, I mean, you know,
if they asked me.
I only cooked
two pounds.
I hope it's enough.
CHRIS: You know, we went
to church all the time.
I grew up
in a great family.
I don't think
I could ask
for anybody better
to be parents, you know.
And when I went
to the U.S.C.
I didn't do any drugs.
I didn't do anything.
- 'Cause you're a good boy.
- Well...
And then I got to a point
where I actually tried steroids.
I tried Winstrol,
which is injections.
You injected a needle
in yourself?
MIKE: It's just
in the muscle.
Yeah, 'cause you get to
a point where you're like,
"I'm getting out of shape.
I don't feel like I used to. "
The reason I stopped
doing it was
because I thought
it was immoral.
I thought it was so wrong
and like,
"what if my parents
found out I did this?"
I think it's really
hard to hear
- that you tried 'em and everything, but-
- For you.
It's not hard
for me.
What I'm saying is
that it's hard to hear.
And what about mark?
I mean,
how come you're staying big
but you're not getting fat?
- You're just-
- I'm getting fatter.
No, but your face
is rounder.
- I put on body fat.
- MIKE: He's about-
You're about 7% or 8% higher than what
you normally are, wouldn't you say?
I have no idea. I don't
really care either.
CHRIS: He's already
married. He doesn't care.
ROSEMARY: Except Smelly's
not saying anything.
Don't let your brothers
overrun your conversation.
SHELDON: When you get
caught with something
I think the truth is
always the fastest way
out of the situation,
but it's not always
the best way out.
You know, she's concerned.
She's being a mom
and she's just trying
to leave it open
where I could say, "Yeah,
you know what? I do 'em.
And this is why. " I think
that's what she's looking for.
But she's still
never directly asked me.
So until that time comes
I ain't sayin' nothin'.
SHELDON: People have a
tendency to cheat at everything.
And that happens
with taxes too,
just like it could with
steroids or any other thing.
It's human nature.
It's the sinful nature of men.
CHRIS: My dad convinced
mad dog and his wife
To settle down
in Poughkeepsie.
And he's been doing income taxes for
the same guys he used to wrestle with.
I keep a couple things
around, not too much.
Big john.
John always keeps it real.
This just says "To Mad
Dog. Thanks for everything. "
CHRIS: Not exactly how he
thought his life would turn out.
MIKE: I get up, I go to the office,
you know, I make money for
them, I make money for me.
I got a great wife.
I got a great family.
But I wanted to be
a famous wrestler
and, you know,
I wanted to live the life.
I wanted to be on the road,
travel, meeting people,
Making money,
having fun-
you know,
living the life.
SHELDON: He'll break
down and he'll be crying
and he'll say, like,
"dad, the biggest fear
I ever had in my life
was being average Joe.
And I'm 36 years old and that's
all I can see for myself. "
CHRIS: What do you want to do now?
Where do you see
yourself going?
I mean, you know, the immediate
goal was to get out of Poughkeepsie,
move to California,
establish my name
and then start my own
business eventually.
Seemed like he was making
good progress, okay?
But he wasn't making
any progress.
I told him the other night, I said,
"you might be fooling
everybody else,
but you're not
fooling me.
You're full of shit.
You're still on stuff. "
Why do you think he
would tell us about it?
He tells me everything else,
you know, that he's doing.
I think he's
partially embarrassed
and I think he's-
that's part of
addictive behavior.
His thing is this- "I'm gonna be
fine as soon as I'm out of here.
I'm gonna go live in California.
My life is gonna be perfect. "
But if he really believes that-
no, he's not gonna be fine at all.
You know who I feel bad
for? I feel bad for Nadine.
'Cause here's a young
girl who's married,
whose hopes and dreams
and life
is in him,
and he's a screw-up.
And if he ends up overdosing
and killing himself
or if he ends up on the rocks,
he's taking her with him.
I'm not moving out there
with the hopes and dreams of-
I'm not gonna wait tables and
hope I'm gonna be an actor.
I already did that-
You think
you'll get noticed?
I'm not moving out
to get noticed,
but you're never gonna get
noticed in Poughkeepsie.
In Hollywood you're walking down
the street, somebody sees you-
"hey, you got a minute?"
you just never know.
You don't think
there's any way
he can get past it?
A miracle.
I'm serious.
I think they're gonna
find him dead someday.
I thought bringing up boys-
this is easy.
At least I don't have
a daughter who's, like,
got her face in the bowl
throwing up.
You know, did I-
did I do something
as a mother
To make you feel,
like, not good enough?
When Mike went off to college
and he calls your father up
and says,
"can I try steroids?"
"No, you're not getting
money to try steroids. "
You know, we both thought
that was a crazy thing, so-
but do you know where he
ended up getting 'em from?
- No, but I wasn't gonna- - He
got 'em from your brother John.
No-
So that's- I mean, it's
something that's like,
you know,
in our family.
I mean, it's something
that, like-
Chris, you're already
killing me with this as it is.
- Well, I'm telling-
- It just gets worse.
I'm just telling you
the truth.
I'm just trying to tell
you how I feel as a mother.
I am broken
to my soul.
My heart is broken.
When you were growing up
Hulk Hogan-
look what he's saying.
"take your vitamins,
say your prayers-"
and what?
- "believe in yourself. "
- Yeah, but it's not true.
- So I started working out.
- "Take your steroids," okay?
I don't know if he
ever prays or not.
Never heard him talk about
god in his whole life, okay?
Now that time
has gone by,
I'm like,
"is this guy a fraud?"
And that's where I think
that everybody needs
to begin to accept-
"I am who I am,"
said Popeye
the sailor man.
He even was a gyp.
- He had to take spinach.
- He had to take spinach.
Everybody needs something.
I mean, what's up with that?
If I just accept who I am right
now, isn't that just giving up?
No, accept who you are
as a person.
Then your body image
is something different.
Do you think a fat person
hasn't tried everything
that's legal? But I'm
not gonna cross the line.
The Bible lays everything out
about how to live your life.
- But the bible can't solve all your problems.
- It can.
I can't pray to look like Arnold
Schwarzenegger. It's not gonna happen.
No, you can't pray to look
like Arnold Schwarzenegger,
but neither can you
take enough steroids
or enough human growth hormone
to look like him either.
- But you can get as close as you can.
- It's not gonna happen.
You're fearfully
and wonderfully made.
Every sinew in your body,
every muscle, every fiber
was made by god.
And you're exactly
who he intended you
to be.
And so what? To somebody
with a six-pack of abs.
Maybe they don't have
what you have.
I mean, you know, why don't
you ever think that way too?
What I don't get is
why did our boys
Not feel that they were
good enough?
My father or my grandfather
never worried about
whether they had a six-pack
of abdominals
or what percentage
of body fat they had.
So why is it now
in the 21st century
that there's this
huge preoccupation
with body image that
just didn't exist before?
CHRIS: Dr. Harrison
pope is a psychiatrist
who studies why American men are
becoming more obsessed with their bodies.
So here
we have G.I. Joe
from the 1960s.
This is when he first came out
at the time of the Vietnam war.
He's a perfectly
normal-looking dude.
Here is G.I. Joe
from about 10 years later,
- from the mid-1970s.
- He's got abs now.
He's clearly been putting
in some time in the gym.
- And then here is G.I. Joe from the 1990s.
- Oh, jeez.
The bicep is
up to 16" or so,
full six-pack of abs,
even got serratus muscles
visible on the side.
This evolution
in the action figures
is a testimony
to this increased
preoccupation with body image
that we've been seeing
in the United States.
And it's funny
that in our culture
we still tend
to romanticize
steroids
to a certain way-
That you'll see an ad
for an S.U.V. that says,
"this is our sedan
on steroids. "
But you wouldn't see an
ad for an S.U.V. saying,
"this is our sedan
on cocaine. "
REPORTER: Well, it's sort of
like a golf cart on steroids.
It looked like an
easy-bake oven on steroids.
It's sort of
the economy on steroids.
Think of it as Apollo
on steroids.
This year the jet stream
has really been on steroids.
Kosovo would be
Bosnia on steroids.
MAN: Adding more U.S.
trainers and advisors,
essentially putting the
current strategy on steroids.
We are besieged
every day
with images of muscular
male bodies on T.V.,
in the movies, in cartoons,
on magazines
at the checkout counter
in the department store,
all of which seem
to give this message
that a real man
is big and muscular.
There you go.
Just like that.
Good. Give me some good
abs, Christian. That's it.
I saw "Conan the Barbarian"
when I was 11.
And at that moment I said,
"that's exactly what I want to do. "
And I started to study
Arnold and his achievements.
So I started training
with weights when I was 14.
I started taking
steroids when I was 16.
So you're advertising
a supplement.
So a guy like me goes
and looks in the magazine
and I see Christian Boeving
and I'm like, "wow, man,
I wanna look like that guy. "
so I go and take
Hydroxycut
or some supplement
because I think that
I'm gonna look like you.
But what I don't know is
that you were taking steroids.
Do you have
any problem with that?
That's a double-edged
sword, my friend.
How to answer this?
Somebody looks at an ad
with me in it
and says, "Christian
Boeving takes Hydroxycut,"
Which I did
and I do.
That doesn't necessarily mean
that I don't take something else.
If they choose
to believe
that that's the only thing
I'm taking to look like that,
then so be it. They should
be smarter than that.
Is it misleading?
Possibly a little bit, yeah.
But is it a lie?
Absolutely not.
I'd say probably 80% to
of all the stuff
I see in magazines
is complete hogwash.
It's ridiculous to me.
I don't understand why there's
this need in advertising
To really
manipulate things-
The bone-thin
fashion models
that got all kinds
of eating disorders,
and with men
it's the opposite.
They get
the Adonis complex.
And then there's all
kinds of trouble ahead
'cause you have all these kids who
are like you and me when we were young
looking at all these people
and they're perfect.
And how does that make somebody
feel who's not as perfect
as the people they're
seeing? Not very good.
So this stuff
I've tried-
loaded with sugar.
I've tried this.
I've tried this.
Of course I've
tried this.
Everybody I think's
tried muscle milk.
I've tried this.
I've tried this.
I've tried
all these drinks.
If speed stack weren't enough,
you have extreme speed stack.
REHAN JALALI: The supplement
industry is very unregulated.
You don't have to have
F.D.A. approval
To come out with
a dietary supplement.
That gives people room
to come out
with some lower-quality
products.
This product says
"new legal formula" on it.
I don't know what
the old formula really had in it.
"Belizean Man Vine
Extract. "
I don't
want any part of that.
"Best if used by date and
lot number on bottom of can. "
Yeah.
CHRIS: I always thought
the health industry
was about,
you know, health.
Why does it feel like
we're back in the wild west?
It'll clean your teeth
and curl your hair!
The best in the west.
I wouldn't be dead
without a bottle.
CHRIS: Well, we can all thank the
senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch.
Look how good he looks.
I want to get his brand
is what I want to do.
CHRIS: See, the health industry
is big business in Utah.
They make almost a quarter of all
the dietary supplements in America.
And supplements are
a $24-billion industry.
So you do the math.
Making supplements used to be
like making prescription drugs.
You had to prove your
product was safe and effective
before you could sell it. Well,
the supplement cowboys in Utah
thought that was
a real hassle.
So they asked their favorite
senator to change the rules around.
And now you don't have to prove
your product is safe at all.
And the F.D.A. has to prove
that it's not safe
If they want to take it
off the market.
What is this
red goop?
This is the Canadian version
of redline.
We had to take out some of the
ingredients that aren't legal in Canada.
CHRIS: Thanks to this deregulation,
the supplement industry exploded
And all sorts of new and interesting
people got in on the action.
We were always a good team,
whether we were selling drugs
or whether we were selling
a supplement like we are now.
"Jekyll & Hyde" supplements,
formulated to awaken your other side.
Take this and all of a sudden
you become the freak, the monster.
Everybody wants
to become a monster.
CHRIS: If Valentino can make a
supplement I bet anyone can do it.
Hola.
- How many guys you need?
- I need two guys.
- We're making dietary
supplements. - Uh-huh.
And I just need a hand with a
couple things. It'd be really easy.
All I need you guys to do
is take the white-
- MAN: Put inside?
- CHRIS: Boom.
CHRIS: First you buy a bunch
of really popular ingredients.
But the trick is
I'm just gonna use
- a tiny amount of each one.
- Oof.
It's what we like to call in the
supplement biz "pixie dusting. "
See, I can hide
my secret formula
behind the term
"proprietary blend"
and not reveal
that it's pretty much
just a pillful
of rice flour.
It's a good way to make a lot of money.
Don't sneeze
in the supplements here.
CHRIS: But with all those
expensive ingredients on the label
I can make this bottle
for about a buck 40
and sell it for $60.
Thanks, Orrin.
We're in the supplement
business now.
CHRIS: The scary part is that
everything I just did is by the book-
Well, except for the
illegal-immigrant day laborers.
But hey, nobody's
regulating them either.
Now I just need a
misleading advertisement.
Do you airbrush these guys a lot
when you put them in magazines?
Definitely. There's all
kinds of techniques and tools
you can use to completely
manipulate the body.
- Really? - In fact, some of the
"before" and "after" pictures-
They could be done
on the same day.
You haven't shot them in the
same day, though, have you?
- I have, actually.
- Oh, you have?
- Yeah.
- What do they do-?
Is this the self-editing part?
I should keep my mouth shut?
I could take anybody and
take a picture of them,
make them look
their worst...
think horrible thoughts,
depression.
...and then through
all kinds of ways
make them look
their best.
Just don't
cut my nipple off.
Agh!
All right. Let me see here. Good.
One, two, three.
Good.
We can take it
a step further if we want
in the befores
and the afters.
Basically, you can
take somebody
and make them a little
fatter or shorter.
Are people falling
for this?
They fall for it
all the time.
And it's beyond
what I can understand
because it looks
so silly to me,
but of course I'm somebody
who's had sort of an inside,
backstage pass to what's
really occurred,
and I've been part of some of
these scams that have played out.
CHRIS: So if unregulated
dietary supplements
are marketed like steroids
and sold by people
who are on steroids,
is it any wonder that so many people
are just taking the real thing?
I mean, it's not like
they're hard to get.
You can cross the border and buy
them from a pet store in Mexico.
MAN:
Testosterona, $15.
But it's for your dog,
right?
Oh, it's for my dog.
Yeah, I forgot.
Yeah yeah,
my dog's anemic.
CHRIS: Or you can buy them
on the internet like Mad Dog.
If you order online you can
get the shit for $250 a kit
Instead of paying somebody on the
black market $500 or $600 for a kit.
CHRIS: Or, if you have enough
money, you can get it legally.
This is the annual convention
for the anti-aging medicine-
Booth after booth of all the
taboo performance-enhancing drugs.
Stanozolol- hey, that's
what Ben Johnson used.
Nandrolone- isn't that what
Shawne Merriman got caught with?
Oh, and human
growth hormone-
They say Marion Jones
was taking that.
Human growth hormone
usage
has been rampant in baseball
and other sports.
CHRIS: Athletes use
H.G.H. because it works
A lot like anabolic steroids.
And the best part is,
there's no way to test for
it. Here's how you get it.
First you go to your
anti-aging doctor.
Now the doctor might
not be a medical doctor.
Like in my case-
he's a chiropractor.
And chiropractors
can't prescribe drugs,
but that's okay.
He just has another doctor
write the prescriptions
for him.
But be careful- prescribing
hormones for anti-aging
is a felony. So you can't exactly
tell your anti-aging doctor
that you're interested
in anti-aging.
Not to worry, though-
just use the words
"hormone deficiency" instead.
First thing, doc will want
to do a little physical.
BOTH: Aagh.
Do you have people come to
you to try to get steroids?
Absolutely.
But prescribing steroids-
That's not what we do,
not at all.
Mm-hmm. But it kind
of is what you do
in a way,
in a different way.
CHRIS: Next you're
gonna get a urine test
to check your hormone
levels for 24 hours.
That's a take-home test-
you know, scout's honor.
Send in the test and a week
later go get your results.
DOCTOR: We got your
labs back here-
Urinary growth hormone
output.
CHRIS: But here's the
thing- since the F.D.A.
has never defined what a
hormone deficiency really is,
Well, doc can pretty much interpret
the results however he wants.
You're a little bit low,
coming down.
I'm gonna bring those
levels up to optimal.
CHRIS:
Now it may seem strange
that the most controversial
drugs in America
are being prescribed
using take-home tests,
and in my case by a doctor
I never met,
but hey, at least I'm not
the one breaking the law.
Why don't you
just get it legally?
Um, I like getting it
the way I get it.
It's cheap
and I can get it
anytime I want.
And I don't think there's
any real reason for me to-
I mean, I don't want
to go to a doctor.
That's a pain
in the ass.
You ever worry
about getting arrested
or cops coming after you
or anything like that?
I'm not all that
concerned about it.
You can justify
anything to yourself.
And once you've
justified it to yourself
then you just think it's
cool. You think it's okay.
So in my mind
it's okay.
I pose the question
to people, say,
"hey, if you had
to take a drug
with the side effects-
known side effects
and the unknown effects
of the anabolic steroids
To keep your job
right now
and support your family,
would you do it?"
Maintaining an erection
is very easy to do
with the appropriate
chemical assistance.
Liquid Viagra
injected into the penis.
You inject this
in your penis?
Yep.
- Does it hurt?
- Um, not really.
CHRIS: It's not just
athletes and porn stars
Taking
performance-enhancing drugs.
Just about everybody's
in on the action.
Probably the most common thing
is what we call go-pills.
There's probably
different kinds,
but dextramphetamine
is the big one.
They work wonders, they really
do, especially if you've been
out there a long time and
it's hard to stay focused.
What about you?
Yeah, they'll spin you
right up.
Many parents may not be
aware that their children
are taking a drug
by the name of Adderall
to improve their
academic performance.
Adderall is
a powerful stimulant
very much like cocaine
or methamphetamine.
It's not just for people
who have problems.
People who think completely
fine- I've taken Adderall
in college here and there
to write a paper.
And I said, "this is a
fun way to write a paper. "
Your test scores go up
and you're
doing homework faster,
so you can do more work.
All I did when I went to class-
my friends, should I talk to them?
Nope, hold on. And I'd
be doing all my work.
CHRIS: And for every performance
there's a way
to enhance it.
So you take beta-blockers
to calm you down?
It actually doesn't
calm me down.
It prevents me
from getting nervous.
- Here we go.
- WOMAN: I was in college
and I was having really really bad
problems with performance anxiety
and it was actually making me question
what I was doing in the first place.
A friend gave me beta-blockers
and I just couldn't believe it.
I felt like I could get up there
and do exactly what I wanted to do
and I wasn't hindered by
what my body was reacting to.
Blocking that adrenaline
goes a long way
towards enhancing
performance.
CHRIS: So it's okay to
enhance your performance
if you're a pilot,
a porn star,
a musician
or a student,
but if your job is to play
professional baseball,
well, somehow that
makes you a cheater.
CHRIS: Do you feel it's cheating?
Not at all.
Oh, no, certainly not.
MAN: There is no
competition in music.
You know, this is
completely unlike sports.
What about
in an audition situation?
- Is there competition there?
- Yeah, there is.
And, you know, a lot
of people take 'em
and I don't see that
there's a problem with it.
Was there any sort of moral
bridge to cross when you did it?
Well, we're
in the porn business.
There's not a whole lot
of morals to begin with.
Amphetamines in baseball-
they actually take the same pill
- As a go-pill.
- Yeah, I've heard that.
In the clubhouse
they're called greenies.
And some in the game say
they could be
more common
than steroids.
In sports
you should play fair.
In war you shouldn't
play fair at all.
PILOT: I've got some men on a road
And it looks like a piece
of artillery firing at us.
I am rolling in
in self-defense.
Shaq!
CHRIS:
In 2002 over Afghanistan
two American pilots
on go-pills
bombed a group
of friendly Canadians.
PILOT #2: I hope that
was the right thing to do.
PILOT #1:
ME too.
REPORTER: Four Canadian
soldiers were killed.
Doctors say the pilots'
snap judgment to open fire
Is typical of someone
on speed.
CHRIS: The pilots were
charged with manslaughter,
But they blamed
their go-pills
and the charges
were dropped.
No other country
in the world
allows amphetamines
in their Air Force,
But in America
we require it.
TUTOR: You know, America
is a very competitive place
and people will take advantage
of really anything they can
in order to help
themselves in that struggle.
I hate to say it, the
amount of beta-blockers
that they've got me on right
now- California traffic
- doesn't bother me anymore.
- Really?
STUDENT: It's too easy
to get it from a doctor.
You say, "I can't
focus in class"
And the doctor prescribes
it automatically.
And when you got Adderall
you just went to the doctor?
No, it's just
passed around at school.
- It's passed around at school?
- Passed around at school.
You turn on your T.V.
And we push drugs, right?
If you have a headache-
use this.
If you have a pain in
your side- use that.
If you want to go
to sleep- use this.
If you want to wake up-
use that.
We are the only
country in the world
that permits
drugs of that kind
to be advertised
directly to the consumer.
CHRIS: The American
pharmaceutical industry
spends almost $5 billion
a year on advertising.
And we in turn spend $250
billion on their drugs.
That's more than
any other country by far.
Are we the most unhealthy
people in the world
Or do we just watch
too much T.V.?
Everybody's on a drug. So
why because I'm on a drug
does everybody have to
point a finger at me?
- Why am I the bad guy?
- 'Cause you're on steroids.
And steroids are bad.
To help children
make right choices
they need
good examples.
Athletics play such an
important role in our society,
but unfortunately,
some in professional sports
are not setting
much of an example.
CHRIS: Long before George
Bush was the President
he was the owner of the Texas
Rangers, a major league baseball team
With none other than Jose
Canseco on the roster.
SENATOR WAXMAN: Do you
think that the team trainers,
The managers, the general
managers and even the owners
might have been aware
that some players
were using steroids?
No doubt in my mind.
Absolutely.
CHRIS:
So did the President know
that his players were
on the juice?
You've admitted to using
steroids in the past.
Knowing what you know now
about them,
- would you have done it?
- Yeah, absolutely.
The National Football League
has talked more
about steroid testing
or human growth hormone.
And I know
back in your day
you've admitted
that you did that.
Your stand
on that right now?
I think it's good
to do doping tests
and the trick obviously
to find a way
of really doing
true testing.
I think that
we have to do something
about the drug use
in sports.
And I think it does send the
wrong message to our children.
CHRIS: So Arnold wants
to crack down on steroids,
but every year he sponsors
his own bodybuilding show,
The Arnold Classic.
And they don't drug-test
at all.
Isn't it unbelievable, the
shape these guys are in,
I mean, how ripped they
are, how bid they are,
how cut they are, their
posing routine and everything?
I'm so proud of them. I tell
you, it is really amazing.
CHRIS: This year
Governor Schwarzenegger
handed over the winning
trophy to Victor Martinez,
a guy who was busted
for selling steroids
just a couple
of years ago.
And a few days
before this competition
he was implicated
in another steroid scandal.
The bodybuilder
who won a competition
sponsored by Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger this past weekend
has been linked to a
steroid investigation.
A spokesman for the Governor
says Schwarzenegger did not know
of Martinez's links
to steroids.
CHRIS: Come on, Arnold, what
do you mean you didn't know?
Okay, let's compare.
Here's Arnold Schwarzenegger
when he was on steroids-
6'2", 235 Ibs.
And here's
Victor Martinez,
seven inches shorter
and 15 Ibs heavier.
Give him a big hand,
come on, a big hand.
CHRIS: You know, I've been
calling Arnold's office
For over a year
to get an interview,
but his people
keep telling me
that his position on
steroids is very clear.
So the only way
to get an answer
was to track him down
myself
at a place I knew
he would show up-
Muscle Beach.
It was just a few weeks before
the Governor's reelection
And Arnold went to where he
knew he could depend on support
to cement
his voting base.
This was my big chance.
I waited for hours.
And finally
there he was.
And there was
this other guy,
the tall guy, the one
in the middle. He saw me.
This is how politics
work these days.
The important thing when making
an appearance is the photo op.
The tall guy's gonna
nod at me.
Then he's gonna point
Arnold in my direction.
Arnold, his instincts honed
by years of being a huge star,
instantly sizes up
the situation,
notices
the various cameras
and decides to use me to
further his reelection bid.
Look at those arms.
Look at those arms.
CHRIS: And instead of
talking about steroids
and the cheating
culture of America,
he compliments me
on my biceps
and we end up on the
cover of the L.A. "Times. "
There he is.
Oh my God.
CHRIS:
Not that I mind.
After all, it was kind
of like a dream come true.
Son of a bitch.
CHRIS: But I still have all
these unanswered questions.
SHELDON: Let me tell
you this, first of all-
You can't knock Arnold
really, okay?
Because the steroids didn't get
him into that office that he's in.
But he basically comes out
and he says,
"if you work hard
and you play by the rules
this country is truly
open to you.
You can achieve anything. "
but did he get to where he is
playing by the rules? Or would
he have ever even been famous
had he not taken
those drugs?
Well, let's look at it
this way-
Let's talk
about other heroes.
Let's talk about John Kennedy.
He was a hero in the Navy.
John Kennedy served as the
President of the United States.
But John Kennedy cheated on his
wife right in the White House
with Marilyn Monroe and who
knows how many others, okay?
It's no different
than biblical characters.
Moses was a hero
but Moses was a heel.
He didn't get
into the Promised Land.
He didn't do
what God told him to do.
David was a hero-
King David was a hero,
But David was a heel.
He chased every woman
in a skirt,
or in a toga,
or whatever they wore
back then.
Every man is fallible
and even the people
who were
the prime examples
of how to run your life
in the bible
screwed up.
They all screwed up.
So people need
to get off their
self-righteous
soapboxes
and start loving
each other.
We just need to go out
there and do our jobs,
just as you professionals
do your job.
All of you guys lied.
All of y'all
in a story or whatever
have lied.
Should you have an asterisk
behind your name?
All of you have lied.
All of you have said
something wrong.
All of you have dirt,
all of you.
When your
closet's clean
then come clean
somebody else's.
But clean yours first.
CHRIS:
Hi. How are you?
The last name is Bell,
B- E-L-L.
SCHWARZENEGGER: I took
the oath to serve you.
I say to everyone here today
and to all Californians,
I will not forget
my oath
And I will not
forget you.
CHRIS: A few months
after I voted for Arnold
his people told
Gold's Gym
to remove
all of his images.
What is the meaning
of this?
It's a dark day
in Gold's Gym.
They're taking down
Arnold's poster.
Do you have a lot of respect for
Arnold? Is he one of your heroes?
Well, he was until
he took his shit down.
You know, that guy's
a traitor, man.
CHRIS: The gym feels different now.
The old Arnold's gone
and somehow this time
I don't think
he'll be back.
So you're excited to be out
here instead of in Poughkeepsie?
Hell yeah, man.
I got a job making
three times as much money and
my rent's just about the same
and I'm right by the beach
and I got a convertible.
Right here next to
the mirror, honey.
MIKE: Put a little
muscle in it.
- CHRIS: Here you go.
- Higher.
So what do you plan on doing here
that you weren't doing in Poughkeepsie?
Jeez, like having fun with
life instead of hating life.
Think it'll help you with
your problems and stuff?
Absolutely.
I feel better already.
CHRIS: Now that Mad
Dog's in California,
Things seem to be going
pretty good for him.
He got a job working as a trainer
at a local wrestling school.
Got you! Now if I
want to take it here-
Keep your face up,
keep your face up.
CHRIS: He'd actually
make a great teacher,
but that's not good
enough for Mad Dog.
He still wants
to be a superstar.
MIKE: So this Sunday night, pay
per view, Madison Square Garden!
Hell's Henrys will toll
for you.
Just not-
I'm sick, though, dude.
CHRIS: Mad Dog sent
his promo to the W.W.E.,
but they rejected him
again.
They said
he's too old
and not what they're
looking for right now.
MIKE: You know, I want to
believe that the world is good,
but it's not.
And I want to try hard,
but why try
when you can't win?
Those who can't do,
train.
It's just I never
understood why I didn't,
you know?
What's the problem with
just being a normal guy?
What's wrong with
just being normal?
There's nothing wrong
with it.
Well, actually, there is
something wrong with it.
the thing that's
wrong with it is
that I was born to attain
greatness and I'm the only one
that's holding myself back. And I need
to attain greatness. I need to do it.
You live down by the beach,
you have a beautiful wife,
and nothing's ever
good enough.
I can only imagine
how she feels.
And do you ever think,
"why am I dragging
somebody else in this?"
I know that a lot of times
she's crying herself to sleep.
And I know that
sometimes she doesn't glow
the way that she did
when I first met her.
And I know
it's my fault.
And it really
tears me up.
Yeah.
Well, I mean,
I worry every day
that-
What I worry about is
you're gonna lose your job,
You're gonna lose your wife and
then you're gonna lose yourself.
If I lose my job and my
wife, what else do I have?
I just feel
that I have more
to offer this world.
And I don't know
exactly what it is
or how I'm gonna
go about doing it.
I know there's
something in here
That's meant for the
rest of the world to know.
When you were kids
you all admired
the champion marble shooter,
the fastest runner,
big league ballplayers,
the toughest boxers.
Americans love a winner
and will not tolerate
a loser.
CHRIS:
Smelly is now competing
against the best guys
in the world
and he hopes to achieve
his childhood dream
of bench-pressing
But he and his wife
agreed
that this would be his
last meet on steroids.
I knew that she didn't
really care for it,
but i didn't know
it hurt her that much.
And I didn't know she
worried that much about it.
It's definitely something
that's not gonna be easy to do.
I don't necessarily want
to do it, but, you know,
if I just stay on it
and ignore her,
that's just
being selfish.
He's trying to have
another kid, so he decided
that this is gonna be
his last meet
that he ever
takes anything.
How do you think that'll
affect his lifting?
It'll affect it somewhat,
but once he tapers off
and has the child
he can go
right back on them.
But he doesn't want to go back
on them. His wife doesn't want him
to be on it at all
ever again.
The death of Smelly.
You think so?
Smelly will go back on.
So you'll never
take it again?
- I'll never take 'em again?
- Yeah.
No, I probably will
take 'em again
- because this is something-
- How?
Well, I'll figure out
a way.
I mean, that's something I'll
have to talk out with Andee,
but this is something
I've been-
I've been involved in power
lifting since I was 12 years old.
This is part of
what I like to do.
And I'm not gonna go
from squatting 800 Ibs
to squatting 700 Ibs.
I'm gonna want to get
back on 'em for sure.
Which is kind of sad
'cause-
Well, you know, a lot of
people have to lie to get ahead.
That's just kind of
the way things work.
Well, we weren't
brought up as cheaters.
Well, I mean,
people aren't brought up
to rob a bank either. You're
not really trained to rob a bank
or you're not really
trained to do drugs
or taught to do drugs
or anything like that,
but just, you know, it's
kind of the way you end up.
Yeah!
Come on!
- MAN: Let's go, mark!
- MAN #2: Go mark!
MAN: Let's go, Mark. Come on!
- Come on!
- Go Mark!
Go Mark!
Let's go, Mark!
Come on,
you got this.
Come on, you got it!
Let's go, come on!
- Yeah! Yeah!
- Yes! Yes!
CHRIS: My baby
brother is on steroids
and we all know it.
But look at us. My dad looks
like he won the lottery.
And my mom's prayers
have been answered.
I was raised to believe
that cheaters never prosper,
but in America it seems
like cheaters always prosper.
The use of performance-enhancing
drugs like steroids
is dangerous and it
sends the wrong message
that there are shortcuts
to accomplishment
And that performance is more
important than character.
CHRIS: There is a clash in America
Between doing the right
thing and being the best.
Americans play to win
all the time
because the very
thought of losing
is hateful
to Americans.
COMMENTATOR:
It is out of here!
756!
Bonds stands alone!
CHRIS: In a culture
where second place
Is the first loser,
the real heroes are the
ones who win at all costs.
Everything I have-
my career,
my success,
my family-
I owe to America.
CHRIS:
This is America.
We're the greatest
country in the world.
You could call us
a nation on steroids.
But what are those
long-term side effects?
For me
and my brothers
steroids are not
the problem.
They're just another
side effect
of being American.
oh, superman,
where are you now?
when everything's
gone wrong somehow
the men of steel,
these men of power
are losing control
by the hour
and this is the time
this is the place
so we look
to the future
but there's not much left
to go around
tell me why this is
a land of confusion
ha ha ha ha
this is the world
we live in
and these are
the hands we're given
use them
and let's start trying
to make it
a place worth living
yeah
I remember long ago
where the sun was shining
and all the stars
were bright
all through the night
in the wake of this madness
as I held you tight
so long ago
there's too many men
too many people
making too many problems
and there's not much left
to go around
can't you see this is
a land of confusion?
ha ha ha ha
now this is
the world we live in
and these are
the hands we're given
stand up
and let's start showing
just where our lives
are going to
ha ha ha ha.