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Steroid Stigma Bad Enough Without Romero Unfairly Adding to It

Philadelphia Phillies reliever J.C. Romero has been accused of assaulting a Tampa Bay Rays fan after a game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The fan, Robert Eaton, claims that he was seeking autographs from Romero and a couple of Phillies players as they were leaving the field; the players reportedly did not honor Eaton’s request for autographs. Eaton told the St. Petersburg Times that he started taunting Romero in response with something to the effect of, “How about you get me some juice?" The comments were in reference to Romero’s recent 50 game suspension after testing positive for the anabolic steroid androstenedione.

"The player ignored him and kept on going," according to St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa. "So the victim starts yelling expletives and also making references to some things I can't mention because it's under investigation. That apparently angered the player, who then returned. The two had a shouting match and at one point the player hit him with an open hand - or he slapped him on his neck."

"He reared back and kinda grazed my chin and grabbed me by the neck and threw me back," Eaton told the newspaper. "I was in shock."

Robert Eaton filed a complaint with the St. Petersburg Police Department alleging simple battery by J.C. Romero. The complaint is being reviewed by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office to determine whether charges will be filed against Romero. St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa believes it is unlikely given the more pressing concerns by the State Attorney’s Office.

J.C. Romero’s altercation nonetheless reinforces the stereotypes associated with steroid use. Yelling expletives, punching, pushing, and/or choking a fan is consistent with the media-created phenomena of “roid rage”. Romero’s behavior unfairly gives steroid users a bad name which is certainly not needed given the societal stigma associated with steroids.

The association between Romero’s behavior and anabolic steroids is unfair because Romero most likely is not using steroids after returning from a 50-game ban that resulted from a positive steroid test result. It is also very plausible that Romero didn’t really use steroids when he tested positive in the incident that resulted in his ban.

J.C. Romero most likely was banned as the result of a false positive from consuming the dietary supplement 6-OXO manufactured by Ergopharm. A drug-tested athlete consuming 6-OXO would test positive for the rececently reclassified anabolic steroid androstenedione. The metabolites for 6-OXO and androstenedione are the same.

J.C. Romero and his infamous anti-doping attorneys Howard Jacobs and David Cornwall could have had his suspension and salary forfeiture overturned by using an easily verifiable “false positive” defense. Inexplicably, they used a “contaminated supplement” defense which would never have overturned the suspension due to the MLB’s “strict liability policy”.

Romero and his legal team went out of their way to find “trace contaminants” of androstenedione in quantities so infinitesimally small that they would have no physiologic effect. The amount of contaminants would be right at the limit of pharmaceutical disclosure of 0.1% or 100 micrograms per capsule. It is unknown whether this alone could even trigger a positive androstenedione test result.

J.C. Romero most certainly is not currently using anabolic steroids immediately upon return from his 50-game suspension. It is unlikely that Romero used anabolic steroids at the time he tested positive, was suspended, and forfeited over $1 million in salary. Even if 6-OXO was contaminated with only a few micrograms of androstenedione, it is unlikely that such tiny amounts of a prohormone would have caused Romero to fail a steroid test. It is obvious that a prohormone whose effective dosage was several hundred milligrams would have any physiologic impact whatsoever at 1/1,000th the effective dosage of androstenedione.

J.C. Romero’s alleged assaultive behavior is disappointing. However, suggestions that the behavior is attributable to “roid rage” and/or a history of steroid use are unfair.

Sources

“Romero may face battery charge,” June 29, 2009

“Prosecutors reviewing man's complaint against Phillies' Romero,” June 29, 2009

“Phillies confirm player involved in confrontation with fan in Tampa,” June 27, 2009

“Fan says Phillies pitcher assaulted him over steroids remark,” June 27, 2009

“Baseball Player JC Romero Files Frivolous Lawsuit Against Patrick Arnold Supplement Companies,” April 28, 2009

By Millard Baker

http://www.millardbaker.com

www.SteroidsRx.com