The investigators handling the alleged systematic doping of Lance Armstrong are now getting more evidences that strengthen their case against the 7-time Tour de France Champion. The investigations headed by Jeff Novitsky have already issued subpoenas to different entities including former cyclists and team sponsors. Some of the names called to provide information or testimonies are 3-time Tour de France Champion Greg Lemond, former team mate Tyler Hamilton, and company sponsors Nike and Trek.

Of course, the statements of Floyd Landis about the use of EPO and blood transfusions by Lance Armstrong in several Tour de France competitions prompted the FDA to conduct an investigation. This investigation is not only focused on the alleged doping but will also look into the possible involvement of Armstrong to illegal contracts and purchase of illegal substances like anabolic steroids.

The new witness, Betsy Andreu, told the Times that she already provided government investigators significant evidences related to the use of performance enhancing substances of Armstrong. Betsy is the wife of professional cyclist Frankie Andreu. The couple already testified in the previous case that involved Armstrong. The civil case was already settled in 2006.

According to Betsy, there were evidences that will show that Armstrong really admitted to using drugs. She said that voice mail recordings from a message machine would show that Stephanie McIlvain, a representative of Oakley Inc. and a longtime sponsor of Armstrong, was lying when she testified that she did not heard Armstrong admit to the use of drugs like EPO. This is in connection with the alleged admission of Armstrong of his doping in a hospital where several people were present including doctors, McIlvain and the Andreu couple.

Betsy Andreu did not give specific details on the contents of the recordings but she said that McIlvain apologized to them for lying about the hospital-room testimony. She also said that other important documents were turned over to the investigators. McIlvains lawyer was surprised on the voice mails about McIlvain and told the media that his client will cooperate fully if investigated.

Mark Fabiani, a veteran lawyer and communications strategist called the entire Indiana hospital story as preposterous. “Lance’s doctors said it didn’t happen. The records show it didn’t happen. The other six to seven people in that hospital room either say it didn’t happen or have no recollection of any such conversation. The Andreus are the only persons who say it happened,” said Fabiani.

The veteran laywer also told the media that Armstrong underwent medications for steroids and EPO for his cancer treatment but clarified that it does not mean that his client used the drugs during competitions. “Lance was required to undergo an active steroid and EPO regimen as part of his post-operative treatment. He added that it is logical that EPO or steroids may have been discussed during his visit to the hospital. “Having nothing to do with any suggestion of use before he was a cancer patient,” he said.

Fabiani recently joined the legal team of Armstrong which is composed of former federal prosecutor Bryan Daly and Tim Herman, a long time personal lawyer of Armstrong. The inclusion of Fabiani will make it hard for the government investigators to pin down Armstrong on the several charges that may be filed against him. Fabiani handled high profile cases with clients like former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Vice President Al Gore, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Last month, Fabiani told the ESPN how they would handle the allegations against Lance Armstrong. “We’re prepared to deal forthrightly with the improper and misleading leaks that so far have unfortunately characterized this unfair, Floyd Landis-inspired inquiry,” he said.

Whatever public relations initiative that Linda McMahon uses, steroid issues will always be a tough problem to handle. McMahon’s bid to the Senate will not be an easy path especially that her critics will not stop attacking her credibility and capacity to handle public office. The death of another wrestler under their company, the WWE, caused more issues for her to resolve.

The recent death of Lance McNaught or more popular as Lance Cade, was again blamed on the McMahons. Earlier this month, Lance Mcnaught died of heart attack at the age of 29. The cause of death was due to abuse of drugs particularly painkillers. Critics say that the Wellness Program of the WWE is a failure since it does not control the increasing number of young wrestlers dying because of steroid abuse or overdose of medications.

Months before McNaught died, he was interviewed by podcast author Kenny Bolin. McNaught revealed to Bolin that some of the high ranking WWE officials encouraged the use of steroids to make them bigger and stronger. He said that both Jim Ross, the WWE ring announcer, and John Laurinaitis, the head of the company’s talent relations division were aware that he had used steroids to bulk himself up from January through March 2003 according to the report of The Day.

The WWE immediately counteract this allegation and defended the Talent Wellness Program of the company. The WWE said that the well being of the performers is their number one concern, without whom, WWE would not exist. The program include drug testing including steroids, cardiovascular testing, screening for possible head injuries, and yearly physicals and referrals to external consultants as needed.

“Specifically, our current Talent Wellness Policy is at least as good or commensurate with any others of its kind. As for the assertion that the company was embarrassed because Lance went to rehab , that is ridiculous. Other WWE performers have successfully completed rehab and are currently on the roster. We are proud that we can offer this assistance, and of our performers who have completed these programs,” the statement said.

But what enraged critics is the assertion of Linda McMahon that they should not be blamed for the deaths of its employees outside the ring. Wrestlers under WWE are still treated as independent contractors and were not given health benefits. The father of Lance lambasted Linda McMahon for her statement regarding his son. “I might have met him once,” McMahon said in an interview. In the report of the Day, Harley McNaught said that Linda met his sons in 2 different occasions and called his son by name. “She disrespected him. She disrespected my family,” Harley said.

Ed Patru, Linda’s campaign spokesperson defended his boss. He explained that it “certainly wasn’t Linda’s intent to diminish any additional interaction she may have had” with McNaught. He also added that the WWE has nearly 600 employees and 140 performers. I think it’s understandable that Linda may not recollect every interaction she’s had, particularly given the fact that she’s personally met with thousands of voters since resigning her position at WWE in September. Linda’s a very kind and sympathetic person, but she is human,” said Patru.

In the interview of Bolin, McNaught was also asked if there are other high profile wrestlers who are involved in steroid use. “We’re not dumb. We know who’s using and who’s not. It comes down to, ‘Well, do you like your income, do you the like the fact’ - hey, I have two daughters. Do I want to keep giving them a better life and shut my mouth, or say something? ‘Cause if you say something, your — is gone,” said McNaught.

While the McMahons insists that steroid is not a problem in WWE, another WWE champion claimed that steroids were common during their time. He also admits that he too took anabolic steroids while his career in the professional wrestling is on its peak. In the interview of the Courier UK, Ted DiBiase Sr. or more popular as “The Million Dollar Man” talked about his life during and after his career in professional wrestling. The issue of steroids and drug abuse were just some of the topics discussed in the interview.

Who would expect that The Million Dollar Man, who is considered an evil villain and bad guy in the ring is now active in preaching in his Church. DiBiase played as mega rich wrestler who can buy anything including his own title. With first class flights, five star hotel accommodations, and extravagant spending, he was able to play the role effectively which did not only make him popular in the US but also in the UK.

At 56, Ted BiDiase Sr. is now active as an evangelical preacher. “A lot of people ask how I can be a Christian and talk about God and then go out in the ring and be the evil villain and the bad guy,” he told David Clegg of the Courier. “Well, my answer to that is that it is just showbusiness; it’s playing a role. As long as the message we send out is that good will eventually triumph over evil at the end of the day I have no problem with that.”

The Million Dollar Man came from a family of wrestlers. His mother and his stepfather were both professional wrestlers. Now his two sons are now taking the same road just like what their father did. Ted Jr. is now one of the WWE stars and Brett is also training as a wrestler. Ted Sr. said that he doesn’t want his children to be in wrestling because of the lifestyle and the nature of work of a professional wrestler which he said can destroy people. “When you walk into the wrestling business you realise you are going to live a great deal of your life away from home and it’s going to be very difficult for your family,” he said.

Dibiase also shared his views about the deaths of several wrestlers caused by steroids use. “You hear all of the sad stories about the deaths due to drink and drug addictions in wrestling, but I don’t know why wrestling gets pointed out and highlighted all the time, because it happens in Hollywood just as much as it does with us,” he said. “Now the WWE has what I believe is state-of-the-art drug testing and everybody gets tested. If you need rehab to get over addiction issues the company will put you through rehab. There are a lot of people who think you can’t have that kind of body without drugs, but you can,” he added.

He also confessed that he too used steroids during his career in the WWE. “I took steroids for a very short time. It should be obvious by looking at me that I didn’t take them regularly because I was in good shape, but I was never massive. My strength was my ability to talk and my work in the ring. I always looked like an athlete but I didn’t look like Charles Atlas,” DiBiase said.

The Hall of Famer said that he stopped using it when he realized the dangers of using steroids. “The thing about the steroids was I was always afraid of them and I finally had a doctor tell me about the effects and that warned me right off them — that was it for me with that stuff. The only other drug I took for a while was cocaine. Now this doesn’t sound like the Million Dollar Man, but I stopped doing that because I was cheap — I didn’t want to spend the money on it!”

Meanwhile, Kurt Angle was irritated when his name appeared in the list of clients of Applied Pharmacy Services. He posted on his twitter account that he had no connections with the Alabama steroid distribution ring. “Rumors by media keep coming up. I was under medical supervision for meds back in 2003-2005. I had no involvement in this Alabama case. Put it to rest and come up with new material to write about. You’re all hideous. I apologize for my stern comment, but I want to move on with my life and put the past behind me, mainly the mistakes I’ve made. That’s all,” Angle said.

The steroid scandal in Canadian football does not end in the suspension of several University of Waterloo football players. Of the 13 players who failed the steroid tests, 4 of them publicly admitted to taking anabolic steroids. The top officials of the UW decided to suspend the football program of the university for this season while an internal investigation is being conducted.

For some people who still believe that the use of performance enhancing drugs in football is still an isolated case, they were wrong. The CIS announced last week that three more university football players failed the steroids tests conducted in the off-season. University of Windsor Lancers linebacker Christopher Deneau tested positive for Methyl-1-testosterone. Nova Scotia’s Acadia University linebacker Taylor Shadgett tested positive for stanozolol. He already admitted to taking Winstrol. The name of another player is still being withheld by CIS officials.

The University of Windsor athletics director was appalled on the involvement of one of their athletes. “This is the first time a University of Windsor athlete has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. We have a zero-tolerance policy and are fully supportive of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program,” said director Gord Grace. The athletic director also said that they require players to take an online anti-doping course and there is no exception in the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy.

The CIS chief executive Marg McGregor was very disappointed on the recent result of steroid testing because if shows that doping in CIS football is not an isolated occurrence. “We have significant work to do to address the problem in a systematic and comprehensive manner and to protect the integrity and positive values of university football,” said McGregor.

The new positive tests prompted the CIS to introduce new anti-doping measures. They also directed the Centre for Ethics in Sport to increase the number of tests for performance enhancing drugs particularly in off-season. “By increasing testing by 15 per cent, that means 10 guys in each locker room will be tested each year,” said McGregor. They will be conducting the test randomly, unannounced, and out of competition. “You’re rolling the dice at that point if you think you can dope and not get caught.”

Other initiatives will also commence immediately to address the doping problem in Canadian football. An anti-doping symposium on Nov. 26 will be held at the University of Laval in Quebec City when the Vanier Cup starts. A task force will be created to investigate the extent of steroids use in football and what particular substances are being used. There is also a possibility that universities will be required to set aside steroid testing fund to pay for extra urinalysis and blood tests.

The Canadian Football League has also offered help. The CFL will be implementing a more comprehensive drug testing policy next season to address concerns that they have a lax anti-doping program. Since the CFL is the destination of the university football players, it is but right to help the CIS to curtail steroid use in the sport. The drug testing of the 80 CIS football prospects each year will be shouldered by the league which will cost at least $500. They will also launched anti-doping education programs focused on the minor-league and collegiate players.

Bisons football head coach Brian Dobie told the Winnipeg Free Press that the effort of the CFL is fantastic. “I’m extremely impressed with the CFL coming on board to help deter this and be part of the educational process,” said Dobie. “I feel that student-athletes who are more prone to substance abuse are student-athletes who are in the latter stages of the program and hoping and anticipating a shot at professional football,” he added.

Windsor Lancers linebacker Christopher Deneau and Acadia Taylor Shadgett both received 2-year suspension. UW Matt Peto, Eric Polini and Joe Surgenor (also used Winstrol) admitted to taking steroids even before the mandatory test. Jordan Meredith tested positive for Tamoxifen, a drug used to mitigate the effects of using steroids. Other names are still withheld pending their appeal.

Stiff competition among young sportsmen yields children as young as thirteen to turn to anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. The number of high school athletes taking extreme and potentially deadly measures in order to gain competitive edge is continuously soaring.

Researches have shown that 5% of teen boys and 2.5% of teen girls have used some form of anabolic steroids. With a mindset that is focused on how to become stronger, faster and leaner pushes these young athletes to engage in legal but risky supplements to illegal steroids drugs.

According to the sports-physician of Ports Elizabeth, Dr. Konrad Von Hagen, even parents are asking him to inject their child with growth hormones with the objective of improving their child’s jumping skills. This kind of pressure from parents as well as from peers and the environment drove young athletes to do what is needed to get into the team. The temptation of using illegal body-modifying substances is always creeping into the mind of young athletes especially to those who belong in schools where sports are an integral part of the schools heritage.

Charles Whitely, a bay body builder and personal trainer encountered teens that use this kind of supplements for competitive advantage. Even a school rugby coach confided to him that he is also planning to let his child, who is also in rugby sports, use this kind of performance enhancer.

Both specialists advised that this action is not just harmful to the user but to their opponents as well. Steroid user feels more aggressive than usual and feels a lot bigger than their counter part. This attitude may likely result to an injury for both participant. In some cases, even though the player experience concussions during competition, they tend to ignore their injuries in order to be able to continue playing the sport. Von Hagen said these cases of continuous concussions may likely lead to severe cognitive deterioration.

Steroids promise bold results, but there is little proof that they deliver any such benefits to young athletes. Extensive research, however, shows how they can harm developing kids — with some of these ill effects not likely to turn up until years later. Teens can face further side effects from steroids including the permanent stunting of growth. Even the most ardent of steroid supporters will typically advise against steroid use before a person reaches their mid-twenties and the natural growth process has been fully completed. It can even result to the body’s failure to reach natural genetic potential as growth plates are permanently closed.

But what worries researchers most, is that the teens don’t recognize the danger of using steroids. National Institute for Drug Abuse reports 45 percent of high school seniors just don’t think that steroids carry harmful physical risk such as heart problems and liver damage. This may be linked to the aspect of growing up wherein teens tend to get this feeling of invincibility and sense of bravado. Teens usually feel that it will not affect their life and they will soon get over it, according to Barbara Scheidner, a sociologist of University of Chicago. They don’t realize that there is no need to have those quick fixes and the best fixes are always achieved with hard work.

The decision of Lance Armstrong to get tough lawyers to defend him is the right thing to do. Though he believe he is innocent of any wrongdoing, Armstrong will be facing a very hard time dealing with a federal investigator who sent several people including professional athletes to prison. Jeff Novitsky heads the investigation on the alleged systematic doping and questionable contracts made by Armstrong. In fact, there are already some people who were subpoenaed to give more details on the alleged doping of the 7 time Tour de France Champion. This is aside from the coordination and collaboration with international police and international sports organizations in Europe. With this kind of investigation, the respondent should be well prepared to defend himself.

Top Steroid Cop

Novitsky has already established a reputation that made him America’s top steroid cop. Several prominent personalities from the sports arena were interviewed by Ronald Blum and Paul Elias of the AP and most of them shared the same opinion. A prominent lawyer who is representing trainer Brian McNamee against Roger Clemens in a steroid perjury case said that Novitsky possess remarkable qualities as an investigator. Richard Emery described Novitsky as smart, meticulous, sophisticated, well-prepared and straight as an arrow. “I’m just glad he ain’t after me. He is a nightmare for anyone that’s he’s focused on,” the lawyer said. Emery added that Novitsky is very creative and has the ability to bring people out.

However, Novitsky has not pleased everyone. There are also some people who criticize his strategies. In fact, some judges who handled his previous cases like the BALCO questioned some of Novitsky’s methods of investigation. For example, a 2004 search and seizure warrant for 10 baseball players ended up seizing materials from more than 100 players according to the AP report. Most of them complain of harassment and violation of their rights.

Fair Investigation on Armstrong

Armstrong’s lawyers already complained on the alleged leaking of information to the media about the specifics of the doping investigation against their client. Armstrong also hinted that it may lead to a witch hunt. He will only cooperate if there will be a fair investigation. Based on the allegation of Floyd Landis, the champion cyclist used performance enhancing drugs like EPO and underwent several blood transfusions to boost performance in competitions.

US prosecutor Kevin Ryan on the other hand, defended Novitsky. “Despite the criticism that has been lofted his way, he has always been able to prove his critics wrong,” he said. “He’s relentless. He’s ethical. He’s a very good investigator.” Novitsky is the type of person that never gives up until he gets the information that he needs. Just like what he did in the BALCo investigation where he crawled into a trash container to collect important documents. And to make him more acquainted with steroids and PED’s, he took a crash course from a steroid expert. “As a result of the BALCO investigation he became well-known in government circles. He became a star,” said steroid expert Don Catlin.

Cheating and Fraud Not Allowed

Travis Tygart of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said that there are some people who will never understand how these law enforcement agents perform their jobs. “Without Jeff and the many other dedicated law enforcement agents out there enforcing these important federal laws, the promise of sport fails our kids,” said Tygart. He further explained how important it is to have a fair playing field. “Our sports are the fabric of our American way of life. They teach us all that dedication, character, hard work, playing fair can lead to fulfillment and accomplishment.” He also added that we should not tolerate this type of corruption and fraud in business, academia or other important institutions. “Why should we accept it in sports? The answer is clear we should not,” Tygart concluded.