Mandarich admit to using Steroids.

[GO IRISH!!!]

One factor ommitted from some of these conversations is not only size, but also body type. Before, when you did find the occassional 300 pounder at any level, he was usually a slow behemoth with a belly that fell over his belt. Now you see kids coming in at that weight, but they are much leaner and a lot faster than before.

A number of years ago, I volunteered to work the East West High School Shrine game for high school seniors here in So Cal. We were weighing and measuring the kids as they came in and getting their unis for them. I measured a kid ND was recruiting at the time (he ended up at Texas), but he was barefoot at 6'7 1/2" and he was 318 pounds in just shorts. When I got his pratice shorts for him, I was stunned he need shorts that had a 40 inch waist. Pretty svelte for a kid his size.

Nothing scientific about my experience, just purely my observation. I was blown away by the size of some of these kids. I go about 6'5" and 230 myself, so I am not small, but some of these guys made me feel like a Q-Tip around them.

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

Steroids? mandarich? Really? I'm shocked!

[NDMontana]

Originally Posted by SteveM

NDM,

Those are good points. But probably misleading. Kids weigh more because people generally are getting fatter. So you have to separate out that component and focus just on football players and other athletes.

The nutritional stuff has been around for years. Like I said, my guys were doing the protein shakes, vitamin supplements, what have you. And like everyone else we did at least 3 huge squares a day. What else is legally known/available now that wasn't then?

And women being attracted to taller men is a side issue. The DNA that makes a kid 6'3" is irrelevant. He's still 6'3". The question is, what makes him 275 when a 6'3'' kid of 30 years ago with substantially the same diet and exercise program was 230?

SteveM

Well I would say that the explosion of fast food chains has helped. I think there are more supplements availabe now than there were 30 years ago. Creatine readily comes to mind. Going into my senior year of football our coaches tried to feed us the shit by the bowl. Our head coach's brother-in-law is Mark Phillipi (at one time a World's Strongest Man competitor) and he was pushing the hell out of Creatine. I never took it, thank God, but a lot of the others did and one kid went from 175-215 in five months. Quite a few others gained 15-20 lbs. There are some other supplements of the legal and illegal variety out there but I can't name them because I just lift....without the help of any supplements.

Just look at the explosion of drug companys like EAS. They have doctors constantly attempting to discover new ways to improve performance. Weightlifting is much more of a mainstream activity now than it was in the 80's and even the early 90's. Companies are searching for ways to profit from it, leading to a lot more research into performance and performance enhancement.

[NeuteredDoomer]

Mandarich won American Idol? And he's gay?

Creatine was the first thing I was thinking of too.

[NDMontana]

Originally Posted by NeuteredDoomer

Mandarich won American Idol? And he's gay?

Creatine was the first thing I was thinking of too.

LOL. Next stop for Manarich: VH1's The Surreal Life.

[ACamp1900]

Yeah the points made here are great... remember 'the fridge'? He was named such b/c no player had ever been so big weight wise... he never toped 300lbs to my knowledge during his career and certainly was not that big his famous rookie season of 85...

yet I scout hs football and last week a team I scouted here in so cal had four...... FOUR players (one was a frehman for christs sake) over 310... not over 300... but 310


and steriods is a baseball problem????????????

[NeuteredDoomer]

I still maintain that ND is just fat. Look at their skinny arms, then look at the arms of the SC or LSU athletes. Why doesn't (magazine that I refuse to name) do a study on those teams?