Hoots Corner

I am very honored to be receive the Distinguished Service Award from the United States Sports Academy (www.ussa.edu), America's Sports University, this week.

Most importantly, I am pleased to see that an organization of this stature recognizes the hard work that our team is doing in the name of my youngest son, Taylor.

Don

October 27, 2009 - USSA Newsletter

Don Hooton received a Distinguished Service Award from the United States Sports Academy recently.

Each year, the United States Sports Academy honors leaders in sport through its Awards of Sport program. Recipients come from all arenas and positions in sport, but share the common characteristic that they are leaders in their area and have made outstanding contributions to national or international sport through education, research, or service.

Hooton was noted for his work to raise awareness of high school students’ growing willingness to use anabolic steroids. Hooton lost his 16-year-old son to depression after using the dangerous substances. That experience led him to establish the Taylor Hooton Foundation.

Hooton’s efforts inspired the Texas Legislature to put into legislation mandatory steroid screening in Texas public schools.

Dr. Donn C. Renwick presented Hooton with his Distinguished Service Award in front of 150 people at the 6th Annual Taylor Hooton Foundation Golf Tournament.

Former recipients include Bud Selig, Gary Player, Cal Ripken, Jr., Emmitt Smith, Tommy Lasorda, George Steinbrenner III, Peter Ueberroth, Lee Travino, Martina Navratilova, and many others.

Dr. Donn C. Renwick, left, a member of the Academy's distance learning faculty, presents Mr. Don Hooton with a Distinguished Service Award.

 

 

As many of you know, we are proud to be associated with Alex Rodriguez.  As has been reported in various media, we have had the unique opportunity to join with him in speaking out on the subject of anabolic steroids to kids.

This very timely article in today's Los Angeles Times speaks to the role that AROD's work with us on this issue has played in his redemption.

Don

October 27, 2009 - LA Times

WORLD SERIES - by Bill Shaikin

The Yankees' Alex Rodriguez enters his first World Series tonight, finally fulfilling the promise of his talents. But this season has also been about keeping a different promise: warning kids off steroids.

Reporting from New York -

We couldn't help ourselves. We thought Alex Rodriguez was lying again.

He had lied about not using steroids, until he got caught. He summoned the media to apologize, and we were fine with that. He also trotted out Don Hooton before the television cameras, and then we rolled our eyes.

Rodriguez had promised to tell his story to kids, to speak out about his shame, to share how he would learn from his mistake rather than hide from it.

Hooton travels the country, delivering an anti-steroid message forged by grief. Rodriguez pledged to join him, and we figured that promise would last until the next big story rolled around, until the cameras scattered.

Rodriguez could have filmed a public service announcement, or written a big fat check to Hooton's foundation. That could have been the end of it.

It was not. This has been a year of redemption for Rodriguez on and off the field, and Hooton could not be prouder of him.

"We decided to step forward with Alex," Hooton said. "We have not regretted that at all. We're very, very pleased about working with him."

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Reaction from Donald Hooton, father of steroid user

 10/27/2009

Within a few months of the Congressional hearings that have come to define baseball's steroid era, Don Hooton, who testified at the hearings and is the father of a steroid-user who had committed suicide, received a nondescript envelope in the mail.
It contained a check to the Taylor Hooton Foundation, paying off a promise.
It was from Mark McGwire's foundation.

Since meeting McGwire as both prepared to testify before Congress about baseball's steroid culture, Hooton has spoken often about players like McGwire having the loudest voice when it comes to educating children and student athletes about the dangers of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

"I have said from the beginning that I believe Mark McGwire's persona, his popularity, especially with the kids and even now, puts him in as good a position as anyone to spread the message," Hooton said. "Now that he's back in the spotlight, I hope he uses this opportunity to talk about the subject. I'd like to think this signals that he's ready to speak out."
The Taylor Hooton Foundation was named for Don Hooton's son, who committed suicide in 2003. The foundation provides and pushes for increased education and awareness about steroid and performance-enhancing drug use in school-age athletes. Major League Baseball has partnered with the foundation for many projects since the hearing and last month the foundation received its first donation from the NFL.
At the hearing, McGwire said he would be a spokesman against the use of steroids by children and that he would charge his foundation with that message. McGwire has kept a mostly private existence since, but his foundation has made multiple donations to Hooton's over the past three years. McGwire's representative requested that Hooton keep the amount of the donations private, but Hooton classified them as "substantial."
"We'd like to see Mark use his own voice … to speak out on this topic," Hooton said. "He, more than anybody, should be able to speak to kids about what price he paid for getting involved."

— Derrick Goold, STL Today

Parents and coaches - HEADS UP!!!

Some of the folks we talk to can't understand where our children get the idea that it's "okay to use steroids" in sports.

Take a look at the remarks that Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, made yesterday in Pittsburgh.  Does he think that the children of this country somehow won't "hear" him when he makes statements like this?

Don

October 21, 2009 - ESPN

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says steroids could have a legal and useful place in sports -- as long as they are administered under a doctor's supervision to help athletes recover from injuries and there's no risk of long-term health effects.

"I'm not an expert in the subject, but if we get to the point where there aren't long-term negative health impacts, why wouldn't you do it?" Cuban said, according to Pittsburgh-area media reports.

“ We do performance-enhancing things all the time, just not steroids. .... If you administer them properly and fairly and set the rules strictly, as long as in doing so we recognize there are no negative long-term health-impact issues. ” -- Mark Cuban

"I'll get killed for saying this . . . but I'm not so against steroids if they're administered under proper supervision and there is no long-term damage," Cuban said.

"We do performance-enhancing things all the time, just not steroids," Cuban added. "If you administer them properly and fairly and set the rules strictly, as long as in doing so we recognize there are no negative long-term health-impact issues."

"If somebody thinks it's controversial, fine. To me, it's just common sense. I'm sure I'll hear about it [today] that 'Cuban is for Steroids.' "

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I admit to being a little prejudiced, but we at the THF are all extremely proud of the Yankees' performance in the MLB Playoffs so far.  And, of course, we are particularly pleased with the key role that Alex Rodriguez has played in the Yankees success to date.

GO YANKEES!

Don

October 19, 2009 - John Harper

ANAHEIM - Never mind that Angels closer Brian Fuentes threw one of the worst 0-2 pitches in baseball history, right in Alex Rodriguez's danger zone, practically inviting the Bombers' slugger to pop one into Yankee Stadium's short right-field porch.

A-Rod still had to hit it, and maybe the most telling part of his October revival is that it didn't seem like such a surprise when he did just that in the 11th inning Saturday night, delivering his third game-tying home run of this postseason, and the second one that saved the Yankees from defeat.

Actually, I'm sure there were plenty of Yankee fans who were thinking A-Rod's magic dust was wearing off, that he'd chase a pitch, strike out against Fuentes, and go back to being the shrinking A-Rod of Octobers past.

He can't continue to deliver huge hits practically on command - he flew out to center with the bases loaded in the 12th inning Saturday night, mostly because Ervin Santana made a good pitch, getting the ball in far enough to keep the Yankees' slugger from extending his arms - but this is no fluke, folks.

Given A-Rod's history of failure in the postseason, it may be hard to believe that he, with all eight of his RBI coming on hits that have either tied the score or put the Yankees ahead, is the single biggest reason the Bombers are 5-0 in the 2009 playoffs and looking like a lock to make the World Series. Yet at this point, it's even harder to imagine that he is going to suddenly start flailing at sliders or jamming himself on fastballs as he has done in the past when he was consumed with wanting to be the new Mr. October.

It doesn't mean that this was inevitable. But once A-Rod got that first RBI single in Game 1 against the Twins, he had the confidence to reinforce his regular-season mindset, and suddenly he's the difference-maker in October that the Yankees thought they were getting five years ago.

A championship would make it worth the wait.

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We are in the early days of trumpeting the risks of purchasing over the counter supplements.  Because these substance are completely unregulated, the user is totally at risk of purchasing substances that are laced with anabolic steroids and/or stimulants.

This article posted in this weekend's Boston Globe is worth reading in its entirety.

Don

October 17, 2009 - Megan Woolhouse

Eighteen-year-old Fidah Salem did not know anything about the ingredients listed on the 4 1/2-pound container of Cell-Tech Hardcore, but he liked the nutritional supplement’s promise: “packs on muscle strength.’’

So he persuaded his mother, Paula Smith, to spend $100 on it and other products last week at the GNC store at South Shore Plaza in Braintree.

Smith said she and her son did not know the US Food and Drug Administration recently warned against the use of some bodybuilding supplements - though not Cell-Tech Hardcore specifically - saying they might contain anabolic steroids, which are illegal.

“A bunch of my friends use [supplements], so I thought I’d try,’’ Salem said. “It gives you muscle and gets you bigger without shooting steroids.’’

While much attention has been paid to steroid use among professional athletes, teenagers are often drawn to sports performance products that advertise similarly dramatic results. There are hundreds of over-the-counter items available locally, such as Anabolic Halo, a powder touted as promoting “chilling gains in muscle size and strength,’’ and Jack3d, which is said to induce “ultra-intense muscle-gorging strength.’’ Those and other supplements are sold with virtually no oversight by the FDA.

PLEASE TAKE 5 MINUTES AND READ THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE

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Although we could probably post articles like this almost daily, I thought this "bust" was particulary worth sharing because law enforcement officials took the time to point out the unsanitary conditions where these drugs were being "manufactured."

When we talk to young people, we always point out the REALITY of how and where these drugs are handled prior to being put into vials and sold on the street - usually someone's basement or garage, not in some sanitary pharmaceutical facility. 

Please realize that what your children are buying on the street is dangerous and not just because anabolic steroids are dangerous.  They are dangerous because their quality is extremely questionable and the sustances in those vials are typically unsanitary.  There is no way human beings should be injecting themselves with this garbage!

Don

Note:  This drug bust sounds like just another bust of a meth lab, crack lab, or other drug dealer.  You know why that is?  Because that is exactly what these steroid distributors are . . . they are drug dealers!

10/15/2009

An El Dorado Hills (California) man is in custody along with a Fair Oaks couple for allegedly being part of an anabolic steroid manufacturing ring.

Jason Glavin, 37, of El Dorado Hills along with Erin O’Neil, 40, and his wife Amy, 32, have been charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for sale and transportation of a controlled substance.

Glavin used to own a nutrition supplement company in Folsom called Max Muscle, but it is now closed.

The 10-month long investigation came to a conclusion late afternoon Oct. 14 when Glavin was arrested after he reportedly delivered 100 vials of anabolic steroids to an undercover officer in a parking lot in Citrus Heights.

Agents found what they called a “large” anabolic steroid lab at the Elverta home and seized more than 500 vials and 1,850 capsules of anabolic steroid pills, said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gordon Taylor, of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“In terms of underground steroid labs, this was a huge seizure for this area,” Taylor said. “The illegal use of anabolic steroids can be a dangerous practice, especially for young people. This danger is only compounded when drug rings manufacture steroids in unsanitary, unsterilized underground labs like we found in this case.”

The lab was located in an unsanitary utility room and contained what appeared to be raw steroid powder and large containers of liquid steroids, a vast array of packaging materials, vials, capsules and pre-printed steroid vial labels. Overall, this investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately 500 vials and 1,850 capsules of anabolic steroids with an estimated street value of $118,000.

 
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We still run into many folks who don't think of anabolic steroids as being "drugs".  Well, that's exactly what they are!  And steroids dealers are no different and behave no differently than any other drug dealers.

Take a moment and read this article about Scott Siegel, a 35-year old "movie star".  He starred in the movie "Wrestler" and was probably selected for the part as a result of the physique that he had developed using illegal anabolic steroids!  (And we wonder why our kids aren't getting the message that they shouldn't be fooling with these drugs!)

As you read about the behavior of Mr. Siegel as the police were attempting to arrest him for distribution of steroids, please try to identify with the fact that this could be an arrest taking place for cocaine, heroin, or any other drug that we don't want our kids fooling with.

And as the article points out, his steroid use has taken a serious toll on the body and mind of Mr. Siegel.

Don

An actor who went from appearing in the Oscar-nominated film "The Wrestler" to leading police on a wild demolition-derby-style chase through Eastchester pleaded guilty Friday to steroid possession and assaulting federal agents.

Scott Siegel, 35, of Nautilus Place, New Rochelle, admitted guilt in U.S. District Court in White Plains to two counts of using a deadly weapon to assault officers - the truck he was driving on the night of Feb. 18 - and one count of possessing and distributing anabolic steroids.

Federal agents and local police from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Westchester Task Force were trying to arrest Siegel outside his parents' home in Eastchester when he fled in his truck and touched off the chase through Eastchester and Tuckahoe before he was finally caught in Eastchester. Along the way he hit several police cars.

He rammed a police car that had two agents inside and then attempted to hit an officer on foot.

"I drove my car around the officer, creating a risk of injury," he said as he pleaded guilty.

Federal agents recovered 1,500 bottles of anabolic steroids from his car, his parents' townhouse and his home. They also found $100,000 in cash.

The chase followed on the heels of Siegel's gaining a measure of celebrity from his performance in "The Wrestler." Siegel played a thickly muscled steroid dealer named Greg who supplies steroids to the lead character, played by Mickey Rourke, who was nominated for a best actor Academy Award.

Siegel appeared smaller than he did at his first court date on Feb. 19.

His years of steroid abuse have taken a toll, said his lawyer, Barry Levin. Levin renewed his request to have Siegel released on bail, saying doctors at the Westchester County jail are failing to properly treat him for his dangerously low testosterone level.

The low level has caused moodiness, dizziness and depression, Levin said.

Siegel faces up to 20 years in prison on the top charge, though sentencing guidelines will probably call for no more than 63 months. He remains held without bail pending his Jan. 14 sentencing. "It was a very unfortunate incident," Levin said, "and Scott is very remorseful and thankful that no one got hurt."

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Although I am delinquent in posting this article, I thought it important to our visitors to make sure that you are all aware that some supplements that can be purchased in your local health food store can be just as dangerous as the anabolic steroids that you read about on this web site.

As documented in other articles posted here in Hoot's Corner, a number of supplements (as much as 20%) that were pulled randomly off health food store shelves were found to be contaminated with either steroids or stimulants banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.  This FDA Public Health Advisory addresses specifically those supplements that contain steriods or steroid-like ingredients.


Don

7/28/2009

The FDA is notifying the public about new safety information concerning products marketed for body building and increasing muscle mass. The FDA has sent a Warning Letter to a manufacturer of body building supplements that claim to contain steroid-like ingredients, but in fact contain synthetic steroids. The products named in the Warning Letter are marketed by American Cellular Laboratories, Inc., and include “TREN-Xtreme,” “MASS Xtreme,” “ESTRO Xtreme,” “AH-89-Xtreme,” “HMG Xtreme,” “MMA-3 Xtreme,” “VNS-9 Xtreme,” and “TT-40-Xtreme.”

The FDA has received reports of serious adverse events associated with the use of these products and other similar products. Products like these are frequently marketed as alternatives to anabolic steroids for increasing muscle mass and strength and are sold both online and in retail stores. They are often promoted to athletes to improve sports performance and to aid in recovery from training and sporting events. Although products containing synthetic steroids are frequently marketed as dietary supplements, they are NOT dietary supplements, but instead are unapproved new drugs that have not been reviewed by the FDA for safety and effectiveness.

Adverse event reports received by the FDA for body building products that are labeled to contain steroids or steroid alternatives involve men (ages 22-55) and include cases of serious liver injury, stroke, kidney failure and pulmonary embolism (blockage of an artery in the lung).

Due to the potentially serious health risks associated with using these types of products, the FDA recommends that consumers immediately stop using all body building products that claim to contain steroids or steroid-like substances. 

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