JC Romero Is Used As An Example
April 1, 2009 – 8:20 am by Tas Melas
We all believe that Major League Baseball players are using steroids. Much of the perception comes from the fact that big name stars haven’t paid a big price on the field for using the juice, and this trend hasn’t gone away (see: Alex Rodriguez this spring). Rafael Palmeiro pointing his finger and telling congress: “I have never used steroids, period,” Mark McGwire not opening his mouth, Jose Canseco writing books and running his yap, all the money spent on these pointless, schematic congressional hearings makes this whole investigation a bit of a joke. Palmeiro was suspended for 10 games and that’s basically it for superstar names taking a hit – Mike Cameron and Jose Guillen are the next biggest star power type guys. It’s the smaller names that continue to take the punishment. JC Romero of the Phillies received 50 games this spring and he joined Cuz & Prof on 610 WIP to give his side of the story:
On how he mistakenly took the performance enhancer:
“I just came across this supplement, around July, up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In my mind, I did everything I could – I had my nutritionist, went to a couple different people to make sure the supplement was legit and it just happened the supplement was contaminated with what they call, androstenedione. It has a trace of androstenedione, something I wasn’t familiar with. And, it just happened that I went through the whole process, the whole trial, we were very optimistic about it ‘cause we knew I didn’t intend to cheat or do anything of that matter. We went through the arbitrator during the World Series, and while everybody was sleeping I was defending myself early in the morning in Tampa, at like around 7 o’clock. And, pretty much it was from 7 to 2 or 3 o’clock, then I would go back to the hotel, get ready, go to the field, play ball. That last for 2 days…”
On why he feels like the steroid goat:
“I think they gotta make an example out of somebody, and it’s very unfortunate it would have to be me. Everything that’s happening, all the heat coming from the Congress and all that, somebody had to be an example. I want people to understand I really support the system, I think that creates equal opportunity for all athletes, for all baseball players. In this case, we’re not talking about, with all due respect to Mexico, someone that went across the border. It’s unfortunate, ya know, they didn’t face this case before… this is the first time it’s happened, and they didn’t really know how to handle the situation.”
His advice to other ball players:
“All I can say, all I can do is just to make sure the baseball players protect their careers ‘cause there is no union, it’s not MLB, nobody’s gonna protect your career the way you can. That was something that I was kinda ignorant about that. I thought that the people that was above me, had all the answers, all you got do is just kinda trust them and go with that, but I guess they human and they make mistakes.”
Listen to JC Romero on WIP in Philadelphia with Cuz and Prof
Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, JC Romero, Mark McGwire, Performance Enhancing Steroids, Philadelphia Phillies, steroids
