Byrd Flies With Sports’ Newest Scam: “Hormone Replacement Therapy”Irvin Muchnickbyline‚ Oct. 24‚ 2007With the Indians losing to the Red Sox and the World Series beginning tonight, it might be easy to forget the revelations about Cleveland’s Paul Byrd. But Byrd’s use of human growth hormone – supplied in part by an Internet gray-market dealer and prescribed in part by a dentist – offers important clues to the decadence of contemporary sports, and not just because Byrd became the first accused athlete to merge damage control with a Christian book hustle. (What’s next – branded syringes with “What Would Jesus Do” markings of acceptable dosage levels? At least Lance Armstrong has the good grace just to lawyer himself up.) |