Talk about a different kind of performance-enhancement.
Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall seems to have suggested, albeit unintentionally, that some of his peers in the NFL have turned to – of all things – Viagra to boost their on-field performance. And by on-field performance, we actually mean the football field, not that other field where they supposedly hold dominion over.
Erectile dysfunction medications aren’t exactly the kind of performance enhancement drugs we’d associate with NFL players, but Marshall told reporters that some of his peers have taken to taking the pill to gain an edge on the field. “It is such a competitive league, guys try anything just to get that edge,” Marshall told reporters earlier this week. “I’m fortunate enough to be blessed with size and some smarts to give me my edge. But some guys, they’ll do whatever they can to get an edge. I’ve heard of some crazy stories. I’ve heard guys using like Viagra, seriously. Because the blood is supposedly thin, some crazy stuff. So, you know, it’s kind of scary with some of these chemicals that are in some of these things, so you have to be careful.”
Marshall’s proclamation stemmed from a question asked to him regarding Adderall, an ADHD drug that has grown in popularity within the league and has been blamed for the increasing number of player suspensions stemming from the use of the amphetamine, including Seattle Seahawks cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner.
In addition to Browner and Sherman, a number of other players have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and have publicly claimed a prescription for Adderall as the culprit behind the positive tests.
Marshall’s public proclamation that a lot of NFL players use Viagra has led to questions regarding the validity of its performance enhancing capabilities. Does it really do any favors for men already oozing testosterone – the one that’s naturally produced by the body – when they’re out on the field trying to destroy one another?
The New York Daily News notes that among the off-line uses for Viagra, the drug “helps build endurance, especially for athletes who compete at high altitudes. It delivers oxygen, nutrients and performance-enhancing drugs to muscles more efficiently and counteracts the impotence that can be a side-effect of testosterone injections.”
Be that as it may, Marshall’s comments regarding the use of Viagra by NFL players for performance enhancing purposes should reverberate in all 32 locker rooms. Lord knows how many – if there are, in the first place – guys are taking “the little blue pill” when they’re out on the field. What we do know is that the mere suggestion is probably enough for the NFL to swoop in and curtail its use, although they’ll probably have their hands full – no pun intended – trying to sort this one out.
