PEDs coming close to home

First off, I didn't mean to post nothing, especially since I don't know how it happened, but...

B) Here's a link to the story that this column is about: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/NEWS/801290375/1001/news

I’m sure I saw Jared Foster in my first year at the Madison County Herald. As a sophomore at Canton Academy, he started at quarterback and it was hard to miss him on the basketball court standing at 6-foot-4.
My first distinct memory, however, took place in August of 2005. I was preparing for the football tab and traveled to a Panthers’ practice, sniffing around to confirm the rumors about players getting paid $50 for the lone victory last year.
He was smiling, like he usually was when I spoke with him, and told me how coach Parker Stubbs was going to open up the offense this year. They were going to utilize his strong right arm, not just his surprising speed as a runner.
That plan never really came to fruition as Foster spent more time running for his life than dropping back with time to throw. Needless to say, I wasn’t too shocked when I saw him at that year’s Overall basketball championship at Mississippi College. Foster looked the same, but announced he was making a change and would attend Madison Central in the fall.
Looking back on it now, he might have been bigger at that point, but who really takes notice of things like that. It was hard not to notice the size difference the next time I saw Foster, getting ready to work out on the MC campus.
Before I continue, let me type as loud as possible that I’m not implying or implicating that Bobby Hall or any of the Jaguars coaching staff had any clue of any alleged use, sale or distribution of anything.
Honestly, how could they? How do we expect these men and women who dedicate their times to our children in the classrooms and on athletic fields to also watch over how free time is spent?
Regardless of that, the Jared Foster who started at quarterback for Madison Central was easily 20 pounds heavier than the one who wore a Panthers uniform. In this day and age, it’s easy to blame that on steroids and his subsequent arrests last fall (although charges related to underage alcohol were remanded for two years) and Monday night for the sale of the performance-enhancing drug only helps to strengthen that belief.
But, and I know I’ll sound naïve, as a reporter who watches high school kids for a living, a part of me has to believe that a strong weight room work-ethic and a natural growth spurt can produce results that change boys into men over a summer.
Case in point, there’s a kid named Jack who I saw last spring and he looked one size. I ran into him over the summer working out and in the fall, he looked completely different.
Am I to assume Jack is taking performance-enhancing drugs or PEDs, an acronym that’s quickly found a place in our national lexicon?
I saw Jared’s name flash on SportCenter’s bottom line Tuesday afternoon, so this story is now national and will only widen the discussion about PEDs beyond Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Roger Clemens and Congress.
But all I can think about is the fact that even if the current charges against Foster are thrown out on Thursday when he’s scheduled for his initial court appearance, he’s not getting that scholarship back from Houston Nutt at Ole Miss.
Instead, three years of his past life and countless moments of his future have just been thrown down the drain, and that’s the truth.

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