Got 'Roids?

What do the following names have in common:

Barry Bonds
Marion Jones
Tim Montgomery
Zhanna Block
Regina Jacobs
Dwain Chambers
Kelli White
Kevin Toth
Michelle Collins
The entire Seattle Supersonics teams from 1992-1994
Michael Chang
Bill Romanowski
Jim Courier
Dan Marino
Bryce Paup
Ivan Lendl
Terrell Davis
Mac Wilkins
Neil Smith
Terry Kirby
Milos Sarcev
Greg Tafralis
Mike Buncic
Jim Quinn
John Hill
Mike Swain
Lynn Roethke
Kevin Asano
Will Willis
Matt Guisto
Wolfgang Schmidt
Michael Ashley
Nancy Lewis
Corrine Shigemoto
Robert Harrop
Flex Wheeler
Ronnie Coleman
Kevin Levrone
Mike Matarozzo
Chris Cormier
Gunter Schlierkamp
Roland Kickinger
Eddie Robinson
Don Long
Emeric Delczeg
Vickie Gates
Nancy Lewis
Rich Gaspari
Max Shmaya

Give up? All of these people are athletes and body builders listed on the website for Scientific Nutrition For Advanced Conditioning (SNAC for short, they were formerly called Balco and their website is http://www.snac.com) as having used the supplements from Balco during the last fifteen years.

In case you have lived under a rock for the last few years, you know that Balco is famous for steroids. Though their website only sells what appear to be rather tame, and somewhat overpriced, supplements of dubious quality, for many years (and possibily still today) their bread and butter has been selling steriods to athletes. Some of the names on that list above have been caught and punished for steriods--including Tim Montgomery, a disgraced (and now retired) track and field star, Kelli White (who had to forfeit her Olympic gold medals from Sydney after failing a steriod exam), Bill Romanowski (who is a convicted felon, from a plea deal, for trying to deal prescription drugs, if I remember correctly, besides his drug suspensions from the NFL). Some of these names are under a dark cloud of suspicion for steriod use (such as Barry Bonds and Marion Jones).

However, due to the actions of Balco and many of the athletes on this list, all of the remaining people on the list can be considered under suspicion for being steriod users, which is not only unethical, but illegal. Some of these names, such as Tommy Chang and Dan Marino, are pretty spotless thus far, but may yet be dragged into the mire by the general reputation of the other names on the list. When one deals with corrupt people, and that corruption becomes plainly obvious, the issue of reputation becomes rather difficult. Bad company, after all, corrupts good habits. Are any of the names on this list clean? We cannot know. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Nonetheless, we live in very corrupt times. It is difficult to trust anything, and all too easy to doubt everything. Where people and organizations and societies live in the shadows, it is rather uncomfortable to come into the harsh light of day. While we can safely say that anyone that does not relish accountability has something to hide, the truth is that we all (in at least some respects) do as well. Because we all wish for our own private spaces and personal lives, to do what we wish without prying and unsympathetic eyes, we all have earned the world we live in. Our cheaters and scoundrels represent us all, whether we like it or not, because they represent the uncomfortable truth often in our actions (if not in our beliefs) that wealth, security, power, and fame are what matters, and getting and holding onto it are what matters, no matter what that means.

Depressing examples of that abound, but it is sad when we cannot even go to a baseball game without wondering if that too is corrupted by our desire to get and stay ahead at any cost, and cannot even read a novel without having to wonder if that has been cheated and stolen too.