'Roids, Weights, or Hard Work?

Whatever happened to attaining your goals through hard work?

Rafael Palmiero was once quoted about how the game of baseball has changed since he joined the major leagues. Who knew he would epitomize his own comments? In effect, Raffi said that when he first broke into the majors with the Cubs in the 80s, there were no weight rooms, you played through aches and pains, and following games there was a tub of beer sitting in the middle of the locker room.

Then again, Raffi says a lot of things.

But as an athlete, I have to wonder, whatever happened to hard work and a good work ethic? I just don't get it. When did how you look, and how strong you are become more important than how much skill you have? Maybe it is just a fad, maybe it is the in thing to do, but I have never been about what is in.

OK, I'm 6'-0", 220 pounds. And judging by the responses I get when I say that, apparently I don't look it. And I thank you for that compliment. But let's face it. If you saw me in the locker room before or after a baseball game or soccer match, of in the dressing room at a hockey game; nobody is going to be waiving dollar bills in my direction. I do not have one of those finely sculpted bodies-- I am not 'ripped'. And I don't care.

Somebody needs to explain to me how taking steroids, or benching 300 pounds is going to help me stop a hockey puck, or soccer ball, shoot a 3-pointer, or hit a baseball. They are totally unrelated activities.

Anybody remember Herschel Walker? He claimed to have never lifted a weight in his life.

Then again, he would do hundreds of pushups, situps, and pullups a day.

So please, forgive me for not rushing into the weight room. When we were pretty much forced to lift weights in high school, I never maxed out, I don't know how much I can bench-- I just know that when I fall, I can pick myself up off the ground. So, that's what? The equivalent of a 220 pound bench press, one time. But you couldn't just sit out gym class, right? So I'd spend my time of agility skills, and when I had, I'd put on a show at the hip sled. (Are we finding out where I hide my weight?)

What was my training regiment? Hard work at practice. I'd skate my ass off at hockey practice, and concentrate on my job-- stopping the puck. Between being a goalie in hockey and a catcher in baseball-- that's a lot of squatting-- and just the everyday rigors of hockey and baseball have built up the muscles in my legs. And we haven't even touched on soccer.

Now, I'm sure my reluctance to use weights probably cost me a chance to get off the bench at UNO. I have no regrets. I was a walk-on, I was a thrid-string player, but most importantly I was a student. And I was not about to sacrifice my academic standing to take part in an activity that I felt wasn't going to help me. Coach Kemp understood this, and simply told me to get in the weight room when I got the chance, and at least go through plyometrics. So I went to class, I'd check in the weight room for the plyometrics in between classes, I'd go to practice, and I'd go home and run through my plyometric drills. The strength and training coach didn't like me because of it-- but that is another rant for another time.

But there is one more reason I don't want bulging biceps or six-pack abs. Has anybody else noticed the frequency of which athletes miss games because of muscle strains or cramps? Only once have I been injured enough for it to be a concern for a coach-- that was during tryouts at Iowa State, when I pulled a groin muscle... and I played through it. I don't feel sorry for these so-called finely-tuned athletes who pull a hamstring muscle. It's the price they pay for spending too much tme on weights. Quite simply, if you are not pushing your muscles to their maximums, you're never going to go too far.

That said, I have still played athletics at the college level, and not many people have done that. I can stop some of the best athletes on the ice, and on the pitch. I can block a curveball in the dirt, and hit a baseball 400 feet. And I can do it all without the use of steroids, and without being on a strict weight program.

Do I see myself hitting the weights in the future? No. I've put my body through enough abuse over the past 20 years of hockey, soccer, and baseball. Why put it through more?

I am content of where I have been in my life. And I did it all through persistence and hard work. I never played politics, I never cheated. I got there through skill.

And for those of you who suggest I could have gone further had I taken advantage of something like the political games or even steroids, I say: Maybe I could have been more if others didn't cheat.