Stiff Competition: Are NFL Players Using Viagra to Boost Playing Performance? - Forbes
11/29/2012 @ 5:06PM |3,068 views
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Can the little blue pill really help football players on the field?
But wait — you’re looking for a boost on the football field, not in the bedroom, right? Doesn’t matter. Viagra could help you in both areas. At least that is what Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall suggested on Wednesday, saying he has heard of players using Viagra in order to gain an edge on the playing field.
The obvious jokes are there: How do you expect the world’s premier athletes to perform at the highest level when they have a raging stiffy? But there is no punch line to what Marshall is saying.
Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice dismissed Marshall’s remarks, but there might be some validity to Marshall’s words. It shines light on last year’s arrest of Oakland Raiders receiver Louis Murphy for possession of a drug without a valid prescription. He was carrying a “nonlabeled prescription bottle containing 11 individual pills later identified as Viagra.” Could it possibly have been for playing performance?“I’ve heard crazy stories,” Marshall told the Chicago Sun Times. “I’ve heard of guys using Viagra, seriously, because the blood, it’s supposed to thin. I don’t know. Some crazy stuff. It’s kind of scary with some of these chemicals that are in some of these things, so you have to be careful.”
The combination of the little blue pill and athletics is not a new theory. A 2008 New York Times story broke down the possible advantages to athletes taking Viagra. In essence, the little blue pill improves the transportation of oxygenated blood around the body, which athletes could really benefit from as they are moving around constantly. It’s why you’ll often see football players using oxygen masks while resting on the bench.
Many suspensions have been handed out to NFL players because of the use of amphetamines, including the ADHD drug Adderall. Since the start of last season, more than 10 players have publicly blamed Adderall for failed drug tests. But as of right now, there are no rules within the league’s strict drug-abuse guidelines that say you can’t use bedroom pills like Viagra. You better believe, though, that this will be discussed among league officials very soon.
As if Viagra wasn’t under enough pressure. Among all of this, Viagra actually has some, ahem, stiff competition. The NFL has a sponsorship deal with erectile dysfunction drug Levitra that is worth more than $5 million in rights fees. Media spending to promote Levitra during NFL broadcasts is expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Some research has suggested that Viagra could help the body’s immune system fight cancer because the drug “wakes up” the immune system. This was the conclusion of a test with mice that were genetically engineered to develop melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The mice that were given Viagra in their drinking water lived twice as long as the untreated mice.
It is not known if the treated mice got raging stiffys. But there is certainty that this won’t happen to football players if they are in fact using Viagra to get a boost on the field. According to the all-knowing site How Stuff Works, Viagra users will only get an erection if a man is sexually stimulated. Which is highly unlikely to happen during gameplay.
Playing the game is hard enough as it is.
Follow me on Twitter at @LanceMadden.
