NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw admitted to using steroids in a radio interview with Sports Illustrated’s Dan Patrick. It was unclear as to whether Bradshaw was talking about anabolic steroids or corticosteroids.
We did steroids to get away the aches and the speed of healing. My use of steroids from a doctor was to speed up injury, and thought nothing of it… It was to speed up the healing process and that was it. It wasn’t to get bigger and stronger and faster.
Bradshaw dismisses the anabolic effects of the steroids that he received via injection from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ team physician. As an NFL broadcaster, Bradshaw would presumably be very familiar with the controversy surrounding anabolic steroids; it seems that he would be careful to confirm whether or not he was referring to anabolic steroids and NOT corticosteroids.
It seems likely that Terry Bradshaw did use anabolic steroids since the widespread use of anabolic steroids among his Pittsburgh Steeler teammates has been well documented by Bradshaw’s late teammate Steve Courson.
UPDATE (June 25): Terry Bradshaw clarified his comments by stating his use of “steroids” involved corticosteroids (or cortisone injections).
Bradshaw said yesterday that he was referring to therapeutical corticosteroid injections, which are used to reduce inflammation, not anabolic steroids that build muscle and sometimes cause extreme side effects.
“I’m not bodybuilding here,” Bradshaw said, laughing about the confusion that stemmed from the interview. “They were not those kind of steroids. They were anti-inflammatories.”
