What did you think in 1998?

The creatine supplements you got in stores 16 years ago weren't all they were cracked up to be. Besides the fact that they were largely unregulated and contained God knows what.

Your body has a natural amount of creatine already that is taken in by eating red meat and fish, and only requires a few grams intake per day. The excess is excreted via urine, so you were literally pissing away what you spent at the supplement store. Formaldehyde is also one of the byproducts of metabolizing creatine.

 

Of course not. But we didn't know that at the time, right? It was a new wonder supplement - in reality a product of wonder marketing - and it made complete sense that these titans would bulk up through it. I don't know GNC's timeline, but I think that the late '90s was when it became a retail phenomenon.

Steroids? They seemed passe in 1998.

 

Steroids seemed passe in 98? That is either so naive or revisionist history. I'm not sure how you could have been around sports or more importanly been around a gym and believe this. Yes there were all these new supplements but there wsa no better "supplement" than steroids.

 

I was 21 years old, fat, and attended a NCAA Division III university.

 

I'm in the minority. I liked the last Seinfeld episode.

What is this BCS thing, anyway?

Words I never thought would go together: Scott Brosius, World Series MVP

 

I know among high school athletes in my area, I was one of them, there was a misguided notion that creatine was awesome because you didn't have to do real steroids.

 

Yes, creatine was very big among the high school set at the time -- we did a story on it, as I recall.

 

Was cute as a button. Could easily pass for one of the high school kids I covered.

 

I read a newspaper story when I was in eighth grade about anabolic steroids and how they help build muscle mass. This was many, many years before Lyle Alzado and McGwire/Sosa. The ABC Afterschool Special was probably the first time most kids had ever heard of steroid use.