Where Concussion Inc. Meets HGH, NFL, UPMC … at the Corner of ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Death’

My new book with Anthony Roberts, THE CHINA SYNDROME: How Athletes and Celebrities Get Their Performance-Enhancing Drugs – How a Rogue Prosecutor Bungled Their Bust, is not officially part of the Concussion Inc. series of ebook shorts.

But anyone who thinks there is no connection isn’t paying attention. Abuse of drugs of all kinds, and traumatic head injuries, fit like a hand in a glove – or a head in a helmet. They are part  of what the subtitle of my book on homicidal-suicidal wrestler Chris Benoit calls “the cocktail of death.”

As I wrote here on March 30, 2010:

Pro football fans are aware that the Pittsburgh Steelers have a long history, dating back to their 1970s Super Bowl championship teams, of being accused of harboring and condoning steroid abuse – and that, too, includes the taint of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In 2007 another team doctor with a UPMC practice, internist Richard Rydze, was fired after he turned up on the Signature Pharmacy customer list; Rydze had used a credit card to make a $150,000 purchase of growth hormone, which he claimed was for helping patients heal from injuries.

Rydze and [Dr. Joseph] Maroon also were both members – and the latter is an officer – of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, a nonprofit claiming 22,000-plus members in more than 100 countries.

I have credited Mike Fish of ESPN with delivering the goods on Dr. Rydze. See his 2009 story “Former Steelers doctor embraced HGH,” http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=3831956. Rydze’s status as a Signature Pharmacy super-client is also discussed in UPMC: Concussion Scandal Ground Zero, which is available at http://amzn.to/A0Hq2g.

The new Muchnick-Roberts THE CHINA SYNDROME: How Athletes and Celebrities Get Their Performance-Enhancing Drugs – How a Rogue Prosecutor Bungled Their Bust, is No. 1 in Sociology of Sports at the Amazon Kindle store: http://amzn.to/y7X5SX.

Irv Muchnick