STEP BY STEPFORD
Gene doping next wave in creating super athletes
You thought steroids or Human Growth Hormone was the end of the story. It’s only the beginning.
The next wave is gene doping, also known as gene splicing, and we don’t mean J-Lo squeezing into a pair of too-tight jeans.
The Stepford Yankees could be on the horizon, with pharmacy-fantasy baseball on tap, according to Dr. Sheldon Levine, one of the nation’s leading authorities on performance enhancing drugs and substance abuse. Forget ERA; it’s going to be about DNA.
Basically, if you’re deficient in an area, the gene that enhances that ability will be able to be placed into your genetic makeup. If your hand-eye coordination needs improvement, a little gene doping will make you a regular Don Mattingly. “And that will be the end of the story,” Levine promised the Insiders.
To make steroids effective you must have a predisposition to make the steroids work for you. That can be arranged through gene doping. Levine believes steroid testing by MLB would be a waste of time because the cycling of steroids has put athletes 10 steps ahead of the Steroid Police. Levine insists performance-enhancing drugs are being used across the board in all sports.
“You have to be a complete idiot to be caught these days,” says Levine, a competitive weightlifter for nearly three decades who is author of “The 7-Minute Miracle: The Breakthrough Program to Banish Spot Fat Forever.” “Drug testing is a waste of time.”
Levine, an internist, once held the New York State bench-press record but quit competitive weightlifting because of the sport’s rampant drug use. He says he has never used steroids simply because he is a doctor who hates needles. He has never used supplements, either. Oral steroids are useless because they break down in the stomach, he says, although they can give an athlete a psychological advantage that will make that person train harder.
As for HGH, there’s no way to test for it, so Levine says decriminalize the whole ball of wax. The public needs to be educated because the athletes are so far ahead on the matter. He also points out that in 1985 synthetic HGH was first manufactured. It wasn’t too long afterward the new breed of long-ball ballplayer and personal trainer was created.
Todd Terrific
Todd Frazier is still hitting home runs. The star of Toms River East American team that won the Little League World Series in 1998 is all grown up now. He’s 6-1 and was named the player of the year in Ocean County after batting .424, starring for Toms River South High School. There’s a fascinating rivalry here because most of his Little League teammates go to Toms River East High.
“It was a great year,” Frazier told us after driving a home run to center field last week for his Toms River South American Legion team in a New Jersey state playoff game. That home run, though, wasn’t enough to beat Pequannock Legion Post 450 as Pequannock advanced to the Great Eight.
Keeping a close eye on Frazier was legendary Rutgers coach Fred Hill. Todd’s older brother Jeff Frazier led Rutgers in home runs this past season. If Todd decides to stay home, he could land at Rutgers, but if the homebody decides to leave Jersey the University of Miami is his most likely landing spot.
I Got You, Babe
David Wells might want to stop by for dinner at Gallagher’s Steak House on Sept. 30. The restaurant opened in 1927, the same year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs. That night is the 75th anniversary of Ruth’s 60th, so Gallagher’s will conduct a Babe Ruth look-alike contest. “We have plenty of the Babe’s photographs on our walls, so there’s no problem in comparing the likeness,” says Gallagher’s general manager Bryan Reidy. “We hope the reincarnation of the immortal Bambino walks through the doors at Gallagher’s as we celebrate our 75th.” Maybe Wells will show up wearing Babe’s hat. If you think you look like the Babe, call (212) 972-5337 to register.
Seeing Stars
New Knicks power forward Antonio McDyess is getting the feel of the Big Apple this week. He says the one celebrity he would like to meet is actor Denzel Washington. “I’d love to have the opportunity to sit down with him and talk about the roles he’s played, like in ‘Training Day,'” McDyess said. “Everything he does looks so natural.”
Postscripts
Our friend with his ear to the ice hears Rangers center Petr Nedved will be traded to the Penguins. … The stars showed up to support the FDNY Friday night at Basketball City. Chris Mullin, Manute Bol, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Antonio Davis, Mark Jackson, Ronnie Lott, Lou Carnesseca, Mike Jarvis and Penny Marshall helped raise more than $100,000. Knicks guard Lavor Postell had a night to remember when he fell to the floor after a nasty up-and-under move by one of New York City’s Bravest. Postell had to leave the game due to a cut under his eye. Mullin’s team pulled out a one-point victory in OT for the championship. … Pete Sampras, a 13-time Grand Slam champ, will try to end a two-year dry spell when he returns to Commack, scene of last year’s crushing defeat to Tommy Haas, who won a tiebreaker in the third set of the Hamlet Cup final when Sampras double-faulted on match point. Sampras, who hasn’t won a tourney since the 2000 Wimbledon, will try, try again Aug. 17-25 at the Hamlet Cup Golf and Country Club.
