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If you didn’t catch the October 15th 60 Minutes interview with Bill Romanowski, you missed a very honest, candid look inside the pressure-packed, oftentimes violent world of the NFL. “Romo” as many of you know him, has retired after 16 years and 4 super bowls.

And although he never missed a game, the physicality with which he played football resulted, in his estimation, in somewhere between 8 and 20 concussions. And he never missed a game.

In his new book, “Romo: My Life On The Edge”, he confesses to using anabolic steroids (THG) and human growth hormone from 2001 to 2003. His supplier? -- None other than Victor Conte of BALCO fame (Bay Area Lab Cooperative). The same Victor Conte who supplied drugs to the likes of Tim Montgomery, Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds.

Romo says “I compromised my morality to get ahead, to play another year, to play two more years, to win another Super Bowl”.

This begs the question - what level of drug use is going on in professional sports now? Clearly, players will do whatever it takes to get an edge - and to play one more year.

It is clear that the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA, are playing catch-up. As Romo said, he quit taking THG as soon as he found out the NFL had developed testing to detect it.

Our athletes aren’t superhuman, even though we put them on pedestals. And with the lure of the kind of money to set a kid for life, what level of steroid use is going on in Colleges and High Schools right now?

Time will tell the kind of health problems that will arise in athletes who took anabolic steroids in the last 15 years or so - and whether or not their life spans will be shortened.

We should all be listening to Romo. Because it’s not just the pros - it’s the kids who want to be pros.

Romo is only now seeing the reality of the price he paid. As mentioned in the 60 Minutes piece, the concussions are catching up with him. “Doctors say he shows profound slowing in cognitive function, which may get better with time”.

We don’t know the long term affects of anabolic steroid use for Romo - yet...

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