Bigger Stronger Faster*

Steroids was always a dirty little secret, especially in bodybuilding, football, and track & field (did you see those eastern European women in the 70's and 80's?), but it never really hit mainstream until the early to mid-2000's when Barry Bonds was breaking home run records and Marion Jones was threatening the women's 100m record. Then, steroids, PEDs (performance enhancing drugs), and growth hormones became an oft-discussed and debated topic. For weeks PEDs dominated sports talk radio. If it wasn't Jose Canseco with his book, it was an interview with Ken Caminetti, or a coverage of Victor Conti and the BALCO trial, or speculation about which baseball players were juicing and which weren't; from Alex Rodriguez, to Andy Pettite, to Roger Clemens, to the 25th guy on the roster. It was everywhere. Then Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada came out with the book "Game of Shadows" that focused mainly on Barry Bonds, but was about the entire game of baseball.

"Bigger, Faster, Stronger" is about steroids, or more specifically anabolic steroids. Chris Bell goes all over to talk to different people on different sides of the issue, and in Michael Moorian fashion does his own narration in a very similar manner. The information is very interesting as he adds a personal element to the story. The documentary seems very pro-steroid for all of the reasons a good Libertarian would give. I like that it pulls the covers back on all of our childhood "heroes" out there whom we thought got to where they were with hard work, a good diet, and good genetics. Yes, all of those things are necessary to be an Arnie or a Ronnie Coleman, but a healthy dose of steroids puts them over the top.