European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Playing hard and Hardy drink Quot. F f it a a Waig. Oft. A f 1/ a ?.<>r. T a % a Ltd. V Elt %. A a. A sports Andis Page 14 the stars and strips this is the second Story of a two part series. By Lee Byr associated press the list reads like an Alt Star roster. Baseball alone has Darryl Strawberry Lenny Dykstra Darren Daulton Dennis Eckersley Dennis Martinez and Bob Welch and that s just for. Starters a. A \. Quot a a a some Are recovering from alcoholism some like Dykstra and Daulton from injuries related to alcohol they played hard on the Field Hardy off it. A booze is still grabbing the Young athlete even As they like their non athletic Peers seem to be turning away from the so called hard drugs. And it s not just a Mirror of society Quot v a research team headed by Christopher m. Carr of Ball state University reported in january that 92 percent of the a 337 male athletes at a Large midwestern High school had used alcohol a and that 73 percent had drunk to intoxication both figures were markedly higher than those for the non athlete male population. On the collegiate level a Michigan state study in 1985, the last report of its kind found that of 2,048 athletes surveyed 88 percent of them drank. A. Alcoholism knows no race nor class but Black athletes have particular cause for concern. Death rates from cirrhosis of the liver Are almost twice As High for Blacks As a for Whites Blacks also have disproportionately High rates of cancers associated with the use of alcohol. According to the Center for science in the Public interest Blacks a 1 have a higher percentage than Whites of heavy drinkers arid a higher percentage of drinkers who also use illegal a a. A but that message appears not to be sinking in within the Black Community especially As measured against the. Marketing and advertising assault of the alcohol Industry malt liquors heavily promoted As Quot Macho or Quot Power Quot brews to Blacks have a higher alcohol Content than regular Beer the ads and billboards for them typically feature blatantly sexual displays such As naked women astride wild animals bid to equate drinking with virility and sex Appeal Black publications carry an extraordinary number of alcohol ads. Quot a a Why do athletes drink peer pressure team ritual loneliness and boredom in the Road the stress of. Competition physical pain depression Celebration. Sorrow the quest for a higher High the illusion that their Superior conditioning makes them Bullet proof All those. Things and More say the experts. Caryn Oftedahl of the Hazelden foundation in Minnesota notes that most people who make mistakes in their work have a Chance to Correct them and move on. This is not True for athletes Quot she says. Quot the shortstop who drops a pop Fly or the halfback who fumbles a Handoff make their errors in front of a wide audience they have few chances to Correct their mistakes a Only increased pressure to do better. Athletes must be Able to Cope with the visibility of their failures As will As their . John Lucas the Brilliant Point guard from the University of Maryland who scored nearly 10,000 Points in the Aba recounts such problems. They started in College and led wednesday
