I loved watching Bo Jackson play any sport. His Bo Knows ad campaign was a wonderful addition to his talent and it showed that he was talented across the entire sports spectrum. Word came today that Bo Jackson is suing the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin for defamation due to a story that accused him of taking steroids.
The newspaper has removed the article, but what follows is the hidden article and a copy for all posterity. Bo Knows Google Cache.
When Mark McGwire gave his horrible performance in front of congress you could almost feel the guilt oozing out of him. Many asked why he hadn’t sued Canseco for defamation based on the allegations made in Canseco’s book. To me it seems logical that if you’ve never done steroids you should sue someone who says you have taken them.
Bo Jackson is doing just that.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin ran an article entitled Forum tackles the dangers of steroid use and quoted Ellen Coleman as saying:
Bo Jackson lost his hip because of anabolic abuse.
Wow! That is a huge claim to level against someone.
The article doesn’t follow-up on the Bo Jackson steroid use, which seems odd. If you’re a reporter for a small paper and someone drops this bomb wouldn’t it require you to follow-up?
In case anyone forgot, Bo Jackson injured his hip during a 1991 playoff game while playing for the Raiders. How this can be linked to steroid use is anyone’s guess, but the writer of the article didn’t follow-up.
Lest we move on too quickly there are two other things to look at. The first is that the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin tried to pull the article from their site. The original location of the Bo Jackson steroids story returns a 404, which means the page is missing. The magic of the Google Cache shows the original Bo Jackson steroids article without an issue. Here is a printed JPG of the original Bo Jackson steroids article in case the cache is removed:
Click the images for a larger picture.
The second item to deal with is Ellen Coleman the expert who made this claim.
Ellen Coleman is a member of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and works with Crucible Fitness, which touts itself as Premium Services for Endurance Athletes. Does she have any expertise in steroids?
From her bios on those pages there is no mention of steroids or steroids abuse research. She is a Nutritionist.
Bo Knows Court Cases.