Mandarich comes clean

Former Packers tackle/bust Tony Mandarich finally is admitting what everyone long ago figured out:

He was a steroid user.

In an interview that will air at 8 p.m. Wednesday on Showtime's "Inside the NFL," Mandarich told Armen Keteyian he used anabolic steroids while at Michigan State and was also addicted to pain killers and alcohol even before the Packers drafted him.

That addiction -- which he (surprise!) is detailing in a book ("My Dirty Little Secrets - Steroids, Alcohol & God - The Tony Mandarich Story") to be released in March -- continued during his three seasons here.

Here are some excerpts CBS e-mailed out:

(On no one knowing he entered the NFL addicted to pain killers and alcohol, assuming his poor performance was a result of a stoppage in steroid use):

Mandarich: There’s other factors that were involved that nobody knows about that were way more of an effect on why I had the huge downfall in Green Bay than steroids (such as) drug and alcohol abuse…I was injecting a drug called staydal...and it was euphoric. I went from doing one injection on that one day, and a week later I was doing between 5-7 shots-a-day for the next three years.

Keteyian: You went into Green Bay essentially a drug addict?

Mandarich: Mmm hmm, not the same, not the same person they drafted…I got to the point where it was a struggle to workout three or four times-a-week because the priority of getting high was above the priority of working out.

(On reports that seven Michigan State players participated in faking a drug test prior to the Rose Bowl while at Michigan State):

Mandarich: I can’t speak for other players. I can only speak for myself because I am the only one that witnessed what I did. But yeah, there is validity to that.

Keteyian: So in essence a fake urine (sample) was supplied to the NCAA during the course of a bowl game, the Rose Bowl game, by you?

Mandarich: That is correct. You got to improvise. You got to improvise.

(On repeatedly and often heatedly denying ever using anabolic steroids and how he answers that question now and why he lied for so long):

Mandarich: I used them. I used them…and this is the first time I ever said it…If I would have come out and said it, I think it would have affected a lot of other people that were doing the same things.

(On whether he will name names in his book like Jose Canseco did in his book):

Mandarich: I don’t think that you should benefit off other people’s short-comings. In my opinion, Jose Canseco is an (expletive) for what he did, the way he did it. I mean that’s chicken (expletive)

-- Tom Pelissero, tpelisse@greenbaypressgazette.com