Tony Mandarich says he cheated on '88 Rose Bowl drug test

Showtime's "Inside the NFL'' series has a revealing interview with former Michigan State and pro football player Tony Mandarich, who talks about his drug issues, including, for the first time, his use of steroids. The show will air at 9 p.m. PDT Wednesday.

Included in the interview with Showtime's Armen Keteyian is Mandarich's admission that he cheated on his drug test before the 1988 Rose Bowl, in which Michigan State beat USC, 20-17. It's inferred in the interview that other Michigan State players cheated on the test too.

Here are a few quotes from Showtime's news release:

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

Mandarich: There are 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 [to] 7 shots a day for the next three years.

Armen 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.

-- Randy Harvey

Photo: Tony Mandarich during the Colts training camp in Andreon, Ind., July 20, 1997. Credit: Perry Reichanadter / Associated Press/Herald Bulletin

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