A exclusive report in the Charlotte Observer regarding steroid use during the team's 2003 run to the Super Bowl raises an obvious question, around which the hometown papercarefully tiptoes.

Is the team's George Halas trophy tainted? Or were the Panthers players who were taking banned compounds merely keeping up with the Joneses in other NFL cities?

Regardless, there was a real problem in 2003. Three of the five starting offensive linemen, tackle Todd Steussie, center Jeff Mitchell, and guard Jeff Donnalley, were receiving various prohibited substances from Dr. James Shortt, based on court documents obtained by the Observer in connection with the prosecution that resulted in Shortt being sent to jail for one year and one day.

"Several of them were using disturbing, particularly alarmingly high amounts with high dosages for long durations -- some in combinations," said steroids expert Dr. Gary Wadler, who prepared a report for the proseuction in connection with the Shortt case. "This wasn't just a passing flirtation with these prohibited substances."

And the inescapable conclusion reached after reading the Observer article is that the use of prohibited substances was indeed rampant and most likely brazen.

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