This Is What Happens When You Watch Too Much "Prayer of the Rollerboys"

First off, a father giving his 13 year old son steroids is bad enough. Though, some part of you might try to justify it if the kid was bulking up for football or wrestling. However, when it's to give his son an advantage in his inline skating competitions, then he gets no sympathy whatsoever.

A 41-year-old Lady Lake man has pleaded guilty to providing steroids to his 13-year-old son to give him an advantage in in-line roller skating competitions.

James Gahan signed a plea agreement saying he provided his son, Corey, with synthetic testosterone and human growth hormone starting in 2003 when the boy was 13 and continuing at least into 2005. Gahan initially obtained the drug from a clinic in Tampa and later from a doctor in DeLand, the plea agreement states.

Damn, two years of steroid use? That can't be good for a 13 year old. Though, it does seem that the steroids might have helped Corey Gahan because he became a "world-ranked" skater, and was the 2004 teenage national champion. He was also invited to participate in the Inline World Speed Skating Championships in '05, but had to withdraw after failing a drug test. A positive test that both Corey and his father had excuses and denials for.

Corey Gahan, who denies using any prohibited drugs...Kopf notes in his order that Corey "vehemently'' denies using any prohibited drugs...

Gahan wants to appeal, saying his son’s testosterone level was elevated because he was tested shortly after a long-distance race. He said the 19-norandrosterone was possibly the result of a tainted supplement.

It's interesting to see how those excuses and denials turned into a two year ban for Corey, and a guilty plea for his father that could get him up to 10 years in prison.

One other interesting tidbit is that Gahan received some of the steroids from Signature Pharmacy. Yes, the same Signature Pharmacy that was shut down this past February by federal officials, and had at one point supplied Chris Benoit with steroids.

Gahan, who pleaded guilty Friday, said he used Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, which is under investigation by New York authorities who are looking into whether it provided steroids to professional athletes.

This case is also being called "the first -- and so far only -- in the United States in which a parent of a world-class athlete was charged with providing steroids to boost a child's performance". Unfortunately, I doubt it will be the last.

Chris Benoit Was A Former Customer Of Signature Pharmacy

Back in February when I first wrote about Signature Pharmacy in Orlando being raided as part of a steroid investigation I said "stay tuned because I have a feeling that more and more athletes are going to be named in the coming weeks". At that point, L.A. Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. and Richard Rydze, a physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers, were the biggest names tied to Signature Pharmacy. Since then, Jason Grimsley, Jose Canseco and Evander Holyfield had been the only other athletes tied to Signature. Until today.

It was reported today that Chris Benoit, the WWE superstar that killed his wife and child then hanged himself over the past weekend, was a customer of Signature Pharmacy.

"After learning about the tragic deaths over the weekend, we were able to confirm that professional wrestler Christopher Benoit received packages from Signature Pharmacy and MedXLife," Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares said in a written statement.

It hasn't been made public yet how long Benoit was a customer of Signature, or how many "packages" he received from them. Though, it's been stated that officials knew that Signature was a steroid supplier since 2004, and they suuposedly did $40 million in business last year, so Benoit could have been involved to a large degree.

This isn't going to help Signature's case at all because a large amount of the media coverage so far has focused on whether "roid rage" caused Benoit to commit these horrible acts. Here's a sample of what the various major news outlets are reporting with regard to the Benoit tragedy:

CNN: 'Roid-rage' questions surround Benoit murder-suicide

FOXNews: Wrestler Chris Benoit Double Murder-Suicide: Was It 'Roid Rage'?

MSNBC: Cops eye 'roid rage' in wrestler's murder suicide

As you can see, the media is hitting the steroid angle pretty hard, and after asking the question of "was it 'roid rage?" they'll probably move on to "where did Benoit get his steroids?". Especially if toxicology reports come back showing large amounts of steroids in his system at the time of the murders. None of which bears well for Signature Pharmacy's founders.