With his high school athletics career rapidly nearing its end, and with very little prospects for a Division I scholarship, let alone a professional career, Jason Eldridge – a three-sport junior athlete – needs to decide soon if he’s going to take steroids or spend the rest of his life wishing he had.

            “Back when I was his age we didn’t really have steroids,” said Ron Eldridge, Jason’s father. “But if we had, I sure would have taken them. I wouldn’t want to be sitting around at 40 or 50 wondering if I could have played in the majors if only I had roided up. Regrets like that will destroy you. That’s what I’m trying to explain to him now.”

             Eldridge plays football, basketball and baseball – and starts at all three – at Oak Park High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, but lacks the strength, speed or endurance to succeed at the next level.

            But taking steroids would likely push him from the level of good athlete to the elite level.

            “Jason is a great kid, he just wasn’t blessed with all of the physical tools a superstar athlete has,” said Cliff Stanton, his football coach. “But with a year of steroids, he’d be dominant. I think he should take them. I know if I was 17 years old again and was in his shoes it wouldn’t be a tough decision. I’d be shooting those things in my butt every chance I got.”

            Eldridge said the only thing preventing him from taking performance enhancing drugs is the fear that they will negatively affect his long-term health.

            “I don’t want to die early or something,” said Eldridge. “But like my dad says – would you rather die at 55 having been rich and famous and a pro athlete, or would you rather die at 75 having never accomplished anything? It’s a good point.”

            The boy’s father said he will even foot the cost of steroids if his son will only take them.

            “I see it as a great investment,” said his father. “If he makes it to the pros, maybe he’ll buy me a house or something, plus I’ll get tons of tickets and memorabilia. And if he doesn’t make the pros, at least I can sleep at night knowing I provide my son with all the tools he needed to succeed.”

            “I’ll probably end up taking steroids,” said Eldridge. “Like Jose Canseco says – if you do them the right way there’s nothing bad that can happen.”