Sunday Morning Coming Down

Against the backdrop of Floyd Landis' doping saga (and the memory of Marco Pantani, another bike racer who doped and is now dead), this LA Times article on the staggering death toll of former Pittsburgh Steelers is illuminating and terrifying (registration required):

Fresh off their first Super Bowl victory in 26 years, the Steelers have experienced the emotional gamut. The franchise has lost 18 former players — age 35 to 58 — since 2000, including seven in the last 16 months... The numbers are startling. Of the NFL players from the 1970s and '80s who have died since 2000, more than one in five — 16 of 77 — were Steelers.

Steroids are implicated in many of the deaths, including the seven due to heart problems.