Remember the age in sports, when records actually meant something? When athletes were demigods, and we believed performance was based purely on determination, dedication and drive.

The Steroid Era has ruined that. Our new perceptions of accomplishments now involve speculation and distrust that the athlete's accomplishments were based on actual hard work.

And unfortunately, steroids and illegal substances have spilled down from our professional leagues to the collegiate level. Many athletes take some sort of supplement while training to see improved results on the playing field. Penn State is no exception.

"It's a problem here, but it's a problem everywhere," said Dr. Kristine Clark, Director of Sports Nutrition for Penn State's athletic department, and an assistant professor of nutrition.

"It's a problem at every university with a sports program. Whether it's a small college down the road or a Big Ten university, it doesn't matter."

As much as people would like to look in the other direction and pretend it isn't a problem, the proof might be staring us right in the face. And at a school like Penn State, where football is so much a part of the culture, it's easy to think that the problem isn't a Happy Valley one.

Dr. Charles E. Yesalis, former professor of Health Policy and Administration and Exercise and Sport Science here at Penn State, is nationally regarded as an expert in the steroid field. He believes there are too many discrepancies in today's football players for there not to be a problem with illegal substance and steroid abuse in collegiate football and believes there are ways to circumvent the NCAA's random drug testing given to student athletes.

"If you took testosterone in low doses, you'll beat the test and still have a performance effect," Yesalis said. "In my opinion, the size of the college [football offensive and defensive] lines, which is underestimated, I can't explain.

"Look at the size of these linebackers that are ripped. Weightlifting doesn't explain it. These drugs are available, affordable, they work and you can circumvent the drug testing process.

"The change in the size of football players, if you take drugs out of the mix, you can't explain it."

According to Clark, within the last decade, the increase of supplements taken among collegiate athletes has risen exponentially. Supplements that have become popular among athletes include protein supplements and shakes, creatine supplements, sports drinks and bars, multi-vitamins, fish oil supplements and the most potentially harmful: dietary supplements.

The effects these supplements have can vary greatly, but the potential problem for student athletes is that many of these dietary supplements contain ingredients that will warrant positive drug tests.

There's a laundry list of substances that are illegal for student athletes to take. These include all anabolic agents and steroids, stimulants, diuretics, urine manipulators, masking agents and peptide hormones. If any of these illegal substances are found in a student athlete, he or she is banned from competition for one calendar year.

And more importantly, these ingredients can have serious, life-threatening effects to an individual. One of the most commonly harmful ingredients that was spreading rapidly through the supplement market was the stimulant ephedrine, which has the power to increase a person's metabolic rate, help burn body fat and allow athletes to get more "cut." Unfortunately, these improvements overshadow the harmful effects the drug can have.

The main problem with ephedrine is the fact that it increases a person's heart rate so quickly, that it can cause major heart problems among athletes who take the stimulant and engage in intense physical training. In some cases, mixing the stimulant with training turns deadly.

"It really does elevate your cardiovascular output, and increases your heart rate and could potentially cause a heart attack," Clark said. "Many people died because of it. After a certain amount of deaths, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) removed it. It's not allowed in any products anymore."

With the removal of ephedrine from the market, the FDA hoped that dangerous ingredients would be taken out of dietary supplements to protect athletes. This, however, is not exactly the case.

"There's all of these ephedrine-free supplements on the market, but now they have the ingredient synephrine," Clark said.

"It comes from a plant, and it's now known that when used in products in large quantities, it has a similar reaction to ephedrine. These could be potentially risky and could still cause a positive drug test."

It has been well documented that the potential side effects of steroid usage (impotence, baldness, deepening of the voice, etc.) and stimulants can cause heart problems, increased blood pressure and extra stress on the heart.

So what is the NCAA doing about all this? Well, along with the current in-season drug testing, the NCAA has recently begun implementing a summer drug-testing program.

Kay Hawes, Director of Media Relations at the Center for Drug Free Sport, says that the NCAA realized that not testing in the summer could allow athletes to circumvent testing.

"The NCAA became concerned that there was a gap. It was possible for a student to take a cycle of steroids during the summer months when testing didn't take place," Hawes said.

"Compliance within NCAA rules don't take the summer off. Most athletes don't take the summer off, either. It didn't make sense to not have summer testing."

There's still optimism that there are safer, legal ways to obtain better performance throughout collegiate athletics.

Clark has been one such believer. She personally discourages any supplement usage among athletes at Penn State. She believes a healthy diet and training regimen can help collegiate athletes' performances.

"I try to show them how they can improve their diet," Clark said. "We have a tendency to discourage all supplements that could even remotely put an athlete at risk for a positive drug test. We promote multi-vitamin supplements."

As great as such a notion sounds, realistically, it'll take much more to solve the problem. The heart of the problem really comes down to the money involved.

Using substances that give an athlete an edge can have serious economical advantages and athletes know this.

And it has been this mentality that has led athletics to become so entangled in the steroids and illegal substance mess.

"Athletes are very vulnerable," Clark said. "They want to succeed and know that they're under a lot of pressure from coaches to be successful and do the best they can. If a dietary supplement might give an edge, they're willing to take risks."

Yesalis believes the problem will be around for years to come.

"Drug use in sport has been an epidemic forever," he said. "They can take you to places you've never been to naturally. There's way too much money involved.

"The pro contracts. The adulation. The scholarships. A high school kid, by using drugs, can get a college scholarship, and I'm not condoning that. But for that alone, you can understand it with the amount of money involved."