Paul Byrd Tries to Explain Himself...

Everyone has an excuse for everything, and now Paul Byrd is trying to explain his connection to HGH.

According to Fox Sports, he's denied any wrong doing.

Ken Rosenthal writes: Yes, Indians right-hander Paul Byrd admits to taking human-growth hormone. In his upcoming book, "The Free Byrd Project," he even writes about resisting the temptation to use an increased dosage with the hope of throwing harder.

Byrd says he never hid his use of HGH because it was prescribed to him under a doctor's care. He paid for the substance with his own credit card. At one point, he had it sent in his name to the Braves' spring-training facility in Kissimmee, Fla.

Byrd says he no longer takes HGH and has not taken it this season.

Like I assumed, he was taking it to heal; however, you have to question the ethics of what he did within sport. Sure, he might have had problems, but did why did you use it when the drugs have correlated very much with your career.

Well, I have a problem with Byrd in the next passage, I really do not like him mixing religion with his HGH use. Did you use it knowing it would help with your sleep disorder, or did you use it to make you a better pitcher. Honestly, when did you use it, when did you stop?

Byrd, a devout Christian, says he has had difficulty sleeping his entire life, and that his mother briefly put him on Ritalin when he was a young boy. In his book, he describes the effects of his sleeplessness and how it ultimately led him to a physician that prescribed HGH.

"Even though there were good things like my time with God that came out of my aloneness in the night, the sporadic periods of fatigue and lack of sleep have really bothered me on the baseball field," Byrd writes. "Chronic sore throats, an inability to recover and throw bullpens and times of tiredness have all affected while standing on the mound.

"At the insistence of a close friend, I went and had my hormones checked . . . To my surprise, the doctor told me that I was producing very little growth hormone and prescribed a dosage to help me out. I didn't like sticking a needle in my inner thigh each night but I sure did enjoy the sleep that occurred afterwards. My life changed during that time and I was able to work out more, experience less fatigue and recover quicker.

"Like the other temptations that I've mentioned in this book, I had a new one to deal with one night when I stuck that needle in the hormone-filled bottle. I wondered if I doubled my prescribed dose, whether or not I would throw harder and have a better and possibly longer career. After all, I had a prescription.

"Some strange silent voices ran across my brain and had conversations with me as I pulled back the syringe. I remember having thoughts that doing better on the field could mean more money for my family, my charities and even supporting churches. Then I prayed and realized that God was in control of my life and he wouldn't want me making money through cheating the system.

Interesting. Paul, you have a lot of questions to answer.