Bosworth Cries During Testimony -- Ex-Seahawk Admits Lying About Steroids

Brian Bosworth spent a day in federal court yesterday as memorable as any he spent in three years as a Seahawk.

-- He broke down and cried as he and the jury in his civil case against Lloyd's of London watched video of the 1989 play that ended his football career. Judge William L. Dwyer declared a quick recess until Bosworth regained his composure.

-- He admitted he took steroids during two periods of his life. He admitted publicly for the first time he had lied in 1986 about his failure of an NCAA steroid test and his resulting ban from the Orange Bowl.

Bosworth had told reporters that the steroids were given to him by a doctor who was treating him for an injury. Bosworth testified yesterday he actually had been experimenting with steroids given to him by a doctor in the spring of 1986. He said he quit taking them during the summer when the NCAA announced it was going to test bowl teams.

He also said he took steroids before the 1988 Seahawk camp opened.

-- Bosworth tried to explain to the jury that he is, in effect, two people - "The Boz" and Brian Bosworth. He said "The Boz" is a character and an act and called his autobiography, "The Boz: Confessions of a Modern Anti-Hero" nothing more than "a comic book from cover to cover."

Bosworth said co-author Rick Reilly wrote the book and "embellished" it with fictions such as the statement Bosworth drank 41 cups of coffee on game days at Oklahoma. Bosworth said Reilly

wanted to create a character "bigger than God Himself."

Bosworth's claim of two personalities led to some strange questioning. Seattle lawyer Thomas Merrick, representing Lloyd's, asked Bosworth whose picture appeared on the cover of the book.

"That's a picture of the character The Boz," replied Bosworth.

Merrick later asked, "Is there a difference between you and The Boz?"

Bosworth replied: "A vast difference. In this book, I'm The Boz. In real life, I'm Brian Bosworth."

The Seahawks and Bosworth are suing Lloyd's to try to force the English insurance company to pay on two disability policies totaling $5.1 million. Lloyd's contends that the policies were for "accident only" and that it was a disease, arthritis in both shoulders, that ended Bosworth's career.

Bosworth and the Seahawks maintain that Bosworth had to retire after injuring his right shoulder while tackling Ron Wolfley of the Phoenix Cardinals on Sept. 17, 1989, in the Kingdome.

Narrating video of the Wolfley tackle as it was shown to the jury, Bosworth started to say "as I hit him" . . . and then broke into tears. "I'm sorry," he said.

When court reconvened four minutes later, Bosworth testified that as he lay on the Kingdome floor after the tackle, "I felt I ripped the whole right side of my body off." He said he went to the sideline and thought, "This can't be happening to me." Bosworth re-entered the game but lasted just a few plays.

He couldn't continue after tackling Cardinals running back Stump Mitchell. Mitchell suffered a knee injury on that play, and neither he norBosworth ever played football again.

Bosworth started to break down again when he talked about the tackle of Mitchell.

Bosworth said Dr. Pierce Scranton, the Seahawks' orthopedic surgeon, told him the next day after medical tests that his playing career probably was finished.

"He basically said he never saw a shoulder like mine before and he said he didn't think I'd come back from it," Bosworth testified.

Bosworth said he tried to rehabilitate his right shoulder but was unsuccessful and flunked the Seahawks' physical exam in July 1990.

One of the defense exhibits in cross-examination of Bosworth was video of his 1991 appearance on the talk show "Donahue." Bosworth told host Phil Donahue that "both shoulders" forced him to get out of football. He also told Donahue, "Actually, I should have left the game a little earlier than I did."