But Mark Tronson is the first to admit that the story that broke last week astonished even him. US 400 metre sprinter Olympic Gold medallist LaShawn Merritt, is just the type of fine young man for your daughter to bring home for supper.
For a young man like this, you'd want to have out your best china ware, the carpets would be vacuumed, dad would have been given a lecture on not to put his foot-in-it, and mum would be the very best of hostesses.
LaShawn Merritt followed up his Beijing Games gold medal by dethroning two-time 400-metre defending champion Jeremy Wariner when he strode to an impressive victory at last year's World Athletics Championships in Berlin. As well as winning his individual titles at both Beijing and Berlin he also helped his country win the 4x400m relay titles at both events.
Here's the rub! It's unbelievable, truth is always stranger than fiction! Our ideal home guest has been suspended after testing positive for an anabolic steroid contained in an over-the-counter penis enlargement product.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympic-champion-merritt-tests-positive-for-steroid-for-overthecounter-penis-enlargement-product-20100423-thc9.html?autostart=1
USA Track and Field chief executive Doug Logan said, "He (Merritt) has now put his entire career under a cloud and in the process made himself the object of jokes, (he added that he was) "disgusted by this entire episode".
The 23-year-old American, who faces a two-year Track and Field ban, said: "To know that I've tested positive as a result of a product that I used for personal reasons is extremely difficult to wrap my hands around. I hope my sponsors, family, friends and the sport itself will forgive me for making such a foolish, immature and egotistical mistake.
"Any penalty that I may receive for my action will not overshadow the embarrassment and humiliation that I feel inside.
"I am deeply sorry and hope that other athletes who take these types of over-the-counter products will be even more cautious and read the fine print, because if it can happen to me, it could happen to you."
LaShawn Merritt doesn't have to enlarge any further with this statement - "if it can happen to me, it could happen to you".
That comment is a tailor made message of the Luke 16 story Jesus told of two men who died, one enjoyed the presence of the Lord, the second went to the place of great torment with an impassable gulf between them.
In desperation the one in unimaginable distress asked that the man who had chosen wisely, be sent back to warn his Father and his five brothers. This was the response: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, even if one rose from the dead".
May these solemn words of LaShawn Merritt be remembered in association with this passage of Scripture of making an unwise and irretrievable eternal option: "If it can happen to me, it can happen to you!"