Del Piero in 96/97 was a thin, almost frail player who could only rely on his magnificent technique to get past his opponents.
Del Piero in 98 had become a robust, very muscular player, much proner to use his enhanced power and stamina to assert himself on the pitch.
Anyone denying this fact is either on a need to know football basis or just in total denial. But that's beyond the point.
I don't know what I find more disgusting : the omnipresent yet elusive doping mafia, made up of self-proclaimed sports doctors and prominent IOC officials, or the attempt by "fans" to mitigate the gravity of the situation, or even to legitimate this sad state of affairs.
People who say that it's "unfair" that Rio Ferdinand will miss Euro 2004 following his suspension are the partners in crime of those Dr Strangelove who administer their miraculous cures. What a sad world indeed, if those who are entitled to dispense justice are put in the stocks by the alienated masses.
Cocaine and heroin, you say? Oh the naivety. Cocaine is orange juice compared with some of the products that are circulating today. Nandrolone, EPO and the likes have the ability to kill a horse before you can say "drugs". At best, heroin will become a substitution product for a sportsman once he has retired and has turned into a drug addict as a result of all the poison he's been ingesting over the years. This is exactly what happened with Pantani.
Unless people are willing to stop living in denial and ready to wage a proper war against the doping mafia, the future will only bring us more tragic stories and "unexpected" deaths.
"You have chosen shame over war, and now you have both" - Winston Churchill.