So Cal was inducted into the Hall of Fame and Barry Bonds wasn't because of questions about steroid use. But I just don't understand the prohibition on steroids... somebobody give me a clue. Yeah, I've heard the horror stories about steroids, and I have no reason to doubt them. But let's frame this question in its true light: Professional sports are not a game. Any "game" that pays individual players upwards of $10 million per year is not about funsies, it's about business and really big money. And while we hear a lot of talk condemning performance-enhancing drugs by the media and the MLB, I haven't heard team owners making similar statements.... Maybe that's because they are the ones whose fortunes rise or fall in relation to their teams' performance.
Listen, steroid use can shorten a user's life. It's been said they can produce cancers and cardiac issues, and professional atheletes know those risks. If they then choose to use them, it logically means they are adults and had excercized due dilligence and assumed the risks.
But what about giving them an "unfair" physical advantge over those players who don't use performance enhancing drugs? Well, the same question can be posed about weight-training, diet, physical fitness and even genetics. After all, a basketball player who's 6'10" has an advantage over one who is 5'8".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
RT said-"If they then choose to use them, it logically means they are adults and had excercized due dilligence and assumed the risks.
But what about giving them an "unfair" physical advantge over those players who don't use performance enhancing drugs? Well, the same question can be posed about weight-training, diet, physical fitness and even genetics. After all, a basketball player who's 6'10" has an advantage over one who is 5'8"."
One stroids are illegal, any advantage given to one palyer cause he roided up is an illegal advantage. Everyone has access to weight-training, good diet, fitness. Genetics goes out the window. You forget that some of the best and greatest athletes have heart. Look at the last World Series MVP. Thats right David Freakin Eckstein and he is not genentically gifted person by anystretch of the imagination. The other factor you forget is intelligence. Brian Roberts may not be the greatest athlete on the field, but he is one of the smartest. That makes up for physical ability. Teddy Bruschi isn't the fastest of greatest linebacker in the NFL, but hes always around theball and makes plays cause he know where to be and when to be there. Plus he does what he is supposed to.
Will there always be performance enhancing drugs? Yes. And they will alwaysbe one step ahead of the people trying to catch them. If they figure one thing out, they will make something else that works better. I know when I go to a game I want to know what I see is real. It really that perosn working as ahrd as they can with what nature gave them to compete on a level playing field. Owners don't sell players as a commodity, they sell competition. You taint the competition, you got no good product.
So you let stroids in, then it becomes a game of who has the most money will be the better athlete. And thats not cool. Why? Cause the epidemic of high schooolers roidin up to get in college will increase and cause a chain reaction up the ladder. Good people who done things right will be shut out and the pro level of sports would be skewed toward power this and that. This is a lengthy topic you picked.
Bonds wasn't even eligible for the Hall of Fame this year....he's still an active player
Yeah... I'm not buying that whole role model argument... one person cannot and should not be responsible for what someone he does not even know, does. If we're going to subscribe to that logic, let outlaw Special Forces, and Cops and anyone else whose profession is advertised as "heroic" because it may lead a child down a path that could ultimately be harmful or even fatal.
So we're back to the original question; why should they be illegal... Again, this is a business-- fans and advertisers to pay for losing teams, and that's really what we're talking about here... we're not talking about doped bats or spitballs, we're talking about fielding the biggest, fastest, smartest humans to play as a team... isn't that the goal?
WOrcester:
You can see I'm not a sports fan.
If steroids were legal they would create an uneven palying field. You would in effect create an environment that dictates the athlete with the most money that can buy the best stroids wins. I am not paying good money to see that. I want an even playing field of athletes competeing to win. And when you have two great athletes competeing with even skills, then you see the heart, the determnation, the grit of who wants it more. Thats why I love college hoops. Its about the pride. THe army navy game. same deal. True sports fans watch for the competition. We want to know what we are seeing is real, not manufacutred in the bowels of a BALCO lab.
To look at another analogy, some guys are hung up on pronstars cause these women go out and buy these big ass fake titties and starve themselves to be big titty small little ass girls with blond hair. And while that may work for most men maybe, its not for me. I would rather be with the woman who has a body that looks and feels natural because you know what it is.
If you want to watch sports on roids, tune into the WWE or RAW.
Most fans want a "pure" sport. All natural, no additives. Why? Because, it shows the human body at it's pure and natural best. Wit is correct. Anybody, can pump themselves up with steroids and be "the best". It takes a natural talent, physically and mentally to be a "real" sports professional. A steroid freak is just that; a freak.
My own take on Barry Bonds is in a word repulsive. This guy came into the majors as a slender athletic young man. He has natural talent, he's blessed if you want to put it that way. He could probably have been a Hall of Famer without steroids, but we'll never know now. Even if he does get in the Hall, (and I hope he doesn't) he will forever be a source of controversy. Did he or didn't he? His recent injuries are all consistent with long-term steroid use. His ego (which is bad enough) may have grown larger due to his exagerrated physical accomplishments. Cal Ripken was a natural also, but he got wherever he had to go by working hard at it, and then working harder. No tell-tale bulk-ups or ego problems. One of the hardest accomplishments in sports is to be able to contact the ball travelling at over 100 mph with a wooden stick. You need talent and a lot of it to do it consistently. Baseball players are always loooking for an edge whether a "spitter" or pine tar. Saliva and pine tar are natural, so is talent. Babe Ruth (hard drinker and womanizer) hit his home runs in half as many at bats as Henry Aaron, or Mr. Bonds will. I guess I'm not ready for Brave New Baseball.
Post a Comment