Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs

Friday, 17 July 2009

Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs
When I think back to 1998, I think back to that year because its the year that I truly became a captivated sports fan.
I had always been a basketball fan, watching the Houston Rockets was fun because it was all about Hakeem the Dream, Clyde the Glide and Sir Charles Barkley on that team.

But 1998 was something different: I met Baseball, America's past-time. A lot of people remember where they were the night Mark McGwire hit his 62nd Home Run.
I remember the run, about how he skipped 1st base, hugged his way around the diamond, and had such a huge commotion around the field. I remember how he and Sammy Sosa both embraced, competitors and friends alike, in this era. I remember the game for it was JD Drew's first major league game. It was the beginning of my love for the sport, and my love for the Houston Astros grew that year as I grew to know, love and understand the game of Baseball. I learned how to follow things, to follow pitches/players/the game itself.
Now I look back at 1998 and I don't know what to think.
I love Baseball, but this news about steroids, performance enhancers and drugs that I see around the game, and I am so torn about how I feel about this subject. Did Baseball turn a black eye to the game? Did they go for the profits. You look at the numbers from 1997-2003 and the numbers are staggering offensively.
However, here's 2 perspectives.
The first one I take is that of the purists: the guys who did not use PEDs/Steroids/HGH. These guys cheated, they used stuff the other guys didn't. They took things and enhanced their bodies in ways that were not available to the other players.
Yet I'll take this stance: well, what do you tell these guys who have new weight training, new food and drinks, new protein shakes, things to make the body recover. Back then, the ACL tear ended a guys career. Now, these guys are gone for 6 months and come back relatively back to a relative normalcy. Tommy John surgery ruined some guys careers, and now its saved more guys than can be counted. New weight training keeps guys in better shape. New medications help guys recover better, build up immunities. You think guys in the 60's and 70's had nutrition specialists with them year-around-the-clock? Look at these new treatments. Athletes take more care of their bodies, and try to look for competitive advantages.
Look at students in school. Some go look for the bank of old notes. Some have access to extra practice problems. Some even have access to old professors exams (many given to them by the professors themselves). Is this cheating? The old guard would say yes, but today's generation sees it as taking advantage of the resources available. I mean, these give students an advantage to smash old tests and pass the course they're taking through repitition.
Did I just compare PED use to school testing? Absolutely, as long as the academic material was legally obtained. The minute that academic dishonesty occurs, then it becomes something illegal and a moral disservice to students.
So what am I saying? I think that MLB players took advantage of the fact that baseball didn't restrict PED use. Now does that make using steroids legal? HELL NO, because those are ILLEGAL drugs in the 50 United States last time that I checked. Other PEDs like McGwire using ANDRO in 1998? It was legal then, illegal now. If anything, records are meant to be broken guys. People get bigger, stronger, faster. They train harder and longer. They work harder each day. If you want to say anything then, go after the guys who use stuff that is ILLEGAL to the US government. The STEROID users used illegally. The PEDs are allright unless banned.
What's next? A ban on protein shakes? A ban on vitamins? A ban on lifting weights in the offseason? A ban on hiring a nutritional specialist? Forcing players to eat the same thing every day? That sounds a little bit socialist right there people. The reason baseball is so great is because the players are all different. We don't want a team full of Michael Bourn's who are only slap hitters. And we also don't want a bunch of Lance Berkman's. Come on people, you're not being serious here.
So where do I stand on PEDs? As long as they're legal or not banned, then its allright. Yes the game is predicated on statistics. Yes it is, but believe me, the guys in the 60's, 70's and 80's had the chance to take these special supplements to improve their health, or had the medical technology we have today, then some guys like Jim Rice may have hit 500 HR's, Eddie Murray may have been a more imposing star. Reggie Jackson may be the Home Run king. We could have had another triple crown winner by now.
But it's all subjective to each era. That's it. Baseball is defined in waves. That stretch from the early 1990's to 2003-04ish is the offensive era guys. That's what it can be defined as: a powerful time when people slugged like crazy. To just get rid of guys (even guys we hate like the incorrigable Barry Bonds, the Jan Brady-like attention seeking A-Rod, and the care-free Manny, you can't ignore what they've done).
~B^2