I think this article is "okay". Personally though, I don't think he's saying anything new at all. But good on Klosterman for writing it. It does open us up to some serious lines of ethical questioning. I think it's high time we did more of this publicly.
But yerfatma, is it cheating if most people are doing it? I mean, if Barry Bonds were taking steroids, but so were most of the pitchers, and other hitters... then is it cheating to take them as well? Or are you just keeping up with the Joneses? That is the only even moderately compelling argument against steroid use I've ever heard: that if some take it, all will feel pressure to take it, so they can keep their jobs. But being a professional athlete is not a Constitutional right: if they don't want to do what it takes to be at the highest levels- whether that's simply working out religiously during the off-season, or doing whatever you can to make your body as strong as it can be- then too bad. I think you can be, at least outside the NFL, just as good without steroids as with them (or rather, you can be an everyday major leaguer and all-star without juicing up, as all juicing will do is help you recover faster and to build muscle quicker). As for highschool/college athletes: well, if they're adults, again, it's their bodies. If you're a top-ranked athlete in a division 1 school, you should know it, and know you have a very good chance of making the pros in your sport. At that point, if you choose to use performance-enhancing drugs, you do so at your possible risk, but with likely rewards (since you're enhancing your chances at winning the pro sports lottery and becoming a millionaire by 25). I don't think the Div-III field hockey players will be juicing up any more than they did already, since they're not pursuing megabucks signing bonuses and first-round draft picks. I still say that if you asked Joe Schmoe on the street "Hey, would you take modern performance enhancing drugs under a doctor's supervision for 6 months, if we then paid you $20 million?" What's the over/under on the % that say yes- 90? 95? 99? These aren't your 1970's horse-hormone steroids, these are modern, and likely safer, steroids. How safe we won't know until
I liked that article too. Thanks for posting it, but I must say I disagree with... Why do we even momentarily question how much impact they must have on a game built entirely on explosion and power? I get the point, but entirely... The writer got carried away. Proofread the next day please... no skill? no decision making? no poise? no... umm... coaching? waaaay off. I mean... The author mentions (read: bases the entire article on comparisons to...) a smaller tackle, and a slower reciever... then says this.... selective evidence is awesome. Best writer going?
These guys don't just fall off the athlete tree. AWESOME.... i think I finally have a line to shut my Bonds lovin, steroid defending friend up for life. Mucho Gracias... merci beacoup... kam sa ham nee da.... THANKS.
is it cheating if most people are doing it? No one else can answer that question for you. Had I the ability to make it to the top levels of competitive sports I would derive no happiness from chemically-assisted achievements. I know that seems hopelessly Pollyana-ish, and I realize the immediate counter-argument is "But what if you gotta do it to keep making the big money," but those questions are based on poor assumptions from my perspective: 1. That I'm interested in winning instead of testing myself. 2. That money is the point. </pollyana>
Pete Rose bet on baseball. Baseball players and football players use steroids to enhance their performance. Both are against the rules. Will BB be kept out of Cooperstown or some football player kept out of Akron because they used steroids??? I think not. If the rules on steroids were enforced like the gambling rule all convicted players would be banned for life and not allowed into their respective Halls. Don't hold your breath............
Okay, Hal, now you have the D-I major sports athletes doing 'roids. But what about the high school kids that want to be those D-I guys next year? So high school seniors have to use them. But since colleges know the top freshmen and sophomores, now they have use. And you have to make the JV squad so now you have 7th graders using.
Christ, SummersEve, you're right! Why, pretty soon overly-ambitious parents will be doping their fetuses in vitro, because if you don't excel in pre-school gym jamboree, you'll never make the pros!
You laugh, Hal. And yet.
Both are against the rules. Will BB be kept out of Cooperstown or some football player kept out of Akron because they used steroids??? You make the mistake thinking that the rule against betting on baseball and the rule against using performance enhancing drugs are equal. They aren't.
Fantastic article. The Bonds hate for me is because the revered record he might break (please God no) belongs to Hank Aaron. Aaron broke an old white man's record during a time when being a black man was not exactly easy. He did it through adversity that we can only ponder. And he did it all at about 165 pounds, using the best wrists the game has ever and will ever see. His numbers mean more. Bonds is an asshole, and he doesn't get a pass like football players do. He's not fit to sniff Hank Aaron's sweaty jock.
Actually, Hal, I'm way ahead of you. I'm juicing my boys in the sack. That way they'll swim so damn fast the pro's will have to notice. Super Sperm.
By the way, am I the only one that finds the imagery of 'roided up pre-schoolers flat out hilarious?
Pete Rose bet on baseball. Baseball players and football players use steroids to enhance their performance. Both are against the rules. True, they may be both against the rules but what Pete Rose did was something that is the #1 rule that you do not break. Many athletes have used something to get thru the day as far as drugs/prescribed medication goes (aches & pains, deep bruises, lacerations and/or headaches, ect...) but the rules for PED and betting on baseball are two very different things and shouldn't even be tried to be compared. Most athletes know that if they use a PED and get caught, they'll more than likely be fined or suspended, or maybe both, but for someone to bet on baseball while they're involved in the sport in some capacity, that's just something you know you just don't do and if caught, you will be banned for life. I would never say that an athlete using some sort of PED is the best 'role model' or even the best all-around player but if the league that they play under has no problem letting them continue playing their respective sport if they're not found guilty of any wrong doing, then why should I have a problem with it?
drugs are illegal mmkay
"vito90" So glad you know more about Barry Bonds than what you get from sportswriters!As a Giants employee,i'm telling you Barry is a nice man!Also you're wrong about Aaron having the best wrists,that distinction goes to the great Ernie Banks of Cubs fame!!!
I'm not so sure about that. Hank Aaron learned how to swing cross-handed - which undoubtedly strengthened his wrists (try swinging like that). When a scout finally noticed this and corrected it - it was homerun city. This according to legend, of course. If Barry learns you're talking about him on the internets I fear he'll arrange for you to meet Greg Anderson and spend some quality time with him.
Barry is a nice man! I'm going to use this every time questions of my infidelity, drug use, seal clubbing, and gross misogyny come. "Sure I might have nailed your fugly sister while smoking base and wacking those hideous little critters that make such cute coats, but I am a nice man. A very nice man indeed." See how that works. Worst. Argument. Evah.
squirrelone, I went to the homepage in your profile and now my router is messed up. I blame Barry Bonds.
What's going to happen down the road to all the sports players and evrybody in sports high school college etc..... they are all going to regret doing them one day when they are on their deathbed
"yerfatma"LOL!I'll see Barry on the 29th when we play Seattle.I'll tell him he owes you a router!"HATER"Clubbing seals?SHAME on you!The other behavior you mentioned sounds the norm for ya!But the seals?Oh No!!!
I follow sport because I want to see meritocracy. I want to see those that work the hardest and those that are simply the best compete. Same for me...that's why the NBA and MLB has lost much of its luster to me. The NFL is next for me. I say this: there's more to life than winning. I understand the competitive drive for excellence and, within proper balance, respect it immensely. But, whatever happened to guys like Lou Gehrig showing appreciation for the sport by obeying the rules and being a gentleman? By the way, my hat's off to Jason Taylor's rebuff of Merriman. Hopefully more guys will follow him and stand up as positive role models. For those on this thread who deny the role model argument, you've obviously never coached little leagues or reached out to teens. And, if you are a little league coach I hope you're not my kid's coach. I wanna guy leading my kid whose got the guts to call a spade "a spade" and steroid users "cheaters." I mean my kid will probably never make it to the Majors (one can wish though!) but he'll still have real life to live. And in the real world there are rules we all have to live by. If we don't, we'll have a price to pay.
And in the real world there are rules we all have to live by. If we don't, we'll have a price to pay. In the real world people cheat, too. Lots and lots. And, they get ahead by cheating, too. College, business, everywhere. I think a meritocracy is just like democracy in that it works much better in theory than in reality.
I think a meritocracy is just like democracy in that it works much better in theory than in reality. Except a democracy, by its very root word, requires multiple people. I can compete all by myself, regardless of what the Pope thinks or the hair on my hands. I will celebrate those that achieve through hard work and good fortune and quietly ignore those that cheat (as best I can discern them). They're of no interest to me; anyone can do it.
In the real world people cheat, too. Lots and lots. And, they get ahead by cheating, too. I think we disagree on what it means to "get ahead." For me it means being a better person, living my life from the perspective that there is something more than what I can feel and touch, and raising my kids to reflect a similar worldview. If by "getting ahead" you mean make more money, have more success, enjoy more prestige, and etc. then I concede that you're right. Cheating can give you all those things...for a time. But ill-gotten gains is transitory at best. What goes around still comes around.
I will celebrate those that achieve through hard work and good fortune and quietly ignore those that cheat (as best I can discern them). That's the beauty of cheating. People don't get caught all that much. It is impossible to know whose achievements are legitimate and whose aren't. Your absolute favorite athlete could cheat regularly and you wouldn't know. So, all you could be celebrating are the people who are clever enough not to get caught cheating. I know it sounds jaded, but there is no point in thinking that athletes are any different than the people around you, with a great many of them having shifting moralities to suit their ends. I don't buy that ill-gotten gains thing. It doesn't happen. It is a waste of energy to wait around for it. Life isn't fair and I have yet to see any evidence of some cosmic balance.
That's the beauty of cheating. People don't get caught all that much. Again, you're looking at bigger picture than me. Like normal, my photo is an ECU of me smiling away. And I always catch myself when I cheat. I always know and I have to lay awake overnight years later castigating myself about it. So it's easier not to.
I don't buy that ill-gotten gains thing. It doesn't happen. Cheaters pay for their deceit. They may not get caught by superiors, but they do get caught by their own conscience. And they pay by having their conscience seared so that it is easier to do again the next time. The end result is loss of character. Hence, I think there are many Pete Rose's who in the Golden years of their life are untrustworthy and viewed as circus freaks. All of that because early on they exchanged a life of character for ill-gotten gains. What have they given up? What payment have they made? In my mind it is the biggest payment of all--the respect of those they leave behind.
Cheaters pay for their deceit. They may not get caught by superiors, but they do get caught by their own conscience. No, they don't. I don't believe this anymore, if I ever did.
