Wed 20 Jun 2007
Doping: Better Sporting Through Chemistry?
 

Organic put an intriguing blog post on Doping: Better Sporting [...]

While I have respect for the other point of view, I don’t think it’s inherently wrong for athletes to want to explore the boundaries of human potential using steroids. I do think, however, that it’s wrong for them to hide their use and lie about it. At the same time, I believe that we need to get over the idea of athletes being walking PSAs telling the kids to stay in school and off drugs. Athletes are not by definition role models for a particular political point of view (unless they choose to be).

I remember when Gary Kasparov lost his chess match to Deep Blue about ten years ago, he said that he believed that in the future chess players would work with computers to push the game of chess forward. So future matches would be against human-computer teams. I took that to mean that he thought it was not “cheating” to use a computer. I see that attitude as far more optimistic and forward thinking than trying to keep people from experimenting with technology to achieve greater heights.

A few points I’m not sure what racism has to do with this topic other than the fact that Bonds is a racist.

As to Chris saying he did not know Bonds well enough to make a judgement against him. That has to be one of the most disingenuous comments I have ever heard. First Bonds has admitted taking steroids so Chris does not have to know Bonds. second if he researched the topic he would know that there is overwhelming evidence that points to the fact that Bonds was a heavy user of steroids.

Does Chris feel he should not make judgements on any person he does not know. I suppose he really can’t comment as to wheather Charles Manson is a good guy or not because he doesn’t know him.

Give me a break.

They feel this could open a pandoras box. One official said he could see the day when some one would want to compete with an apparatus that would allow him to fly.

Actually a man from South Africa has run some great times with 2 leg attachments. The IOOC has ruled him ineligable for the participation against those who of normal body type.

Well, how about allowing someone with a leg blown off by an landmine in Iraq to compete with a prosthesis (and I have an interest in robotics with such things being one of the best real markets)?

And if a person with legs blown off by landmines can achieve mind blowing performance, why should an athlete be prohibited from having his legs cut off so that he can install the state of the art prosthesis?

As to creatine there really is no issue it is a safe supplement that is perfectly legal and can be purchased at almost any store. You ingest creatine from any umber of foods. All you get in the stores is a concentrated amount. Taking a scoop of creatine would be the same as eating 5 or 6 steaks.

As to it being mandated by your high school football team. That is another issue.I agree with you there.

As to the fans, most would rather not know what their stars take.

What is the difference between now with someone like Jason Giambi coming forward and the 1970s when it was someone like Jim Bouton and “greenies.” Up until “Ball Four,” amphetamine use in MLB was unknown (or at least not discussed), but Bouton was a journeyman pitcher and was easily ostracized. Giambi is a former MVP, was sort of dynamics does that have on the situation.

A good guest would be Derek Zumsteg, blogger and author of “Cheaters Guide to Baseball.” Here is the steroid section of his blog.

Lastly, an interesting episode of the post juice era of baseball, Gwynn and Ripken don’t get unanimous entries into the hall of fame.

We the viewers are just as medicated, but with personality or mood altering doses rather than physical enhancements. anyone taking Xanax to professionally even out in a stressful work environment should not chastise a ball palyer who dopes for his. it is less an issue of whether they do, but what the fans know. transparency through testing and not necessarily punishment will lead audiences to decide whether it’s right and worth the money.

the pros’ use does not shock me. i was shocked when i learned my highschool’s football team was mandated to take creatine supplements. i draw the line at high school. there should be no parent waivers to sign. wait till they’re independent adults.

When Home Run records are set by the likes of Barry Bonds, a name almost synonymous with steroid use, rather than the almost universally lauded figures of Hank Aaron’s ilk, what does this say about us, the fans? How do we simultaneously punish our kids for cheating and, if not ignore then at least allow cheating in the major leagues?

Tbrucia’s post troubles me especially because it seems to suggest a purely market based way of dealing with the problem, but ignore the social implications of sanctioning drug use in our social icons.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2004-11-17-atp-supplements_x.htm

Some of these issues extend to the tennis racket. At what point (if any) does advancemet in technology begin to devalue the game? Todays regulations allow for a 29 inch racket with a head size of 135 square inches. This head size is more than twice that of the original wooden racket.

Some have suggested legalize everything and may the best chemist win.

Hurley intersesting story about tennis. I don’t follow it that closely and had no idea about the Argentinians.

If this type of testing and penalties existed in the NBA, There would be no basketball for 2 years.

Also the penalties a far greater in track and field. Penalties can range fron 2 years to as much as a life time ban. Life time bans occur fairly frequently and are not just lip service. Medals and money are also stripped from athletes who have been detected using steroids. Another thing trackand field does is this, If you miss a test or a tester shows up at your door and you are not there to take a test it is considered a failed test. Failed test result in automatic suspensions.

You must remember that the drug cheats and the scientists who create the drugs are usually one step ahead of those who would try and catch them. So even at this moment scientists are devising new drugs and more sophisticated ways to beat the system, as I said HGH is one of the current drugs that is in use.

None of the other major sports even come close to setup that track and field has installed to catch cheaters,and that is because they don’t really want to catch their stars.

As to cycling i’m not to sure how stringent they are with regards to their testing. Anabolic steroids would take a back seat to other performance enhancers in cycling as it is a more endurance based sport. They will be testing for some different enhancers as well as steroids.

rahbuhbuh, I like your idea about factoring chemicals into handicaps — I’m not sure how you’d figure that in when you wanted to break a home run record (or any record, for that matter).

There is no real fullproof test for this as of now. Although we are close.

Most talk of steroid testing is just lip service because top level athletes have moved on to this product and other undetectable drugs.

Scientific American came out with an article a few years ago that concluded with the advent of genetic cloning we will see in the not to distant future the advent of genetically enhanced athletes. Then the sh-t will really hit the fan.

The problem lies in the fact that doping is so incredibly wide spread. While we’ve only really covered baseball and football in depth as these are the most prominent sports in America, it’s hard to think of any sport that hasn’t had some sort of scandal regarding performance enhancing drugs. Setting up competing leagues for every sport would be prohibitively expensive.

Atop that, there haven’t been any really successful league launches in recent memory (Remember the XFL?). Perhaps if MLB, or the NFL were to create this “Indy” league, it might have the funding/legs/support to sustain, but with the already existing leagues culled of the superhuman, would our attention follow, or stay with the newly purified “stock” leagues?

for some (or most) fans, isn’t the chemical scandal an unofficial portion of today’s entertainment-first games-second leagues? part of NASCAR’s appeal to gearheads is the inventive ways to bend the rules in tricking out cars? the scandal gives everyone one more thing to be fired up about, which is always good for ratings and makes for better tail gating bs sessions. perhaps they should just work chemicals into a player’s stats calculations as a handycap until leagues straighten out their own version of a FDA. This seems less an issue in pro sports than in international competition like the Olympics which is rooted in “pure” talent.