Steroids

[howeird]

Way too much on the radio about steroids in sports. I don't see the issue. Professional athletes earn millions of dollars if they are in top shape, no dollars if they are not. If they want to trade a 6- or 7-digit income, which probably means security for their family for a generation or two, for the side effects (including a shorter life), that's their decision.

Caffeine helps keep long-distance truckers awake, but it's an addictive drug with serious side-effects. Would we ban professional truckers from drinking coffee?

I think one of the problems here is that, thanks to the Olympics, the public has a skewed way of looking at sports health. The Olympics is a competition for amateur athletes, people who have Day Jobs. It's supposed to be a test of the natural abilities of people who don't do sports for a living. In any test of natural abilities, drugs have no place.

But NFL football, MLB Baseball, NBA basketball, NHL hockey, etc, are not tests of the natural abilities of amateur athletes. They are commercial enterprises aimed at giving the fans the best show, the strongest professional athletes turning in their best possible performances. I see no reason for performance-enhancing drugs to not be allowed in this arena.

I don't even think I would have a problem with genetically altered athletes competing professionally. This is about entertaining the fans, not about keeping something pure and wholesome.

Comments

[leatherapron.livejournal.com]

I don't even think I would have a problem with genetically altered athletes competing professionally

I think it would be cool if we could have professional wrestlers who had body parts made out of chainsaws and other small wepons.

[howeird]

Yes, the idea of Battlebots popped into my mind as I wrote the rant.

[leatherapron.livejournal.com]

That would be so cool, and it would make quite mundane sports much more fun. Imagine if Barry Bonds could not only hit home runs but spewl acid on his opponents.

Now thats baseball!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

Doesn't he already?

[leatherapron.livejournal.com]

At present all he does is weep on them.

Though I hear you have to roll a -3 save against the "Whiney Tone of Death" Spell that he casts>.

[howeird]

Good point. I was thinking more of augmenting the less talented players. Splicing buzz saws into the ankles of slow runners so they can more easily slide into base. Replacing a mediocre pitcher's arm with a bazooka, engineered to shoot baseballs. That sort of thing.