http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/...and_its_players_must_be_strong_enough_to.html Look, when is enough going to be enough? Olympians, Baseball Players, BICYCLISTS, Football players, all high level athletes make choices. The people calling it cheating, generally are those that dont count pharmacology as part of sensible training. And most of those are the dweebs at the WADA, and the sportswriters, who are frustrated at not being athletes. I didnt start hitting the gym hard till I was 35. And every legal substance I used, while training, was already banned, and then made illegal, by a bunch of pinheads that dont train religiously, and have no pretensions of protecting the general health. Cheating? Bullshit. the author assumes all PEDs should be eliminated from sports. Why is that? Where do we draw that line. If Joe Blow makes it to the NHL, and he doesnt like caffeine and BVitamins, do we ban Red Bull too? All this shit started when Lyle Alzado, claimed Steroids gave him brain cancer. Where are all the other Medical defectives, not emplyed by the WWE? (theyhave a serious abuse problem, my point is separating the use problem, from the abuse problem) If I choose to stay single, and live in the gym, and player x has a life and a family, is that an unfair advantage...? Of course not...its a choice.
I agree. Let them all do whatever the hell they want. If it's an illegal drug then they should face the legal consequences if they are caught, but the leagues shouldn't have anything to do with it.
I think the issue lies more with people trying to make it to that professional level of their respective sport -- Making it to the NFL, MLB, or NBA. Young kids are going to see that these athletes are using and sooner or later the entire league will be filled with steroid users leaving the 'clean' athlete out and having no shot to get to the big leagues. Kids will start using at such a young age because it will be the only way make it. IMO, there is absolutely no chance that steroid or PED users will be permanently removed from any sport. There will always be users.
Pro athletes are a very small tip of the iceberg here. If you allow them to use PED's then all college athletes will use them also because they give an advantage towards moving on to the next level. Then all high school athletes will use them because they give an advantage towards moving on to the next level. Then pee wee athletes will use them because all the high school athletes are so big and fast that they have too or they won't move on to the next level. Then parents will start looking at 3 year old Johnny and Jenna and wondering if now is the time to start HGH because their kid is going to be at a disadvantage against their peers in sports unless they are big. The real answer from a Conservative point of view is just to execute a few people who are providing PED's illegally. That will dissuade everybody else from providing PED's. If you really need to make the point execute a few high school athletes found to have used them. Kids are impressionable that way. Or so we're told.
^But professional athletes are not students, they are contractors. Student athletes should still be held to drug free standards. Tolerating it for pro athletes isn't going to go all the way down to peewee and kids, where you risk handicapping their development. That argument is like comparing gay marriage to marrying an animal. It's your classic slippery slope fallacy. Technically you could consider caffeine a performance enhancing drug. The problem is that it's hard to draw the line. You either have to ban them all or let them all go. I say let them all do all the drugs they want. If they really think it's worth it to sacrifice their health for higher performance, then let them do it. They make millions, regardless and it would definitely make sports in general more entertaining. Instead of spending money trying to eliminate them, invest money in how to safely use them with workout routines. Obviously there would have to be limits as to how much each athlete can use and whatnot. Don't ban it, regulate it. It's much safer that way and better for business, especially when they can be helpful with rehab from injuries.
steroids and hgh and other peformance enhancing substances should not be allowed. this game is dangerous enough without giving guys with little to no regard for their long term health a free pass to start becoming human science experiments. its just a game and we have to take player safety into account, because not only will players start killing themselves with new experimental drugs and procedures, but they will also be a danger to anyone out there on the field not also using because they will be so much stronger and faster that the protective technology wont keep up and people will start breaking their necks, dying from blunt force trauma, etc. but regardless of any of that, do we really just want to watch a bunch of science experiments running around out there? personally i like the idea that guys can come out of nowhere and break into the league. start adding all those expensive supplements and drugs, and well, those people wont be able to afford to even think about training for the nfl... it would become a sport for the privileged, with shady groups doing clinical trials on inner city children etc. theres just so much that will most likely go wrong, because you best believe that if the league starts giving these guys carte blanche to take whatever they want, they will do just about anything for that competitive edge.
so hobbes are you saying that it is your contention that peds do not lead to health issues? is that what you are saying? this game would not have been pussified the way it has been if it werent for peds. the nfl has proven it is not serious about its drug testing and have 280 lb guys moving faster than 220 lb guys were 20 years ago.
Pretty much. There are no contraindications to normal PED use. WWE use, is different. In fact, they are used to prevent wasting, from real disease. And training, and nutrition accounts for at least 75% of those gains.
Steroids for adult males lead to little health consequences if used properly. Steroid abuse, like the abuse of any drug, can lead to severe consequences. Most people are ignorant regarding all aspects of PEDs. The way they have been demonized, including terms like "roid rage" and the majority of the public thinking they make your dick shrink, shows that somebodys agenda is working.
Hey I just synthesized a new super potent version of EPO that increases athletic performance by at least 50% over any other PED ever invented. But hey my cousin owns a sizable percentage of an NFL team, maybe the Buffalo Bills or Miami Dolphins? Guess I'll only distribute it to every player on their roster and chop up the extra Billion dollars in profit over the next few years with my contact in the NFL. Maybe only sell to China for distribution to swim teams, bet they'd pay a lot to make a statement. Fair is fair right? Dumbass.
No kidding. It would be pretty stupid for drugs developed for wasting diseases to be harmful. One caveat about HGH though is if you happen to have cancer, taking supra physiological doses of HGH is akin to throwing gasoline on a fire. It's one of the reasons they speculate why Lance Armstrong's cancer spread so aggressively.
