Letters to the Editor
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Marion Jones is very pretty and fast...
And Amerigo is a good writer. And so are you, King. We are working out the drug issue. People who write in with The Answer do not know the answer.
Perspective: Sport is not life. No matter what Mitt Romney says, the truth is not a sports metaphor. So, it's okay to debate. It's okay not to know The Answer.
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Steroids
King,
Great article. The bottom line with steroids is this, if you put an asterisk against the accomplishments of Bonds and others, then you must put one by all who have had "Tommy John" surgery, pretty much anyone who has had any surgery by Dr. James Andrews, anyone who has had arthroscopic surgery, used rehab techniques like sitting in a hyperbaric chamber while taking 10K grams of vitamin C intravenously, used current strength training techniques, or even consumed whey protein supplements. Just think what Mickey Mantle could have done with contemporary knee surgical procedures and rehabilitation. These are all modern medical advances and all provide a competitive advantage. Make steroids legal and control use by medical professionals. These medications were developed by the medical profession and can be incredibly helpful if not abused. As to the use by kids - anyone under the age of 18 should avoid like the plague since the endocrine system can be seriously affected. Talk to experts who have actually used or trained those who do - all others are bloviating blowhards who know nothing. The supposed health risks for mature adults are overblown. Arnold, Franco, and others took recommended dosages and cycled off while many users today never cycle off and take ten times recommended dosages. And BTW, don't we have a war in Iraq that politicians should be dealing with instead of sticking their noses in illegal drug use in sports?
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Damage
I agree with King in pretty much everything in this article.
The most bizarre argument that comes out of this is the "health/long-term damage" one. It's really asinine.
Professional football players really care about long-term damage? Even without the steroids, most of them are playing, knowing in the back of their minds (even if there is a strong amount of youthful denial), it's more than likely they will be a ghost of a man, a cripple, and possibly mentally challenged by the time they reach their half-century mark. If they do at all.
Marion Jones and female track stars? They get their bodies into such shape that they stop menstruating. With or without steroids, that's not good.
And don't forget about those female gymnast stars who are forced to remain the size of 11 year old girls, fighting puberty and nature as hard as possible. Athlete or no, that's not healthy.
There is a notion that because their body is their tool that these people want to take care of it in the long term. The truth is that are all about winning big, winning now, getting the glory in the small window time allows, future be damned. This is nothing new, and steroids have only aided in this, not created it.
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Off Topic
Saw this article in the Seattle Times and thought some of you might dig it.
The Times ran a report on the 2000 UW Football team and how general thuggery and felonies were ignored or delayed until the end of the season. Interesting reading.
"Key UW linebacker played entire season after his bloody print was tied to shooting
The 2000 Huskies, winners of the Rose Bowl, stand as the UW's last great team. But an unprecedented look behind the scenes reveals a disturbing level of criminal conduct that was often excused or overlooked."
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Why not inject testosterone?
Why is it wrong to improve performance by injecting testosterone but OK to improve it by injecting cortisone or having Lasik surgery?
1. If you are a female athlete competing against females, by injecting testosterone, you are effectively turning yourself into a man, thus getting an unfair advantage. Incidentally, it is pretty easy to recognize a female athlete who is using anabolic steroids, because they usually have clitoromegaly--an enlarged clitoris like a small penis.
2. Testosterone, even in its natural form, is implicated in at least 90% of all violent crime. This is why violent crime by men over 40 is relatively uncommon compared to younger men.
3. Cortisone injections and Lasik surgery are FDA approved medical treatments for bona fide medical diagnoses.
Testosterone is legally approved only for use when there is a diagnosis of low testosterone, which is hardly ever the case with professional athletes, though Lance Armstrong would presumably have had to use testosterone injections had he lost both testicles to cancer, rather than only one.
I have had cortisone injections in the shoulder myself. At one time I thought I would never be able to raise my arm above my head again, but now I can. This is legit.
4. Steroids are controlled by the Anabolic Steroid Control Act 1990, which makes unauthorized possession and use of anabolic steroids a federal offense. Like it or not it is illegal, and the above question is similar to asking why athletes should not improve their performance by taking cocaine. Even if baseball decided testosterone was OK, it would still be illegal. This is extremely unlikely to change as there is no political will in Washington to legalize anabolic steroids for recreational purposes.
5. Quantities and doses used to enhance athletic performance are much greater than used for replacement therapy for, for example, someone who lost their testicles to cancer. Thus the potential for side effects and possible permanent damage are greater. This is a drug that acts directly on the brain.
6. All sports have rules. Either you play by the rules, or you do not. In the improbable event that Congress enacted a Federal Law that exempted professional baseball players from the Anabolic Steroids Control Act, so that they could all use steroids, there would be little advantage in doing so, because the whole point is to obtain a illegal advantage over other players.
7. The US is a signatory and contributing member of WADA. WADA believes that doping in sport is a risk to the health of the athletes, that it threatens the integrity of sport, it is cheating, and that youth tend to be influenced by what top sports stars do.
8. As well as predisposing users to violent behavior, use of anabolic steroids may trigger mental illness, especially mood disorders.
If you want to see sport in which women with penises are competing against others who are not similarly equipped, then good for you, but in my opinion sport is much more valuable for developing healthy young people who compete on playing fields rather than on killing fields.
Professional athletes are only the tip of the iceberg of the millions of people world wide who compete in many different kinds of sport, and I don't see why they should be exempt from drug laws and from the rules of fair competition.
Just my humble opinion, of course.