Monday, February 07, 2005
Professional/Entertainment Sports and Steroids
Everytime I see the media publish another article about steroid usage in sports, my initial reaction is of disgust to the user. Having seen many other reports depicting the negative health effects of steroid use, I just think the user is crazy. I think it's similiar to smoking and doping: just getting a few seconds, minutes, hours or days of "excitement" for years of bodily pain and most likely early death.
Looking at how sports has evolved and become very mainstream for not only the way it surrounds our life and body maintenance, it has also become a business. Each one of us who is involved with sports from all angles from being an active participant to a passive spectator initiates a business cycle. Players and companies compete to continuously demonstrate their strength leading also to their products and services. Spectators and businesses would only invest their money and time if the players and companies are the best and develop high quality entertainment, products and services. So because of these two situations, I believe it is only natural for players and companies in invest money on themselves to continually improve their performance, in other words research and development costs. So finally I don't have disgust for steroid usage. I read years ago that steroid usage was rampant in wrasslin' and that sport is (let's face it) fake and scripted! What you don't see in wrasslin' is the back office staff they invest to create storylines and characters and of course decided matches. So for a sport that doesn't even require serious strength demonstration, the players still use steroids.
I think the media and the high level executives in organizations and clubs should stop paying lip service to saying how they have zero tolerance towards steroid usage. When the players score some fantastic shot or do something spectacular to increase entertainment value, I don't see the owners and the associated businesses complaining when the dough starts rolling in. Steroids is just like any other thing people consume. Look at food, vitamins, cigarettes, medicine/drugs and the air we consume. Some are good for the body and some are not but at the end of the day it's the individual who decides what to consume. If the anti-steroids folks want a fair competition, then they should house all players in cages and force feed them a schedule of food, exercise and sleep like farm animals. I think scientifically it's impossible to have a fair competition because once the player knows he/she is competing for something then there will be some time spent for preparation, be it exercise, education or both. Steroids speeds the preparation process, but I don't think it's a magic wonder pill that will take the player to the next level with the snap of their fingers. He/She still needs to do some exercise, just probably less than a player who didn't use steroids. I've seen some players smoke, drink alcohol both light and heavy, use dope, stay up late, enjoy late night smoky bars/clubs and eat candy. Why aren't those players punished for these acts? All of these don't have any good effects for the body and in fact decreases performance and health. As I said before it's because the individual decides what to do outside of the sporting event. Anything else is their private activity.
In the end I don't think it's about whether or not the sporting event is steroid free but how the individual player continues to act with steroid use. I don't believe Mark McGwire's claims that he never took steroids. I remember years ago he admitted taking some pills which weren't classified as steroids back then. At the end of the day, those pills along with the food that he consumes helped him continually strengthen his body. They may or may not have had some negative effects on the body. It's just that the pills particularly did a better job in the strengthening department than the usual food he consumes. But the most important part was that he never lost track of his determination to better his body for his career in sports. There are also other players who take steroids and then suddenly their career takes a nosedive, not because of their steroid exposure but because they cut off their work ethic after taking steroids. I think Jose Canseco is one example. He and Mark were playing baseball during similiar times but Mark continued while Jose is not making sporting highlights anymore. I'll never know for sure why but one thing I can bet on is work ethic. It's the most probable reason because if he continued his work ethic that brought him to his prime I don't see why he can't maintain(plus or minus a few points) his athletic ability.
Looking at how sports has evolved and become very mainstream for not only the way it surrounds our life and body maintenance, it has also become a business. Each one of us who is involved with sports from all angles from being an active participant to a passive spectator initiates a business cycle. Players and companies compete to continuously demonstrate their strength leading also to their products and services. Spectators and businesses would only invest their money and time if the players and companies are the best and develop high quality entertainment, products and services. So because of these two situations, I believe it is only natural for players and companies in invest money on themselves to continually improve their performance, in other words research and development costs. So finally I don't have disgust for steroid usage. I read years ago that steroid usage was rampant in wrasslin' and that sport is (let's face it) fake and scripted! What you don't see in wrasslin' is the back office staff they invest to create storylines and characters and of course decided matches. So for a sport that doesn't even require serious strength demonstration, the players still use steroids.
I think the media and the high level executives in organizations and clubs should stop paying lip service to saying how they have zero tolerance towards steroid usage. When the players score some fantastic shot or do something spectacular to increase entertainment value, I don't see the owners and the associated businesses complaining when the dough starts rolling in. Steroids is just like any other thing people consume. Look at food, vitamins, cigarettes, medicine/drugs and the air we consume. Some are good for the body and some are not but at the end of the day it's the individual who decides what to consume. If the anti-steroids folks want a fair competition, then they should house all players in cages and force feed them a schedule of food, exercise and sleep like farm animals. I think scientifically it's impossible to have a fair competition because once the player knows he/she is competing for something then there will be some time spent for preparation, be it exercise, education or both. Steroids speeds the preparation process, but I don't think it's a magic wonder pill that will take the player to the next level with the snap of their fingers. He/She still needs to do some exercise, just probably less than a player who didn't use steroids. I've seen some players smoke, drink alcohol both light and heavy, use dope, stay up late, enjoy late night smoky bars/clubs and eat candy. Why aren't those players punished for these acts? All of these don't have any good effects for the body and in fact decreases performance and health. As I said before it's because the individual decides what to do outside of the sporting event. Anything else is their private activity.
In the end I don't think it's about whether or not the sporting event is steroid free but how the individual player continues to act with steroid use. I don't believe Mark McGwire's claims that he never took steroids. I remember years ago he admitted taking some pills which weren't classified as steroids back then. At the end of the day, those pills along with the food that he consumes helped him continually strengthen his body. They may or may not have had some negative effects on the body. It's just that the pills particularly did a better job in the strengthening department than the usual food he consumes. But the most important part was that he never lost track of his determination to better his body for his career in sports. There are also other players who take steroids and then suddenly their career takes a nosedive, not because of their steroid exposure but because they cut off their work ethic after taking steroids. I think Jose Canseco is one example. He and Mark were playing baseball during similiar times but Mark continued while Jose is not making sporting highlights anymore. I'll never know for sure why but one thing I can bet on is work ethic. It's the most probable reason because if he continued his work ethic that brought him to his prime I don't see why he can't maintain(plus or minus a few points) his athletic ability.
# posted by kfcblog @ 1:22 AM 
