It’s everywhere, the talk about drug use in baseball, thanks to Mark McGwire’s recent admission about steroid use. What still stumps me is people actually care about drug use in sports. You have sports, the opportunity to get ahead in life, the opportunity where riding the bench in the NFL guarantees you at least $285,000 per year, where being great at the high school level leads to a free college education, where being faster then everyone can lead to more money in one year then you can make working a real job for five, to become famous, and you are going to have drug use. I can’t think of a modern sport that doesn’t have a drug problem or hasn’t had one recently. Real football aka soccer, rugby, NFL, triathlon, MLB, XC skiing, cycling, T&F – both on the track across all distances from the 100m sprint to the marathon and the field events, NBA, hockey, snowboarding, weight lifting, equestrian and biathlon as well as any other sports that escape me at the moment.
If you are one of those people who think sport is clean, wake the f*ck up. Whatever your sport, the big leagues have one thing in their equipment bag most of us will never have. Drugs. Be it anabolic steroids, EPO, dEPO, HGH, modafinil, insulin, CG, LH, masking agents, aromatase inhibitors or beta blockers. At the pinnacle of sports, there is Mr. or Mrs. Drug Use standing in the wings, waving as their athlete accepts the medal or trophy. At the level below that there is some athlete, who, better then 99% of the world at their sport, needs to be better then 99.4% of the world consistently to make a good living. They are in bed humping the drug use whore like a champ. At the level below that some athlete is blowing the goddess of false promise.
Over the last few days I’ve heard people, from those I interact with to talking bobbleheads on tv, who are shocked by Mr. McGwire’s admission. What a bunch of f*cking morons. Come on? Really? You’re shocked that some record holder used drugs? That some athlete dipped into the milk and honey? That Mrs. I never used drugs suddenly admits to having used drugs. Every time the news breaks, be it Marion Jones, or her ex- husband, or her boyfriend, or Mark, or Jose, or Dave or Jim admits to using drugs you are shocked. When someone goes from being the 80th ranked breastroker in the the world to holding a WR the next year, an off Olympic year, you don’t raise an eyebrow? When an entire team of women runners from China suddenly put world records so far out of reach you don’t think that maybe there was something besides turtle in that soup? When two Olympians miss the Olympics you don’t scratch your head. When someone goes from being a zero to a hero in an unbelievably short span of time you don’t question it. If this is you, you are an IDIOT.
Unfortunately drug use is here, in your favorite sport, done by someone on your favorite team, maybe even your favorite athlete. Don’t be surprised when they get popped or admit years later, then try to downplay it. That drugs weren’t the thing that separated them from the herd. Drug use was the factor that separated them from the herd.
I’m on drugs. Not really sport-related though.
I was scanning something else about this on another blog. Interesting. Your perspective on it is diametrically contradicted to what I read originally. I am still reflecting over the different points of view, but I’m tipped heavily toward yours. And irrespective, that’s what is so super about modern-day democracy and the marketplace of ideas on-line.