Athletes and Steroids

Why is it such a shock that some high profile players have been ingesting steroids in one form or another to take their game to the next level? Don’t fans love the fact that Barry Bonds hit over 70 home runs in one season? Don’t fans love it when Jason Giambi cracks his bat as he sends a baseball flying over Yankee Stadium into some innocent neighbors lap? Of course we do!

But then the hypocrisy sets in and we condone these athletes for taking measures that would ensure that they produce the statistical feats that we will them to do. The human body can only go so far with natural conditioning and talent. To push yourself to the edge and maintain that level of competition some chemicals are needed. Most legal versions of the these chemicals tend to be milder doses of the illegal ones.

The whole sports arena is extremely skewed in many areas. The salary that is handed out to these athletes, in most cases, is in no comparison to the function they serve in our society. Does paying 100 million dollars to Peyton Manning over the course of his career with the Indinapolis Colts really do anything to better us or our children? Unlikely!

But these contracts are written with a large number of incentives in place. The players can only realize the full potential of the contracts money if they accomplish all the tasks that are laid out in the contract. They range from being named MVP of the league, going to the final championship game, hitting 50 homer runs in a year, rushing for 1200 yards, throwing for 3000 yards and so on. Each year these tasks move a little out of reach, and each year the athletes rely on something else to get them to meet these goals.

When does it all come crashing down? Let’s not only focus on the fact that athletes are taking drugs but look at the whole picture as to what has led them down this path to begin with. Return to the days of sports when natural talent and conditioning was all that was tested and statistical magic was of little significance.

Attempting to solve or limit just one issue with sports does little to better the overall sport.

Cheers

Send this post to: