I have to clear something up. Sports are never going to be clean again. Ever.
This is something that we as fans need to understand. Yes, it's depressing. It makes you wonder what is really and what is fake. It makes sports' records even harder to compare. It makes us worry if every youngster is going to have to inject chemicals into his/her system to compete at the highest level. There is nothing about the current drug climate that make any of us feel real good about where sports have gone. Yet, that is where we are at.
We also need to understand that a whole bunch of handwringers want us to believe, or make believe, that more staunch testing will alleviate the problem. (Insert the Napoleonic Dick Pound, head of the World Anti Doping Agency, and a whole bunch of sportswriters here.) This group is about to launch it's usual assault on Major League Baseball for it's lackluster drug testing policy without providing all of the details. (Thank you, Jason Grimsley.)
What none of these folks is willing to confront is that performance enhancing drugs, and the chemicals used to conceal them from detection, are far superior to the tests we now have. That doesn't mean we should stop testing. It just means that Mr. Pound, the International Olympic Committee, the United States Congress, and anyone else that is trying to "clean up" sports is selling us a bill of goods.
Sports will never be clean again. They can legislate to their hearts desire. They can pass more strict penalties. They can even start using blood tests, too. And while some will get caught, some will not and we will not know the difference.
Those who feel compelled to take the issue of performance enhancers head on are leading people to believe that other sports are somehow "clean" in comparison to baseball. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Everyone from NFL lineman to Tour de France cyclists to Olympic swimmers are taking something illegal. Does that mean all of them are? Of course, not. Yet, I cannot tell the difference and, if they are on the right designer drug, neither will any test we mandate they take.
I am completely in favor of testing for steroids, human growth hormone or whatever other drug comes along to make athletes abnormally bigger, faster and stronger. I support strong penalties for those caught using any or all the above. I encourage both notions as I'm actually concerned about the long-term health affects of these drugs. I'm also enough of a romantic to think that hard work and talent should prevail over laboratory created cocktails.
However, neither you or I should be naive about where we are at. We need to comprehend that no matter how many more tests are instituted or how much tougher the penalties get, sport will never be clean of chemically enhanced performances again. Ever.
2 comments:
Sports has never been clean. They can't be -- humans play them. There have always been -- and always will be -- cheaters of one kind or the other.
That's a valid point, redsock. Spitball, corked bats, stick um, have been around forever.
Yet, this new era of artifical performance appears to be more insidious and widespread, as well as, criminal.
Perhaps, I'm just revealing more of my idealism with such statements, but I that's why I have a blog.
Thanks for commenting.
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