Roids, juice, sauce, slop, blood doping, stacking, even Red Power Ranger Go-Go Juice...whatever they call them, steroids and performance enhancing methods are an issue in sports today. It's not like they are new, but Lance Armstrong's recent investigation, admission, and dethroning has made us all think about it and voice our opinions. Growing up, I remember my dad and my brother watching professional football on Sundays. I did not really care about sports, but there were certain players' names I remember hearing over and over: Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Lyle Alzado. For me, they were the face of their entire franchise. Bradshaw was a Steeler, Staubach was a Cowboy, and Alzado was a Raider. Lyle Alzado was my favorite. He was wild, tough, and I thought he was cute. Years went by, and I will never forget seeing him again on television in 1992. I nearly cried. His gorgeous, dark, bushy hair was gone. He looked like he weighted about 125 pounds, and he was either using a walker or someone was assisting him to walk. He was battling brain cancer. I do not know if it was proven that his illness was caused by past steroid use, but Alzado did think that was the cause. I found a quote on Wikipedia from an interview he did with Sports Illustrated before he died:
I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I'm sick, and I'm scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff. We're not born to be 300 lb (140 kg) or jump 30 ft (9.1 m). But all the time I was taking steroids, I knew they were making me play better. I became very violent on the field and off it. I did things only crazy people do. Once a guy sideswiped my car and I beat the hell out of him. Now look at me. My hair's gone, I wobble when I walk and have to hold on to someone for support, and I have trouble remembering things. My last wish? That no one else ever dies this way. ~Lyle Alzado
We watch the giants rise, and then sometimes they fall.
People are trying to decide if it was fair to strip Lance Armstrong of his Tour de France titles. People are mad about donating their time and money to cancer research on behalf of a "liar," and a "cheat." What bothers me the most is the skewed perspective of society and perfection. The people want perfection. The people want a hero. The people want an underdog to win. The people want to see the unattainable goals reached. The people got what they wanted from Lance Armstrong. Unfortunately, Armstrong is not perfect, was never perfect, and will never be perfect. All we can expect now is that (hopefully) he will be perfectly honest. Honest to himself so he can find a way to be satisfied with who and what he is. I am not saying it was acceptable for him to do what he did. Most people would be fired from their jobs if they failed a drug screen or lied about their job performance. There are rules. Rules were broken. Consequences are distributed. Armstrong is being treated like your average citizen...for the first time in his career. I do hope he comes out of this with a new purpose and focus and peace because deception can be exausting.
So, what do we do about the steroids and blood doping and suppliments and whatever else is put into a body to make a body do things that body would not be able to do on its own? (Wow, I think I was on the juice when I typed that sentence.) Are all athletes tested? Are all professional sports dealing with this problem? I don't know. Maybe there should be two leagues for every sport: a clean team, and a team that can do whatever they want. The Juice League teams can do steroids, blood dope, snort coke off the cheerleaders, run down the field with a crack pipe in their mouth, and the Gatorade cooler is filled with Red Bull and vodka. They can each score 500 points a game, run so fast they are just a blur across our television screens, jump over buildings in a single bound. Every game, every match, every heat, every race will be like watching superheros compete against each other. It would be amazing to watch...for a while. There would be no surprises. There would be no "Cinderella stories," like Milan High School or Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. All superheros have a weakness, and that is the thing that makes us want to cheer for them. It reminds us that other than their phenominal talent they are just as fragile as we are.
I bet the Juice League would be really popular for a while. Just like "American Gladiators" was a really popular show at one time.
Performance enhancing drugs are an issue. As you stated, we want perfection. Professional athletes are often perfectionists and compete at a level that few ever achieve in any profession. Their skills are elite. They are compensated ridiculously well. They want to maintain their edge, their contracts, and their persona. Many have a hard time coming out of the spotlight and living a life outside of their sport.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your comment that most folks would be fired if they failed a drug test. I think most companies would make a person get treatment and then offer them a spot back within the organization.
We are supposed to have clean league (amateur athletics) and then the doped league (anything professional). I think that most people who follow sports closely would have a hard time believing that a significant number of athletes were not using some sort of performance enhancer that violates the letter if not the spirit of rules of their game.
Time for me to go load up on my performance enhancer - caffeine.
Except that I know people who have loss their job for LESS than testing positive for illegal drug use. Depends on the employer and their policies and what you sign when you agree to work there. (I used to work for an enormous corporation that sent the same employee to alcohol rehab three times. He was still coming to work drunk and would come back from lunch stinking of liquor. Most supervisors would look the other way so they didn't have to deal with the union rep.)
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong. Some performance enhancers are necessary...like Viagra. Of course, none of my employees have ever needed that.
What kind of work were you and your employees up to that they might have considered the use of Viagra? "Specialty" films? And I didn't know that they were unionized. I have never heard of a "Porn Workers Local 69" before, but then I suppose it is not unreasonable to assume that there might be.
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