Author Topic: Steroids in Sports  (Read 14420 times)

Offline Keonobi

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Re: Steroids in Sports
« Reply #30 on: March 25, 2009, 11:55 AM »
I think those that object to steroids do it for one of two reasons.

First there are the purists.  Basically the people who want to be able to compare Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige to any player today.  Could Hank Aaron have hit more home runs if he used steroids, or whatever?  Probably.  I think a lot of baseball fans fall into this category, as they tend to be the ones who are nuts about a player's stats, and whats the point in having stats if you can't compare them.

Then there are the people concerned about atheletes are role models.  Essentially these are the ones who don't want college or high school kids taking steroids in the hopes of making it to the big leagues, because they won't.  If professional atheletes are allowed to juice, then anyone who wants to play in the bigs will do so too.  The problem is that as each level of competition increases, the pool shrinks.  Compare the number of people who play little league, to the number who play high school baseball, to college, to the minor leagues to the big leagues, to the hall of fame.  With each step you cull like 95% or more, of the players.  And since steroids can have massive health effects, it comes down to a public health issue.  Now this would seem like less of a ridiculous argument if there were a way to determine which players have the greatest potential beforehand, and then once they turn pro they can do what they want.  This might seem like a fantasy, but if you think about it, that's how the clean system works, the best players make it.  Allowing players to use steroids, won't make it any easier to get to the next level, since it will only move up the level of performance needed to make the next level.

I mentioned baseball, but this holds true whether you look at baseball, football, rugby, cycling, swimming, running, soccer, etc.
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Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Steroids in Sports
« Reply #31 on: March 25, 2009, 12:32 PM »
As Keonobi was saying a big part of it is the role model thing. I bet those of you who don't care about steroids in sports won't be so happy when your son/daughter decides to use them because they saw athletes get away with it and then ends up with one or more of the side affects. Which can range from minimal to death (accidental or suicide).
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Offline Keonobi

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Re: Steroids in Sports
« Reply #32 on: March 25, 2009, 12:56 PM »
As far as the parent thing goes, I know a significant issue are kids that get pushed too hard by the parent, not for the kids' own good (ie, learning to see something through to completion), I'm talking about the parents that live through their children.  Whether its the parents that enter their 3 year olds in beauty competitions to the parent swearing at the ref at the t-ball game.  Those kids will do whatever they can to please their parents.  Whether that means going on a diet to make sure they look right at the under 12 Miss County Fair contest, or taking something "extra" to make sure they are selected to the country all-star team.

So I can understand the ambivalence to a professional, adult, athlete doing something to the detriment on their health, that athlete does not exist in a vacuum.  As long as there are kids coming up who want to supplant that professional....
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