In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

[norbirgtafstats]

we will all be saying. How good was Flo-Jo and Ben Johnson?

In 2054 Ben will still be in the top 10 (still number 1 on a rekortan track) and Flo-Jo will still be the fastest ever.

Then we will admire those guys for what they were.. tremendous athletes with incredible technique doing whatever it takes to run faster than any other human.

If the real truth ever comes out on the THG crisis it will show that nearly all world ranked athletes are on something.

If a female russian sprinter is still taking stanazolol and US female sprinters are taking EPO then general use must be unbelievably widespread.

[mrbowie]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

Your point is not well taken, owing to the fact that you seem to have trouble making it.

[norbirgtafstats]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

OK How about this.

Everyone is on it. Get over it and lets get on with watching great athletes again.

[Pego]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

<Everyone is on it. Get over it and lets get on with watching great athletes again.>

I don't believe it.

[Kurt Francis]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

Pego...you and the others just go on believing the fairy-tale about the purity of sport and that there are only a few bad apples...

[tafnut]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

I'm with Pego. Yes, many big names have been dopes; that doesn't mean everyone is stupid.

[ycn]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

The tired concept of "everyone's dirty" probably is more a reflection of public dismay at cheaters than a true indictment of all top athletes.

Because of this cheating problem Lance Armstrong is considered by many not to be a legitimate cycling champion, and he's been tested endlessly, in and out of season. Not only that, but he's never even been peripherally linked to cheating, yet people still believe he is dirty, especially among the Europeans.

Fact is, some cheat and some don't. Perhaps as much a problem as the athletes who don't have the moral compass to avoid drugs, we have chemists and other drug designers who continually search for undetectable drugs and combinations of drugs, all in a cynical chase for money, and perhaps a bit of peripheral notoriety as the person whose "nutritional advice" spurred that athlete on to championships and records.

Anybody who believes that we should just let people pump as much junk into their bodies as they think they can handle in order to achieve best marks must think very little of the sport or the athletes involved, and very much of the spectacle.

Drugs haven't killed sports, but they are definitely hurting them big-time. Now in baseball no one believes that any huge home run season is achieved without drugs, and the erosion in the belief of the validity of all-time baseball records is at an all-time low.

That translates into fewer people at games and fewer watching on TV. That means less money for the players and owners. And so it goes, for any and every sport where drug cheating is a problem. If I said that cheating is causing sports worldwide billions of dollars a year, I believe that figure is entirely correct.

Just exactly how many billions, no one can say.

[Dutra]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

>The tired concept of "everyone's dirty" probably is more a reflection of
>public dismay at cheaters than a true indictment of all top
>athletes.

Because of this cheating problem Lance Armstrong is considered by
>many not to be a legitimate cycling champion, and he's been tested endlessly,
>in and out of season.>>>


and of course we know that testing catches EVERYONE. If not for Balco we wouldn't know about any of this.

Disclaimer: The comment is pointed towards how we should view testing and not Armstrong's cleanness/dirtiness.



Drugs haven't killed
>sports, but they are definitely hurting them big-time. Now in baseball no one
>believes that any huge home run season is achieved without drugs, and the
>erosion in the belief of the validity of all-time baseball records is at an
>all-time low.

That translates into fewer people at games and fewer watching
>on TV.>>

Really? Attendance at MLB is up this year. The NFL is the second most suspicious major sport in the US. The NFL is the most popular sport in the country.

Steve S.

[Runninghorse]

Re: In 50 years when sports authorities allow drug use....

Thank you for posting this. It is about time that some sensibility was injected into the conversation. Unfortunately most people simply don't think. Somehow, everyone feels that athletes don't come from our ranks. One of our most creative sheets of paper - our masterpieces - is our tax forms. Why is it so universally accepted to ... uhm ... tweek the tax form but shame on an athlete who tweeks their own body. With or without these substances ALL these top athletes are some extraordinary creatures. They work very hard - far beyond the comprehension of the average person or even the average athlete. Our purpose for watching sports is exactly the same as watching gladiators kill each other - albeit in the most creative way. We are full of it when we say we're just so "concerned" about athletes well-being. The head parrot told us to be shocked and appalled and all the other parrots go out there regurgitating the same slop. You remember the thrill of watching a cheetah run down a gazelle for lunch. Is it any less exciting because you learn - after the fact - that the cheetah had eaten some steroid-laced beef? Get real.