Quote:
Originally Posted by RiggoRules
If someone in baseball said it, the union would come down on that player like a ton of bricks.
In the context that JJ is a long time veteran member of the team, the part that bothers me about the comment is that it suggests to me that the number applies to the Skins. My guess is that JJ has some strong feelings about playing and recovering within the rules while others are just doing whatever they can get away with.
More than performance enhancing, these drugs are recovery enhancing. To me, that is the big temptation. Being a bit stronger or faster is nice, but it has nowhere near the economic impact or game impact that it does if you get back on the field two games sooner than you would have otherwise. Recovery enhancement impact can mean the difference between 0% forever and 100% for five years.
Right now, I think there is very little intelligent discussion about these drugs. Everything is emotional. There are throw away lines about people being a "cheater". There is so much more to it than that.
There is also little discussion about the impact SOME of these drugs have. One impact is in the area of aggression. Another is in the area of sexual disfunction. But the big one is the unknown. What role did steroids play on Lyle Alzado dying of a brain tumor. Once again, we need more intelligent discussion and less emotional rhetoric (yeah I know, it is the age of the Internet, so what should I fucking expect).
All that being said, I'm not sure about a couple of things. First, I have VERY LITTLE confidence in the accuracy (on both positive and negative results) in terms of the testing. The confidence in testing for HGH is a gigantic question. In all likelyhood, the only people who could get caught for HGH are the stupid, overtalkative and the unlucky.
Second, I think there are circumstances where some of the substances that are banned should be allowed. For instance, there are many medically indicated use for a steroid for a large number of medical issues. How about cold meds? Should we really be screwing up careers and lives because someone wanted to deal with a nasty cold? If there is a treatment for an injury that is supervised by a real doctor and is safe (not perfectly, no drug is perfectly safe or without side effects), why should we ban those treatments?
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I think we can definitely open a huge can of worms by trying to address all the intelligent questions and arguments you just stated. But to do so at the expense of an extremely profitable enterprise, such as the NFL, and also the fact that they've managed to maintain a pretty clean image over the years is something they aren't in a rush to address.
I think what makes steriod use, or whatever the choice of enhancement, in baseball more of headliner is that one individual can instantly and consistantly change the outcome of the game and therefore a team's fortune. Whereas in football, you're always lining up 11 on 11, and the chances for one player to have such a great impact on the outcome of the game isn't as great.