Performance Enhancing Drugs and Sports

A couple of months ago the Baseball Writers announced the Hall of Fame Vote tallys. The three players on the list who have been linked to using performance enhancing drugs did not fare well, despite all of them having impressive statistical credentials.

Albert Belle, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were all All-Star players who hit a lot of HR's. Each hit at least 50 HR's in a season, and compiled other stats that would normally get them plenty of Hall of Fame votes. But the writers stayed away from these three tainted players in droves. Canseco recieved just 6 votes, while Belle was able to garner a paltry 19. Both fell well short of the required minimum to keep them on the ballot and are no longer eligible!

Mark McGwire, the most accomplished of the three, recieved just 128 Votes, despite having hit over 500 career HR's and 70 in one season. (It will be interesting to see how the writers handle Barry Bonds when his turn comes.)

The Baseball Writers have stood up and announced that they will not tolerate cheaters, even if the game will.

What I am writing here is in no way shape or form an excuse for using performance enhancing drugs by anybody. Just trying to get to the heart of the matter, and see what can be learned.

Suppose for a moment that you are a tremendous natural athlete in your given sport, say baseball. For years you have virtually dominated the game, winning a few MVP awards along the way, and always being considered one of the elite players.

Suddenly, two complete clowns, who don't have anywhere close to your natural athletic ability, start putting up numbers that are comparable to what you have done, and beyond. You know beyond any doubt you have always been a superior natural athlete to these two clowns, yet they are matching and surpassing you. You also know, just by looking at them, and from what you hear on the grapevine, that they are using performance enhancing drugs, like steriods. You know that is the only way they can compare to you. What do you do?

You can let them cheat and surpass you, or you too can start using the performance enhancing drugs and then blow what they have done completely out of the water. Show everyone who really is the superior athlete.

What's to be learned from this story?

It is the inferior athletes who bring performance enhancing drugs into sports. The superior athletes do not need to cheat to compete. Their natural ability allows them to compete successfully. It is the inferior athletes who must cheat to catch up to the superior athletes.

The use of performance enhancing drugs by inferior athletes, forces the superior athletes to also use the drugs to maintain their superiority.

When everyone uses performance enhancing drugs, the superior athletes maintain their superiority. Performance enhancing drugs only allow inferior athletes to compete against superior athletes if the superior athletes do not use the drugs.

The powers that be in sports should ponder that for a long time.

Let's quickly look at another situation invovling performance enhancing drugs and sports, say in cycling.

Let's say your a rider in the Tour de France. You've managed to grab the yellow jersey and have held onto it for a few days. On the second to last day in the mountains, going up the last few peaks, your body cracks. While the other riders zip to the top, your having trouble generating any power to apply to the pedals and you fall farther and farther behind the day's leaders. It's so bad that by the time you've managed to finish your not only out of first place and the yellow jersey, but are a significant number of minutes behind the overall leader. What are your options?

Try to recover using normal legal methods, realizing you probably will struggle again the next day and not win the race.

Use performance enhancing drugs to recover and prepare for a record ride in the last day of the mountains.

You choose the latter, fully aware of the risk you have taken. Because you need such massive dosages of illegal performance enhancing drugs to recover and win, you will almost certainly test positive for them after the race. You take that chance because if you do not take the drugs, you're not winning anyway, your body will not recover in time. You also know there is the chance that the officials will ignore your positive test, because the sport is so tainted with cheaters, they will not want to add more fuel to the fire.

You take the massive dosages of performance enhancing drugs and then ride the race of your life to not only win the day, but to regain the overall lead in the race. A lead you will be able to carry to the finish and win the Tour de France. The pinnacle of your sport.

When the test results come back overwhelmingly positive for a banned performance enhancing drug, the race officials show their mettle and honesty, and strip the winners title from you.

What has been learned?

The cheater would not have won the race without the use of performance enhancing drugs. On the day when he used the drugs, had all his competitors been using the same drugs and dosages as he did, it is very unlikely he would have been able to make up the necessary time and win the race.

What is the overall lesson?

Athletes need to compete on a level playingfield. Either allow all athletes to use the performancing enhancing drugs, or allow none. Tighten up the drug tests, or get rid of them. The middle ground leaves nothing but confusion and doubts about what we are seeing.