subject: Steroids And Their Competitive Advantages In Sports [print this page] There are a set of ironies in place when it comes to the American mindset on steroids. They are, most simply put, an advantage designed to make the process more efficient and improve performance. Our lives are filled with things designed to make things more efficient. From email to cell phones, to just about anything in your house, we have become a society which benefits tremendously from the use of more time, which these things provide.
Likewise, our society has embraced the many things which improve our performance. We enjoy coffee in the morning because it delivers a boost of caffeine, which makes us more alert and energetic. We take aspirin daily to ensure our hearts perform better. We undergo surgeries when necessary to extend our lifetimes. We do whatever we can to get more pleasure out of life, and do it with greater abilities.
Yet, Americans get very upset when they learn of athletes who are using performance-enhancing drugs to excel on the field. They curse them as cheaters and brand then as losers. They are mocked for the remainder of their career, and the stigma never goes away.
Without the use of drugs in sports, the level of quality seen on the field would quickly plummet. Imagine your favorite baseball player hitting 45 fly-outs instead of home runs. Imagine the best football players only able to run a 4.8 instead of a 4.3 in the 40-yard dash. Imagine the quality of games declining when your favorite players no longer were able to do the things they can do today. Remember - the steroid-induced baseball derbies of the late 1990s and early 2000s will never be replicated due to strict drug testing in baseball. Do we want that in all sports?
Is it the moral conflict which bothers them? It shouldn't be. Most people tell ten white lies a day at their jobs. From complimenting a co-worker with a terrible haircut to telling a spouse they don't look fat, we have no problem changing the truth to fit our own personal set of needs. If you asked a hundred people who would tell a lie to win $1000, you'd have at least 99 "yes" responses. So the moral aspect of things shouldn't come into play.
What is the source of this contraction? Perhaps it is jealousy. As youths, many of us watched professional sports and dreamed of performing at that level. At some point, those dreams were dashed by age, family, injury, or just plain "not being good enough" to advance to the next level in a particular sport. What is the solution? Think it through. Realize what it is about steroid use in sports that infuriates you.
