In the same week that the Tour de France winner has been accused of being a "drugs cheat" (and potentially stripped of his title) now we have Justin Gatlin admitting that he failed a test...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/5227956.stm

Some people say that we can never eradicate drugs from sport, others say we should legalise everything and remove the variable of performance enhancing drugs (PED) from the equation. Of course, the sponsors have a major say.

My question is - where do you stand?

Should we continue to persecute (into oblivion) those few drug users who actually get caught, knowing that others are getting away with it? Or is a certain amount of PED use acceptable?

Do you think this is a minor problem? Or no problem at all?

I'm sure we all like to think we support fair play? But where does reality come into the mix? Where do we draw the line?

Keen to hear your views...and of course I'm talking about all sports - everything is fair game.

Alex

All drugs should be allowed. Make it an even playing field. Who ever wins, wins.

I, myself, lean to the Babe Ruth standard:

come to the ball field with a hangover
gulp down a few hotdogs and sodas to get some sugar energy
stand in the hot sun (NO NIGHT GAMES) to bake out the alcohol
gobble a few more hot dogs and a few candy bars
hit one or two home runs
REPEAT!How good would Mickey Mantle have been without being an alcoholic?

Should Joe Namath have been refused pain killers for his fragile knees?

I don't like the drugs in sports.

In my view it skews the playing field and makes a very bad precedent for youing people who dream of being athletes. Some of the drugs adult athletes routinely use can have very detrimental effects on adolescents, and now boys are feeling likewise pressure as girls to fit into an idealized image or they're not worthy. IMO This won't help us as a society, and it won't help sports.

If we want a true sport, drugs can never be allowed.
If all drugs will ever be legalized, just imagine a guy that takes all the sort of things to improve his performance in competition with a complete clean athlete. What the complete legalization will lead us is to a certain dozen of dead cause by overdoses of doping. :(

My question is - where do you stand? Simple. I'm siding with Jen & António here. I am totally against enhancing performance by using drugs. I have seen it up close and that is all I need.

/Claes

I understand the position that drugs for performance enhancement are not 'good'. What I know is, like the 'war on drugs', there is no way to stop them.

I stopped being an idealist long ago. It wasn't that many years ago, for example, that the olympics was for amateurs. Now it's just a bunch of pros and I have no interest in watching. Sports in general no longer interest me. It's either drugs or some other 'cheat' method. Watching sports is, to me, like watching 'pro' wrestling. Much (and in many cases all) of it is staged or in some way slanted.

As to drugs doing damage, people make life choices and have to live with them. I really don't care if some baseball player, or whatever, ends up with problems because they used drugs. It's their life, their body. They have to live with the results, not me.

As to kids, well - It's a shame, but the reality is as long as there are sports (or any kind of competition) there will be cheaters (for lack of a better term) whether by drugs and/or by other means. When I was young, pre- high school, we didn't hear about drugs related to sports as I remember, but they were there. By the time I reached high school many of us heard rumours, but weren't sure. I remember high school football where our coach had us drink some stuff he said was to 'build us up' and put weight on. It was some sort of 'protein' drink. It wasn't a choice. It was mandatory. To this day I don't know what was in it. I thought it was stupid and quit football during the second year.

As to a 'true sport', I suggest there is no such thing. Many people have an idealized vision as to what a given sport should be, and what should be allowed, but that is a personal 'vision' or perception of what 'should be'.

Not to mention that 'performance enhancing' drugs and potions are part of today's world. You can hardly turn on a TV or read a magazine where viagra isn't advertised. How does one expect to keep a child from seeing 'performance enhancing drugs' as anything other than 'just a part of life as we know it'? For older people, it's 'Ensure' or some other tonic which will make a person's life all smiles. If you get your doctor to prescribe 'Lunestra' you'll get a good night's rest and wake up all smiles and happy. For 'performance enhancement' there is Bob and his 'Enzyte'. The wife will smile and bring you drinks, the neighbors will be amazed when you step out of the pool naked (swim suit came off during the dive in), and even your golf game will be better... Kids see this stuff every day, day in and day out, so they have every reason to believe that for every 'problem' there is a drug or potion solution.

None of this is new. In my grandmother's day there was 'Geritol', which was essentially a rejuvination potion. Go back a hundred years and it was one type of 'snake oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil)' or another. Some contained alcohol, some had opium, even the venerable coca-cola in the US originally was a cocaine laced 'energy' drink (potion).

Even the US military gives a lot of the troops 'performance enhancing' drugs. The US air force gives pilots 'speed' so they can stay awake on long flights.

If there's a way to 'win' (enhance performance), whether 'right' or 'wrong', people will do what ever it takes. Viagra, Enzyte, steroids, speed, etc. You name it, people will sell it and people will try it.

No drugs in sports for me. I've been in sports a long time. It's about heart and soul and will to win. Cheating is cheating - you should hear the talk about guys and girls padding their handicaps at the golf course.

Sorry, I'm old, and old school. I took 'no doze' to pull all nighters in college and don't consider that performance enhancing - just the thing to do. I would have been much better off with the sleep rather than staying up studying but with age comes wisdom. (I remember clearly getting a 98 on a calc test, but didn't recognize my writing it was so shaky)

The number of energy drinks out there right now has me worried. Are these legal performance enhancing substanced? The High Schools are adding them to the list of substances that are banned. They are worried about the high caffeine coupled with teenage levels of adrenaline could lead to hearts racing and heart attacks in teens. Several local districts have added them to the list of banned substances along with smoking and alcohol. My district hasn't done that yet, but as a parent, I'm trying to make sure my kids don't have them before a contest.

On a related note, I prefer to define a sport as one that you do not get better at if you drink while playing. For me, bowling is NOT a sport because I'm way better after a drink. Softball and golf - definately a sport.

I normally stand on my feet.

Steroids/illegal performance enchantment drugs have no place in sports. There are a number of athletes that are using them and yes the kids look up to these people and try to emulate them, however, this is where the parents are supposed to do their jobs and talk with their kids and help them understand between right and wrong and the danger they are doing by taking these substances. We can blame the drug companies for advertising these supplements, however, IMHO, if the parents don’t know what their kids are doing they are the ones at fault.

I normally stand on my feet.

I'm suprised you didn't reply "Who really gives a krap?" :biglaugh: (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) ;)

I'm suprised you didn't reply "Who really gives a krap?" :biglaugh: (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) ;)

You know, you're right.

In the bigger scheme of things, who really gives a krap?:lmao:

I say that if movie stars, television stars, and models can have their looks artificially enhanced to benefit their careers, then sports stars should be able to have their muscle and endurance enhanced to benefit their careeres.

Seriously - I think it stinks.
I think it's dangerous because they are role models for kids who are going to shoot up to make the big leagues or get that college scholarship.

It's no longer sport when they need drugs. It's just a job at that point.

Seriously - I think it stinks.
I think it's dangerous because they are role models for kids who are going to shoot up to make the big leagues or get that college scholarship.

It's no longer sport when they need drugs. It's just a job at that point.

I will have to agree with most of it, the only thing I don't agree with is the fact that it is a job for them. For us spectators it's a sport, for them, it's a job that they are payed to do it. :2cents:

I will have to agree with most of it, the only thing I don't agree with is the fact that it is a job for them. For us spectators it's a sport, for them, it's a job that they are payed to do it. :2cents:

I see what you're saying, but if I know an athlete is "enhanced" it takes away from the excitement.
I don't watch much professional sports anyway because so few seem do it for "the love of the game" anymore (actually, many probably do but all the media attention is on the whores). And it really ticks me off that it costs so much to go to a pro game.

If I want to watch someone "doing their job" I'll watch COPS.

i've found that i need drugs to watch sports.

If an athelete needs drugs to perform, it tells me he/she wasn't very good to begin with, so why bother. Before they even begin, no matter the outcome, they're losers.

We can blame the drug companies for advertising these supplements, however, IMHO, if the parents don’t know what their kids are doing they are the ones at fault.
I agree. Parents are the important 'key'. My point above is drugs as an 'answer' to almost any 'problem' has, through advertising, become acceptable. Even parents have a hard time over coming advertising.

i've found that i need drugs to watch sports.

:lmao: :lol: :biglaugh:

(Full disclaimer - could care less about sports w or wo drugs)

A bunch of over-paid babies want to get jacked up on whatever & "compete", go for it. Hope you reap the full benefits of all the bad side effects...

For the sports minded however, is it competition if one is on steroids, and the other poor smuck can't afford them?

Like my disclaimer says however, "athletes" that play games for a living, a rather LARGE living at that, get no respect or sympathy from me. Firefighters, cops and teachers don't make ****, but someone that plays a kids game makes millions??

Jerry

OK, let me throw my twisted perspective on this.

Professional & most big time college sports = entertainment. Its that simple.

In somewhat recent memory there have been other entertainers, musicians, (the term is used loosely here) that have been caught lip syncing, that is they have cheated those expecting a live performance with a recorded "performance", that they pretended was the real, live, thing.

Do you feel the same way about this as you do about better sports entertainment through chemistry? I do. They are the same thing, at their basis. Phony.

Another twist: Some of those drugs are not merely dangerous to the athletes themselves. They make people so prone to violence that they must be considered truly dangerous. If we let the drugs free, we may have to lock the athletes up instead... That would take us back to the days of the Gladiator.

/Claes

That would take us back to the days of the Gladiator./Claes

What's the problem with that? We're nearly there right now with some of the "sports" currently being enjoyed by so called sportsmen.

What's the problem with that? We're nearly there right now with some of the "sports" currently being enjoyed by so called sportsmen.

I'm waiting for the first official Rollerball league.

Jon-a-than! Jon-a-than!

I don't do either. :notme:

I normally stand on the touchlines.

If my local football team, the MK Dons, is using drugs they need a better supplier.

I'm in the anti-drug brigade. I believe anyone caught using drugs to cheat should be banned from sport for life. Or shot.

What's the problem with that? We're nearly there right now with some of the "sports" currently being enjoyed by so called sportsmen.The only problem is that they are not locked up. I don't know about stateside, but over here we have seen far too many acts of violence with doping in the background.

Rohypnole, anyone?

/Claes

I see what you're saying, but if I know an athlete is "enhanced" it takes away from the excitement.
I don't watch much professional sports anyway because so few seem do it for "the love of the game" anymore (actually, many probably do but all the media attention is on the whores). And it really ticks me off that it costs so much to go to a pro game.

If I want to watch someone "doing their job" I'll watch COPS.

Discordian, you are right on. Sports have now become a giant marketing ploy for the teams, the drug manufacturers, and the individual players.

What happen to the thrill or the ability to give back to a sport that may have been a major part in your life. In addition, the enjoyment of doing the best you can at the specific sport or the love of the game.

(Performance enhancing) Drugs, in sports (legal or illegal) should be punishable by incarceration, or eviction from the sport. They do incarcerate someone that may have placed a bet on the outcome of the game, or disqualified an entire team from certain games.

I feel that any who needs to enhance their abilities/strength with drugs, should not be in the sport.

I agree with Marc, who really cares, they are doing it to themselves, which does not affect anyone personally. But, a lot of kids look up at these athletes and want to be exactly as they are, and I don't mean for the sport of the game, but for the money.

The only problem is that they are not locked up. I don't know about stateside, but over here we have seen far too many acts of violence with doping in the background.

Rohypnole, anyone?

/Claes

A supervisor that worked at my last place got into body building.
Then he started acting really weird.
He got abusive to his staff, which was way out of character. He was a long time employee and well liked for most of those years.
We talked to him several times and finally let him go because he was making too many decent workers quit. His shift/department became a revolving door.

A few weeks later word got back to us from a couple of his friends that he was shooting up 'roids.

A few weeks later word got back to us from a couple of his friends that he was shooting up 'roids.


Was that hem..... or ster.....? Both can make you mean :rolleyes:

In the same week that the Tour de France winner has been accused of being a "drugs cheat" (and potentially stripped of his title) now we have Justin Gatlin admitting that he failed a test...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/5227956.stm

Some people say that we can never eradicate drugs from sport, others say we should legalise everything and remove the variable of performance enhancing drugs (PED) from the equation. Of course, the sponsors have a major say.

My question is - where do you stand?

Should we continue to persecute (into oblivion) those few drug users who actually get caught, knowing that others are getting away with it? Or is a certain amount of PED use acceptable?

Do you think this is a minor problem? Or no problem at all?

I'm sure we all like to think we support fair play? But where does reality come into the mix? Where do we draw the line?

Keen to hear your views...and of course I'm talking about all sports - everything is fair game.

Alex


Why don't you make this a poll. It might be interesting to see the outcome.