Get bigger, run faster, jump higher, play harder. Athletes today are perpetually faced with the necessity to improve their physical statute in an attempt to maximize their competitive edge.
But there is no need to indulge in the realm of performance-enhancing drugs. It was one of those “everyone else is doing it” fads of the 1990s and has discredited top athletes in nearly every sport. Doping incidents in bicycle racing, track and field and baseball may be the most prevalent, but the problem extends to the entire nation. It’s no wonder that records have fallen to the wayside at a faster rate than ever before. Athletes today are regularly caught with their sleeve raised and tourniquet strapped on waiting for that next injection of steroid-like power.
Many of the substances used are legal merely because of the fact that the drugs themselves come out much faster than the testing mechanisms to reduce their use.
This week, the sporting world discovered that Kobe Bryant won’t be the only athlete involved in a major court case come December. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and over 40 other professional and Olympic athletes have been subpoenaed to appear in the trial of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. The trial is over Tertahydrogestrinone or THG, which has been used in recent years as a muscle builder by professional and amateur athletes alike.
Just as Mark McGwire was questioned when he broke Roger Maris’ home-run mark in 1998, Bonds has come under a harsh scope of criticism two years after hitting 73 homers in a season. Breaking a record used to be an athlete’s ticket to greatness. If nothing more, it was proof that on one day or in one instance, greatness was that athlete’s. The sport of baseball could pride itself on saying that it continues to use the same wooden bats and the same principle rules that were used when Ruth, Mantle and Aaron played. But we need to examine a growing trend in drug use, athletes and athletic performances today.
The use of Gatorade to fight dehydration and oxygen masks to combat elevation differences have been allowed for decades, because these measures don’t alter the physical complexity of an individual’s natural state. But we are left to examine Creatin, “Andro” and THG. Athletes used to be raised to abide by certain moral standards as they advanced in their careers. Coaches wouldn’t dare to advocate chewing tobacco or legal drug use to a fifth grader, but our society has in effect advocated these activities by portraying those who partake in them as heroes.
What has happened to morals? When certain high school athletes are offered Creatin, they don’t accept it, because it seems inherently and morally wrong. Do athletes really need THG to hit home runs? Probably not, but as long as people keep feeding it to them, they’re unlikely to stop.
Bonds’ lawyer addressed the media after his client was subpoenaed to say that he had done nothing wrong. This statement is true, but if Barry truly didn’t fear being in the wrong, the lengthy statements by his lawyer would not have been necessary. It’s as though he knows the substance he stands by will be banned, and he wants to clear his name before the hammer comes down.
USA Track and Field has taken the lead in anti-doping, releasing a plan that imposes penalties of up to a lifetime ban for first-use steroid abusers. Every major sports association should emulate the zero-tolerance policy in an attempt to eliminate performance-enhancing-drug use. Believing that THG is a designer steroid USA Track and Field has banned the substance and has since developed a technique to detect its use. A grand-jury probe also agrees with this sentiment, and the subpoenas served to Bonds and Giambi are to help explain the effects of this new nutritional supplement.
Even after athletes are routinely caught cheating, the punishments for first-time offenders are typically a mere slap on the hand. The building of muscle and speed should be gained in the weight room and out on the track and should not come in a pill, injection or powdery substance. THG is just the latest in what has become a spiraling trend for athletes to try to gain the competitive edge, sometimes disregarding morals, rules and even their own health. Nutritional supplements can ride the line between being legal and illegal, and players who claim innocence after the fact may have one clear alternative: Just don’t do it.
