It has been two days since 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis (along with two of his former Telekom teammates) has admitted to using performance enhancing drugs (EPO in his case).
We're also only about one week removed from the Giambino's timid, semi-admission to taking "that stuff," and we're still in the middle of Floyd Landis' absurd doping soap opera. And of course, who can forget that we continue to bare witness to Barry "BALCO" Bonds' unpleasant march towards Hammerin' Hank's all-time home run mark.
Unforetunatley there is not much shock associated with these newest cases of doping, because these doping violators of late are only the latest in the ever-growing line of cheaters in the contemporary sporting universe. We've learned over that past few years that atheletes cheat - a lot. The increased monetary stakes of our modern games have forced cheating to extraordinary new heights. The crazy money athletes can now make, coupled with new scientific advances, has upped the ante on cheating. Athletes can now stick needles in their bodies and inject chemicals that produce results only science fiction could have thought up 50 years ago. It is clear that athletes can dope, and will dope, no matter what type of testing systems are in place to catch them. The forces pressing on them are just too overwhelming. Also, the scientific advances are rapid enough to keep the cheaters always one step ahead of the testing bodies. Because of all this, I write as a sports fan who is not shocked, but who is at a crossroad.
Doping is here to stay and we as sports fans are now forced to decide how we will respond to it. Should we just give up? Turn in our sports fan membership cards and try gardening? I don't think so. Doping is bad. It is illegal and hurtful. The "oh, he's only hurting himself" explination doesn't fly either. One doper indirectly forces the man next to him to cheat as well, if only to keep his spot on the team. All that being said, doping is not the most horrible transgression in the grand scheme of things. A doper is cheater, not a murderer; so lay off Barry for two seconds. Therefore, we should be able to find a way in which we are able to live in the face of doping (even if we very much wish we didn't have to).
Most people want to be fans ( just look at the MLB attendance records that continue to be broken even in the "steroid era"). The problem is that most people do not like to be played for fools. I think most people agree with me on this. Therefore, I believe the solution to the doping epidemic in the sports world is to, yes of course, apply the most stringent testing policies possible and back them up with harsh penalties, but even more importantly, to publically out any and all dopers. This way sports fans will be in the know. They will know who is cheating, and consequently, who is not. It is the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over sports that is doping worst result. Outing players who test positive will remove this cloud. Fans will then be able to decide who they want to root for, who they are willing to begrudgingly tolerate, and who they will decide they want nothing to do with.
For example, I'm an Indians fan (fresh off a sweep of the formerly first place Tigers, Go Tribe!). and I know that one of the key pieces of our bullpen is a steroid violator: Rafael Betancourt.
Betancourt helps us win games, and as a fan that's what I want: W's for the Tribe. I wish Betancourt wasn't a cheater (he hasn't failed since, so theoretically he is currently clean but his positive put that forever in doubt), I wish we had clean guy pitching for us in the 7th and 8th innings, but in the end I will tolerate him. The fact that I know that Betancourt has failed a test has allowed me to be able to make my own decision on how I feel about him. While I won't ever be buying his number 63 jersey, I'll continue to hope that he stikes out Paul Konerko when the Sox visit the Jake; and ever other time he takes the mound in and Indians jersey, for that matter.
It is time we as sports fans stop wishing for the good old days (which I'm not in any way denying weren't good) and realize that we must learn to live with doping because it's not going away any time soon. The sooner we accept doping (accept its prevalence, not accept that we like it), the sooner we will be able to go back to enjoying sports not as a bastion of idealistic innocence, but rather as an entertaining way to pass the minute and share something with our fellow fans.
As always, please post responses if you'd like.
Thanks,
-MP
[doping] [steroids] [baseball] [MLB] [cycling]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment