On Pumping *clap* YOU Up!
We’ve all seen the recent (who am I kidding, it’s been going on for years) controversy with steroid use in major league baseball. Anabolic steroid use to enhance performance is illegal in the sport, and a recent report came to light naming over 80 players, currently playing or not, who were suspected of using the drugs. This caused great controversy in the sport, both because many of the players sought to defend themselves against the claims (whether the report was true or not) and because it cast into question some of the players’ records, and whether or not they were substantiated if the player who set the records were using drugs. It’s been all over TV, newspapers, and other media in the US for months now.
My question: Who cares?! Honestly, people in the US put too much importance on sports and their players. We’ve raised them up to something of a god status, making them into idols to which we turn season after season to fill some void in our lives (I say “our” because I happen to live in America and be a citizen, not because I enjoy that fact or because I enjoy sports). What everyone seems to forget is that sports, in all their many forms, are primarily an entertainment industry. They exist (at a professional level) for our entertainment, and for no other purpose. So, if steroid use causes more home runs, and more home runs are more entertaining, then why stop the athletes? It’ll make more money.
There is an argument against this: “But should the players be risking their health for entertainment?” To this I reply: Take into account the recent death of Australian-born actor Heath Ledger. During the filming of the upcoming movie “The Dark Knight” in which he played the role of the infamous Joker, he was forced to take sleeping pills so he could sleep during the day and film at night. This, as many may know, caused his untimely death when he accidentally took too many of said pills. The point I’m making here is this: No, they shouldn’t be risking their health, but it happens elsewhere too, so it’s not like this is an isolated incident. An analogy could be made to the early factory worker. Sure, he risked his health by working with heavy and usually dangerous equipment, but if he got paid he was willing.
Another thing I’d like to point out is that steroids are not the only performance-enhancing drugs used in professional sports. Now, if you’re anyone that followed the reports on steroid use, you’d be thinking, “well of course, HGH (human growth hormone) was used too.” This is not what I mean. I am talking about pain killers used after surgeries and injuries.
This may be confusing, so let me use an example: Say a baseball pitcher sprains their wrist during the course of a game, and a doctor prescribes a pain medication for the injury. This allows the pitcher to play while he ignores the pain of his injury due to the drugs. Well, if the pain was as intense as intense as it would be if the pain medication were not a factor, wouldn’t the pitcher’s performance be lessened? The pain medication, then, enhances the pitcher’s performance past the level it would have been without the drugs. So, if the MLB were to ban performance-enahncing drugs, they would have to ban painkillers as well. Which, to me, as it probably does to most people, seems quite stupid.
If the steroids make more money for the league, they should be left in. All corporate ventures, be them inventions, websites, law firms, you name it, have the goal of moneymaking in mind, if not at the start, then as a goal to keep them going. Baseball is no different. Yes, it is raised to a status in the minds of the people as more than simply entertainment. Yes, those that play them are more than mere celebrities, they are sports players. But keep in mind that, beyond high school level (and maybe college, but mostly not), sports are an entertainment business, and the players will do anything to make more money. If you really want to stop the steroid usage, here is my advice: Boycott baseball. Don’t go to games, don’t watch TV. If the league sees steroid usage is stopping profit, they will be more vigorous in their enforcement of the rule. Other than that, just sit back and enjoy.
not that I particularly care about the controversy, but can you really count painkillers? they don’t elevate the athlete above his natural level, just allow him to maintain his average performance.
@granfaloon:
Well, yea, but his average performance, without the drugs, would be in pain, and thus he’d be able to play. With the drugs, it enhances his performance to a playable level. Sure it’s enhancing his play level to what it was before his injury, but it’s still enhancing.