DescentBB

There is a position amoungst some Olympic observers and officials including Juan Antonio Samaranch that drug testing has gotten out of hand. These people look at Mr. Pound of the drug testing agency as zealots interested in setting up an empire where they decide who is pure enough to compete and who is not. Their position is basicly that steroids and other performance enhancers are availible to all and so the playing field remains level, that the possibility of harm being done to athletes using enhancers is greatly exagerated and that current testing only catches those that can't hide their usage. http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouv ... 1df46cb24e
On the subject of harm, their position is that there is more danger to athletes during training than from the use of enhancers. For example a cyclist is in great danger during road training by sharing the road with cars etc. Many sports are inherently dangerous.
Gene therapies are on the horizon that do not use any drugs at all but can increase an athlete's bulk and endurance. One H. Lee Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania announced that he had genetically engineered a group of freakishly muscular mice and promply recieved a phone call from a high school football coach.
So what do you think? Sould we reduce the level of testing or increase it? Staying as is is not an option as too many users are missed and so there is a lack of fairness. Testing might be reduced to only certain stimulants or pain killers that are easily detected and can clearly be shown to be dangerous. E.G. A wrestler that takes a pain killer might expose himself to injury by lacking the warning that his limb was being damaged by his opponent.

For some reason I can't add a poll. Oh well.

I think anyone who is caught using drugs should be banned for life from the olympics. Anyone who uses them is proving they can't win without cheating. Same goes for anything, D3 included.

What they need to do is make a "Olympics for Cheaters" that all people who use those drugs can compete in and have the regular Olympics are meant for athlets who want to use theier own power to win, like it used to be done 1000's of years ago.

everyone is tested.

im sick of drugs ruining sports. Look at Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire. They used to look like regular people. Their careers were good, but not dazzling. Suddenly they had huge, thick necks and abnormally burly bodies, basically making a complete physical transformation that doesn't look anything like normal weight lifting to me. Now all the historic time-honored records are being broken by cheaters. Baseball is dead.

Anyone familiar with the Eugenics Wars stuff in Star Trek? Thats where were headed soon if we dont move to control gene therapy NOW.

As for the drug testing stuff, yeah its gotten out of hand. I was disgusted when those two greek runners bowed out because of SUSPICION of drug abuse, not actual proof of it. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty anyway?

Also, on the Barry Bonds topic, I hate the guy. I hope he NEVER sees a ring because he doesnt deserve it. Hes way too damned big to not have been steroid enhanced. Also, do you see the size of his strike zone sometimes? Its like trying to pitch a baseball through a ****ing drinking straw.

I love how many walks he gets, and how pissed off his advocates get. He doesnt deserve the numbers he has. He doesnt deserve the hype hes got. He aint all that, and definatly not a bag of chips.

kudos to birdseye on the baseball thing. they keep talking about bonds beating out ruth and aaron for the home run record. Does anyone actually recognize bonds for this? he is nowhere near the caliber that those two players were. babe ruth used a 48 ounce bat, pitched every single day, didnt wear body armor, didnt take steroids, and didn't playi n ballparks where the fences are a pop up away. people are willing to look the other way when these guys are in the spotlight...

It's Sex, Drugs, and Rock n roll not Sex, Drugs, and Sports. We should keep it that way.

HAHA! Yes, it should be like that.

It is funny how the minds of some people work. Pitchers dominated baseball and the fans grew tired and bitched about not wanting to watch pitchers constantly throw shutouts or 3 hitters all the time which of course wasn't happening ALL the time.

So....they lower the mounds and now you have TONS of offense. Yet, in the era of the supposed watered-down-pitching you still have some of the best pitchers to ever put on a major league uniform going out there every 5th day pitching against guys that could bash in their brains.

Now people are bitching about all the home runs being hit and how players are using steroids and how much it has tarnished the game etc...etc...

They say things like Baseball is dead when in fact Baseball has slowly but surely climbed out of the huge hole it put itself in with the strike back in 1994 and become extremely popular again.

Baseball still comes down several things though. Throwing the ball, hitting the ball and catching the ball. When little slap hitters start hitting 40-50 homers in a season then you can say theres a problem. The power hitters are going to hit homers and you can ★■◆● about Barry all you like but the steroids aren't the reason he puts up better numbers then any other player out there with almost 150 less at-bats then any other player out there when the years over with.

You still have to see the ball and hit the ball. Regardless of what the home run hitters of today do you can never and will never take away what Aaron and Ruth did in their careers. Especially Ruth since he played in an era where the deepest parts of a ballpark were over 500ft and the fences were atleast 6-1/2 to over 7ft tall.

You can't compare though because neither Ruth nor Aaron were nearly as tall as Barry, never as fast as Barry or had the plate discipline that Barry has. Steroids or no steroids the other two greats can never claim that they could homer almost every at bat. Barry calcs out to having a homer almost every game if teams pitched to him. They don't and he still manages to hit 40+ almost every year.

Do you realize how much talent that takes? To know that the only way you're going to be able to contribute to your team offensively is to put the bat on the ball the only chance you're pitched to, which could be only once a game? It's technically like being a pinch hitter every game cept your on base because you get walked the other at-bats. So the one time you do get a pitch to hit you put it in the seats? heh, I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that the steroids improved his vision, his plate discipline and his timing one bit.

Then again I'm not saying players should use steroids. I'm just a baseball fan getting tired of hearing all the BS about steroids. These "suppliments" are things that weight-trainers and body-builders use in their fitness routines and up until recently were not illegal substances in MLB. You could go to your local GNC and pick them up before you went to the gym etc. It isn't exactly like they were some unknown substances that suddenly make these players better hitters.

Out of all the talk of Bonds and Mcguire and Sosa I never hear anyone ever talk about the two guys who started chirping about the steroid use in the first place, Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco. You've got to check yourself at the door if you don't think these two guys weren't on something. They were huge and much bigger then the first three everyone talks about and guess what? They both suffered a bunch of injuries and had to retire and so did Mcguire eventually. Even before Mcguire started bulking up he hit 49 homers his rookie year with the A's in 1987 which was a rookie record.

These guys are just better hitters are far as power goes and yes, the ballparks are smaller, but thats the reason you can't really compare. Anyways, this went longer then I expected so I'll stop the rant here. Didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Personally I think steroid testing should be tested more then it is now and certain things such as the olympics and whatnot should have it setup where athletes can't compete unless they test clean (which is how I thought it was, but I guess not) and as soon as the event is over and if they are a finalist they should be tested again. If they are in line for a possible medal and win that medal they should be tested and the results made clear before the medal is awarded.

If they come up dirty then they don't get the award. In other professional sports I think they should be fined a substantial amount, perhaps half a million, none of this chump change crap for guys that are multi-millionares. Also they should be suspended a set amount of games and can't return unless they test clean again and remain clean in which they are tested on a scheduled probation period in which if they test clean for a certain period of time they can then be free and un-hastled with testing until the next random testing comes around.

dodge all around you want, but it is a clear correllation between bonds' and mcguire's sudden home run prowess and their newly aquired thick necks.

If I'm not mistaken Bonds has looked pretty much the same since like 96-97 which is roughly when the whole weight training and implimentation of a strong health regimen during the offseason and also through the regular season started becoming extremely popular amongsts baseball athletes.

Also birds theres a correlation between your skimming prowess and foot in mouth skeelz Did you not read the fact that Mcguire already was a big home run hitter the very first season he played in the majors? Before he started using supliments because like I said, the whole conditioning thing didn't start until the mid-90s. I certainly didn't intend to "dodge" anything. My point was that steriods do not make guys into better ballplayers when they already were better ballplayers to begin with.

Bonds already was a big home run hitter as well. Since 1989 he has hit 25+ homers every season. His biggest season being 2001 when he set the single season record. Even since 1992 he has hit almost 35+ every year on average. I mean the guy has only had 4 seasons since 1993 where he hit less then 40 homers, it isn't exactly like he couldn't hit them before.

Anyways, these guys were putting up big numbers since they first set foot in the majors. Using "thick neck" as an arguement is kind of weak. McGwire admitted he used a supliment while he was playing and during that time it hadn't been banned (broken record) and Bonds doesn't have nearly the bulk that McGwire had as far as upper body and neck thickness if you want to start comparing body attributes.

Also the fact that these guys weren't exactly beanpoles when they came to the bigleagues to begin with anyways so...whatever. I'd kind of expect good power hitters to gradually put up better home run numbers the older and wiser they got...it's kind of how things work in life. The trick is having a long enough career to put that knowledge to good use.

You've already made up your mind though so...meh.