I hate that all the baseball player I grew up a watching have turned out to be dopers. Nearly every baseball player I loved as a kid has an asterisk next to their records. Also, I was pretty bummed about Floyd Landis losing his TdF title.
But on the flip side I think its pretty cool. I don't really understand why, maybe just because they are able to push what is possible.
I think it should call into question the whole point of athletic competitions. If we are at the point where it is essentially a genetic lottery, in the sense that the winners were simply born with lucky genes, then why bother?
Is it really cheating for someone to want the same genetic advantage gifted to another? At what point is a genetic deficiency considered too great and thus a "disease"? If someone is too short, we make them taller. What about someone of average height who wants to be above average?
These are the questions people should look at. Whether they will or not, is another question.
> we are at the point where it is essentially a genetic lottery
training for the something like the Olympics is 4+ years of insane dedication, it's not just a genetic lottery. (Unless you consider the mental tenacity required to be merely genetics I suppose via a brain 'gift').
I think the point is that they're all training for years and doing so with insane dedication. In that situation it is largely a question of genetics.
There are plenty of swimmers who put in 15 years of intense effort under world-class coaches, but still couldn't even come close to beating a less experienced guy with a 6'7" wingspan, size 14 feet, huge hands, short legs, and muscles that produce 50% less lactic acid than the normal human.
I think doping is awesome, and it should be legal. Treatments that are proven safe for athletes could then be used by everybody else. I would love to never need to exercise, or sleep again.
I don't really care on a cheating and legality level as they are just doing it to themselves and there are so many doing it I really just can't care.
On another side I really think it is stupid and takes away from what sports used to be, it was already a hard thing for people to get into but now you have to be amazing and impossibly good to achieve anything that many probably feel the need to do steroids. On top of that you have coaches and players that are payed way to much money even for the risks of the game that they take ( more risks for games like American football).
There's going to have to be a "natural" Olympics pretty soon as bodybuilding does (i.e. take whatever you want for the real Olympics). Either that, or just admit it's over and say we had a nice run.
Bob Goldman showed that it's basically going to keep happening anyway.
Soon enough, you'll be able to get Pringles with AICAR and Repoxygen "flavour" (or whatever turns out to be awesome+safe), and then it'll just be ridiculous that the athletes are the only ones not taking them.
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[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 38.7 ms ] threadBut on the flip side I think its pretty cool. I don't really understand why, maybe just because they are able to push what is possible.
What do HNr's think of athletes doping?
Is it really cheating for someone to want the same genetic advantage gifted to another? At what point is a genetic deficiency considered too great and thus a "disease"? If someone is too short, we make them taller. What about someone of average height who wants to be above average?
These are the questions people should look at. Whether they will or not, is another question.
There are plenty of swimmers who put in 15 years of intense effort under world-class coaches, but still couldn't even come close to beating a less experienced guy with a 6'7" wingspan, size 14 feet, huge hands, short legs, and muscles that produce 50% less lactic acid than the normal human.
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dvorsky20080818/
On another side I really think it is stupid and takes away from what sports used to be, it was already a hard thing for people to get into but now you have to be amazing and impossibly good to achieve anything that many probably feel the need to do steroids. On top of that you have coaches and players that are payed way to much money even for the risks of the game that they take ( more risks for games like American football).
Bob Goldman showed that it's basically going to keep happening anyway.
Soon enough, you'll be able to get Pringles with AICAR and Repoxygen "flavour" (or whatever turns out to be awesome+safe), and then it'll just be ridiculous that the athletes are the only ones not taking them.