Wednesday, February 11, 2009

By Request

Colts fan (don't hold it against her, guys) and fellow leatherhead Teresa put forth the following response to my reaction to the Alex Rodriguez steroids story -

What is so sad is these people don't need those drugs to be rock stars. They are amazing on their own. Is the pressure to do more and more? It is peer pressure?

I don't think there's any one answer as to why these different athletes feel it's necessary to juice. There might be one right answer for a given player, but there are a variety of reasons that these men inject, rub, and otherwise administer illegal and banned substances.

For some, I think it's about hanging around for a few more years - Rodney Harrison comes to mind. For others, bottom of the roster players, it's about hanging around, period.

For every player like Harrison or the bottom end player trying to extend their time in the pros, there are the guys like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez for whom being at the top of the game wasn't good enough. There's a special sort of narcissism that goes into that - one that I understand, but I just don't get. Okay, well, Clemens didn't sustain it over a long period of time like Bonds had done, not until he had been juicing.

Being at the top of their games wasn't good enough. They had to shatter records, and they will find ways, just like their apologists, to rationalize the use of the banned supplements - it doesn't affect the ability to pick up the ball in the strike zone (in spite of the fact that studies suggest that HGH can enhance eye-sight), it doesn't affect the inherent ability to turn on a 95 mile per hour fast ball (in spite of the fact that evidence has shown that steroids can impact and help build the fast twitch muscle that allows a hitter to turn on that ball), it doesn't help (then why do it, and why do these players almost always show a spike in their numbers in the years they admit to having started doping?).

When I was in high school, I knew of at least one player on the football team doing steroids. I didn't get it. For me, part of sport was pushing my body to the limit, see what I was truly capable of. I qualified for the New York State Meet in track and field, I've finished a marathon, I've played Australian football for ten seasons, played street hockey for eight. I've never missed a game due to injury (although I probably should have - I've been known to play games with an air-cast on my ankle for disconnected tendons...it sucked), and never taken any sort of supplement to do so. It defeats the purpose, in my opinion.

In their heads, it appears to be a means to an end. Better stats, better contracts, better remembered when they're gone. It's not a short-cut, legality be damned.

But why is there a mentality that juicing isn't a short-cut? Because a person who takes steroids and doesn't put the physical labor into getting into better shape just gets fat. Best as I can figure is they believe that because they are still doing physical work that it's not a short cut.

My personal belief is that these guys, while they know it's against the rules, don't believe they're actually doing anything wrong. And I think that's really the bottom line.

Other thoughts -

Brett Favre claims that he's actually retired...again. I'll believe it sometime next fall if and when he's not under center taking snaps.

There has been a lot shaken-up in the NFL this off-season, and I will address that soon.

6 comments:

Dave said...

I'll believe St. Brett of the Perpetual Interception is well and truly gone when the whole 2009 season passes without his withered arm ending it with some boneheaded pass that ends up in the other team's hands or is illegal.

Anonymous said...

As smarmy and insincere as most of us found ARod to be during his "apology," I think he nailed something when he said it was the culture of the times.

I think we'd be shocked to know just how many ballplayers were doping over the past 15 years, in football as well as baseball.

Kevin Smith said...

There's virtually no number of players in football that would surprise me given the fact that Richard Seymour is as heavy as The Fridge was. There was no such thing as a svelte, well-muscled 300-pounder twenty years ago. I have a hard time buying that training techniques over the last 20 years have changed that.

As for his apology - I firmly believe that were he truly sorry for having done it, the apology would have come before he was caught, and he wouldn't have told outright lies about the journalist that outed him in an effort to make himself look better.

Chris Stone said...

"St. Brett of the Perpetual Interception" cute. must be a pats fan.

I was sorry to hear Izzo's implicated. but I totally agree. particularly in football... there has to be a lot going on. and that the player's union *from what little I know* is against blood testing, its almost an admission of guilt.

i do hope brady stay "clean." *fingers crossed!*

Teresa said...

I appreciate your well thought out response to my question. [And protecting me from being a Colts fan :)] I still don't get it; but I never will. Someone like me with just average skills thinks athletes who juice are just plain idiots and selfish.

Kevin Smith said...

I don't get it either - I can't fathom being able to rationalize the record if I knew it was attained through a shortcut rather than my innate ability.