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EVERYONE is Doping
There I said it so everyone can calm down because quite frankly...I am sick of hearing about it. News hit yesterday that Austria's Bernhard Kohl failed is drug test due to the use of a blood booster called CERA. Do I care? No and here is why...
Everyone is doping and this is not limited to cyclists.
Why is everyone doping?
It is really our fault as the spectator. Every year we expect (not hope) for faster times, more home runs, more touchdowns, etc. than the year before. When it comes down to it, the human body can only do so much. Every person can only have so much talent, drive and heart to make it to that level. Once you achieve the top of your game...that's it...unless you take a substance that brings your body above its natural level of performance. That is where doping comes in. It takes the best of the best and makes them better.
What does this do for sports?
Faster times and more home runs mean more spectators and higher ratings. What fun would the Alps stages of the Tour be without the final sprint? After watching the last two years, the Alps stages are a full out sprint to the top over the entire course of that stage. There used to be a day when the racers actually got tired.
The news media, major broadcast stations and everyone watching love this kind of action. It brings you back wanting more. When a athlete breaks a record, everyone gets excited and feels like they are a part of something special. You can hear old men across the world talking about when they saw some xyz player at the top of his game. These moments, almost always, come from pure greatness at the game. To beat the previous best, you have to be even better.
The Level Playing Field
Part of the issue is making sure there is a level playing field for all of the athletes. At this point, isn't the playing field level again? Every single one of them are using the same edge as the next. What we get instead is what the audience wants...more excitement. Who cares if it is terrible for their bodies or bad for the sport? They should just be able to do it and compete...none of us would know the difference and we would get those blazing fast times that we all yearn for.
The Reactions
The best part about this entire ordeal is the reactions from the press and spectators. Every time, we act surprised and believe lines like this.
"I want to come clean," a tearful Kohl told a press conference at Vienna airport. "I fell to temptation. The pressure was incredibly strong. I'm only human and in this exceptional situation I showed weakness."
Give me a break. You didn't do it because the pressure was strong and you are "only human". You did it because you wanted that edge over the next guy for the better sponsorships, better results and faster recovery times. I am not going to feel sorry for these guys when they have a job that the rest of us would kill for. You get to do what you love for a living and you made a mistake. Own up to it and move on.
What does the future hold?
More and more drug testing, and this leads to more and more drugs that get past the numerous drug tests. As much as I would like to think we are going to have a completely clean sport, it is not going to happen. Everyone is always going to be looking for that undetectable edge over the competitor next to them. It is just the nature of the beast as we expect these athletes to perform at a level that might not be naturally possible.
Maybe, if we lower our standards just a little bit, we can get the drugs out of sports and start to enjoy our past times the way they were supposed to be enjoyed. This assumes that everyone is going to play by the rules...which we all know is not true.
So to summarize...yes...even your favorite athlete dopes.
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October 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Wow – A bold stance, gotta respect that
I think that when it comes to ’score’ based sports (baseball, or football for example), you’re probably not far off, but when it comes to more of a “Tête à Tête” battle like cycling, I think the blame lies more on the media, than the spectator - since spectators are simple sheep that simply do what the media tells them ;-).
One of the things that I’ve been noting of sports coverage I tend to enjoy is that there is a little bit more focus on “the story” than the specific times, or performances of the athletes – What they’ve overcome to be where they are, the battles back and forth between athlete x and athlete y, etc.
If this type of coverage becomes a bit more mainstream I can see the spectators becoming a little more invested in the athletes as people, rather than simply stat-generators. Perhaps this will help lighten the pressure to simply run/ride/hit longer, faster and harder.
It’s the individual battles that make up the race – whether at the front of the pack, or not. I find oftentimes in sports like adventure racing the most interesting coverage is of the teams just struggling to make the cut-offs, and not just the leaders.
An interesting topic regardless.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Good stuff as usual 198 don’t hold back, only once we turn off to this stuff will it change, e.g the sport won’t have an audience!
However to add a different slant especially with Road cycling and I suspect in other sports too, but more so in cycling, while the athlete’s continue to be held responsible this will never change, drugs will not be wiped out!
This is rife through the teams and has been way back at least to the 70s if not earlier, I know this, people so naive to think an athelet can do this with out the team manager or his team knowing about it, they have non stop medical staff food nutrition etc etc they are all in it and it goes higher than that.
This is played out in the media across all sports to give us our fuel for the moment which only distracts us until the next thing in politic’s or some other sport while the real drug cheats pimps and pushers, the managers team owners and sports promoters etc turn a blind eye or hide behind there involment hypicritcally yelling the loudest.
The money involved now is so great, as far as I’m concerned the riders or athletes are hung out to dry, people in every day life sell themselves to put food on the table call it what you will but its hypocritical and very naive of the media imo too focus solely on one aspect as far as drugs and corruption go in sport or everyday life.
Until these teams are also exposed, doctors, medical staff, team management, owners and event organizers, then its a complete sham, I feel for the riders they are pawns, it dosen’t make it right but I’m not going to judge them without holding the others accountable where’s they’re responsibility and accountability!
Olympic’s are a classic example! What a joke, I barley watched it this year, apart from the BMX.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
@Ken Hurd: Ken…like you…I am more interested in the story behind the athlete than the last record they broke and I agree…if we get back to that mentality, it would be better for all involved.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
@ta: TA! Hope everything is healing up and Maxxis is keeping you company. Thanks for taking the time to right the comment.
You are right…the whole team is fully aware of what is going on. They have all of their time, money and life invested in the performance of that athlete. The teams behind the riders need to be exposed as much as the riders are in the media. Somehow…they get protected more than anyone.
How does the line go…”In a perfect world…”
Your point #1 is completely correct…there is no end to drugs in sports. There are chemists working on the new wonder drug right now that will pass conventional tests…why? Because there is a ton of money in it!
October 20th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I disagree; I don’t believe that every athlete is doping, and I assume that they are not until they are caught cheating. It is possible to do some amazing things without cheating; but if you are cheating, you should be thrown out of the sport.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
They’re even getting the competitors in the current world chess championship match to provide urine samples - even though no drug that could help chess players has yet been discovered. Idiocy.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
What you said is all too true. No matter what the sport. We expect miraculous performance, so those who cheat are only to happy to comply.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I think also that we forget that these are real people out there trying to make a living. Take the average NFL player. The guys that even their teams fans don’t know. The guys who run down on kickoff coverage and try and make a tackle. They might be on the field for 8-10 plays a game. These are guys that are very easy to replace with a rookie, who will get paid less. They have to fight for ever single advantage they can get. Because in most cases they know that this is it for them. They won’t become analysts when they retire. They will struggle to make a living and their bodies will be broken from the pounding and the drugs they’ve taken to try and extend their career as long as possible.
This is their chance to make money, try and save, for the rest of their lives.
Telling an NFL player not to do every little thing he can do to extend his career is like telling a model that she can’t take diet pills.
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