Baseball and drugs

[Topaz]

We all have heard about the 80+ guys who were accused of using steroids to pumps themselves up and now the new drug is growth hormones. Do fans still think baseball players are so great sportmen now? I saw some young people say on TV, that its sad they have to cheat to play. Others have said they cheat to make the big bucks. Any thoughts?

[sideshow]

Big deal. So 80 guys got caught. They are almost all (in all sports) doping. Steriods, GH, blood volumizers, insulin, etc. And then all the legal stuff like creatine, glutamine, etc. You want to play with the big boys, you have to break the rules.

Lets see. Stay clean, work in a factory for 40 k a year till retirement. Take the juice, play ball, make millions and party like a rock star. Not a hard choice for these guys. Look at the California Governor. Did good things for him.

I think its all about risk analysis. Health/legal implications vs. financial rewards. Roll the dice see if you win. It's not cheating......cause they are all playing the same game.

[August1991]

We all have heard about the 80+ guys who were accused of using steroids to pumps themselves up and now the new drug is growth hormones. Do fans still think baseball players are so great sportmen now?

What about hockey players? Do they take steroids?

[Sully]

I used to play baseball at a high level, was actually lucky enough to be drafted by the LA Dodgers. Even back in the late 90s guys my age (17-18-19) were into steriods (I never tried them, never wanted to). Hey if you want to make it, you will do it. Some guys had more natural talent than some others, therefore some needed to level the playing field in the only way they knew how to. Steriod abuse is rampant in all sports and even sports like golf, will be touched by steriods. A guy does not have to have a bodybuilder look to be on steriods (those guys are on the extreme end of abuse). But when you are paid upon performance and paid very kindly, you would be tempted to do what you need to do to make the millions while you can. Your career can end with one hit, one break and another guy thats better than you. So a guy needs to make what he can when he can.

But the biggest reason steriod abuse will continue in sports will be THE FANS. We all want to see a 500ft homerun, a crushing blow, a guy that runs like the wind and a 100+ mph slapshot. We support it and we like it.

[Borg]

Follow the money and the prestige of hero worship.

To many it is the ONLY way to live.

So, drugs does it.

I seriously doubt there is any major professional sport that is unaffected.

Borg

[M.Dancer]

I rank steroids and pro sports right up there with cosmetic surgery on movie actors and breast implants of porn stars among the top things that I don't care about.

[acer1982]

let's face it - it's easier to proclaim innocence than to prove guilt. Just like the ability to mask steroidal agents will always be ahead of the doping agency tests.

Because of this - the casual fan will never know the extent of drugs in sports. Personally I believe they are used everywhere. Although I have no proof, I think that if one looks at sports objectively (especially sports which rely heavily upon personal performance/statistics) we would see that records are being broken far more often than they used to be. It used to be rare - now record breaking is a common occurance.

[Wilber]

Wonder if anyone who holds the home run record will ever get into the Hall of Fame. The last clean guy was Ruth. Maris was in the before drugs (if you don't include booze and tobacco) era but they wouldn't let him in because they stayed pissed at him for 37 years because it was the Babes record he broke. In my book, the sport doesn't have a lot of credibility anyway.

[M.Dancer]

Wonder if anyone who holds the home run record will ever get into the Hall of Fame. The last clean guy was Ruth.

Hammering Hank was dirty? News indeed....

[Wilber]

Hammering Hank was dirty? News indeed....

I was referring to the single season record. Should have clarified that.