Performance Enhancing Drugs

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Sports has HGH, Art has LSD.
May of you know, that more and more illegal pharmacies are being busted, and names appearing on lists of steroid, HGH, and performing enhancing drug customers. Most recently one was busted that featured some big time Pro Wrestlers, as well as Baseball and Football players. Major League Baseball(MLB) is reeling right now from the allegations, and within the next 5 years, we will all probably find out that 80 - 90% of MLB player were on the stuff in the 1990's and early 2000's. MLB has also created a fall guy in Barry Bonds to take the focus off the game as a whole.

As for the National FootBall League, there have been a number of players suspended for this since 2000, the most famous being Shawn Merriman, All Pro Linebacker for the San Diego Chargers. In 2004, the Super Bowl losing Carolina Panthers had some like 32 members of their team arrested for performance enhancing drugs, including their PUNTER. What does that say? If the punter is doing it, you can't tell me the 275 linebacker who runs a 4.4 in the 40 isn't?

Someone made this recent point. Shawn Merriman weighs 272 as a linebacker, almost same weight as one of the greatest left tackles of all time Anthony Munoz. In addition, he runs a 4.61, 40 yard dash. Jerry Rice, the greatest wide reciever of all time ran a 4.60. It is possible for someone to be as big as one of the greatest offensive lineman of all time to be as fast as the greatest wide reciever of all time with out some type of enhancement? In addition, he still lead the NFL in sacks with 17, with a 4 game suspension.

While I don't mean to pick on Merriman, he was caught so he makes the easy target (plus he is an asshat). I could give you all sorts of other stats of people in the league I am sure that are similar. As fans should we care? What difference does it make if your sports stars are all junkies, bulked up on steroid, hepped up in Anphetamines? I mean after all it is entertainment, and these people are paid ungodly amounts of money to be in their best physical shape to entertain us . . . modern gladiators.

Look at it this way. Do the Beatles become the greatest band ever if not for that meeting with Bob Dylan in 1964 and he got them high on weed. LSD soon followed along with harder drugs. So do albums like HELP!; Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, The White Album; some of the greatest music of all time: develop without Pot, Cocaine, Heroin, and LSD? You have to assume they don't. Compare a pre-drug song like Can't Buy Me Love or I Want to Hold Your Hand to something like Revolution 9 or Tommorrow Never Knows off those later albums and tell me their drug experiences did not influence their music some way. Voila, performance enhacing drugs. And how does a band go from a song like I Saw Her Standing There to Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds in 4 years time? What did the New Kids on the Block do in four years? That is like the New Kids in 1988 morphing into Nirvana in 1992.

After al what is sport but entertainment, and do you really care Stallone is taking HGH to remain buff at 60? But you do care Bonds is going to break Aaron's record? And are we hypocrits? How many of us need to drink coffee or smoke cigarettes to get through our day? How many of us drink and smoke pot to relax? How many of us take stimulants to stay awake?

I am Malach and why don't we do it in the road.