I’m seriously bummed about athletes who don’t break the rules, yet push the ethical limits to gain an advantage. Just read my last blog. What is it with people who think it’s okay to put junk into their bodies? And worse, what is it with parents who pop stuff into their kids’ bodies because they think everyone else is doing it. That’s like watching tv and wondering why everyone else is having sex all the time and you’re the only one not getting any.
I bet most think they are doing something completely righteous; something that won’t harm the human body in the long run. Most people thought cigarettes were totally harmless in the 1800’s, but some knew it couldn’t be best for us (U.S.). And it’s easy to Blackle your preferred substance to find that you’ve chosen an appropriate organic concoction that will naturally help supply energy to muscle cells without hurting anything. Wasn’t there a song about too much oxygen? Plenty of people have lived to a ripe old age smoking two packs a day...and when I say plenty, I mean at least 14.
I don’t think it’s bad science, I just think it’s incomplete science. It takes time for the effects of what happens to peoples’ bodies after repeated consumption of advantage bending substances. Who would ever believe that a professional wrestler would go off the complete edge in ‘roid rage? Or that a 17-year-old track star's death was from the use of too much muscle cream? After all, most side effects are sporadic and on a case by case basis like diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and bloating. The other side effect that trumps all that is more muscle. Which, of course, leads to a college scholarship, and then straight to a sports agent that will help you sign that big contract (and a secret supply of “something legal, don’t worry about it”).
But what if? What if everyone starts pumping themselves full of junk so nobody has to pump serious iron? Okay, we lose a few health clubs. But what if that happens for real? Because what always happens is, it all trickles down to the lowest of the low. Now it’s an even playing field you say? Hold your creatine horses. Somebody else will be developing and experimenting with something more potent that will give them the advantage... I want to scream: When does it all stop?!?
When I was a kid I thought that someday people would stop smoking cigarettes. Now I’m not so sure. My mom smoked. My mom died. All the research that says cigarettes will kill you isn’t enough. I guess things have to kill us faster and make us hideous looking to get our attention (do I hear someone typing another screenplay?).
It still seems like this world is filled with “if we get ours, then we’ll worry about everyone else.” I can’t say that isn’t the way I think sometimes. But if I do get “mine,” I’d like to think I got there honestly. Now, let’s throw kids back into the equation. If we are doing it for our kids, that’s the best reason (read: excuse) ever. Nobody questions you when you say that you’re doing it for “family reasons.” (Didn’t Michael Jordan retire (the first time) to spend more time with his family? Only to play minor league baseball 1000 miles away for three years. How’s that family unit doing now?)
The last think I have to say is that when I’m around people (even parents) who are providing kids with the “best opportunity to help them on their path,” why do they have to speak quietly about “the stuff.” When I find something that makes life better I want the world to know. I don’t slightly cover my mouth and speak in code. Maybe I should so my family will have an advantage that yours won’t. Because I’m just a man doing it for family reasons. There, I feel better about me now. Too bad though, for my kids, they will be eeked out of NBA/WNBA because I didn’t “help them enough.”