08-08-2007, 08:02 PM
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 | Retired from Forum | | Last Online: 02-22-2008 10:45 AM Join Date: Sep 2005
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 Re: How do you feel about Barry Bonds becoming the new HR king?
Quote:
Originally Posted by roscoe36  I took Immodium last night. I don't know what is in it, or how it works. But it did the trick.
This morning, my wrists (RSI/Carpal Tunnel) were burning like coals from Hades had been placed upon them. I took Advil. I have no idea what it does or what is in it. I only know that the pain subsided and I am working away in blissful ignorance.
On Sunday, I had Tunnel Bar BQ (Windsor Classic dinner, directly across the street from the Windsor Tunnel exit). I drenched my ribs in TBQ Sugar Reduced Sauce. I have no idea what is in it. I have no idea what the sugar substitute is. It tasted good, and I ate all the meat.
These guys get handed miracle stuff from supposed experts. Experts other athletes in their sport also trust and rely on. Maybe they should do more due diligence, maybe they are liars. But the reality is that we all take things into our bodies daily without fully understanding their effects, origins, side effects and possibly even their legality. | Quote: Bonds reflects a society looking for an edge
We need to start taking a look in the mirror about our unsatiable need to alter ourselves before making a scapegoat of the Giants slugger, who is widely said to have used steroids.
By Kurt Streeter
August 7, 2007
You're a hypocrite . . .
If you knock Barry Bonds and let your daughter sneak an Adderall to do better on her college entrance test, then you're a hypocrite.
If you knock Barry Bonds and filch one of your husband's Prozacs to mellow out for a job interview, then you're the same kind of hypocrite.
Truth is, if you knock Barry Bonds and slip behind the stands to chug a few Red Bulls before playing in the office softball game, then you're a hypocrite too.
A lesser hypocrite, perhaps. But a hypocrite.
Bonds, it is widely said, has used steroids. And steroids, his extremely vocal critics say, have given the Giants slugger an unfair edge that will soon leave him standing alone with the career home run record.
But honestly, would that make Barry Bonds any different from your cousin the violinist, who takes a beta-blocker to steady his hands before a concert? Or you on Viagra, when neither of you really needs drugs medically?
I'm with John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Texas in Austin, who has long studied the tormented relationship among drugs, society and sports.
Not just in baseball, or in the Tour de France, he says, but in society at large, we are on a mad sprint to bust past our normal limits. We're awash in the use of all kinds of performance enhancements -- some illegal, some not.
As long as we do that, Hoberman says, and we don't start taking a long look in the mirror about our unsatiable need to alter ourselves, we need to think hard about singling out Barry Bonds.
He's a scapegoat. I agree.
It's simply hypocritical.
For me, none of this is to excuse illicit drug use by athletes. I cringe at the shadow our drug-addled pros have cast, at the fact I can't tell my nephew Jack that I know his sports heroes are clean.
No, this is about us. Hypocrisy is inexcusable too.
It's one thing that we're already medicinal lemmings. We take way too many pills with the encouragement of doctors who are working under the spell of companies such as Pfizer. It's even worse that loads of us are gulping pills nobody with any medical authority signed off on.
Take a look at two popular medications: Ritalin and Adderall. They can give a distracted kid the focus of a Tibetan monk. Doctors prescribe them for kids with attention disorders. These days, though, they are often the drugs of choice for kids who don't have attention problems but are looking to ace their exams. They help students cram for hours. They make a full day of testing seem as if it lasted 30 minutes.
Let's say your daughter is cramming for her SAT. She gets her hands on some of her best friend's Adderall pills and takes the pills to boost performance. Well, her scores will be stacked against those from other kids across the nation, and she'll have an unfair advantage.
It won't be just an edge in a pro sport that only a few of us have any chance of playing. It will be a cheater's advantage in the race to get into a top college, which for millions of us is the key to a lifetime of success.
How many of these kids get caught? How many get vilified? How many of their parents turn a blind eye?
| He makes a lot of good points. People who live in glass houses, blah, blah blah. Too many friggen hypocrites. Not that anyone on this board is one, but a lot of people are, especially on the subject of taking performance enhancing or body enhancing drugs that are legal at the time taken. Sign Up   |
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