DDT 3/26/08 - Drugs in Sports?

[whitelines]

How do you guys feel about steroids? should they just be legal and more people use them so its a level playing field? what about other drugs like marijuana, is it okay for athletes to use that in their free time??

[soundofthebrown]

Steroids = no. Drugs like Marijuana are illegal and any player can use it under their own discretion. They get caught, they should suffer the consequences.

[startBBtoday]

i think that athletes using cocaine in the 80s is fascinating. i wish there were more stories about this, because it seemed as though EVERYONE in every sport was using cocaine. especially the new york mets.

drugs should not be legal.

steroids should not be used.

players should not smoke marijuana in their free time, it is illegal.

[Scott Weber]

i think that athletes using cocaine in the 80s is fascinating. i wish there were more stories about this, because it seemed as though EVERYONE in every sport was using cocaine. especially the new york mets.

drugs should not be legal.

steroids should not be used.

players should not smoke marijuana in their free time, it is illegal.
agreed on all counts.

[avengedtbs]

My senior paper in US government was exactly eight pages on why steroids in sports should not be legal. I got a 99 on it.

[ForlrnPerplxity]

why not make steroids legal? it levels the playing field and it makes the games way more exciting.

[staywhatyouare9]

Steroids = no. Drugs like Marijuana are illegal and any player can use it under their own discretion. They get caught, they should suffer the consequences.

But should players get drug tested? or only get in trouble if they are caught by the cops? like everyone else

[deadstar]

My senior paper in US government was exactly eight pages on why steroids in sports should not be legal. I got a 99 on it.
Would you like a medal?

[rcrook]

let the men smoke their weed, its not a performance enhancing drug of any sort

[startBBtoday]

why not make steroids legal? it levels the playing field and it makes the games way more exciting.

GOOD IDEA!

[xbrokendownx]

i just did a presentation in my ethics class on this yesterday haha

my feeling is that steroids should totally never be used whatsoever. they give certain players an advantage over those who dont use them, and they make the playing field uneven. you cant ever say "oh, well just let everyone use them" because there are numerous athletes who would never ever use anything to gain an advantage, no matter what

marijuana i could care less about. sure its illegal but it doesnt enhance performance whatsoever so i dont really care about it

[startBBtoday]

how is this even really a discussion?

unless vince coleman, kevin mitchell and darryl strawberry want to come back to the mlb and start doing cocaine again, i don't want to see drugs in sports.

[whitelines]

how is this even really a discussion?

unless vince coleman, kevin mitchell and darryl strawberry want to come back to the mlb and start doing cocaine again, i don't want to see drugs in sports.


why not? do you actually care about the player's health? or do you think it makes them look like bad role models?

[xbrokendownx]

it clearly makes them look like bad role models. athletes are the 2nd most looked up to group of people behind parents, meaning that kids who see them doinng drugs may think that theyre ok and a lot of the times, younger people dont know all the consequences

[Scott Weber]

let the men smoke their weed, its not a performance enhancing drug of any sort
Spoken like a true stoner. Weed is illegal, other jobs have drug testing, sports are no different - you're upheld to the standards of the law, this isn't a legalize weed discussion.
why not make steroids legal? it levels the playing field and it makes the games way more exciting.
No it doesn't, it just makes the gap even wider. There's going to be a lot of people who don't want to jeopardize their health or risk harming their future body for an advantage, and some who will. So we'll end up with half roided out sluggers, and half of the people trying to take care of their bodies, family...and then we'll see more steroid related accidents/deaths (you don't have to look any further than pro wrestling to see this is a horrible idea)

[startBBtoday]

why not? do you actually care about the player's health? or do you think it makes them look like bad role models?

i care about both. and i care about having a natural, not level, playing field. though i do also care about a level playing field. i don't want to watch a sport that is not being played naturally, what's the fun in that. you might as well be watching robots playing sports or watching a simulated video game.

steroids are illegal for a reason. they can and will damage your health and i guess as odd as this sounds, i care about the well-being of human beings, despite their own ignorance.

[odelay]

Steroids- No. I feel that the long term effects (ex. cancer, roid rage, etc.) far outweigh the short term gains you will get with them. Plus, it will take away huge part of the game. One of the best parts of watching a sport, in my opinion, is seeing the natural skill someone has. By throwing steroids into the mix, it will just blur of the line of whether or not the success an athlete has on the field is due natural ability or a synthetic substance.

And every other drug- No. If it's illegal for everyone, it's illegal for athletes. They shouldn't be held above the law.

[ForlrnPerplxity]

No it doesn't, it just makes the gap even wider. There's going to be a lot of people who don't want to jeopardize their health or risk harming their future body for an advantage, and some who will. So we'll end up with half roided out sluggers, and half of the people trying to take care of their bodies, family...and then we'll see more steroid related accidents/deaths (you don't have to look any further than pro wrestling to see this is a horrible idea)
lol @ Weber taking me seriously.

[S/T]

Obviously a no to steroids and other illegal drugs, but assuming weed (or any other potentially performance hindering drug) was legal I'd say it's up to them.

[hockey0001]

let the men smoke their weed, its not a performance enhancing drug of any sort

agreed, you should only face consequences within the sport if you fail a drug test for a performance enhancing drug. Others shouldnt be tested for. However, if someone gets in trouble with the police for weed or something, then they should also face consequences from the league.

Spoken like a true stoner. Weed is illegal, other jobs have drug testing, sports are no different - you're upheld to the standards of the law, this isn't a legalize weed discussion.


Most of that drug testing is only done if accidents happen, performance drops, or people are coming into work high. Employers only care about what happens outside of work if someone gets arrested or performance drops.

[bigmike]

No on drugs in sports, but I've come to the point on the steroid issue that there should just be a separate place in the HOF for them and indicate that their records are byproducts of an era and how the game was played, much in the way Cy Young's win totals are skewed since he pitched pretty much every game, or how Bob Gibson's 68 season was the last year before mounds were lowered and how CF's are no longer 550 ft and balls in the dirt are changed out instead of just one ball being used until it was a soft, brown blob, etc etc.

[Chris M.]

Most of that drug testing is only done if accidents happen, performance drops, or people are coming into work high. Employers only care about what happens outside of work if someone gets arrested or performance drops.

There are also plenty of jobs where you have to take a drug test before they will hire you.


I say it's a no for both steroids and marijuana.

[we are cured]

Spoken like a true stoner. Weed is illegal, other jobs have drug testing, sports are no different - you're upheld to the standards of the law, this isn't a legalize weed discussion.

i don't think he was saying it was, rather that there are different degrees of drugs regarding both the harm they do and the enhancement factor.

i just think making a blanket statement like 'it's illegal, it shouldn't be used' is a little extreme and shows that you're not really in touch with the issue.

[Scott Weber]

Most of that drug testing is only done if accidents happen, performance drops, or people are coming into work high. Employers only care about what happens outside of work if someone gets arrested or performance drops.
If you are a professional athlete, you're held to a higher standard. You're held to be a role model, you're being paid millions of dollars, and it's the least you can do to obey the law. People that are public figures and expected to uphold an image to our youth should be tested for drugs that may reflect poorly on their character, weed being one of them.


i just think making a blanket statement like 'it's illegal, it shouldn't be used' is a little extreme and shows that you're not really in touch with the issue.
It's a fine blanket statement. It is illegal. It has no place in sports, or anywhere where you're a professional getting paid large amounts of money to keep your body pure and clean. I have no problem with that statement at all. And what does "in touch" even mean? I don't smoke, so I can't understand? Please.

[Drew Beringer]

I don't want steroids in sports because I don't want to see an athlete snap and kill his family.

[we are cured]

It's a fine blanket statement. It is illegal. It has no place in sports, or anywhere where you're a professional getting paid large amounts of money to keep your body pure and clean. I have no problem with that statement at all. And what does "in touch" even mean? I don't smoke, so I can't understand? Please.

no, that's not what i mean. i don't smoke either (though i used to so maybe my opinion is slanted).

i'm saying that there's an issue with the morality of the legal system. legality shouldn't decide whether or not you think something is right. but that is my opinion, and i understand if you believe differently.

[Scott Weber]

no, that's not what i mean. i don't smoke either (though i used to so maybe my opinion is slanted).

i'm saying that there's an issue with the morality of the legal system. legality shouldn't decide whether or not you think something is right. but that is my opinion, and i understand if you believe differently.
And as I've previously stated, this isn't even remotely about the morality of the system, that's a completely different debate. Players are not above the law. The law is that it's illegal, and the league has every right to test that their players are following the law, as they are role models in influential positions.

[we are cured]

lol, before my post show me where you said anything about the morality of the legal system. you originally said:

Weed is illegal, other jobs have drug testing, sports are no different - you're upheld to the standards of the law, this isn't a legalize weed discussion.

and in response to my post:

And as I've previously stated, this isn't even remotely about the morality of the system, that's a completely different debate. Players are not above the law. The law is that it's illegal, and the league has every right to test that their players are following the law, as they are role models in influential positions.

you've advocated the law, and that's fine. but my opinion is that the law shouldn't be the deciding factor on whether or not something is right and wrong. nowhere do i try to make this a legalize weed discussion.

read into it as much as you want, people can disagree with you sometimes and that should be ok.

[AshesAshes]

No on drugs in sports, but I've come to the point on the steroid issue that there should just be a separate place in the HOF for them and indicate that their records are byproducts of an era and how the game was played, much in the way Cy Young's win totals are skewed since he pitched pretty much every game, or how Bob Gibson's 68 season was the last year before mounds were lowered and how CF's are no longer 550 ft and balls in the dirt are changed out instead of just one ball being used until it was a soft, brown blob, etc etc.

I never thought about the steroid issue that way before, I like your outlook on it.

[StuGrimson]

Its not illegal to fail a drug test, you arent actually breaking any laws having cocaine or marijuana in your system its a moral thing. The Players Associations would never go for drug testing for illegal substanses, the NBA would probably have to fold.

[Scott Weber]

lol, before my post show me where you said anything about the morality of the legal system. you originally said:



and in response to my post:



you've advocated the law, and that's fine. but my opinion is that the law shouldn't be the deciding factor on whether or not something is right and wrong. nowhere do i try to make this a legalize weed discussion.

read into it as much as you want, people can disagree with you sometimes and that should be ok.Uh, to me a discussion involving "legalize weed" and morality are hand in hand. But I can see a separation, it really doesn't matter to me. And don't get all uber defensive here, I did not say that YOU tried to make this a legalize weed discussion, did I? I said it to rcrook.

The point remains that this is black and white to me. I don't care what's right or wrong, or what's moral. I believe players should follow what the law is and the league has a right to enforce that, that is all. You're really going over the top with your defensiveness here, I'm not forcing this on anyone or talking down on you, chill out, jesus. Maybe it's you that needs to learn to be ok with dissenting opinions.

[bigmike]

I never thought about the steroid issue that way before, I like your outlook on it.
Yeah. I came to this conclusion recently when thinking of all the baseball era's there have been. Would Bonds have hit 760-something HR's without steroids? Probably not. Would Babe Ruth have hit 714 HR's if he had to face the best black pitchers of the era? Maybe, maybe not.

[we are cured]

Uh, to me a discussion involving "legalize weed" and morality are hand in hand. But I can see a separation, it really doesn't matter to me. And don't get all uber defensive here, I did not say that YOU tried to make this a legalize weed discussion, did I? I said it to rcrook.

The point remains that this is black and white to me. I don't care what's right or wrong, or what's moral. I believe players should follow what the law is and the league has a right to enforce that, that is all. You're really going over the top with your defensiveness here, I'm not forcing this on anyone or talking down on you, chill out, jesus. Maybe it's you that needs to learn to be ok with dissenting opinions.

lol, ok.

[Scott Weber]

lol, ok.
Yeah - ok.

[whitelines]

let me re-ask my marijuana question, of course its illegal and baseball players have to follow laws even though they are baseball players, but how many of them do you think smoke and stuff in their spare time

[bigmike]

Milwaukee Brewer prospect Jeremy Jeffress is trying to throw away a professional career because of pot. 2 suspensions last year from it, I believe.

[StuGrimson]

A Dallas Stars draft pick named Aaron Snow has thrown away any chance of making the NHL because of drugs. He was a 30 goal man and 68 point scorer in the OHL as a 17 year old, drafted by Dallas in the third round. He got hooked on the drugs and in the last year has been traded 4 times, played for 5 different teams and at a time when you are supposed to be progressing with age he scored 4 goals this year. Another team traded for him and said he would have to take weekly drug tests as a condition of the trade, he failed one last week and got released just before the playoffs.

[bigmike]

Is he hooked on some harder drug then pot? I cannot fathom someone throwing away a profession career of any sort of pot.

[startBBtoday]

jeff allison. look him up.

[tambo41187]

Is he hooked on some harder drug then pot? I cannot fathom someone throwing away a profession career of any sort of pot.

Obviously it has to be more than pot, since its not addicting I'm sure he could have given up something like weed if it came down to smoking or playing in the NHL.

Than again all Shawn Williams had to do was not to smoke up as much to play college basketball and he couldn't eve do that.

[Killadelphia]

no and no.

look at Craig Monroe, after he signed that $4 million deal with the Tigers he became a huge fucking cokehead and he has since been on Chicago and Minnesota within less than a year.

Whatever they do on their own time is just like any other person in a professional business. If they're caught on drugs at their place of work, they should face a harsh fine, even if it is weed.

[tambo41187]

Professional athletes get paid an extraordinary amount of money for the services they actually provide, therefore to me it seems they should be as physically prepared as possible - which means everything from watching diets, alcohol, general fitness, and drugs.

[StuGrimson]

Is he hooked on some harder drug then pot? I cannot fathom someone throwing away a profession career of any sort of pot.

I can tell you its definately not pot, but I dont know what drug it is. Ill assume coke.