Sacrifice and Stupidity

Kyle, I hear where you are coming from man, I do. It makes some sense to me, your logical connections between steroids and other things that "enhance" athletes' and regular peoples' performance. But ultimately, I think you're wrong, and I think, to be utterly boring but honest, Ben has made my points already for me. But to elaborate, a little bit...

I think one major problem is what Ben pointed out, that young kids feel pressure from themselves, parents, and coaches to be their very best, or even better, if their best isn't good enough. Should this be a problem? No. Are the people I just mentioned, in a kid's life, totally irresponsible if they put this kind of pressure on a kid or let her put this kind of pressure on herself? Absolutely. Should kids themselves know better? I'd like to think so.

Unfortunately, they don't know better, and their parents and coaches do push them too hard, and they often push themselves too hard. Sports should be a way to have fun and stay fit for most kids, nothing more. For the overwhelming majority of them, a career as an athlete is impossible and will never happen. So they should enjoy themselves and have fun, while still remaining competitive.

I do think the real difference between steroids and the analogies you tried to make is that steroids, ultimately, are undeniably and certainly going to have terrible consequences for a player down the road. Their short-term gains certainly seem effective, but are they always? The reality is, steroids enhance a player who is already of major-league caliber. They can't take the average joe and make him a professional athlete. All they can do is make professional athletes marginally better. That fly ball goes ten feet farther and becomes a home run. That outfielder shaves a tenth of a second off his forty time and catches a few balls that he would have dropped before steroids. (I know, I know...balls...dropped. Ha.) But they don't turn your or me into athletes.

Now...neither do some of the other things you mentioned, like surgery, special diets and vitamins, training, legal muscle building compounds, etc. But those things, for the most part, don't tend to have disastrous long-term effects that we know about. We KNOW what steroids do, and it's a short term gain for a long term pain. It's simply not worth it. And yes, I do think I can make that statement on other peoples' behalf. I do not think athletes who use steroids truly understand what they are doing to themselves, because if they did, they wouldn't use. And for the handful of players for whom that statement is not true, well...they're just crazy.

Now, I know we have an overpopulation problem, a few more dead athletes isn't a big deal, and maybe kids will stop juicing to try and make it to the big show. But it's ultimately about culture. For better or worse--almost certainly for worse--athletes are prominent cultural figures in American society. As the pinnacle of human physical perfection, they ought to be looked up to and emulated by the rest of us, especially in this country, where fat people like me are dragging society down, literally and figuratively. They are, in fact, emulated and looked up to. And that means that they shouldn't use steroids. Being a role model is much like being a parent. You need to think about kids first. If you are a professional athlete, you know kids will follow your example. It's irresponsible to take steroids just like it is to get too drunk or punch someone or sexually harass someone. These things are wrong for ANYONE to do, but they're especially wrong for people who know that others in society, especially kids, are taking cues from them. Anyone who lives their life in the public's eye--athletes, entertainers, politicians--know that they face greater scrutiny, and if they want to be taken seriously, they need to survive that scrutiny. Like it or not, that's the way it is, and athletes know it, and the ones who take steroids are hypocrites. An athlete who takes steroids is like a priest who molests kids...

...in that it's the opposite behavior of what people expect from you. Not that taking anabolic steroids is the same as touching kids. But it's close. Okay, it's not. But there seems to be a lot of both going on. Late capitalism and the last shreds of our morality are starting to fall apart. No surprise there.

The one other thing I'll respond to in your post Kyle: you suggest that players are often lauded for sacrificing their bodies for the game. I disagree. Players are lauded for MAKING PLAYS that RISK injury to their bodies. It's not inherently noble to risk or destroy your body; it's noble only if it pays a dividend for your team. Steroids will undoubtedly destroy your body, but that in and of itself isn't noble. Is it really noble to make yourself marginally better at the expense of years of your life? Is it fair to your family and friends? Can one make that choice so selfishly? Some guys are clearly capable of it, but I don't think it's a choice they should be allowed to make. We need to clean up sports because we need to clean up our culture.

I think doing steroids might seem lucrative, but it's really a choice to be exploited. And I don't think anyone should have the freedom to make that choice. When you exploit yourself or others, you put us all at greater risk of being exploited ourselves by those more powerful than us. Is there exploitation involved in a cup of coffee or a bottle of aspirin? Inevitably. This is capitalism. But we don't need to sell our souls to the devil for one or two more home runs a year.