Jet, I suppose it was inevitable that this would turn to steroids and ethics, even though I doubt that was your intent in starting the thread. I sort of feel bad about helping turn a memorial thread into a drug debate thread, but I do want to respond to part of one of your posts.
jetproppilot said:
Performance enhancing drugs have been there ALWAYS and will continue to be there ALWAYS.
Athletes with MILLIONS OF DOLLARS thrown in front of them and their LIFE OBJECTIVE is to be BETTER AT THEIR CRAFT THAN THEY ARE CURRENT DAY?
Yeah OK MAN.... we're headed for a DRUG FREE ARENA
No.
THE SCIENTISTS ARE ALWAYS A STEP AHEAD OF THE DRUG TESTS.
You're mixing arguments here and acting as if one follows from the other, and that's not right.
Your statements that I quoted are absolutely true. I don't think anyone denies it. If I was an athlete near the top of my sport, a (probably mostly safe) course of drugs to push me over the edge to get a step on my competitors would be incredibly tempting. We can't pretend this motivation and activity doesn't exist. Should we condone it? That's another question entirely.
I actually favor legalization of all drugs, and I see no ethical or moral problem with someone making a personal, informed decision to risk using any performance enhancing drug they want. If, and here's the rub, they're not competing against people who don't use them, in an organized league/competition that expressly forbids their use.
If someone wants to use the drugs because they want to be stronger, or cut better, or to help pick up chicks, more power to them.
Look at the whole Lance Armstrong mess. His opponents who weren't doping (there must've been at least a couple!) worked hard, put in time, made sacrifices, and were beat by a person who was cheating. The fact that Armstrong got away with it for a long time because his scientists were a step ahead of the drug testers doesn't make him any less of a cheater, or any less a piece of **** than he is.
Armstrong's motivation is understandable, but not excusable.
My problem with your defense of steroid use in bodybuilding is the lie it's wrapped in.
If you think that performance enhancing drugs are part of the sport (any sport) then the only ethically correct position to take would be to eliminate the rules prohibiting their use. Otherwise, the sport is a sham. Lip service to fair competition, but widespread *wink* *wink* cheating. Unnecessary health risks to athletes because the secrecy gets in the way of safety.
Drug use in sport is everywhere. If you're going to accept it, bring it out in the open. If not, quit pretending that the athletes using in violation of competition rules are respectable. They're not.
he injured his shoulder, ended up getting imaging which picked up an incidental finding in his mandible, they scanned his head and the mandible turned out to be nothing, however, he had a grapefruit sized meningioma. Got it cut out 2 days after graduation and was walking around literally the next day. However, he lost about 40 lbs of mass and was pretty small to begin with because he couldn't resume lifting for months after the surgery.
