The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I have been against steroid use ever since I started training in high school and was repeatedly told by my father that there was no honor in beating your opponent or winning medals if you did it illegally. I was often questioned in high school if I was using them and knowing you are innocent but can not prove it is frustrating, and I wasn’t even in any professional setting.

But knowing your guilty and realizing that the testing system you are in is flawed so you do it anyway is unforgivable. I think that performance enhancers have no place in sport but they have been there for some time just look at the NFL. What scares me is how long before you are writing a blog about NHL players for the same thing, and then the great game will become tarnished just like all the others. Unfortunately the in house testing the NHL has is leaving many to wonder if its testing procedures are efficient.

Personally I don’t think they are. They don’t even test hockey players in the off-season where they are more likely to use drugs to enhance training and prepare for the upcoming season. They don’t even test on game day during the season; it is normally done on off days. But why would you want to test star players that make millions of dollars (that they don’t deserve) who fill seats that their true and average fans can’t often afford? Bc someone is filling those seats and there is nothing better then bigger and faster players on the ice for those seat fillers, even if it means that they are pissing extra testosterone that no one seems to find on test day.

Maybe it is just me as I am not that big a fan of following professional sports, but in leagues like the NHL where the average player gets 1.4 million (still can’t believe they are that over paid), I guess it is hard not to try to get the edge on the next best player. I think it comes down to what price you sell your honor for be it millions of dollars or medals that say “you are the best” in the world.
 

"Everybody's got a price!"

- "The Million-Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase

That reason is the only reason athletes risk their health to play pro sports. Whether it's fame, glory or money, some are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it.

I like to think the NHL is the exception to every sports that has a steroid problem, but there were incidents (Sean Hill last year for example comes to mind) that show no league is 100% clean.

Until a star player comes forward or is caught using them, the NHL won't have any problems giving the impression it is drug-free. For the most part, fans do not care if the players use drugs. I personally do care, because I don't want these players to win by cheating, I don't want them to sacrifice their health in later years and I also don't want kids and teenagers to emulate them and endager their health by juicing up at an early age.

I feel guilty watching even old WWE DVDs with all the drug allegations coming forward. I haven't watched a full episode of Raw in over a year.
 

Too little, and too late. Bonds gets his home run record, and isn't even getting punished for cheating, he's facing the possiblity of getting punished for lying about cheating.

But clearly: Baseball's bulletproof. They survived that lockout fiasco, the tie-game all-star nonsense, and all the steroid kerfuffle, and STILL get great ratings and attendance.

I'm more interested in the screening program for the PGA. No, seriously. I think after Tiger's first year, there must be a group of players who were trying to figure out how to get more length in their drives.

-Stan

PS - New Stanblog!