The Steroid Era

In today's age we're all looking to get ahead. Some of us do it through hard work, or lowering our expectations. Others, mainly speaking of professional athletes, tend to go through other means. Yes, we seemingly can't get out of "The Steroid Era" whether it be in awesome sports like Football and WWE, or sports that don't matter like Baseball, Track and Field, and Cycling. These drastic times call for drastic measures. Enter: Chris Badders, sports fixer-upper.

The crazy thing about steroids is that people, for the most part, have an idea of what they do, but at the same time they have no idea what they do. Does that make sense? Think of it this way: if you're at the doctor's office and need help rehabilitating an injury, getting over a nasty infection, etc., there's a chance that your doctor will put you on a healthy dose of steroids to help ward off the infection. This practice is socially acceptable.

Then there are the cases of professional sports. Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Rafael Palmero, Carl Lewis and every sprinter in the 1980's, and seemingly every good cyclist in the past three decades minus the token British dude who won the tour this year are all either convicted, admitted or assumed steroid users. This is generally unacceptable.

Kind of a double standard, right? Ok, I'm stretching here, but I'm one to say that the reason why we as a society are against the use of steroids in competitive sports is, mostly, for one of two reasons: 1) it gives the user a competitive advantage over those players who actually work to achieve the physical shape that they're in or 2) it ruins the sanctity of the game - whatever that means.

For those who are irritated by reason numero uno, I know that feel, bro. It does seem unfair that all someone has to do is put a needle in their rear end and all of the sudden they're performing at above-human levels. Luckily there are those people in the game that feel like they can do things cleanly and still make their mark. I will also say that being on roids doesn't necessarily give you that much more of an advantage depending on who you're comparing against.

Example, (and stick with me here because you'll get caught up in stats and miss what I'm saying) take two players from my least favorite team: Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. On one hand you have golden boy Jeter, who for the length of his career (as far as we know, and have no reason to doubt) has stayed off the roids and become one of the greatest players in Yankees and MLB history. Side note: I really don't mind Jeter. I know as a Red Sox fan I'm supposed to hate the guy, but how can you when he just oozes class at the level he does? On the field he plays his ass off, off the field he only talks to the press about what he does on the baseball field and leaves everything else out of it. Class act, through and through. I can't hate him, unfortunately. Now when you look at A-Rod, an admitted steroid user, yes his stat lines may be a little better (until you look in October) and overall he could be considered the better player. Yes, baseball fans, I know what you're thinking. They're two different players that play two different roles. Again, don't think about this too hard. Jeter is the better play because he comes off as someone who is willing to work as hard as he needs to to get what he wants. A-Rod comes off as a scumbag cheater who still can't hit for shit when it comes down to crunch time. Tell me I'm wrong.

Now, for those of you who are pissed about reason numéro deux, I'll sum it up a little quicker than the last example: the sanctity of the game ended a loooooooong time ago. Example: All the famous football coaches from the early years, what do they look like? Vince Lombardi could pass as a hit man from the Gambino crime family. Bear Bryant cornered the market on the classic "Southern Grandad with an attitude" look. Now what do we have? Team, league and sponsor logos everywhere. You wanna talk sanctity of the game? Look no further than the garb these guys are donning and then come talking to me.

How do we fix the problem of the steroid era? It's quite simple.