Did Anyone Read Sally Jenkins' Article Today Making the Argument for Legalizing PEDs??

She also wrote an article saying that she felt sorry for Marion and we all ought to forgive her. Where is Ms. Jenkins' compassion for the athletes who were cheated out of their medals, accolades, and glory? No, she can not be viewed as objective by any means.

legalize em... why worry or care about what someone else is doing? who the heck cares?

RunDaddy wrote:

Here it is. Not very convincing, in my mind.

I also did go back and read her 2004 article where she ripped Dick Pound for commenting publicly on the BALCO case and raising suspicions about Marion Jones. He may be an ass, but it looks like Pound was right about Jones all along.

I also find it interesting that Jenkins seems so eager to apologize for athletes who cheat after she made tons of money co-authorizing a book with Lance Armstrong. Can Jenkins be viewed as an objective journalist on the subject?

Ever wonder why bodybuilding and powerlifting don't have a problem with drugs?

I Am Hyooge wrote:

Ever wonder why bodybuilding and powerlifting don't have a problem with drugs?

Because they're not sports?

Wrestling didn't have a drug problem either. Until all the wrestlers started dying in their 30's and 40's.

My guess is that in the future, these peds will become more mainstream and eventually become legal.

Look what happened to human cage fighting. A few years ago they were ready to outlaw it and now it is shown day and night on tv. Maybe if Michael Vick had been engaged in Mixed Canine Preservation Arts matches, he wouldn't be looking at a few years in prison. It is all about how you present it.

MMA=Big ratings

people fighting=assault arrest

MCPA=Future Big ratings

Dog fighting=cruelty to animals and jail time

jrun wrote:

I Am Hyooge wrote:

Ever wonder why bodybuilding and powerlifting don't have a problem with drugs?

Because they're not sports?

Um, no:

"Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors..."

rippy cripple wrote:

Wrestling didn't have a drug problem either. Until all the wrestlers started dying in their 30's and 40's.

LOL.

1) *Relatively* few pro wrestlers have actually died.

2) Those that have died have rarely, if ever died as a demonstrable result of the use of anabolic steroids, HGH, etc., but rather from accidents, suicide, homicide, drug overdoses, complications from injuries, etc.

oldfart wrote:

legalize em... why worry or care about what someone else is doing? who the heck cares?

That's like legalizing course cutting. It's cheating.

oldfart wrote:

legalize em... why worry or care about what someone else is doing? who the heck cares?

While the 'just legalize them' argument can be tempting at first blush, it is not a good option either. An unrestricted, anything goes environment would turn sports into a mutant freakshow where athletes who wish to compete will have accept long term health consequences of juicing themselves to the gills with PEDs. Many good athletes will opt out of this juicing arms race, figuring it's not worth it, so Olympic finals, for example, will often not get the best athletes anyway.

Plus, how would you control it seeping more deeply into high school sports??

Sorry, but the legalize PED position is lame when you start thinking through the consequences

And no, a bunch of pumped up, shaved, greased freaks in g-strings posing on a stage is not a sport

All you drug legalizers out there, help me out. I have no problem with performance enhancing drugs, for men. However, woman can take drugs that essentially make them men, and watching big hairy East German swimmers showing up at the Olympics is not something anyone would want to re-witness. So what do you do? Legalize for men but not woman, or legalize some drugs but not others.

Two problems with legalizing PED's.

1. You're just going to be moving the level playing field to a different field, if that makes sense. Even legalizing many PEDs, there are still going to be some, and some quantities, that are off limits just because they are so destructive. You'll legalize anabolic steroids? To what dose? All the legalizers would do is move the line to cross farther into the drug store. There would still be cheating and it would still be just as bad.

2. Legalizing PEDs would kill the sport. I don't mean "Gee no one in the US cares about track anymore", I mean "Gee can you remember when track was an Olympic sport?" Can you imagine the fallout from legalizing drugs? Telling everyone that in order to be the best at this sport you have to take drugs? Right now there's a nice little fantasy that when Dad drops the 7 year old off at soccer practice, all it takes is hard word and that kid will be in the World Cup one day. To legalize drugs for track would be to come out and say, "If your child wants to go to the top levels of competition in this sport, he will have to take massive amounts of drugs to change his body at some point." That stigma alone would end youth participation in track in the developed world. Not lessen participation. End participation.

Besides the fact that legalization of PEDs will just not work, for reasons which you all have already presented...maybe its just me but wasn't the article by Jenkins just plain awful? I mean no where in the article was there a convincing argument except for maybe...MAYBE...the altitute tent argument, which still didn't convince me that EPO should be legalized, rather that the tents should be banned. So, is there anyone out there that actually agrees with this absurd article?

RunDaddy wrote:

While the 'just legalize them' argument can be tempting at first blush, it is not a good option either. An unrestricted, anything goes environment would turn sports into a mutant freakshow where athletes who wish to compete will have accept long term health consequences of juicing themselves to the gills with PEDs.

You mean nothing would change, in other words.

reality is fun wrote:

RunDaddy wrote:

"While the 'just legalize them' argument can be tempting at first blush, it is not a good option either. An unrestricted, anything goes environment would turn sports into a mutant freakshow where athletes who wish to compete will have accept long term health consequences of juicing themselves to the gills with PEDs."

You mean nothing would change, in other words.

Yes, but isn't it better to lie to our kids about the unpleasant realities of life than to get them to accept them?

Random Shmo wrote:

Besides the fact that legalization of PEDs will just not work, for reasons which you all have already presented...maybe its just me but wasn't the article by Jenkins just plain awful?

Totally agree with you. Read her for about two years and then have only read maybe three of Jenkins' articles in the past several years because she is such a horrible writer. I think the last one I read was about Title IX. Can't they trade her to the Washington Times, please?

Anyway, I'm sure someone who actually knew how to write could make much better and well thought out arguments for allowing PEDs. However, I think that the points against PEDs from the posters above would still hold.

Not sure how you define "relatively"

Famous Wrestlers That Have Died Since 1985

Chris Von Erich - 21

Mike Von Erich - 23

Louie Spiccoli - 27

Art Barr - 28

Gino Hernandez - 29

Jay Youngblood - 30

Rick McGraw - 30

Joey Marella - 30

Ed Gatner - 31

Buzz Sawyer - 32

Crash Holly - 32

Kerry Von Erich - 33

D.J. Peterson - 33

Eddie Gilbert - 33

The Renegade - 33

Owen Hart - 33

Chris Candido - 33

Adrian Adonis - 34

Gary Albright - 34

Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34

Yokozuna - 34

Big Dick Dudley - 34

Brian Pillman - 35

Marianna Komlos - 35

Pitbull #2 - 36

The Wall/Malice - 36

Leroy Brown - 38

Mark Curtis - 38

Eddie Guerrero - 38

John Kronus - 38

Davey Boy Smith - 39

Johnny Grunge - 39

Vivian Vachon - 40

Jeep Swenson - 40

Brady Boone - 40

Terry Gordy - 40

Bertha Faye - 40

Billy Joe Travis - 40

Chris Benoit - 40

Larry Cameron - 41

Rick Rude - 41

Randy Anderson - 41

Bruiser Brody - 42

Miss Elizabeth - 42

Big Boss Man - 42

Earthquake - 42

Mike Awesome - 42

Biff Wellington - 42

Brian Adams (Crush) - 43

Ray Candy - 43

Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43

Dino Bravo - 44

Curt Hennig - 44

Bam Bam Bigelow - 45

Jerry Blackwell - 45

Junkyard Dog - 45

Hercules - 45

Andre the Giant - 46

Big John Studd - 46

Chris Adams - 46

Mike Davis - 46

Hawk - 46

Dick Murdoch - 49

Jumbo Tsuruta - 49

Rocco Rock - 49

Sherri Martel - 49

Wow! Is this true?

Sally Jenkins is a very good writer but I agree she has no buisness writing about Lance.

There's actually more...I only cut and pasted the ones under 50...