Are there any sports that are not full of drug cheats?

golf is a leisure sport, akin to travelling, sunday drives, sightseeing, collecting sara bei pictures from the internet, computer games, masturbation, watching TV.

dude, you obviously know nothing at all about basketball.

Cyclist wrote:

Soccer defintely is lanced, the NBA is lanced too. They don't test or are like the IOC and allow the athletes to taint the urine samples.

[quote]Ian wrote:

Where there is money in sports, there will be PE drug use. quote]

True. They deserve to be paid, but sometimes it seems that some care more about the money than the sport, but what else is new? For those that don't care about athletes doping, I don't get that. I don't think we should ignore cheating just because it seems like the norm. We are the ones mostly paying them through ticket sales, buying their shoes, buying action figures for little Johnny to play with, etc. And speaking of "little Johnny," aka any kid who looks up to these athletes, what message are we sending if we don't care about someone cheating or not? When I was younger, I thought drugs were bad for your health, but now it looks like you can't succeed in any sport without them.

"Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men."

-The Boondock Saints

I doubt there is much drug cheating in curling. Though it is an Olympic sport, and some people would do anything to get a gold medal...

cup stacking rocks. I sometimes see the girl who has (or maybe had) the world record and was all over youtube for awhile around campus. She is a a pretty damn good basketball player as well.

NASCAR

chess, table tennis, billiards

I think men's professional golf is the cleanest big money sport. Steroids would be helpful to these guys, but very few golfers show any sign of serious weightlifting, other than Tiger. Tiger has always been a phenom, is very pro-drug testing and really doesn't need to do steroids, so I think he's clean. Golf does have this longstanding honor system where they turn themselves in for infractions, so these guys are probably less inclined to go down that path. But it will happen unless they get a serious drug testing program in short order.

Women's golf is dirty, IMHO. Some of these chicks are very muscular, so I strongly suspect steroids.

Nut Doctor wrote:

I think men's professional golf is the cleanest big money sport. Steroids would be helpful to these guys, but very few golfers show any sign of serious weightlifting, other than Tiger. Tiger has always been a phenom, is very pro-drug testing and really doesn't need to do steroids, so I think he's clean. Golf does have this longstanding honor system where they turn themselves in for infractions, so these guys are probably less inclined to go down that path. But it will happen unless they get a serious drug testing program in short order.

Women's golf is dirty, IMHO. Some of these chicks are very muscular, so I strongly suspect steroids.

I'd bet PE drugs are used by quite a number of men as well.

I think that all sports should institute mandatory testing....and see who really is legit.

Serena Williams aka Steroid Monster

nyc wrote:

You probably inadvertantly proved why cheating is so prevalent and open in sports. The idea that you can't comprehend why someone is bothered by cheating is what is revolting. It sounds like your excuse is that there is nothing you can do about it so don't worry about it.

you are probably one of those people who use the words hater, snitch or whistleblower whenever cheating is exposed.

I think cheating is so prevalent and open in sports because it helps people win which in turn makes people more money. I have no more illusions about the drug thing. While I understand that ethically, anyone who uses drugs under the current regime is a "cheater," I do not subscribe to the letruns philosophy that it makes them some sort of dodgy rogue who should be branded and strung up on left cross at Golgatha.

Athletes are professionals and in the professional world, success is, sadly, the bottom line. Look at other professions and the incentives to bend or break the rules. Cheating is an epidemic in college and tax evasion is a victimless crime. The tremendous success of young Galen Rupp--at least as far as it can linked to the corporate wealth of Nike--is tainted by business practices that are considered unethical by many. If Rupp were to medal in Japan, would it make it less sweet if his shoes were adorned with a swoosh?

For that matter, if corporate America decided that caffeine was an unfair performance enhancer, then most of us would become users of a banned substance because, like athletes, our livelihood likely depends upon our performance of some skill set. We--and I mean you and I--are part of a dirty world. My point? I think that TXRunnergirl's sincere desire for a "clean" sport is about our culture's need to cleanse ourselves in something pure. Unfortunately, sports is no longer that vehicle (maybe it never was) just as the Church is constantly falling from power.

So, what sports are using drugs? Any of them that can benefit from it. What sports can benefit from it? All of them.

Aardvark wrote:

I doubt there is much drug cheating in curling. Though it is an Olympic sport, and some people would do anything to get a gold medal...

How would one cheat a curling? Heated brooms, perhaps?

Rethinking wrote: tax evasion is a victimless crime.

Bullshit!

If one of your roommates doesn't pay his share of the rent, that's not victimless. The rest of you get screwed.

In the case of tax evasion, sure, it's more diffuse because you've got a millions of roommates and more than a few of them are paying something less than their rightful share. But it's hardly victimless. The rest of us have to pay extra to cover your share, and/or forgo some of the other things we intended to buy this month so we can still pay the bills.

I think that TXRunnergirl's sincere desire for a "clean" sport is about our culture's need to cleanse ourselves in something pure.

That's no doubt a part of it. And sure you can take a smug dismissive stance about that; but it's also possible to fully understand this motivation and still consider it legit. Just because you can take a step back and identify the psychology of the desire doesn't negate the desire nor mean it shouldn't be pursued.

But it's more than that. One far more pragmatic reason to want clean sport is that generally speaking these drugs pose health risks, whether in the short or long term. Athletes have died from EPO; athletes known or suspected to have used steroids often seem to die quite young. Maybe you're OK with having competitions largely decided by which athletes are willing to take on the most risk (or definite harm) to their health by loading up on more chemicals than the next guy. I'm not so OK with that.

As to your first comment, I think that I agree with you about tax evasion. The context of my post is that it is now so common (like cheating in college) that people consider routine. It is one more example of people bending or breaking the rules to benefit themselves monetarily.

You are right the psychology of purity and the need for true heroes has been persistent throughout culture. There are many vehicles for this but--much to my dismay--I do not think professional sports is that vehicle any longer.

I think modern day PED's used under the supervision of a doctor are relatively safe compared with the inherent risk in both life and especially in sports.

Moreover, the risks that college kids take when they cheat or surburban moms when they evade taxes are no less harmful albeit in a different way.

bowling?

Lawn bowling maybe.

? wrote:

bowling?

[quote]

I doubt there is much drug cheating in curling. Though it is an Olympic sport, and some people would do anything to get a gold medal...

All the Canadian curlers are heavy users of Tim Horton's Coffee! Caffeined to the eyeballs!

What about the professional video gamers, they have to be on something like amphetamines!

Rethinking wrote:

For that matter, if corporate America decided that caffeine was an unfair performance enhancer, then most of us would become users of a banned substance

You made good points about humanity and whether morals really exist or not....the only problem i had with you post is the point about caffeine.

because it is a banned substance in ncaa and international competitions...in fact not to long ago elena meyer from south africa tested positive for caffeine.