Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Case for Steroids In Sports


By Matt Hurst
@ThrowbackAttack

At what point does the public stop caring about headlines?

Look at almost any news cycle – be it in sports, or news or entertainment. There is the immediate interest, the follow-up reporting to keep you hooked, a resolution and then we’re on to the next one.

Whether it is constant wars and militant uprisings in the Middle East or parts of Africa, school shootings in the U.S., the latest with Britney Spears or a fake dead girlfriend, at some point we stop caring about the splashy headlines because there’s going to be something else to attract our attention.

That’s where we are with performance-enhancing drugs.
On Tuesday there were not one, but two PED-related stories that came out within hours of each other and momentarily drew some attention on Twitter and online. Yet seeing another set of athletes involved in a steroid scandal is no longer interesting or revolting. It’s become far too common and at this point it’s too easy to believe everything (deer antler spray barely registered a blip, right?), shrug your shoulders and assume that the majority of professional athletes in any sport are juiced.

And why wouldn’t they be?

The penalties are far too light – even baseball’s – for the athletes not to take risks and why would they give a damn if they get caught? They still get paid. The juice is definitely worth the squeeze.
Then it’s always a three-part process:


1. Deny steroid claims; discuss how hard you work out and that you’ve never tested positive.
2. Go into hiding as evidence builds; repeat step one in any interview.
3. Come clean; apologize, knowing the public will forgive you.
Part 3 of the PED Process.

Rather than feign anger or act surprised, as fans we should stop caring about steroid use.  Whatever rules are in place to prevent steroid use and clean up a sport, those who want to cheat will do so. They will find ways around it. Just think about how long it would take you, right now, to get a bag of marijuana, which is illegal in 48 states. And you’re probably devoid of any hook-ups or insider secrets that these athletes have in getting PEDs.

So let’s treat sports as what they are at the highest levels – entertainment.

Going to a game is like going to the movies. You pay for a ticket and hope to be entertained for a few hours. Vince McMahon runs a very successful empire on ‘roided up entertainment. Instead of creating the XFL, he should have created the SSL – Steroid Sports Leagues.

Tell me you wouldn’t want to watch players who are as juiced as possible doing amazing things in a sport. This would pull the cover off of everything. Strangely enough, it would legitimatize records and accomplishments because there would be a clear separation.

(Quick tangent – for those who are ever worried about records, then you’re not thinking to the times when baseball was segregated, when football didn’t emphasize the forward pass – or if they did, then the rules in place to accompany it – or when basketball didn’t have three-point lines. The game changes, folks.)
You mean a guy can play a punishing sport for 17 years,
be dominant in it, tear his triceps, come back
in the same season and we are supposed to believe he's clean?

We already don’t care that football players are using performance-enhancing drugs the way kids go through a bag of Skittles. Think about it – we don’t care whenever an NFL player gets popped for PED’s and is given a four-game suspension. It barely registers, something that’s in the agate part of the Sports section. There has never been a star busted in the NFL for steroid use, leading one to believe that the most powerful league in sports uses mediocre players as sacrificial lambs, suspending these lesser players to claim the league cares about this issue, likely hiding positive tests from the stars. Because, really, who would miss a third-string middle linebacker vs. a starting quarterback?

Look around the NBA – you really think that league is clean? And while there isn’t a regular test for human growth hormone, a pro athlete would be foolish not to use it during a long season and after working out to stay as fresh as possible.

The solution is not to make more rules and more tests, but to allow all professional athletes to use performance enhancers.

Of course, there is a trickle down effect based on this and here’s how to assure that youths, college athletes and minor leaguers don’t use, too. Put all the efforts of drug testing into the lower levels. Make it as clean as possible. Enforce a one-and-done policy where if you get caught, you’re banned for life. That way when someone makes it to the upper echelon, they did it on pure talent. Now, feel free to juice up and do things the human body wasn’t designed to.
It's all entertainment, right?

As fans, we’ll grab our popcorn and be entertained. If we want a clean version, we can watch college sports or the minor leagues. If we want to witness freaks of nature – once a compliment of a player and now a legitimate term – we’ll tune in.

As Maximus shouted in Gladiator: “Are you not entertained?”

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A free agent fan picks his first favorite hockey team, part I


-- by @Josh_Suchon

The hockey lockout is over. That means it’s time for me to get serious about selecting my favorite hockey team. I’ve never had a favorite hockey team. I’ve never followed the sport much. But it’s one of the items on my list of “40 things to do before turning 40 years old” and it’s time to do it.

Picking a favorite team from scratch isn’t easy. I want to do it for the right reason. I don’t want to take the easy way out. I don’t want to dis-own my team after a couple seasons. I want this decision to be for life. I want to have a unique connection to my new favorite hockey team.

I started the process by eliminating teams for various principles. Here is that list:



Eliminated because I’m a proud Californian who can’t possibly like teams from these cities (5): NY Rangers, Philadelphia, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Boston.

Eliminated because the city is lame (3): Columbus, Buffalo, Sunrise/Florida.

Eliminated because the NHL shouldn’t have a team in that city (3): Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Carolina.

Eliminated because they already have enough fans and don’t need any more (3): Detroit, Montreal, Toronto.

Eliminated because one of my good friends already loves that team for whatever reason, and I want to be unique around here, and I want to talk shit when my teams plays his team (2): St. Louis, Vancouver.

Eliminated because my St. Louis Blues fan friend would never talk to me again if I picked that team (1): Chicago.

Eliminated because they just won the Stanley Cup, so if I pick them, I look like the biggest Bandwagon fan ever (1): LA Kings.

Eliminated because if I’m not a LA Kings fan, I can’t pick the team down the freeway because driving on I-5 is a major pain in the ass, and I hated the fucking movie that inspired this team (1): Anaheim

Eliminated because I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and I already have enough favorite teams from that region, and I don’t live there anymore, so I need to expand my horizons more (1): San Jose

That eliminated 20 of the 30 teams. So now we’re down to 10.

Out of those 10, I wrote a letter to five of them and mailed it on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. 

I won’t list which five teams are on the list here because I didn’t want the teams to know their competition. I asked each of the five finalists the same five questions:

* The most basic: why should I become a fan of your team?

* What should I expect from the team and the front office if I become a fan?

* Part of picking a new favorite hockey team is falling in love with the city and visiting there often to see my favorite team. What should I expect from the city, and what should I know about it?

* I don’t want to be associated with a bunch of idiot fans. How would you describe what most of your fans are like?

* Has your team, or any of your players, made a video for the “You Can Play Project?” If not, how come?

Yes, I want to be courted and wooed by a team. No, this isn’t a ploy to see whatever team sucks up to me the most. There are lots of factors in choosing a favorite team and whatever response I get (if any) is only one factor.

Of course, I realize that after a lengthy lockout, hockey teams will be doing everything they can to win back their fans and secure new fans. The timing is actually really good for me to pick a favorite hockey team for the first time. Still, it’s not about who sends me the most free stuff. I want to make an informed decision.

For the five teams not eliminated earlier on this list, but who did not receive letters from me in the mail, they aren’t completely out of the running. If I’m not satisfied with the response from the current Final Five, then I’ll re-open my search again.

The process has begun.

The ball, err, puck is in the hands, err, stick of five teams.

This free agent hockey fan will announce his decision a few weeks into the season.

To be continued …


Sunday, January 6, 2013

Which college football bowl games to eliminate


How many college football bowl games are too many? Well, we know for sure that the current 35 bowl games is a ridiculous number.

On the latest Out of Ink podcast, Josh Suchon and Matt Hurst discuss how we got to 35, what's the ideal number, which bowls should be eliminated, and what the criteria should be to get eligible for a bowl game.



Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Should there be sports played on holidays?


In the latest Out of Ink podcast, Matt Hurst and Josh Suchon debate whether it's a good thing there are so many sporting events played on Holidays.