Admission Of Guilt

It seems like over the last few years, we have seen a pretty large increase in the amount of sports figures “admitting” guilt about using performance enhancing drugs and substances. Not quite a coincidence that testing is continually getting better and people are coming forward with previous “secret” information. It also seems that the sports world attributes these issues to a select group. They say the problem exists within a certain training facility, or certain strength and conditioning coach, or even just a select group of friends. Baseball issues, they were tied mostly to the BALCO case and the investigation of their lab. Since then, they have focused on a conditioning coach that has come forward with secret information. Olympic sports, they were tied very closely to the BALCO lab also and have focused mainly on the athletes who were connected in some way. Football, basketball, and other sports you may ask? There isn’t much information leaked from those sports…. Yet.

Of course these sports organizations all have drug testing policies and agreements with the player organizations banning all performance enhancing substances. Given that, how do we see athlete after athlete being caught cheating? Shouldn’t they have been caught long ago? The tests are better today yes, but the “designer drugs” haven’t been around for very long. Testing for the old standby enhancements have been around for a long while, it’s just that the players were not caught. How? I can see athletes falling through a crack of random drug testing. Luck can play a part in the procedure. I can also see athletes being smart enough to circumvent testing procedures given the amount of money they make and the medical experience they can “purchase” from outside sources. However, in some instances, testing isn’t random and all athletes are tested in the activity they compete in. Random cannot be a valid argument for missing these players.

What does that leave us? If you have read my book review on Jose Canseco’s latest title “Vindicated,” you probably know a little bit about my stance on the issue of performance enhancing drugs. I believe that those in power in each of these sports carry the major portion of the blame for the destruction of our true athletic arenas. The ownership groups, the associations in power, and the entire business side of the system have “promoted” the use of these substances. Yes, that’s right. They in fact have chosen to “allow” these drugs invade their sporting events. Now, I’m not saying that someone went to each person or group in power and actively asked them if they supported the use of drugs to inflate athletic performance. But, what I am saying that the people in these powerful positions are not mindless drones. When you have sports records that have stood for many years being broken as easy as a New Year’s Resolution time and time again, rational thinking leads to the only true answer. Performance enhancing drugs are altering the playing field.

It’s really that simple. Knowledgeable and rational owners, groups, and people of power KNEW their sports were affected. They KNOWINGLY turned a blind eye towards the use because of the major influx of money into their coffers. Ever hear of the word accomplice? These people are accomplices in this issue. That means they are at fault, just as much or more than the players themselves. Yes, we see players on television crying and “admitting” their guilt. But, have you once seen an owner, group, or any people in a position of power admit to anything that was and is currently wrong with their sport? They WANT us to believe they were innocent bystanders. The athletes were always the bad guy. Are we, the public, really that gullible? I sure hope not. The fans of sporting leagues are very knowledgeable and after the first little bit of excitement from records being chased and broken, they have realized something has gone wrong.

Athletes smashing whatever record you can throw out there, it’s exciting…. Once. Having records continually broken by juiced up athletes destroys the sport’s integrity and fans lose interest. Fans love the sport they follow. Fans love the competition of sport. Fans love the integrity of the sport’s rules. Fans do not love cheaters destroying everything their sport stands for. How can we continue to be fans of sporting leagues and athletics where the bulk of the best players are not a true representation of their skill level? We are watching a video game for all intents and purposes. Players and the organizations are manipulating the sport for one goal, money. Money rules the sporting field as we know it. Not competition, not the race for a championship, and definitely not the pursuit of excelling with your own personal athletic gifts.

Sports have become a lottery. The tickets to win are in the performance enhancing drugs. Players feel the need to “juice” because they don’t feel they are on an even playing field. They fall into the trap of thinking “everyone else does it so I have to also.” The people in charge of the leagues secretly promote the usage of drugs because it brings big money to their sport. More people attend the event, more people buy apparel, and more advertisers spend money to be shown during the event. It’s a never ending spiral all focused on the dollar. Money turns to power and leads to greed. All of these things tempt everyone involved into being “ok” with performance drugs. Don’t get caught and we’ll act like we don’t know anything. If you get caught, you are on your own. Your best bet is to deny until the last possible moment when the evidence mountain gets so high that you have no choice. Then, and only then, do you “admit” your guilt. Take it like a man. Get yourself on television during a primetime interview and admit your guilt about how you were “forced” to cheat to compete. Take the heat for everyone involved and you can find a new money train in the form of a memoir about how your life as an athlete was horrible and hard.

The public will eat it alive. Fans want to believe the athletes are sorry for their mistakes. Our nature as forgiving fans gets taken advantage of. Yes, the athlete will be forever tarnished, but the sport itself lives on. The owners know this. They sacrifice the individual players because they KNOW the money will continue beyond any one player. Throw the athlete to the wolves, but always protect the interests of those in power. Yes, you hear small statements here and there from non-players about the use of drugs within sports, but they are few and far between. These statements of course are not coming from people with much power and influence. They are the scapegoats that the true powers use to “acknowledge” an issue and brush it under the rug. Even when you see the powers that be talking about drugs in their sports, they severely lower the usage percentages and talk about how it’s just a small segment of the athletic community involved. The sport’s integrity is still strong and cannot be affected by such a few selfish players. Isn’t that what they want you to believe?

When the owners and powers of athletics are held accountable for their actions, only then will we see drug use in our sports decline. Until that day, every athlete that competes has a cloud of suspicion over them when chasing records. It’s only rational. How can we be true fans of our sport if we can’t fully trust our sport itself? We can’t. Eventually, the revenue will decline because we will become disenfranchised and stop “supporting” our sports organizations. Remove the abundance of money and it will force every sport to return to its original doctrine, competition on a fair level.