Except that professional sport, full stop, destroys your body in the long run, regardless of whether you use steroids or not. Old boxers are pretty much expected to have no brain left (vide Muhammed Ali); old football players have pretty much destroyed knees; and so on.
Keep in mind that anabolic steroids are far from the only option for enhancing an athlete's performance. EPO, HGH and analogous or homologous blood doping are running rampant in sport.
Endurance athletes tend to suffer from an enlarging of the heart, whether they dop or not. Once a pro retires, the heart - as I understand it - can return to its normal size.
Far too often, though, there is no "long run" for users. Athletes in their 30s and 40s are dying of cardiac arrest at staggering rates. There appears to be a correlation to these deaths, and the advent of EPO. Erythropoietin effectively boosts hct levels, at the same time, thickening the blood.
You can contract HIV and Hepatitis through blood doping.
Human Growth Hormone is perhaps losing popularity, because it can cause gigantism. The jaws, forehead, feet, hands and organs of athletes can continue to grow with use. FloJo's autopsy is heartbreaking, in hindsight.
"Except that professional sport, full stop, destroys your body in the long run, regardless of whether you use steroids or not"
To me that sounds just like smokers who rationalize and say "well we're all gonna die of something".
While I agree that professional sports is hard on the body, it usually isn't life threatening. Why is it hard to make the distinction between bad knees and say a brain tumor ala Lyle Alzedo? Look at the number of early 20 year old professional cyclists who have died as a result of all the blood doping being done - that ain't natural nor is it an inevitable consequence of being a professional cyclist.
My favorite part is that he cites Zizek as a proof-text for his approach to the question.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 12- 9-04 5:28 PM
That is great; it made me laugh.
How'd you comment so fast? I just hit "Publish" about 15 seconds ago.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 12- 9-04 5:29 PM
I'm "writing a paper," so I am absolutely up to the second on all the hottest blogs.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 12- 9-04 6:34 PM
How about one causes brain turmors/basically breaks down your body in the long run and the other one doesn't.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 12- 9-04 11:53 PM
Except that professional sport, full stop, destroys your body in the long run, regardless of whether you use steroids or not. Old boxers are pretty much expected to have no brain left (vide Muhammed Ali); old football players have pretty much destroyed knees; and so on.
Posted by Maynard Handley | Link to this comment | 12-10-04 1:43 PM
Right. Lot's of playing and training is hell on the body in the long-run. It's not so easy to make that distinction hold up.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 12-10-04 2:28 PM
Keep in mind that anabolic steroids are far from the only option for enhancing an athlete's performance. EPO, HGH and analogous or homologous blood doping are running rampant in sport.
Endurance athletes tend to suffer from an enlarging of the heart, whether they dop or not. Once a pro retires, the heart - as I understand it - can return to its normal size.
Far too often, though, there is no "long run" for users. Athletes in their 30s and 40s are dying of cardiac arrest at staggering rates. There appears to be a correlation to these deaths, and the advent of EPO. Erythropoietin effectively boosts hct levels, at the same time, thickening the blood.
You can contract HIV and Hepatitis through blood doping.
Human Growth Hormone is perhaps losing popularity, because it can cause gigantism. The jaws, forehead, feet, hands and organs of athletes can continue to grow with use. FloJo's autopsy is heartbreaking, in hindsight.
Posted by girl27 | Link to this comment | 12-10-04 8:45 PM
It's funny, for the longest time I thought "gigantism" was just a clever word invented by the writers of The Simpsons.
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 12-11-04 8:02 AM
"Except that professional sport, full stop, destroys your body in the long run, regardless of whether you use steroids or not"
To me that sounds just like smokers who rationalize and say "well we're all gonna die of something".
While I agree that professional sports is hard on the body, it usually isn't life threatening. Why is it hard to make the distinction between bad knees and say a brain tumor ala Lyle Alzedo? Look at the number of early 20 year old professional cyclists who have died as a result of all the blood doping being done - that ain't natural nor is it an inevitable consequence of being a professional cyclist.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 12-13-04 6:58 PM
FloJo's autopsy is heartbreaking, in hindsight.
I thought the autopsy showed she died from an epileptic seizure. Did I miss something?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 12-13-04 7:23 PM