PEDs have no place in athletics at all. Many of them in many cases have had negative long term effects on the athletes health that used them. One of the biggest problems in professional athletics these days is that contracts are loaded with performance based incentives. Hit so many HRs, get so many tackles and you get paid some extra amount. Those types of incentives put the pressure on athletes (especially the ones that aging/slowing down/losing a step) to use illegal substances to get them over the top and get that bonus or to renegotiate an existing contract or to ensure they have a place to play the next year. Babe Ruth didn't need em, Hank Aaron didn't need em.

So in short....NO.

(02-04-2013 07:54 PM)ECUPirated Wrote:  PEDs have no place in athletics at all. Many of them in many cases have had negative long term effects on the athletes health that used them. One of the biggest problems in professional athletics these days is that contracts are loaded with performance based incentives. Hit so many HRs, get so many tackles and you get paid some extra amount. Those types of incentives put the pressure on athletes (especially the ones that aging/slowing down/losing a step) to use illegal substances to get them over the top and get that bonus or to renegotiate an existing contract or to ensure they have a place to play the next year. Babe Ruth didn't need em, Hank Aaron didn't need em.

So in short....NO.

hmmmmm, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Everybody was taking greenies back in the 60s.

I say no only for one reason and I don't think it has been mentioned yet. Where does it stop? If PEDs are allowed in pro sports it will only be a matter of time before they become widely used in college athletics. Then high school. Adolescents should not be taking these types of drugs unless a doctor prescribes them for injuries. Too many side effects to be used recreationally in growing bodies.

I just had a conversation at a meet and greet with Howard Jacobs (the premier doping lawyer in the country) and we discussed many of these issues. He is giving a talk at 3:30 which I am attending that could shed more light on the subject, but some interesting tidbits from the conversation:

-Only about 1/6 of the more than one hundred cases he has handled have been what he would term "intentional cheating." Most others were accidental.

-It is a strict liability offense for most cases, so even if medically a banned substance doesn't actually assist you (deer antler spray), the fact that it contains a banned substance is enough. This is alo interesting from an attempt to cheat even if it is ineffective standpoint.

-He believes that the rules in the NFL (and other sports that operate in the same way) will change because, as it stands now, a violation for a tainted vitamin (accidental) is the same specified suspension (4 games) for a first time offense as injecting HGH. Circumstances don't currently matter, but he believes that will change.

-Interesting to note that, though there are different levels of testing, etc., they almost all use the same labs for testing. The NBA is a bit of an exception, as they use some of their own labs.

I'll post more if anything interesting comes out of his later talk (as long as it doesn't give anything away, of course).

(02-05-2013 12:05 PM)TribeNiner Wrote:  I just had a conversation at a meet and greet with Howard Jacobs (the premier doping lawyer in the country) and we discussed many of these issues. He is giving a talk at 3:30 which I am attending that could shed more light on the subject, but some interesting tidbits from the conversation:

-Only about 1/6 of the more than one hundred cases he has handled have been what he would term "intentional cheating." Most others were accidental.

-It is a strict liability offense for most cases, so even if medically a banned substance doesn't actually assist you (deer antler spray), the fact that it contains a banned substance is enough. This is alo interesting from an attempt to cheat even if it is ineffective standpoint.

-He believes that the rules in the NFL (and other sports that operate in the same way) will change because, as it stands now, a violation for a tainted vitamin (accidental) is the same specified suspension (4 games) for a first time offense as injecting HGH. Circumstances don't currently matter, but he believes that will change.

-Interesting to note that, though there are different levels of testing, etc., they almost all use the same labs for testing. The NBA is a bit of an exception, as they use some of their own labs.

I'll post more if anything interesting comes out of his later talk (as long as it doesn't give anything away, of course).

Interesting