Cheating in sports

[RaymondG]

Why do they even need a guy to sign to the pitcher? Can't the pitcher decide how to throw on his own?

The catcher needs to know what is coming before it is thrown, to have a better chance of catching it. He prepares for a 90mph fast ball down the middle, differently than a 60mph curve ball in the dirt. imagines never knowing which would be thrown at any given time.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

You may not like baseball, you may not care about baseball at all. BUT YOU BETTER START CARING ABOUT CHEATING IN BASEBALL - and everywhere else.

Really the scandal was just pertaining to them getting caught, anyone with even the most basic knowledge of human physiology already knew that a guy in his mid-late 30's wasn't naturally putting on 35 lbs of lean mass over course of 12 months...with regards to other sports, it's also well known that having an FFMI (Fat Free Mass Index) over 26 is highly unlikely to be able to be obtained without some sort of exogenous hormone or drug use.

In order for it to truly be "cheating" in a sport, it would have to imply that they were doing something that most of the other guys weren't doing that was giving them an unfair advantage over the other players.

Lying about the steroid use? Sure, there's an ethical complaint there...however, cheating? I'm not in the least convinced that Conseco, Bonds, Mcguire, and Sosa were outliers with regards to using performance enhancing drugs in pro sports.

 

[Ricky M]

Really the scandal was just pertaining to them getting caught, anyone with even the most basic knowledge of human physiology already knew that a guy in his mid-late 30's wasn't naturally putting on 35 lbs of lean mass over course of 12 months...with regards to other sports, it's also well known that having an FFMI (Fat Free Mass Index) over 26 is highly unlikely to be able to be obtained without some sort of exogenous hormone or drug use.

In order for it to truly be "cheating" in a sport, it would have to imply that they were doing something that most of the other guys weren't doing that was giving them an unfair advantage over the other players.

Lying about the steroid use? Sure, there's an ethical complaint there...however, cheating? I'm not in the least convinced that Conseco, Bonds, Mcguire, and Sosa were outliers with regards to using performance enhancing drugs in pro sports.

Way to miss the point

 

[bèlla]

People vote with their wallets. That’s the best way to get a business to pay attention. As long as fans continue to patronize sports in spite of the violations mentioned in this thread. Nothing will change.

We had a ringside seat to this with the NFL. Kneeling affected the bottom line. The recent ruling by the Olympic Committee reenforces the same.

What do you plan to do? Is the thread the whole of your involvement?

~Bella

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Way to miss the point

I didn't miss the point...the point you're trying to make is that if we normalize "lying/cheating" in sports, it'll be a slippery slope into normalizing it in other areas. I simply disagree with that point and think that putting so much stock into professional athletes is the original problem, therefore, I don't care if they use steroids. It's their bodies, if they're willing to exchange 20 years of their life later, for being able to be better at a game now, who am I to tell them no.

That still ties in with what I stated, which is that it's sports obsession, if people are looking up to athletes as "role models" and "thought leaders" in the first place, they're looking in the wrong place.

The fact that the steroid scandal (IE: this guy took something to hit a ball far) in baseball ended up in front of the senate, but an armed robbery is tried by a local prosecutor and overseen by a small time district judge shows how far out of whack things are.

...furthermore, it's a slap in the face to victims of real crime and ethics violations.

 

[Ricky M]

I didn't miss the point...the point you're trying to make is that if we normalize "lying/cheating" in sports, it'll be a slippery slope into normalizing it in other areas.

...furthermore, it's a slap in the face to victims of real crime and ethics violations.

Lying/cheating IS already normalized in other areas. In no small part because of people who look the other way. That's one point.

So, we should forgive lesser crimes, like writing someone a traffic ticket, because it's a slap in the face of someone who's been subjected to bigger crime like rape?

You sir, are part of the problem. And so far out there you're going on the ignore list.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Lying/cheating IS already normalized in other areas. In no small part because of people who look the other way. That's one point.

So, we should forgive lesser crimes, like writing someone a traffic ticket, because it's a slap in the face of someone who's been subjected to bigger crime like rape?

You sir, are part of the problem. And so far out there you're going on the ignore list.

It's not an airport, you don't need to announce your departure from the conversation...

I never said anything about forgiving lesser crimes...if that's what you took away from my post, there are some reading comprehension issues there. Seems like you just want to be mad about something that's particularly important to you, and are getting frustrated when everyone else isn't sharing your passion for it.

The reason why it's a slap in the face is because if we're going to say "cheating in a ball game is so bad that we need to tie up congress's time to address it", but then say to an armed robbery victim "the local DA will get to it when they get to it", that is a slap in the face because it means, as a society, people are taking nonsensical things far more seriously than actual crimes with victims.

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm convinced that most professional athletes are getting some "chemical assistance" to play they way they do.

At the end of the day, it's a game that really has no impact on my day to day life.

The "steroid scandal" was kind of joke.

It was classified as "these select few people are cheating", but in reality, most of them were doing it, the only people who were labelled as "cheaters" were the few who got caught. Drug testing (with the way it's currently carried out) is a joke in professional sports.

I'd encourage anyone to watch the documentary "Bigger, Stronger, Faster". They interview the guy who was in charge of anti-doping for the Olympics (that are supposed to have some of the most rigorous standards in that regard) and he flat out admits that they're told to squash the results of certain tests if the end result is going to hurt the bottom line.

Biological enhancement in baseball is getting more common. Older pitchers are going to Germany to get stem-cell and platelet injections in their shoulders so they can keep playing past what was typical in the past.

 

[durangodawood]

Biological enhancement in baseball is getting more common. Older pitchers are going to Germany to get stem-cell and platelet injections in their shoulders so they can keep playing past what was typical in the past.

Pretty soon we're going to reach peak-sports.....where competition doesnt even make sense anymore.

 

[Ricky M]

Like Charlie Harper once said, people will pay good money to watch a meat-covered robot knock a ball out of the park