Drug Testing

So now that I talked about Steroids and other performance-enhancers, I want to talk about the drug test that can’t detect them. Prior to 2005, most pro leagues didn’t test for performance enhancers on a regular, random basis. The IOC began it in 1967 and the World Anti-Doping Agency then came around in 1999. Working together, the IOC and WADA are finding ways to learn more about what they can do to test more effectively and find ways to enforce their codes.

In pro sports there are different types for each sport. The NHL didn’t have a policy until 2005. They had a new policy negotiated in that latest collective bargaining agreement to make a first offense a 20 game suspension. Second offense would be a 60 game suspension, and a third would be banishment from the league. The NBA has a pretty good policy I think of testing for steroids and street drugs. What I like is the penalties they came up with in the latest CBA of 10 games for first time offense, 25 for the second, and lifetime for the third. They aren’t too much in terms of number of games, which means the player would be more likely to take a risk and do a drug thinking it’s not that bad of a punishment. The MLB put in a new policy as well in 2005 where they have random offseason testing and punishment as well. Their first offense is 50 games, second is 100, and third is a ban. There’s is the best but for some reason no one is getting caught. That could mean everyone is clean, or they aren’t testing enough and the right people. The NFL has the most stringent policy put into place in 1987. They spent $10 million on steroid abuse programs. They test for recreational drugs and PED all year round. They do six random off season tests that over 40 people have been suspended for.

There are many different ways of getting a drug test. When I was in High School it was going in a cup and handing it to the lady. I had a mouth swab test for a job once which was the worst thing ever because they put this sponge on a stick in your mouth for like 5 minutes and it’s the worst tasting thing ever. I didn’t mind taking the test but I gagged a few times because it tasted so bad! You can also take hair tests, blood tests, or sweat tests. Hair tests seems to be very efficient now because they can detect what you took up to 90 days ago but the best would definitely be a blood test or even a spinal tap.

Here is a link with some info on drug tests: http://www.uatests.com/types-of-drug-tests/
http://www.craigmedical.com/drug_test_faq.htm

http://www.ultimatedetox.co.uk/drug-testing-advice-information/drug-testing.htm

Here is the WADA website as well. Pretty cool: http://www.wada-ama.org/

Performance-Enhancing Substances

The topic of steroids came up in class and this is one of my favorites. I knew people in High School and College who took Steroids. They say the initial use of steriods in High School is 39%! I watched what it did, i saw how they reacted, and how their performance was better. Personally, i have been clean and natural all my life. Ive never been one to take supplement and drink shakes. At my High School we had mandatory Drug Testing for any after school activity. Whether it was football, the band, the chess club, or if you drove to school, you were required to take a mandatory test in August before school started and were then entered into a random poll that would pick names every week to get tested. I didnt mind this so much because i had nothing to hide. I never drank in High School, wasnt taking anything or smoking anything. I could care less. I knew people who were affected by this. Kids quit playing their sport because of testing.

One thing i didnt know about drug testing and Anabolic Steriods is that there are over 100 different types! There is also 500 designer steroids that have altered compounds which cant be detected on a drug test. This amazes me because i thought a drug test could catch anything. Im willing to bet there are tons of baseball players that are on something, especially if there is hundreds of types, most of which cant even be detected! How can something like this be solved?

http://www.ehow.com/about_5426073_types-performanceenhancing-drugs.html

http://www.baseballssteroidera.com/bse-all-performance-enhancing-drugs-list-baseball.html

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/performanceenhancingdrugs/a/AnabolicSteroid.htm

The Media in Sports

One thing that has been getting out of control is the media in sports today. It amazes me when I see a radio station or TV station take something an athlete says, twist it around, and make it their own quote or story. This seems to happen quite often and personally, it’s getting ridiculous. Now since I’m from Pittsburgh, I am going to use another Pittsburgh example to try and get my point across. A few years ago a scrub safety named Anthony Smith for the Steelers was being interviewed in the locker room the week the Steelers played the Patriots and was quoted saying he "Guarantees we will beat the Patriots." Whoa, did he really just say that? Well, not exactly. Here is a quote of what he really said, "We're going to win," Smith said. "Yeah, I can guarantee a win. As long as we come out and do what we got to do. Both sides of the ball are rolling, and if our special teams come through for us, we've got a good chance to win."

Now look at that statement. Yes he does say the words guarantee, but did anyone else read the sentences after? "As long as we come out and do what we got to go." To me, I do not think this is a big deal. He didn’t directly guarantee anything, but since the Patriots were undefeated so far that year, it was headline news. Every station blew it way out of proportion. As a result, Tom Brady got mad and on the first play of the game, he challenged Smith and beat him with a long bomb for a touchdown. It was pretty intense at the time and everyone in Pittsburgh was calling for his head.

Either way, I’m over that, what the point I’m trying to make is that the media plays a huge role in sports and a part of that roll is being taken too far. When Tiger Woods was in the news for his scandal all you saw on every channel was Tiger. When Lindsey Vonn was injured before the Olympics everyone was freaking out about it. That’s all you saw or heard or read was about Lindsey. Yes she is a great athlete, and somehow after a horrible accident (That was my view of her injury because of the media), she comes out and wins a few medals, including a gold! All you heard about was Lindsey during and for a while after they were over. The media chooses to show us these things. Fewer coverage of womens sports, but when Lindsey comes, she gets attention for a few weeks, then shes gone, everyone has forgotten when she is now. Is that fair? You tell me.

Call me crazy, but I refuse to watch Sports Center now especially with the Big Ben and Santonio Holmes cases going on. I can’t even bare to watch it because I’m sick of hearing about it. There is an increasing role in the social media today. If you aren’t careful, you will get in trouble for your Twitter or Facebook. If I were a pro athlete, i'd stay away from the media as much as I could, it’s not safe anymore.

Here’s a few links I read to get the idea: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3142456

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Role-of-Media-in-Sport&id=1012018

Stadium Subsides

So for our debate in our class we are arguing for the public’s money to go towards new stadiums and arenas in our cities for our teams. At first I didn’t really know what my stance was on this subject. I didn’t know too much about it other than our tax money went to PNC Park, Heinz Field, and the new Consol Energy Center. There was a lot of controversy over the new Penguins arena and I remember there was a deal that was supposed to go down about a grocery center in Shenley if the arena actually did go up. I hear there still is no store for the people of Shenley but there certainly is a brand new arena that’s about to open in a few months. This tells me that our money might be used for things most of us enjoy but the fact that there still is a problem with the agreement tells me that the city is just looking out for themselves. Regardless of that situation I still think that the public should definitely be responsible for helping fund the stadiums. After doing my research I concluded that without the public’s help, most stadiums would not be built and teams would most likely relocate to a city that would pay. That I think is one of the biggest factors. The Penguins were very close and ready to relocate to Kansas City or Las Vegas because they were both willing to pay for an arena and are dying for a team. How could the public possibly complain, especially in Pittsburgh, with the recent success the pro teams have seen, minus the Pirates of course! When the Steelers missed out on the playoffs this past year, the city missed out, not lost, but missed out on making around $20 million on merchandise, food, hotels, etc...We bring success to the table, which to me is worth my tax money. People from Pittsburgh are so connected to our teams it’s unreal at times. We live and die by our sports. If they are doing bad, the whole moral of the city goes down, but if we are successful and win Superbowls, the entire city is on one big emotional high that spreads like an unstoppable virus! To truly understand what sports mean to the people of Pittsburgh, you have to be a true citizen who was born and bred Black and Gold. Not every team succeeds but the current trend is that if your team is good, you will get support and people forget about their tax dollars and whether it goes into arena or not. If you stink, the tables are turned. Either way I think that tax payers should help fund them because the cost of paying for a stadium is nothing compared to the feeling of being champions...even though we aren’t even on the team!!!

http://minneapolis.about.com/b/2010/01/14/should-minnesota-pay-for-a-new-stadium-for-the-vikings.htm

http://www.dailyrepublican.com/stadium-understated-cost.html

Pro Athlete Salaries

Yet another topic discussed in my Sport Management class that I was really into was the salaries that professional athletes make to play their sport. Back in the 1950's, the average salary in the NFL was around $10,000-$25,000. This was a lot of money in those days but to us that’s an extremely low income for any person. Today the average salary for an NFL player is around $1.3 million! Could you imagine if an athlete in the 1950's made that kind of money per year? A million dollars was a lot of money back then, today it's not considered to be a whole lot compared to other salaries. In 1970, Pete Maravich, a native of my home town was signed to a $1.9 million dollar contact with the Atlanta Hawks after the NBA draft. That $1.9 was a record high for the NBA and was stretched out during the years he signed for. Today the average NBA player makes $5 million dollars. These kinds of salaries are normal in today’s society but what I really want to know is if professional athletes are making too much money? Personally I do not think so. These men and women are the elite athletes in the world and deserve to make what they are earning. Not everyone can suit up in pads every Sunday and go through what is considered a car wreck playing pro football. Paying someone a couple million to do that job and do it well is worth it. Of course you will have those athletes who completely take advantage of their abilities and earning and flush it all away. Those kinds of people come around and there isn’t much you can do to stop it, but it doesn’t mean every other hard working athlete doesn’t deserve to be paid well. The only sport I consider to be out of control is baseball. I say this because I honestly believe that players Alex Rodriguez don’t deserve $250 million. In 2009 alone he made $33 million. His contribution isn’t that huge to the point where he deserves that kind of money. Yes, he is a good player, but what could that $200 million be put towards that would benefit society? That money could go to abandoned children, cancer research, or even Haiti relief! Do you honestly think that A-Rod is going to spend all of that money?

I found a website that goes through Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Hockey and tells you each team’s salary as well as every player’s individual salary dating back to 2000. This is an awesome and informative site to go on. You can look up your favorite team and favorite players to find out exactly how much they made in whatever year you want to see. It tells you the median salaries, total payrolls, and top 25 as well. Definitely check it out and let me know your views on the topic!

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/teamdetail.aspx?team=9&year=2009

Salary Caps

On a similar subject as my previous post about pro athlete’s salaries, the topic of salary caps is always something on the mind of owners, athletes, and fans. I personally think of it most often when watching or hearing about the Pirates. As most of you know, there is no salary cap in baseball. What a salary cap is is a method of keeping costs down and balance the league. The NFL, NHL, and NBA all have salaries. They are all different but have the same ultimate purpose. Baseball however, doesn’t have any. This is something I really wish they had especially because I am a huge Pirate fan and I would love nothing more than to see them succeed. I don’t know what good would come out of it for the buccos but I would assume it would help us. We don’t have a very high payroll but good teams would be forced to cut their big time players because they couldn’t afford them leaving room for my Pirates to come in and possibly pick up someone good rather than releasing our "star" players. A quote from the ESPN article I found sums up what I am trying to say, "As economists like to point out, if you want less of something, you should put a tax on it -- and player salaries are no exception. Reduce the ability of the richest teams to bid up the price of players and salaries are sure to fall."

Before we talked about salary caps in class, I had a general idea of what they were, but not that they have a bunch of different kinds and what comes with it from the Larry Bird exception to hard and soft caps. I’m glad I know a little more about them now so I at least know what the heck I’m talking about when the subject arises.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=betweenthenumbers/salarycap/060405

http://blog.silive.com/sportsspotlight/2008/11/salary_cap_would_help_major_le.html

Olympics

The Olympic Games are something I personally look forward to watching every two years whether it be the summer games or winter games. I am happy I am going to be able to say when I’m 80 years old that I watched every single Michael Phelps swimming competition in the 2008 Beijing games or when Apollo Ohno raced into speed track history in Vancouver. The Olympics are an event that unites over 120 countries for a very brief, but peaceful amount of time. Back in 2000, the North and South Koreans set their differences aside and walked together under one united flag as one nation. These two countries have been on the brink of war for years and to see them forget about their personal problems and work together to have fun and compete at the highest level in the world at something they all loved was awesome. Although there are many great things that happen in the Olympics, there are just as many controversies or problems in the games. We talked about several different cases dating back to the 1916 games that never occurred because of World War One. We talked about the Atlanta bombings in 1996, the boycotts in 1980 and 1984, but one we never mentioned was probably one of the biggest crimes, in my opinion, in the history of the modern games. Jim Thorpe is considered to be the greatest all around athlete that ever lived. Jim was born in 1888 and lived in Oklahoma. He was a part Native American who dominated every sport he tried. He played college football for Carlisle but also enjoyed Lacrosse, Baseball, and Ball Room Dancing. He led Carlisle to a National Championship against future president Dwight Eisenhower and Army. Eisenhower injured his knee trying to tackle Thorpe and later said, "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."

He was a terrific athlete and played professional Football, Baseball, and Basketball in his life. He participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden where he won both the Decathlon and the Pentathlon. After he won he was awarded the gold medals in his events but later got taken away because it was discovered that he was playing professional baseball and football for money at the same time. They thought that he was only playing for money, not for passion and pride for his nation. Jim was just trying to make an honest living the best way he knew how and that was playing sports. In today’s society you only focus on one major sport. Sometimes athletes can play two professional sports but never at the same time like Jim could. I always thought they took his medals in spite of him, because they were jealous of him. Whatever the reason, I feel this is one of the biggest crimes in the modern Olympics. This guy worked hard and competed at his best to win gold and he deserved it. There was petitioning to get Jim’s medals given back over the years but nothing ever happened. In 1982 the Jim Thorpe Foundation was formed and to help Jim's cause and the US Congress showed support in the foundation. In January of 1983, there was a ceremony that was held for Jim Thorpe as his medals were given back him with his children there to receive in honor of his father’s greatest. Although his gold medals were once again his, they IOC declared him co-champion with another athlete. This to me was the final slap in the face to Jim even though both competitors back then declared Jim the true champion.

If you are unfamiliar with Jim, look him up! He was truly the greatest athlete who ever walked the Earth and deserves to be known.

Here are some articles with some great information about Jim.

http://www.sportsrant.com/top-10-most-controversial-olympic-moments-a3541.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/jim.thorpe/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/