ODB,
>Regaining your best form and dealing with chronic injury/soreness is a problem every player faces, so how could you say it wasn't cheating when they were trying to do it to overcome a hurdle that their peers would have a harder time doing without the drugs? <
IMO, there is a difference between performance enhancement and performance recovery. That's my only point.
There are all kinds of drugs, treatments, injections etc.. that professional athletes take to relieve pain, soreness, stiffness etc.. so they can compete at their normal level. No one complains about that other stuff.
The reason why steroids, testosterone, HGH etc... are viewed more critically is that they can be used for performance enhancement. They can make an athlete better than he was/is.
I'm not a doctor and can't comment much about this specific case because I don't even know who took what, how often, for how long, and how effective it would be etc....
I believe none of this stuff was illegal at the time though. So it has really been about protecting reputations until now (lying under oath is now also an issue).
I simply "suspect" that guys like Pettite and Clemens are of a different category than many other athletes that have used steroids and other performance enhancers. I don't think they were trying to enhance performance. There isn't much evidence of it. I think they were trying to overcome injuries, etc... quickly. That's clearly what the evidence indicates in the Pettite case.
I'm not sure professional sports can or should distinguish between the two, but I see the difference. |
