Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

About steroids and professional sports...

It is no surprise to me to hear that the Texas Rangers struggled with steroid abuse. Individual players racked up killer numbers, but the team never came together to achieve a victory.

Baseball is a team sport, and requires working together every day to master drills and practice defensive plays and work together to improve batting and pitching and all the tiny little details that separate pros from everyone else.

Steroids give an individual player a boost in their stats. They hit more home runs. They run faster. They throw harder.

They get a bump in their testosterone levels that makes that individual harder to work with day in, day out.

Team sports don't need individual stars. They need a team that plays to its strengths and compensates for individual weaknesses.

Players juiced themselves to boost stats and improve their income-level. They did this, knowing it would destroy their long-term health for short-term gains.

They did this, and diminished their ability to play as a team of players, instead of individuals chasing stats and paychecks.

Why would you play the game if you aren't trying to win the World Series? How can you not see the 'roid rage tendencies diminishing your ability to get to the World Series?

Jocks can be so dense sometimes.

I want to write a story about symphony orchestra players "juicing" themselves to improve their performance with mind-roids...

1 comment:

Shawn Scarber Deggans said...

Give "Lester Young and the Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues" by Gord Sellar a read.