Link of the Day: Drug Use in Sports Becomes an Epidemic – 40 Years Ago
14 August 2009
Fantastic find by Deadspin: An SI article from June 23, 1969 by Bil Gilbert probing into the explosion of pills, capsules, vials and needles washing across the sports landscape.
For all the alarmists out there who complain that the innocence is sports is dying and that things were better in the good old days, this Bud’s for you.
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I get it. its like that saying that “Kids today are disrespectful and lazy. They don’t work hard. Not like the old days.” Blah Blah Blah. Then you find out it was written by a Roman in 100 B.C.
Still, the “innocence” is not the point. It’s whether you believe in cheating or not. Whether it is in pill form, or scuffing the ball, or stealing sings. Cheating has been around since forever—whether you care or not is up to you. Some “innocent” time” has nothing to do with it.
People have always looked for a way to gain an edge. So if people have always cheated, then cheating is always the norm. And if cheating was, is and always will be the norm, I’m inclined to shrug my shoulders and enjoy on-field performances, without leading any witch hunts.
Want to have a drug policy in place to at least try to curb this? Sure, go ahead. Beyond that, meh. Save the outrage for the wife beaters and the drunk drivers.