PEDs / Steroid in Sports: Where Do You Stand?

[Roy H.]

PEDs should be allowed for recovery but barred in competition unless all competitors have equal access to them - this is obviously unsustainable and unenforceable.

I think another member mentioned something like this, as well.

How do you define "recovery"?  What if it's something like Timelord's knee last season, where he's trying to play through pain.  At that point, he's both in recovery *and* in competition. 

I think there's obviously a use for PEDs when recovering from surgeries, but I'm also okay with them for day-to-day healing.

At a glance I would say that you'd probably have to come to a league-wide agreement around a mandatory minimum number of game's missed depending on the treatment, but that's mostly from a health perspective (playing through pain is an individual choice, but it's stupid - especially in 2022 when everyone is 'load managed').

edit: for example, Timelord takes Chemical X to help in his back recovery, the CBA says he has to miss X number of days/games after ending his treatment because Chemical X is a PED. I think that's much more honest and above-the-board than just a blanket ban.

That's a fair enough way of doing it.  It becomes sort of like the old-school DL, while players can receive medical care that heals their injuries more quickly.

[Celtics4ever]

They only help the guys who work hard and not everyone has the genes to get big on them.

I have never used them, but I seen quite a few guys try them and waste their money.

I think they have no place in sports save recovery as said above.

[dannyboy35]

  Steroids only bother me when it’s people wearing tee shirts that spell out how hard they work out or clowns on instagram bragging about hard work in the gym. Brag about your physique but not the hard work. I find that insulting. 

[GreenlyGreeny]

I’d say PEDs/steroids should be forbidden from all sports. It will ultimately lead to a more authentic product and send the right message to youth, who have been badly affected by the current tolerance of PEDs (many try them, but it’s a small numbers game to get in the pros so many who try them still don’t make it and have serious health problems in the wake). Even pain regulators should be heavily restricted to ibuprofen and marijuana (no more opioids, no HGH, etc.). Starting with college, everyone should be randomly tested extensively, including occasional follow-up tests to keep everyone on their toes so they don’t think their turn is over for a season after passing a test. A first-time penalty should be half a season. Second strike should be an entire season. Third strike should be a lifetime ban.

[Birdman]

LeBron & Tiger Wood would fail steroid test for sure

[tenn_smoothie]

In professional cycling, stage races like the three tours, Italy, Spain, France, the blood doping that Lance Armstrong did made a huge difference and gave him a ridiculous advantage. On mountain stages, he would just pedal away from the other leaders like he had a motor on his bike. I realize other cyclists during that period were doping as well, but not to the extent or in the way that Armstrong was.

I remember Greg Lemond said that in his last two Tours, he felt a big difference in the peleton than earlier years. Whereas, the early flat stages of the Tour were traditionally used to fine-tune fitness and to ease into the three week race, he saw riders at full speed right from the first few days. He attributed it to blood doping, which increases oxygen levels, vital in endurance competitions. Lemond eventually became a critic of Armstrong and publicly offered data to support his claim that the guy was cheating. Lemond was vilified, but in the end was proven right. He remains the lone American to win the Tour de France ('86, '89' 90).

[Moranis]

PEDs should be allowed for recovery but barred in competition unless all competitors have equal access to them - this is obviously unsustainable and unenforceable.

I think another member mentioned something like this, as well.

How do you define "recovery"?  What if it's something like Timelord's knee last season, where he's trying to play through pain.  At that point, he's both in recovery *and* in competition. 

I think there's obviously a use for PEDs when recovering from surgeries, but I'm also okay with them for day-to-day healing.

At a glance I would say that you'd probably have to come to a league-wide agreement around a mandatory minimum number of game's missed depending on the treatment, but that's mostly from a health perspective (playing through pain is an individual choice, but it's stupid - especially in 2022 when everyone is 'load managed').

edit: for example, Timelord takes Chemical X to help in his back recovery, the CBA says he has to miss X number of days/games after ending his treatment because Chemical X is a PED. I think that's much more honest and above-the-board than just a blanket ban.

That's a fair enough way of doing it.  It becomes sort of like the old-school DL, while players can receive medical care that heals their injuries more quickly.

I know in the UFC, you can go off of the USADA testing.  You have to go back on a certain amount of time before your next fight (it is several months given the nature of the sport and shelf life of the drugs).  The testing in the fight game is far more frequent than the other sports and more regulated, but I do think something like that could be implemented for the other major sports.  So if you are out of competition, you can use, but need to go back into testing a certain period of time before you compete again.  What that time is may be sport related, but it does seem like something that could be looked at, especially for season ending or off season recovery from injuries. 

It would also help with infertility issues as one of the drugs given to someone to boost fertility are PED's.  I know a few players have alleged that is why they failed tests in the past.  If you could do that without issue in the off season, that would be nice.