i am tired of the knock against performance enhancing drugs. in every arguement i have read they fail to address that fact that the user did not merely use the drugs and become a better athlete overnite. performance enhancing drungs are able to enhance ones performance only if one is willing to put the time and energy into continued training. It is only then that a benifit can be derived. By suggesting that i use an inhaler to help me win a single race, that just doesn't happen.

What have we become?
Our self-image; once self-styled, is now wholy created by popular culture and on sale at the mall. We are so embarassed and ashamed to wallow in our own mediocrity that we demand our children not suffer the same fate. And the price? We forget that when we tell them to "be like Mike", we mean practice every day for a decade, stay clean, and make correct choices. If; after that time, you have been blessed with talent and skill, you might become a star. We also forget them two important details: 1. There are millions of other kids just like them out there with the same dream. 2. To fail at that dream is not to fail at life.
Athletes used to be individuals with a love for their chosen sport, and a drive to win. Now our champions are chemical-enhanced, uber-developed young men and women who are equally adept as spokespersons for nike, coke(2 meanings), or gatorade. How can we not expect our children to cheat if we only rejoice champions? And when our champions turn out to have the conscience of a hangman, who are we to blame them? I say its better to be a unique unknown than a common celebrity.

When the only option to compete with the other athletes is to take drugs, then the temptation turns into necessity. If all other athletes are taking drugs, or at least the majority of them, it becomes essential to one's success in that particular sport. I'm in now way supporting the use of performance enhancing drugs, but that reality now exists. The only challenge now is how to hide the traces of the drug in the body during testing. It's a sad state in sports today. The use of drugs in professional sports is even greater than the Olympics due to lack of testing. Which means that if you plan to make it to the NHL, start using performance enhancers at 14-15 years old if you even want a chance to make it.

Hollow victories. Feeling pressure to win is not the same as having a will to win.

So long as we maintain the attitude that second place makes you the first loser, and we pound these ideas into the heads of our children as soon as they come to understand the nature of competition, then kids will cheat. It's sad that so many youngsters would risk their health in this way -- any drugs of this sort taken before full maturity can have devastating effects on the growing body -- but they yearn to feel accepted and valued. For some, the only way to gain that feeling is by collecting championships and/or gold medals. Lord help us all if we can't do something to help these misguided young athletes who no longer have the excuses Giambi et. al had during the Steroid Era of Major League Baseball.