I suspect this has already discussed, but… I just saw a TV commercial mentioning that Tiger Woods has had laser surgery on his eyes to improve his golfing skills. Why is this any different from a baseball player taking steroids to maintain or improve his baseball skills?
Would you say wearing glasses was cheating? 
Drugs are banned and laser surgery is not.
Presumably the reasoning is that massive steroid use is bad for you, but laser surgery is good.
Laser surgery or glasses are used to correct a defect. Steroids take you beyond your natural genetic limits.
ETA; gotta type faster.
I know, hence my question: Why is one banned and the other not?
If the reason is that one is bad for me and the other is not, what business is it of the authorities what I do with my body?
[quote=“runner pat, post:3, topic:471919”]
Laser surgery or glasses are used to correct a defect. Steroids take you beyond your natural genetic limits.
What about taking vitimins? Or engaging in exercize programs to build up my muscles beyond their natural size?
Moving thread from IMHO to The Game Room.
Vision correction isn’t banned because it wouldn’t be possible to do so in a way that made any sort of sense. You’d have to ban wearing glasses.
Steroids are banned (in baseball) largely for reasons of public relations; the perception of the sport is harmed by the perception that players use steroids. IUt’s worth noting that baseball ALSO makes a fait hairy deal about banning the use of drugs like cocaine and marijuana, even though those things don’t confer any measurable benefit on your ability to play baseball. IMHO, an employer has no business asking me what I do for fun in my spare time, but nonetheless baseball started policing drug use during the drug craze and can’t drop it now for fear of a PR backlash.
So the answer to your question is that one is banned and the other is not because the paying customers want one banned and don’t care about the other.
[quote=“Ronald_C.Semone, post:5, topic:471919”]
Vitamins have little or no effect beyond your daily requirements. Some are potentially lethal. Steroids are about building muscle beyond your natural limits.
This has nothing to do with the “authorities”. The NFL, MLB, NHL, etc. are all private enterprises and can choose to regulate whatever they so choose. Cynically the reason steroids are banned is because they are unpopular and those league priority is keeping the fans, i.e. paying customers, happy.
Lasik is analogous to ACL/Tommy John surgery, not steroids. The civil liberties argument is a pointless strawman. Now, there is debate as to whether PED are clinically harmful in the long term is a subject of debate. One day they might be viewed differently, but right now advertisers and ticket buyers want them banned and therefore the leagues are going to do it.
No, steriods are banned because they are illegal and they’re illegal because they cause great harm. Watch the NOVA program on East Germany’'s use of steroids and you’ll understand the biological harm that it caused the atheletes. It was substantial.
You don’t seem to understand the nuance here at all. First off, “steroids” is a very general term that includes a vast range of legal and illegal substances. The steroids of the 80’s East German Olympic teams have essentially nothing in common with the varieties used today. Even so, many of the negative effects reported from that blatant abuse have been debated, I don’t personally have an opinion on it, but experts have disagreed. Correlation != Causation. Many of the new designer steroids have not been made illegal and even more are routinely prescribed by doctors and could be prescribed to athletes legally if the Leagues allowed it. Many people believe that the modern variety of steroids could be of great benefit to the elderly and people with various degenerative diseases. Some even think that used in moderation they can keep healthy people young longer and live healthier, this is a minority view and research is ongoing in the face of negative political pressure. Lastly, “Performance Enhancing Drugs” is a concept that reaches much farther than “steroids” and includes many over the counter drugs and non-steroid supplements.
Pain Meds and Opiates are controlled substances but they are used widely in all sports. The Law has very little to do with it, it’s simply politics and PR, for better or worse.
Actually many golfers are getting “enhanced” laser surgery. It is beyond 20/20. At least that is what I read.
20/20 vision? You might just be batting average Must be legal. they are all doing it.
:rolleyes:
20/20 is by definition average vision. I’m 20/5 and haven’t been “enhanced” at all. Do you even read what you cite?
Well, he reads but he doesn’t have very good vision…
On the other hand, some players naturally produce more human growth hormone than others.
Should everyone be allowed to use just enough HGH to catch up to the most naturally advantaged?
In principle, using HGH to enhance your HGH level to the level of the most naturally gifted is similar to using surgery to enhance your vision to the level of the most naturally gifted.
The difference is that fans currently do not like the idea of watching all HGH-fueled players, and don’t really care about surgery to enhance vision.
But there is not necessarily a contradiction here. Most fans are not against HGH use because of some general principle against enhancing oneself, so even if the principle is roughly the same… so what?
He is better than 20-20. That is enhanced. He is 20-15. He sees from 20 feet what a 20-20 does at 15.
Sure. But why is one considered “unfair” by the fans and the other not?
One’s illegal and is largely harmful as practiced by athletes like Bonds - few people, aside from Jose Canseco and a few crooked doctors, argues otherwise. Surgery to improve vision is completely legal and not harmful (although it does have some negative side effects). You also need some contacts to get illegal steroids, because by definition they’re not available to everyone. Anybody can have laser vision surgery done unless there’s some other medical reason not to do so.
Personally I do not care what they put in their bodies to play sports better. That is their business. Like abortion. I have no right to tell them what to do with their bodies.
As a spectator, it makes the game better. Baseball was fun when they were on their way to a hundred HR seasons. I do not care if they surgically attach flippers to swimmers feet ,if they go faster.
The handicapped runner makes me wonder how fast and how high is possible if they attach short ones to olympians. Go for it.
There is a lot of money ahead for them.