Dopes for Doping?

Today in class we had a short discussion on athlete's doping. Dr. P asked us what are reactions when we hear of such news. Two feelings immediately came to my mind, I am not surprised and is it actually true. Oftentimes we hear athletes fail drug tests for certain substances and their response is that it was not their fault and it must be a mistake. Take outfielder Mike Cameron, Martina Hingis, and pro wrestler Chris Masters as the latest examples.

Mike Cameron was recently suspended for 25 games by Major League baseball for his second violation of a stimulants test. The first violation is not punishable and not made public, so it may have come as a surprise to some that he is a habitual offender or even an offender at all. I must say that I am not surprised. Quite frankly, if any baseball player tested positive I would not be totally surprised, but depeneding on who it is I may feel other emotions such as anger or sadness. Cameron claimed that a substance he was taking may have been tainted. This could be true in fact. It could also be true that he violated the stimulant policy for a second time thus warranting his 25 game suspension. Now regardless of guilt or innocence, "doping" is still rampant in professional sport. Whether or not the system that proves it is legit is another story.

It was reported that Martina Hingis, former tennis great, had tested positive for cocaine for a second time. Surprise, surprise she is denying the positive test. Now she did take a more legitimate and accurate hair test which proved to be negative, but still had 2 urine samples testing positive. Now this I was shocked to hear. A golden girl, future hall of fame tennis player with a potential drug addiction. After careful observation, I must consider the source. A pro athlete in any sport doing any form of illegal substance or narcotic cannot be that far fetched. With all this exposure to fame and money, the public should not be surprised that athletes test positive for these substances.

The WWE's Chris Masters is a story similar to Cameron's except a little more idiotic. Masters who had already failed WWE's Wellness policy once was suspended for 30 days. He was notorious for being called the "Masterpiece" because of his overly muscular physique. There were rampant rumors that this guy was juicing. So only a few days ago, Masters was found to be in violation of the Wellness policy again. Not a surprise, but clearly stupid. Masters denied it saying he had stuff left over in his system from his previous suspension. Not buying it and again not surprised by this news at all. With all the scrutiny put on WWE after the Chris Benoit tragedy, to clean up its act in more ways than one, they still have wrestlers getting suspended.

This leads me to one quick conclusion: no matter what rules are put in, athletes will do anything they want, whenever they want in order to gain a competitive edge or just live on the edge. It should no longer be a surprise if a borderline player like Mike Cameron tests positive for a banned substance. It should no longer be a surprise if a young athlete like Martina Hingis, who is still young for her standards, tests positive for cocaine or marijuana. It should not be a surprise if WWE wrestlers keep getting suspended for taking muscles relaxers because they are on the road for almost 300 days a year. And I would not be surprised if these tests were also incorrect or tampered with. I don't have a stance on the Floyd Landis case, but the more I read about it the more I feel like the test was tampered with. So much money is invested in athletes and in sports worldwide that doing whatever it takes, even messing with science, is what will be done to make sure someone's investment is protected.