Cushing and the Sporting Culture
With Brian Cushing winning the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award for a 2nd time due to a revote, it is safe to say that our culture, but specifically the Sporting world, has resigned itself and accepted the fact that professional athletes cheat. They bend the rules, stretch the truth, and side-step long held values and traditions within their respective sports in order to win--whether that be games, titles, or awards. By allowing Cushing to keep his position among the defensive elites in the NFL, the governing body has essentially taken the position that cheating is not a problem. I think it was either Scott Van Pelt or Doug Gottlieb who has drawn the analogy between the abundant use of performance enhancing drugs in MLB in the 20th (and 21st) century to the use of banned supplements in the NFL at present. Everybody could POSSIBLY be using some sort of controversial substance which begs the question; just how much admiration can we have for elite level athletes in this day and age? Is there even a need or place for moral judgment and ethical standards in professional sports? If so are they arbitrary? Of course these are philosophical questions and answers to philosophical questions are not very easy to come by.
Re: Cushing and the Sporting Culture
I don't think there should be any banned substances.
I think we should use science to improve our performance if we want to.
I think we should use science to improve our lives, longevity, looks, emotions, relationships, businesses, muscle, hair, teeth, lips, eyes, eyesight, .... everything and anything we want, including sports.
The thing that people really need to know is that steroids don't win championships, and steroids don't make you a great athlete. Working hard makes you great, and when you become great and you decide to be a TEAM PLAYER that is when championships are made.
steroids are just another edge that people will look for when the stakes are high enough, and i have a feeling that there are many more substances out there that are not known to the masses, and I think there are scientists out there who will keep developing new PED's. They always seem to be a step ahead of the testing companies.
Re: Cushing and the Sporting Culture
John you make a good argument there. From a juridical standpoint there wasn't enough supporting evidence to have him stripped of the award. You're right, also, that we ought to begin by simply saying athletes ought not to be idolized, period. Unfortunately, I think it is part and parcel of our current culture to gravitate towards people who have public lives. I think that is partly due to a deeply entrenched problem of hero-worship and a desire to live vicariously through others for some people.
Josh I don't think anyone said that Cushing tested positive for steroids. I may be wrong about that, but I think I actually said it was a PED and a banned substance. Either way I feel as though the question involves the implications of the findings and its relevance to the culture of sport regardless of what he actually "used."
Thanks for your input guys. The philosophy of sport, in my opinion, is just as important a topic as its practice.
Re: Cushing and the Sporting Culture
and to add to this about cushing, cushing never tested positive for steroids he tested positive for a masking agent and then later tested positive for a substance on the NFL banned substance list not steroids
Re: Cushing and the Sporting Culture
I don't believe pacquiao is on steroids though he's been tested many times and has never tested positive for steroids or masking agents but if he is I'm not surprised I'd be a bit taken back because he's one of the few athletes in the era I have a deep admiration for
Re: Cushing and the Sporting Culture
I used to look up to Barry Bonds before his ordeal, but there are still some greats in my memory about whom you can't convince me otherwise, like #34, "Sweetness," and Pacquiao (biased tho cuz i'm half Filipino). Like Freddie Roach said, it's not steroids, it's white rice (and we love our sticky white rice). How ridiculous was that when Affliction Trilogy was canceled cuz Barnett tested positive: the cumulative effort of all those fighters training for weeks all gone to waste.
Re: Cushing and the Sporting Culture
i don't really look up to athletes in this age I have a few but not that many, I feel like this I don't need drugs to make me an athlete or a beast