SPORTS

PLEASE READ ALL THE TEXT BELOW AND RESPOND TO THIS…..”This half of the chapter was fairly straightforward, so for today’s posting, I simply want you to react to the second half of chapter (maybe you want to react to something I didn’t mention), respond to one of the many questions in my brief intro, and/or explain a problem you see in your sports in relation to drug use. However, if you choose the last option please do not talk about yourself and don’t name names. And, remember that the forum is a very public place, so we should be careful about what we disclose on here.”

Ahh, so DUO locked me out cause my phone broke on Tuesday. It has been a crazy couple of days trying to get everything set up again. Please respond to this post by Friday of NEXT WEEK. I posted late so that means I’ll give you all an extra week to get things done since I know some of you are juggling quite a bit.

Ok, so on to part two of this chapter. We begin the second half by looking at substance abuse. Substance abuse in sports is nothing new, and today, we see a wide variety of drugs being used across a variety of sports. In gymnastics, we may see young women take growth retardant hormones, swimmers inhale nasal decongestants, weight lifters use amphetamines, and archers take drugs to slow their heart rate.

Moreover, I’m sure we have all seen unique drug use in our respective sports. In skateboarding the skaters often drink and smoke weed while skating (some claim smoking weed makes them better, but it is often just a cultural thing), and I recently had a friend tell me that he “has” to take Adderall before going skateboarding because “it helps him concentrate.” (And, by tell me, I mean I watched him throw a fit about trying to skate w/out Adderall and scream every time he didn’t land a trick. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.) What drugs are common within your sport and why might people gravitate towards these drugs (for performance? for cultural expressions of identity?)

Our authors start off with a discussion on steroids. In Chart 4.2 we see steroid use has declined among 8^th and 10^th graders, but not 12^th, why do you think that is? Somewhat related to this, we see that athletes are taking various supplements to enhance their performance. However, many of these supplements are untested or use bogus science to support their benefits. (This isn’t a supplement, but it a great example of the bogus science that sells snake oil to athletes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5wwudxlyyg .) 1/5 high school athletes have used supplements, 60% of college athletes use Creatine, which is a popular supplement, but very little research has been done on its effects on performance.

Why would someone use drugs or untested supplements in order to increase their performance? One part of the answer might be that America as whole has a significant problem with drugs, and we shouldn’t be a surprised that our athletes may have a problem as well. The U.S. is the only developed nation to fall into the high drug problem category. Also, being an athlete and being a winning athlete comes with a great deal of rewards, which might encourage the athletes into using drugs. In high school, athletes often get a great deal of attention from their teachers, peers, and the community; college students obtain scholarships; and professional athletes have many rewards ranging from attention to money to travel. Also, some athletes believe that they “have” to do drugs because if they don’t the athletes who do use will get an unfair advantage. And, sometimes athletes are even pressured by their peers and coaches to do drugs as well..

Recreational drugs are also a big issue within sports. Interestingly, while our culture is often very comfortable with alcohol, high school coaches view alcohol as the biggest threat to their athletes and teams. Moreover, on average, college athletes consume more alcohol than their peers. Unsurprisingly, cocaine does not appear to be as common. As a side note, I suggest you all watch the documentary Cocaine Cowboys (this is not required, it is just an interesting documentary https://tubitv.com/movies/439504/cocaine_cowboys?utm_source=google-feed&tracking=google-feed) there is a section where one of the main cocaine dealers mentions, “[Through dealing] I started meeting guys — Mercury Morris, who was a great running back for the Dolphins… I remember the week of the Super Bowl, when Dallas played Pittsburgh here. Two nights before, I’ve got the whole front line of the Pittsburgh Steelers in my house. They all sat down and: ‘Come on, come on. Break the shit out. Break the shit out.’ They partied and they really partied hard. I mean, you have no idea what these guys would go through. I’m saying, ‘You guys are going to go out and play football?’ ‘Yeah, and we’re going to win.’ They went out and won, you know. Didn’t affect them.” (Professors go on tangents in normal classes, I suppose this is the online version of a tangent.)

In terms of recreational drugs, what kind of limits should we set on athletes? Some contest skateboarders are worried that the Olympics will test for marijuana. Should marijuana use (outside of the competition) disqualify someone from competing? What about recreational cocaine? Molly? LSD? Mushrooms? And so on? Is it the job of the sports organizations to police the athletes use of drugs off the field? Can substance abuse among athletes be prevented? What rights do our athletes have to privacy? The NCAA, NFL, and Olympics have taken the lead in mandatory testing. However, not all of the tests are accurate and there is no process of appeal in some sports. What happens when an athlete loses access to the sport for a rule violation that they didn’t commit? How can we reduce drug use among athletes? What kinds of education programs actually work? What is the real purpose of many of the “education programs” athletes are subjected to now? What kind of responsibility should be put on coaches, college administrators, trainers, and others who interact with the athletes? Should we punish the coaches for their players’ behaviors?

This half of the chapter was fairly straightforward, so for today’s posting, I simply want you to react to the second half of chapter (maybe you want to react to something I didn’t mention), respond to one of the many questions in my brief intro, and/or explain a problem you see in your sports in relation to drug use. However, if you choose the last option please do not talk about yourself and don’t name names. And, remember that the forum is a very public place, so we should be careful about what we disclose on here.

For example, on top of the drug problems I’ve outlined above, skateboarding may have a significant problem with the participants drinking alcohol and smoking weed while on “skate-trips.” Generally speaking, during these skate-trips, the skaters will hop in a car and drive anywhere from 30 miles to 3000 miles to go skateboarding in a new location. While conducting my first ethnographic study on skateboarders, every road trip that my sample and I went on together included marijuana and alcohol. As soon as we hit the highway, all the skaters (including the driver, unless I was driving) would pass around a pipe or a joint. Among those in my sample, the behavior was normalized. This is a significant problem as the driver was often really high, which increased our chances of getting into an accident or arrested while driving to our new location to go skateboarding.