Let’s talk dope.
I’m going to stop making predictions for the tour because everytime I try I’m miserably wrong. Landis had an impossibly good ride today to get himself back into third, just 31 seconds off the leader and well within striking distance for the time trial. What an unpredictable race. Landis’ ride today was unbelievable, but in relating it to the people I work with there was one unanimous comment, “So… he found some good dope last night then, eh?” So rather than make poor predictions about the outcome of the tour I’d like to revisit the issue of doping in sports.
On more local ground, today is expected to be when the grand jury gives an indictment to Barry Bonds for allegedly perjuring himself during the proceedings. The issue of whether he took dope or not is essentially made up in the minds of most folks. What I think is more often overlooked is that any punishment he receives from it, and more generally any outcome that exclusively takes steps against the athletes to the exclusion of the other parties involved, will be ineffective in changing the general state of doping in sports. It strikes me as the easy way out; allowing the practice to continue while appeasing the general audience and offering a scape goat. As long as you stick to punishing only individual athletes what remains is a situation where the incentives outweigh the risks.
Teams that dope will outperform those that don’t. Players that don’t won’t be recruited to the teams that win. This idea of a few bad actors is nonsense. By most genuine estimations drugs are rampant in sports, and the fact that you might lose a player here or there is a risk of doing business. Sports today is ruled by the money in spite of whatever illusions we might wish to keep. Sure, there are people involved who love the game, the race, the purity of competition. Certainly they exist, but to believe they drive the way sports are run today is naive.
If we as socieities were serious about removing drugs from sports we’d take steps to remove the incentive at all levels. Drugs dominate today’s sports because sports are more profitable with drugs than they are without. The long ball game, faster paces, higher mountain climbs; all these things draw money from spectators and all are facilitated by drugs. A few suspensions, some fines; none of these things do much to remove the overwhelming incentive that is more profitable sport. An indictment against Bonds might ruin Bond’s career, and maybe justifiably, but it’s not going to cost the Giants much, nor the MLB. Until it does, we’re not going to see much change.