I had a friend who used steroids in Rugby League. He started slightly smaller and a lot slower than me, eventually gaining huge strength and considerable speed for a forward. He became very prone to violence. I was very tempted, partly because he began to find training easy - something that was always a chore for me. The game bores me now because everyone is so damned fit and "professional". Habermas has a view that anything creative starts in a lifeworld and is sucked off into grim, pathological, systemic professionalisation. We might ask what has happened to life, rather than the game.
On 8 Feb, 17:20, Slip Disc <[email protected]> wrote: > While there are proponents and opponents to steroid use, I still > maintain that the ideal of sport has primarily shifted to a focus on > Individual egoistic tendency due to the lucrative aspect of the sport > arena. Basically, what happened to the game? > > Should We Accept Steroid Use in Sports? > Excerpts.........http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? > storyId=18299098 > Those who oppose the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing > drugs say that the athletes who use them are breaking the rules and > getting an unfair advantage over others. > Others maintain that it is hypocritical for society to encourage > consumers to seek drugs to treat all sorts of ailments and conditions > but to disdain drug use for sports. > Radley Balko, a senior editor and investigative journalist for Reason > magazine, says: "So what is this debate really all about? I'd suggest > it's about paternalism, and it's about control. We have a full-blown > moral panic on our hands here, and it's over a set of substances that, > for whatever reason, has attracted the ire of the people who have made > it their job to tell us what is and isn't good for us. > George Michael, a sportscaster and creator of the program Sports > Machine, says: "I am not willing to pay the price for legalizing > steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, because I've seen too often > what it can do. > > Where does it go after steroids? Should we be impressed by a person > who, thanks to physically enhancing drugs, looks like the incredible > hulk and can lift 12,000 pounds? Is a person so built up on steroids > actually a human being or simply a physically enhanced being. > > Is the craving for recognition in the sport world overriding the sport > itself? Why can't we just compete as who and what we are without the > idolatry of sport figures? Is the athlete on drugs really the better > athlete? > > Are we getting consumed by the zeal for excess. Will excess > eventually lead to our end? > > On Feb 8, 10:23 am, Molly Brogan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The ego has a maturation process. As a country, the US is still an > > adolescent, but I think, on the verge of adulthood with the looming > > transparency in the age of ethics. Michael Phelps is the poster boy > > here. One cell phone picture sent round the world changed his life > > and view. He is showing us how quickly we will need to grow up. > > > On Feb 8, 9:53 am, Slip Disc <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Recent controversy over steroid use and the exposure of athletic > > > achievement via steroid use brings about another less looked at aspect > > > of the sports world. > > > It's not about the game anymore, the fun or even the competition but > > > sport mentality has shifted to the ego of the individual. Huge > > > salaries and fame have redirected the aim, obscured the goal and > > > eroded integrity. While the nature of sports is competition, that > > > aspect seems to have taken a back seat to the individual ego without > > > concern for individual merit. It is no longer about the team but more > > > about the player, the MVP. > > > I don't think this ego issue is confined to the sports world as we can > > > see how huge mega profits have been the main driving force behind the > > > corruption in the financial world as well. It is a very rare instance > > > when the integrity of humanity cannot be bought. > > > Can we reign in the ego and by what process? Are million dollar > > > salaries the problem? Is there even an answer? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
