The Future of Sports

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

It all depends on what sport you're looking at. The two highest profile sports in relation to steroids are Baseball and Cycling, as they have the biggest scandals surrounding performance enhancing drugs. It's no secret that the NFL has a problem as well, but it doesn't receive the same publicity and scrutiny. Just look at Shawn Merriman getting (only) a 4-game suspension for violating the NFL's steroid policy, and still making the Pro Bowl.
Now look at the NHL. As surprising as some may find it, the NHL doesn't have a major steroid problem. After the NHL's lock-out, both the NHLPA and the owners pushed for and agreed on a performance-enhancing drug testing program as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. In the last two seasons, the NHL has executed over 3,000 random drug tests, and a total of one player (Sean Hill) has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. One.
Before the lock-out, the NHL had no official testing program, but hundreds of NHL players were tested at international events such as the Olympics, World Cup of Hockey, and World Championships. Not a single NHL player tested positive at those events (although two (Bryan Berard and Jose Theodore) did test positive before the 2006 Torino games, after the NHL's testing policy began). The NHL (and IIHL, which governs most international hockey) use the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances.
In the ever cloudier and scandal-wrought world of sports, the NHL has had a relatively clean record since the 2005 lock-out. No betting on NHL games, dog-fighting, or steroids there.

I think that this may be the first time that anyone has ever held up professional hockey as an example of good sportsmanship!

Personally, I am concerned where the trend towards abusive use of performance enhacing chemicals in competitive events may lead. As FIRST has clearly indicated in the past, at least part of the FRC competition is based on a sports metaphor. Albeit unwanted, it is entirely possible that some of the less-desireable traits of professional sports may also creep into the FRC competitions - including banned substances. As the level of competition in the FIRST community continues to rise, I am worried that we may have to institute a random spot-testing program for our competitors as well. Of course, our primary competitors are the robots. I can easily see a future where:

- any robot may be randomly asked to go off in a corner and deposit a little hydraulic fluid in a cup.
- battery doping with fresh charges of sulphuric acid will be expressly forbidden.
- any robot eating a poppy-seed bun does so at their own risk.
- any robot making use of alternate air compressors must provide certification of a legitimate medical need from their personal mechanic.
- overly agressive play, sudden torque gains, and signs of robot acne will cause immediate suspicion, and may be used as justification for a complete tear-down inspection

Just a thought....

-dave