Athletes The Right Way

   This weekend, my wife and I did an overnight in Philadelphia. I can honestly say that after taking more of our time in the city that Philadelphia is a great city!! One of the stops we made was to the Franklin Institute, which is near Drexel University. In one part of the museum, there happened to be a sports section so I told my wife that we must go see it, which we did. As we got there, there was one bulletin that said "Athletes Are Made" and gave a whole run down about what an athletes regimen really contains. The funny thing is that it DID NOT  contain taking PED's, HGH, or any other kind of drugs.
 
   As we all know, in most of the major American sports, that most players are taking or have taken some form of drugs. The main problem has been in baseball. Starting from the mid 1980's to the mid 2000's, that was known as the "Steroid Era." We saw a rise in a a lot of numbers including attendance and profit, but the most alarming rise was in individual player statistics(as well as their physique). The height of the "Steroid Era" was from 1998 to 2003. In 1998, we had the most interesting and famous home run race since the M&M boys in 1961. It was neck and neck between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. They ended both breaking it, but McGwire did it first. After that season, Sosa had 2 more 60 home run seasons. Only 3 seasons later, in 2001, Barry Bonds broke that record with 73. When Bonds was with the Pirates, he was strong yet brawny, then when he went the Giants and he blew up.  McGwire has since admitted to being on PED's, Bonds has been indited, and Sosa in denial.

   We see in baseball now that it is more of a "pitchers" game because the hitters numbers are "down." Honestly, I think it has become more balanced. We see tremendous athletes like Mike Trout or Clayton Kershaw. Mike Trout is the Derek Jeter of this generation. He seems to have done everything the correct way. He is a 5 tool athlete.  Being built naturally is the right way to go about your game, not through performance enhancing drugs.
 
    In the NFL, even though its not as big, PED's, primarily human growth hormones have been the subject of its drug taking. For the NFL, they don't care as much because to them its about the product on the field. They don't seem to care about the well being of their players in that regard. I am sure that most people, including myself, feel that a majority(even if its a smaller majority) of football players take some kind of drugs that help their body.

   I always felt that most athletes did things the "natural way." Whether its eating the right way, to the correct exercise, or the right training regiment. Motivation and hard work should be also be factors in the way athletes are made and trained. Unfortunately, we've seen in the past how teenagers have taken PED's just to get them to the next level. It shouldn't happen that way. We all know that PED's, HGH, and any other drugs don't make an athlete who they are, but its their hard work and motivation that get them there. In my experience, once you get to where you are you should be motivated and hard work. Let's get our children, even our adults, that want to become athletes to do it the right way!!

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