With the big story today being the Lance Armstrong/USADA controversy it is apparent that a lot of people aren't willing to believe record breaking athletes can do it without PEDs.

Some people cannot believe the Jamaicans are doing it in sprinting (Usain Bolt) and part of that is because of more relaxed testing there. Obviously there are people who don't believe Lance. Bonds and Clemens go on the list as well.

But yet there are some athletes who are just immune to this kind of suspicion like Michael Phelps.

Also some sports tend to be more closely scrutinized by the public for suspicion of PED's than others. MLB is a sport league heavily under the microscope but NFL and the NBA largely get a free pass.

Why is it that some athletes and sports get a pass?

Or to think about it differently, let's assume that we are generally correct and only scrutinize those who deserve it. So why is it some sports tend to be more inherently dirty than others (Cycling as opposed to swimming, MLB as opposed to NBA or NFL).

And just to be clear, I don't believe Phelps has used PED's.

Usain Bolt for sure. No doubt.

NFL suspends players all the time for performance enhancers, including Adderall. Wouldn't say they get a free pass, if anything they've been harsher than baseball where Mark Mcguire used to do interviews with his juice behind him in his locker.

Commander of Awesome;1253687 wrote:NFL suspends players all the time for performance enhancers, including Adderall. Wouldn't say they get a free pass, if anything they've been harsher than baseball where Mark Mcguire used to do interviews with his juice behind him in his locker.

I know they have suspensions. But my point is they get a free pass as far as the "negative" aspect of it goes. Recently with the two suspensions the MLB has been getting criticized by the media as the system not working or the penalty not being harsh enough. But the NFL also has a similar penalty and people still being caught.

So even though two leagues are very comparable, only one gets criticized.

I disagree. Guys in "baseball" get busted all the time. Most of them are minor leagues who rarely get more than a blip in a news headline. Sure, when someone in MLB gets busted, it's a bigger deal, especially when both are actually players performing at a very high level.

In the NFL, it's somewhat similar in-terms of coverage, but even when a defensive lineman or linebacker is busted, it's reported, but not a big deal unless it's a household name. Obviously there is more of a "pass" in the NFL in-terms of the use of PED's. Most assuming that these guys already do this stuff and wouldn't care.

Baseball got KILLED because they had guys who took long-standing records and career marks and broke them. If this started to happen in the NFL, we would see a similar outcry.

I'm more suspicious of "team Swoosh" going Gold and Silver in the Olympic 10000m than Usain Bolt and the other Jamaicans.

Phil Knight's company has experience with "peaking" endurance athletes and them passing drug tests, right Lance?

said_aouita;1255303 wrote:I'm more suspicious of "team Swoosh" going Gold and Silver in the Olympic 10000m than Usain Bolt and the other Jamaicans.

Phil Knight's company has experience with "peaking" endurance athletes and them passing drug tests, right Lance?

I think the USDA gave them peds, then said good luck. Because no one would give a fuck if they did.

Fly4Fun;1253811 wrote:I know they have suspensions. But my point is they get a free pass as far as the "negative" aspect of it goes. Recently with the two suspensions the MLB has been getting criticized by the media as the system not working or the penalty not being harsh enough. But the NFL also has a similar penalty and people still being caught.

So even though two leagues are very comparable, only one gets criticized.

Yeah, because the NFL actually has had a steroid testing policy for a long time now unlike the MLB. At this point for the NFL, if a player tests positive, he gets his suspension, and everyone moves along.

Since the MLB never really had a policy, fans believe the game and its records have been tarnished for a long period of time. I blame Bud Selig for allowing it to get out of hand.