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TRT: Follow Up
August 07, 2011
Since my commentary on Testosterone Replacement Therapy, I have been swamped with comments; many of which were supportive but a disturbing amount were from people that seem to have missed, or refuse to see, the entire point of my argument. What concerns me most is that one of these missing the point emails was from someone whose opinion I have a lot of respect for. Seeing that someone I generally regard as a pretty sharp guy missed the point, I figured I would clarify here.
Everyone taking exception to my argument decided to bring up tangential points rather than deal directly with the TRT issue. They wanted to point out that supplements are also performance enhancing, and many of the athletes, me included, who bitch about steroid use take supplements so we are all hypocrites. This is of course a ridiculous statement and I am tempted to bring up my low IQ analogy once again.
The big difference here, and the reason we are not hypocrites, is that the supplements I took during my career, or supplements clean athletes in sport are now taking, are allowed by the sport. We are still playing on an even playing field; as long as everyone is allowed to take the same supplements there is no grounds for complaint. That is the whole point of a banned substance list. The governing body of a sport needs to decide what is and isn't allowed. They can then make their banned substance list, and make it available to, and enforceable on, all of the competitors in that sport. Everyone is then on the same playing field and can compete fairly; everyone is subject to the same rules and limitations.
That is not the case with TRT. Not everyone in MMA, or any other sport fighting the steroid battle, is allowed to take testosterone. Testosterone is a banned substance, which some guys are trying to get exemptions to be allowed to take it, which is complete bullshit, and those who do are if I can quote Michael Bisping, "cheating bastards". Kudos to Bisping for his outspoken statement; while I am not a huge fan of Bisping's, to my knowledge the only transgression he has ever been accused of is being an outspoken obnoxious bastard. While Michael is most likely guilty of said charge, my pointing it out here, is probably a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
This is one of the reasons I did not have a problem with those who took steroid during the bulk of my wrestling career. I didn't agree with their use or like it very much, but at the end of the day it was not banned, or even discouraged in my sport. I knew most were taking it and reaping the benefits from it, I just chose not to. I competed on an uneven playing field because I chose to, not because I was the one obeying the rules while others cheated. I stayed true to my own moral compass, and fought the up hill battle by choice. That is not the case here. In this case those who obey the rules are the ones having to fight the unfair fight.
The last point that was brought up was that in my target shooting analogy corrective eye surgery is allowed and that is essentially restoring a deficiency in one athlete to level him with another, which is the same idea as TRT. This argument pissed me off beyond belief and was the point my respected friend tried to make. This argument reminded me of the lame ass argument pot advocates make when trying to make a case for legalizing marijuana. The argument they always make is that Alcohol is worse than pot and it too is a drug and it's legal, so why not pot. Corrective eye surgery is allowed to balance ones physical limitations so why not TRT.
I love to argue and debate so let me take this argument and flush it down the toilet, because it's a load of shit and that's, where it belongs. For the pot smokers out there; telling me something else is worse does not make your case, because you are basing it on the assumption that the previous decisions to allow that other drug was a correct one. To win the pot argument you have to point out the merits of legalizing your drug, not just pointing out the draw backs of other currently allowed drugs.
The same can be said of the corrective eye surgery argument. The only argument those who pointed to the eye surgery issue are equipped to win, is the argument to also ban corrective eye surgery in sight based sports. Every potential performance enhancer needs to be judged on its own merits and risks; much like every drug should be legalized or banned based on its own individual merits and risks. That is not the argument here nor is it the case I am making.
If there are no limitations put on corrective eye surgery in a sport, then those who have it done are not cheating. Testosterone is a banned substance so those who take it are cheating. Everyone is allowed to have corrective eye surgery so there is still an even playing field. They are just saying that winners in this sport are not determined based on sight. Winners in MMA are determined based on strength, speed and power, all of which are effected by testosterone use, which is why it is banned as a performance enhancing drug and its use should not be allowed by ANYONE!
If you feel that eye sight should be a determining factor in target shooting, and that corrective eye surgery is an unfair performance enhancing situation, I would not disagree with you. Your argument then should be to get it banned from competition, not to also allow TRT. Testosterone use is banned in MMA; if Michael Bisping can't take testosterone, no one else should either, and those who do are Cheating Bastards!
In closing one last clarification because people seem determined to extrapolate all kinds of ridiculous conclusions from my articles. My pro-wrestling comments are not meant to suggest I would be fine with MMA, or any other sport just allowing steroid use so that everyone is on an even playing field. If you read carefully, I know I'm asking a lot, I said in that situation I did not have strong issue with those who used the drugs, I still had great issue with those who decided to allow said drugs. If MMA lifted its ban on steroid use, those athletes who used would technically no longer be cheaters, and my issues would not be with them, it would be with the commissions or companies that were willing to throw the health and well being of their fighters, and any kids considering taking up their sport, under the bus for the sake of making money.
Lance Storm
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