I just read this article by Bill Simmons. It is, bar none, the best article Simmons has ever written. Or at least, it’s the best one of his I’ve ever read.
Here are the concluding paragraphs (lightly edited):
I believe that Ray Lewis cheated. I believe that to be true based on circumstantial evidence, his age, his overcompetitiveness, the history of that specific injury, and the fact that his “recovery” made my s**t detector start vibrating like a chainsaw.
I believe in my right to write the previous paragraph because athletes pushed us to this point. We need better drug testing. We need blood testing. We need biological passports. We need that stuff now. Not in three years. Not in two years. Now. I don’t even know what I am watching anymore.
I believe we need to fix this disconnect between our private conversations and our public ones. Cheating in professional sports is an epidemic. Wondering about the reasons behind a dramatically improved performance, or a dramatically fast recovery time, shouldn’t be considered off-limits for media members. We shouldn’t feel like scumbags bringing this stuff up. It’s part of sports.
I believe that, if I played sports for a living, I would steer clear of performance enhancers no matter how many millions were at stake, no matter how famous they might make me, no matter how many titles I might win. I like to believe that, anyway. The truth is … I don’t really know what I would do. And neither do you.
As far as I’m concerned, this article is directed more at the sports media- ESPN, Sports Illustrated and so forth- than non-media people. As he says, non-media people think of this all the time, but we never see sports media figures say “You know what, I’m not buying it- prove it.”
Something to consider- it’s possible that it’s impossible to play professional sports without drug enhancement. Think about it- 160+ games in baseball; 80+ games in basketball and hockey; 16 games in football which is more physically taxing than the others. It may be that even the best-of-the-best can’t make it through their sport’s season without drugs simply because it’s not possible for their body to recover and heal from game to game.
Anyway, Simmons’ article is well worth the time to read it.