SamSaid!

'ROIDS

     Will the steroids scandal ever end?  It has reached all parts of competitve athletics  — football, baseball, basketball, track, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, and probably TV poker as well. The most recent example, that of a Latino baseball player with Hall of Fame credentials, has now reached Congress and perhaps has pushed the Iraqi War off the front burner for a few days.

     Generically speaking, steroids are performance enhancing drugs, and there are clear (physical) examples to be seen in all athletic quarters. The statistical evidence is overwhelming and the physical dimensions of the users are similarly obvious. How otherwise to you explain a slender swift sprinter who turns into a Green Bay Packer defensive tackle in 3 years.

    There are two aspects of steriod use that command the most attention. The first is the serious damage that excessive steriod use can do to the human body  — and the health problem is tied directly to famous professional athletes who serve as models and idols of youngsters who aspire to athletic excellence. Steroid use strongly fuels the desire to win at any cost  –  starting at an early age. The steroid based fancy numbers and bulging muscles send the wrong message to kids who are so tempted to emulate the famous.

     The second issue is that of the records set by players using performance enhancing drugs. By using these drugs, the offenders are clearly cheating in order to get better record setting achievements. This isn't so much a matter of legal misbehavior as it is taking advantage of others by cheating  –  knowingly. So, what do you do about the astounding record setting numbers?? Ignore them and say :”boys will be boys”, ban offenders from the sport, ban them from post season play or all star appearances, or place a big bold asterisk by their names   –  *used performance enhancing drugs. I favor the latter  — the indelible asterisk.

     Let's say, arguendo, that it is impossible to stop all steroid use. That doesn't mean they we shouldn't try, but it DOES mean what when a culprit is caught, the penalty should be very severe. Not just suspended for 10-15 games  –  a full year would be more like it. . A slap on the wrist will not deter much of anything.  Baseball invoked its severe gambling rule — a lifetime ban in baseball  –  based on cheating. Steroid use deserves the same kind of severe penalty. Let's show an entire country and 2-3 generations of young people that cheating is not the way to success. Make it hurt! Maybe there is even a bigger issue than athletics at stake here. Who knows”

     Personally. I'd feel the same way about cheating if it were a chess match or a bunch of smarties trying to boost their ACT scores. Don't even think about cheating. The price is too big to pay!

THEORIES

     The forces of evolution and religion crossed swords back in the 1920s in the Scopes trial in Tennessee. In the last 8 decades, evolution has largely prevailed and is part of the curriculae in most elementary and secondary public schools. Evolution, of course, theorizes that man gradually evolved from sub-human species over the past thousands or millions of years. Many or probably most scientists subscribe to the theory of evolution, and the theory of evolution is taught for the most part without objection nowadays. Even so, it is still labelled as a theory.

     But in recent years, another theory has emerged  — one called Intelligent Design  — ID for short. The theory of ID maintains that the incredibly complex world of human existence could not possibly have evolved from  millions and millions of random events over millions and millions of years. Rather, to produce the enormously complex form of human life, there must have been an Intelligent Design  — somewhere, some way. The evolutionists scoff and demean  ID as a program of religion although its supporters prefer not to call it that. While the ID people do not dismiss Divine origin, neither do they necessarily hang their hat on that possibility alone.  They lean heavily on the laws of probability.

     Back in the 20s, the argument was over free speech. Now it is transformed into the “Church vs State” scenario. Right in the front rank is the Ameican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which is bound and determined to erase all espects of religion from public life, notwithstanding the strong beliefs of a clear majority of American citizens. So the ACLU says it is just fine to reach the theory of evolution in the public schools but not the theory of Intelligent Design due to the reliance upon religion. They say, in effect, ”it is OK to teach our theory, but not their theory”.

     Theories are theories  — not indisputable facts. Some theories may be more believable than others. Some may have a broader base of proponents than others. Some may have a broader “fan base” than others. But in the last analysis, they are theories. So when it comes to the public schools, most people would agree that it is dead wrong to teach theories as facts. But as long as evolution and ID are both presented to students  as “theories”, what is wrong with teaching both evolution and ID  without brain washing the kids? Is there something wrong with presenting the theories as theories and letting it go at that??

     The ACLU knows it will never win the support of the American public to quash its efforts to pevent teaching ID in the public schools  –  even as a theory.  That's why their preferred route is through the Judicial system where they hope to  find a receptive secular left wing Judge who will rule their way.

     The ACLU is in the front line of organizations trying to radically change the culture of the USA. And they intend to do it thru the Judicial System rather than the the legislative route (Congress). Need any better example??  Hello, Judge Roberts!!