History of Doping and Ethics - Week 2

During our second week of class, we learned about the early history of doping and its morality/immorality in the world of sports. Doping tracks all the way back to Ancient Greece, when athletes used hallucinogenic mushrooms and sesame seeds for increased endurance and higher protein levels. Back in these days, however, diets and doping weren't considered "cheating." But we now know that they can be illegal in this day and age depending on the substance and amount taken.

As the years went by, scientists discovered that doping could in fact increase performance but it could also be harmful to the health of athletes. Sports became more and more competitive and therefore, testosterone and anabolic descendants became a common substance taken among those who wanted to get better. Because of its masculinizing qualities, testosterone was known to increase aggression and enhance muscularity. But as the rules became stricter on taking steroids, other types were invented to find their ways around the rules.

In relation to this week's lecture, I found an article that involves doping and morality:

The Hall of Fame's fuzzy standards
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=olney_buster&id=5563843&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmlb%2fblog%3fname%3dolney_buster%26id%3d5563843

To summarize, this writer discusses the requirements of becoming admitted into the MLB Hall of Fame. The voting standard states that induction will "be based upon the player's record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played."It is said that the most important requirements are the player's sportsmanship and character. Relating back to last week's blog post about ethics in sports, this article ties in doping as well as morality regarding performance. Many years ago, doping wasn't illegal and therefore was a moral decision made by athletes. Nowadays, some substances are in fact illegal, so it depends on the athlete to make the right decision of whether or not they should break the rules. Doping will always bring up the morality argument. It's a problem in the sports world that will be around for a while, so it will be the athlete's choice to decide if it will remain an issue in their own individual sports life.