Is the NFL too lenient on PED users

[Jegpeg]

Jimmy Garapollo gets a 2 game ban for taking PEDs. It is claimed he messed up with a TUE but even clear cases of taking PEDs typically leads t oa 4-6 game ban (e.g. Will Fuller and Bardley Roby)
Josh Gordon is an exception but only becuase he failed so many tests (his first suspension in 2013 was 2 games)

In other sport Maria Sharapova got a 15 month ban where there was to intent to cheat or significant fault), Garrett Scantling gets a 3 year ban for not actually failing a test, (he missed 3 whereabouts). Alain Baxter had to hand back Britains first olympic skiing medal and got a 3 month ban for inadvertantly taking a drug with no enhancement properties (but a varient of the same drug does) (He knew Vicks inhalers in Europe are OK to use but did not know those sold in the US had the banned substance). Kamila Valieva got 4 years for substance abuse.

Would bans of say 1 year for a first offence result in clubs and players being far more careful on what goes into players bodies and any TUE is valid.

 

[flv2]

No. Cases should be dealt with on an individual basis. Treating a mix-up over an inhaler the same as intentional steroid abuse would be wrong. Anyone who fails the PED test is subject to a very high level of scrutiny for as long as they remain in the sport. There shouldn't need to be a punishment structure along the lines of amateur sport.

 

[fenderbender123]

PEDs should be allowed. Problem solved.

 

[bigskydoc]

They should end the ban on PEDs. Bring them out into the open so the players can be properly monitored. Keeping it underground just forces the players to use less proven stacks and cycles. It would be safer for the players to just allow their PED use to be in the open.

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

Just lace all the Gatorade with everything. Problem solved. Would also be way way fun to watch

 

[Lagartixa]

Just lace all the Gatorade with everything. Problem solved. Would also be way way fun to watch

That's not all that far from the concept behind a series of ads for a Gatorade competitor in the 1990s

 

[IndyHawk]

Not everyone who is good cheats and to me it's not fair that one gains
over everyone else who is following the rules.
I'd be the worse person to pass punishment on cheaters but granted there
is a difference between roids/peds and weed so the weed part we all know
is pretty much for pain, pleasure and you don't gain an edge over everyone
in doing that.
So the punishment would be different and anabolic steroids are used
for recovery from surgery so again a different punishment than some roided
freak that needed that extra edge to play all world and get paid like ARoid in
baseball.

 

[fenderbender123]

Just require all athletes to take it, just like they are required to eat lots of protein and lift weights and all that.

Legalized PEDs = stronger players = better product + no more policing.

 

[Cyrus12]

Only certain players get tested...unless you think Nick Bosa is clean?

 

[xray]

Pedos deserve the death penalty , gawdamit !

 

[hgwellz12]

I totally forgot about ALL SPORT! I don't know if I ever even drank any, now that I think about it.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

PEDs should be allowed. Problem solved.

I don't think this is far fetched. A lot of times people are taking them to heal up rather than for an edge. Baseball was at it's best when people took them. Even Messi took them legally as a kid.

If it's managed correctly it expands the limits of what humans can do.

 

[Chukarhawk]

somebody wrote somewhere that the NFL considers Weed a performance enhancing drug. If that's actually true, then the whole process needs to be evaluated.

 

[Jegpeg]

I don't think this is far fetched. A lot of times people are taking them to heal up rather than for an edge. Baseball was at it's best when people took them. Even Messi took them legally as a kid.

If it's managed correctly it expands the limits of what humans can do.

Not far fetched at all, there is a proposal for an Enhanced Games in olympic sports.

The question is what does "correctly managed" mean. The incentives will be to take as much PED as you can without it killing the athlete (from the teams point of view only in the short term, if a player's team wins the super bowl and dies at 35 it is the former that matters). If attempts are made to allow PEDs but not to dangerous levels you get all sorts of debates as to what level is dangerous and how do you stop those levels being exceeded.

 

[BASF]

somebody wrote somewhere that the NFL considers Weed a performance enhancing drug. If that's actually true, then the whole process needs to be evaluated.

Would you agree that it helps in reducing pain? From that aspect, it definitely enhances performance in that their bodies can endure more punishment before they need to be shut down.

 

[fire_marshall_bill]

somebody wrote somewhere that the NFL considers Weed a performance enhancing drug. If that's actually true, then the whole process needs to be evaluated.

It might be considered a recovery aid. If anyone in the NFL thinks that, they're clueless.

 

[WmHBonney]

PEDs should be allowed. Problem solved.

Where would you draw the line? Anabolic steroids? Do we want to go back to the days of eastern bloc Olympians?

 

[fenderbender123]

Whatever the athletes are comfortable taking. Let them decide. Their body, their choice.

 

[Chukarhawk]

It might be considered a recovery aid. If anyone in the NFL thinks that, they're clueless.

Long distance runners I think would dispute that. Its widely used in that community now. Does it work? I don't know. One thing I find VERY interesting is that big College programs like the UW don't test for weed.

 

[Lagartixa]

Not far fetched at all, there is a proposal for an Enhanced Games in olympic sports.

The question is what does "correctly managed" mean. The incentives will be to take as much PED as you can without it killing the athlete (from the teams point of view only in the short term, if a player's team wins the super bowl and dies at 35 it is the former that matters).

I say that's not any different from idiot (or sleazebag - it depends on whether you believe those guys understood what they were doing) baseball managers like Dusty Baker, Dallas Green, Tommy Lasorda, and Lou Piniella shredding the arms of young pitchers to extract short-term wins out of them with no regard for those pitchers' futures.