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September 7, 2008 12:03:53 AM CDT

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Without Doping, Where's the Fun?

Posted Jul 25, 08 12:49 PM CDT in Opinion,  Sports 

(Newser) – Doping in sports makes some fans uncomfortable, but it keeps others on the edges of their seats, writes Joel Stein in the LA Times. Case in point: This year's largely shenanigans-free Tour de France has been an exercise in boredom. “Before you argue that your favorite sport has to get tough about drugs,” Stein writes, brace yourself for “years of slow, amateurish, uninspired athleticism.”

“I've gotten so used to superhuman feats that I can't watch guys relying on only their natural talents,” writes Stein. It’s like “watching Spider-Man try to scale a building without his bug-bite-induced spidey skills.” If drugs are too controversial to be allowed, Stein recommends “a tax on performance enhancement”: linemen wearing weights on their ankles, or sluggers’ home-run counts being cut by a few.

Source Los Angeles Times

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New York Yankees' Jason homers against the Oakland Athletics, Sunday, July 20, 2008, at Yankee Stadium in New York.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Carlos Barredo of Spain, right, hits his bicycle as Marcus Burghardt of Germany crosses the finish line to win the 18t stage of the Tour de France Thursday.   (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)
In this Feb. 13, 2008 file photo, former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to testifying on drug use in baseball.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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performance-enhancing drugs  • drug use  • Tour de France  • cycling  • drugs in sports


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