If everyone of consequence was juiced... isn't the playing field level? If thats what has been happening for 20 years and the worst thing that happened was that records were broken, I say don't fix what aint broke.

Not all players respond to drugs equally, just like not all respond to weight lifting or diet the same. Sure the drugs help those who the drugs help, just like lifting weights helps those that weight lifting helps. The point is that even with the drugs there remain differences in the abilities of the players on the field. Its not like the drugs turn everyone into Barry Bonds. As long as the diferences in abilities remain, the game remains fun to play and watch.

As a fan, the prospect of a drug-free sports world - and the inevitable decline in skill and ability the will shortly follow - is depressing. i don't want to pay money to see guys who are pretty good. i want to see peak performance. I want to see what the human animal is capable of.

Beragon:

"The prospect of a drug-free sports world...is depressing"? Really? And the reason it's depressing is because you want to see "what the human animal is capable of"?

The human animal is capable of a great deal. And if you were truly interested in that, or if you were even just a true fan of baseball, you would support mandatory, constant, one-strike-and-you're-out drug testing for all pro athletes. The "human animal" can train, and work, and strive to make itself stronger and better; those individuals who dedicate their lives to overcoming our biological limitations are exemplars of courage and dedication.

Those who use steroids to skip some of that work, or to make it move a little faster, or to compensate for being dealt a lackluster genetic hand, are not courageous exemplars. They are cheats. They are not demonstrating what can be achieved through hard work and dedication; they are demonstrating what can be achieved through the perversion of the human body at the hands of amoral science.

Finally, the notion that you will find it "depressing" should steroids be purged from pro sports is laughable at best. "Pathetic" is a better word; "childlike" is even more apt. Do you watch NASCAR with your fingers crossed, fervently hoping for a crash? Are you "depressed" when firemen successfully prevent a house from burning down? Your delight in steroid-enhanced baseball - "Big man hit ball far! Yay!" - is a fine demonstration of a child's inability to think beyond the moment at hand or comprehend consequences. Grow up.

Beragon made good point, but then, so too did you.

Steroid use in all pro sports would seem to be rampant, and for many trying to break into the highest level of any sport, it wold seem that to eve compete in a level playing field, one would have to get on the juice.

Personally, I find it hard to comprehend why anyone would even want to use the stuff, with all the known potential dangers attached to it. Lyle Alzado died from cancer as a result of his steroid use. And there are other examples, just as tragic and self-destructive. One is clearly putting a ticking time bomb in one's body when one juices up. Simply not worth it.

I grew up in the era of Maris, Mays, Mantle, Killebrew, Musial and other notables of the era. While some of them certainly had their faults, Mantle in particular with his wild night life, I know of no instances where these great players used illicit chemicals to enhance their play. Indeed Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record by establishing a reputation for consistent excellence over a career that spanned many years. As did Ted Williams, who had his brilliant career interrupted twice to serve his country in two wars.

Neither of these two fine individuals had to resort to chemical short cuts, and to this day serve as ideal role models for young, aspiring athletes to emulate.

It would seem that the old days are gone though. Better living through chemistry has been the slogan of many athletes for at least three generations now.

Hard to blame these kids who feel like they have to get juiced to even compete, but old fashioned purists like myself find something very objectionable about it.

The playing field should be levelled again. Though Beragon raised a good point, you made a better one. One strike, and you're out, should be the policy. Too many potential dangers with the use of the drug, and it's not fair to those who want to make it by hard work, dedication, and clean living.

Professional sports should be drug-free. The message we should be conveying is that with hard work and determination, there's no telling how far you can go.

Which is why people emulate athletes to begin with.

Drug use is certainly not something for the youth of our nation to emulate.

It clearly sends the wrong message to a culture that has largely forgotten that the best things within us come from within.