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Maximum Spider

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,967
Cleveland, OH
*To be clear, I'm not personally judging athletes who can change their own lives (and the lives of their loved ones) by taking by taking a substance that'll enhance their performance which'll enchance their performance and then yield a more lucrative contract.*

What I want to know is how prevalent PEDs actually are in pro-sports. Do you think the majority of athletes are taking them?
 

Doggg

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Nov 17, 2017
14,437
No idea what the percentage is, but I'd think it's very common.
 

MistahS

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Sep 2, 2018
3,732
With the amount of games athletes play a season nowadays I'd imagine there's a little help for recovery.
 

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,305
There's regular drug testing in modern sports, but I believe that nutritionists are absolutely going full-blown min-max with the substances that are allowed while also completely optimizing workouts, recovery methods, food intake, and granular monitoring of athletes to enable them to scientifically train at the optimal, allowable level. I'm sure every pro athlete is on something, but it's just legal and not damaging to their bodies.
 

JoeHisaishi

Banned
Jan 30, 2021
122
It's gonna be one of those in decades time when the world has changed, we'll scratch our heads and think how was this ever overlooked.

Right now. Too much money being made to expose these sports. Some teams and individuals are just too important. 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

wenis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,104
absolutely. Bonds belongs in the HOF, probably the most exciting baseball has ever been.
 

Parch

Member
Nov 6, 2017
7,980
It's a game of chess now where athletes constantly try to find or use PEDs in ways that beat the drug testing.
 

platocplx

2020 Member Elect
Member
Oct 30, 2017
36,072
Yeah they are there and probally is a race between what's caught vs Whats still unknown and prob stuff that takes a short time to leave a system
 

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,958
Depends on what you consider "performance enhancing."

Banned drugs in the leagues I think are relatively low, at least in terms of taking those drugs above what the permitted amount is for a positive test. But there's so many drugs that are certainly "performance enhancing" that aren't banned, new cocktails and new mixes of drugs. Most NFL and NBA players have independent trainers that basically act as personal drug compounding labs for the players, and mix and match cocktails of substances, and usually most of these trainers avoid adding something that's banned... But every year there's a handful of players that get suspended for PEDs because their personal compounder added too much of something that's on the banned list, or the player too 2 pills when he was supposed to take 1 before getting a drug screening. That's what happened with Will Fuller and Bradley Roby this season in the NFL. They both go to the same trainer ("pharmacist"), the trainer basically acts as a drug compounder and was giving them a regiment throughout the season, who knows if they were over the levels to test positive throughout the season, but at some point they took too much of whatever the trainer was giving them (or he gave them too much), or perhaps they didn't take a masking agent, or any number of other possibilities, and then they tested over the positive limit.

I'm only salty about that because I made an aggressive trade for Will Fuller the week before he was suspended (Dealt Aaron Rodgers for WIll Fuller), Fuller dropped 35pts in that game, looked like a major win for me, and then he tested positive the next day and was done.
 

MistahS

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Sep 2, 2018
3,732
Tfw Cody Garbrandt ratted out TJ Dillashaw and possibly his own gym
 

GungHo

Member
Nov 27, 2017
6,126
I think it's pervasive and that there's an incentivized arms race between individuals, teams, and medical professionals.
 

Deleted member 70788

Jun 2, 2020
9,620
Almost everyone in pro sports is on PEDS. Fuck, I know high school athletes that were on PEDs.

Anyone who believes different is gullible as hell.
 

Karateka

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,940
One of my professors did a study of ped use in Canadian football and it was very prevalent especially among those trying to break into the league or trying to secure a position on a team.
 
Oct 28, 2017
27,069
I dont see how PEDs in the classic sense of the term would help a Basketball player.

In every other sport...someone is probably taking something.
 
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CDX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,476
I honestly assume anyone that can potentially make serious money if they used them, to actually be using them. So I expect and assume nearly all professional athletes are using to some degree, the ones not using anything would be an exception.
 

Acidote

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,962
Everyone on a pro level takes them. A loooot of people on the amateur level too.
 

Enduin

You look 40
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,470
New York
There are so many options these days than just the stereotypical image of steroids from back in the day that are tailored specifically for people and in regimens to reduce complications and risks that yeah I fully expect many pros and amateurs are on something. How you define PEDs can be pretty broad and it covers the gamut of making dudes bigger, stronger, faster to just improving recovery time and such. When you're at that level and have that much money riding on your performance and ability to deliver you have both all the resources and reasons to use them. Same goes for many action stars.
 

deimosmasque

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?
Moderator
Apr 22, 2018
14,164
Tampa, Fl
More than we know, less then we'd think.

I'm sure they are used and alot get to either fake the tests or cheat them. But I have a feeling I'd be surprised on how low the actual number was rather than how high it was.
 

Parch

Member
Nov 6, 2017
7,980
It's more than just big athletes. Speed, strength, and endurance can benefit from PEDs.

Baseball really exposed the level of PED use. Nothing like a congressional hearing to blow the lid off steroid use.

The olympics have probably been the biggest drug testers. Some pro sports do a piss poor job at it. PEDs are a lot more prevalent in all sports than leagues want to admit.
 

JSR_Cube

Member
Oct 27, 2017
919
TheAthletic surveyed MLB agents on a variety of topics in a recent article on January 29. Here's the relevant part:

Are performance-enhancing drugs still a prevalent part of today's game?
Yes: 9
"This wasn't even a question."
"We just had Robinson Canó test positive again. That's a black eye for the sport. That's one of the superstars of the past 15-20 years."
"It's quieter, but I don't know if that means it's better. Guys are no longer shooting up at their lockers, but it's definitely still part of the game. And it might always be, in some facet."
No: 12
"Guys are generally very careful. I don't think it's anywhere close to where it was 10 years ago. But I think there are high-level players who are doing it."
"I wouldn't say prevalent, but there's definitely still people trying to beat the system. It used to be 50 or 60 percent and now I would say it's down to like 15 percent now."
"Sure, they're a part. I don't think they're a problem, but they're a part. I think baseball has done a pretty damned good job of cleaning up the sport."
 

Brinbe

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
58,035
Terana
i think you'd have to be blind to not think it's everywhere. when there's millions of dollars involved, people will look for whatever edge they can get.

reminder this happened not too long ago



and this will happen in any level of competition. people in the highest levels of competitive chess and e-sports have cheated in recent times to get an edge. professional sports is not any different.

www.chess.com

Polish Player Suspected Of Cheating Gets 2-Year Ban

The Polish Chess Federation has banned 17-year-old WFM Patrycja Waszczuk for two years from competitive chess for allegedly using a phone during play. The father of Waszczuk has appealed the decision, claiming the evidence is circumstantial. Waszczuk, who is the current Polish U18 Girls...

variety.com

Pro ‘CS:GO’ Player ‘Forsaken’ Receives Five-Year Ban For Cheating

Cheats were allegedly found on his solid-state drive, and match analysis shows they were used numerous times.
 
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Bigwombat

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
3,416
I think it's rampant. Just because they test often does not mean that players can't cheat the system. Especially when leagues like the NBA broadcast when drug/ped tests are in coming. I think they stop testing for drugs in March
 

nullref

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,046
It's probably ubiquitous, as the incentives involved—both for the athletes, and for the leagues to be as lax as possible about enforcement—are just too great, particularly at the professional level. Things are mostly just kept at a more subtle and sophisticated level so as to not draw outside attention and create a PR problem, versus the blatant stuff where e.g. a guy suddenly hulks out in his thirties or something.
 

Parch

Member
Nov 6, 2017
7,980
What bugs me the most are athletes when questioned will tut tut and finger wag at other athletes who got caught, and then they themselves get caught. Being a hypocrite about it really makes them look like an asshole.
 

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
Rampant, either off season, not enough to be noticed or oversight is little to non existent to avoid detection in a lot of sports, the governing bodies probably know it's a can of worms if they look too closely. I bet football is one in particular were they are doing what cyclists have been caught doing for years.
 

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,970
We're talking about millions of dollars at stake here. Of course people are going to find competitive advantages
 
Oct 28, 2019
5,973
They're all using something but I don't think with the main goal of performance enhancement but rather for sped up recovery. Players in all top leagues have brutal schedules and the physicians goal is to keep them fit and able to play at a top level for as long as possible.
 

deftech

Member
Oct 29, 2017
386
I dont see how PEDs in the classic sense of the term would help a Basketball player.

In every other sport...someone is probably taking something.

Let's take a look at someone in basketball that did get busted for PEDs. Rashard Lewis. He is/was a naturally skinny guy. When he broke into the league with Seattle, he played small forward. When he moved to the Orlando Magic, they moved him to power forward to maximize the lineup around Dwight Howard (four out with Dwight in the middle). As you can imagine, a skinny guy like Rashard going up against legit power forwards wasn't going to work out to well. He started to bulk up a bit in order to handle the rigors of the position. I imagine others doing something similar.
 

winjet81

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,013
For every PED out there, I don't doubt that there is some a PED masking agent available taken right alongside it.

Cycling is still 100% PED-led... you wouldn't be able to compete without them.

For pro sports, I suspect PEDs are taken more for maintenance, endurance and accelerated injury recovery than for explosiveness and raw strength.
 

MIMIC

Member
Dec 18, 2017
8,316
Would it depend on the sport? I know in tennis, they test athletes so often, like right after tournaments or even when they're on vacation.
 

Deleted member 2834

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,620
I don't see how unjuiced athletes get through the lower levels of sports where there's obviously no testing. How exceptional does your talent have to be to be better than someone who is talented and joiced? I just don't see it.
 
Oct 25, 2017
10,397
I get that for sure but is there any statistical advantage from a scoring, rebound, assist perspective? (Basketball only)
Sure, for muscle recovery guys can play better on condensed schedule days so that could really up their season stats or even playoffs with quick turnaround, back in the day guys may not have been able to maintain that level of play for as many games as a PED user

Stamina, that's definitely helpful as the game has gotten faster and involves more running. Guys who can keep up put up better stats there too

Even strength is big on that too, guys can stay as explosive as they were in their younger days for longer. Def would help scoring and rebounding and to maintain your first step
 

Big-E

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,169
Ultimately they all are and it hurts sport. The prevalence of them makes their way down to the high school level even where kids are pressured to take because everyone else is. Remember that Lance Armstrong at one point was one of the most tested people on the planet and yet it took more than a positive test to reveal that he was pretty much a doping ring leader and one of the most brazen dopers of all time.

It isn't really about the superstar athletes, in every league there are bubble people and those bubble people will take if they know not taking will lead to them having to be kicked out of the league because of performance.