What IS a Performance Enhancer? at What Point Do YOU Draw the Line?

Published July 19, 2010

Question by baseballfan: What IS a performance enhancer? At what point do YOU draw the line?
Aspirin to relieve a headache? What about a cortisone shot? Cortisone is a steroid. (Hmmm, maybe Kirk Gibson ought to give back that 1988 HR, huh?) What about the steroids that asthmatics regularly take? Illegal amphetamines that players have acknowledged taking for decades? What about contact lenses or modern eye surgey which can improve eyesight to the point of being BETTER than 20/20?

Are “steroids” really performance enhancers? If that were the case, then how come most of the players caught suck? If they enhanced performance… wouldn’t they be all-stars?

OR, are they recovery enhancers… which allow someone to recover from muscle stress more quickly?

OR are they work out enhancers? Since you recover more quickly you can work out more often.

Steroids do not BUILD muscle… you can’t just inject steroids and become muscle bound.

So, take all you want… you STILL have to do the actual work to get better. They won’t do it for you.

Does any of this matter?
Technically speaking, a performance enhancer enhances your ability to perform other than your own talents by birth and hard work. So if you get a shot to “make the swelling go down in your elbow” that enhances your ability to perform other than the way you were that morning. It makes you different than you are “naturally.”

Best answer:

Answer by Ocean Spray
Yes, it matters. Baseball and other sports are all going to have to band together and draw a line. The line will be random and arbitrary, as many things can be called performance enhancers, like aspirin, cortisone, and even visual enhancers.

The line has to be drawn so that everyone can compete at the same level, with the only difference being their individual abilities and motivations. The line can be drawn anywhere, just as long as everyone can use the same enhancers, and no one has an unfair advantage.

You do raise a very good point.

Add your own answer in the comments!