Extra Points: Track column
My goal of the column was to try to shine some light on what I feel is a terrible injustice being done to athletes in track but also across all sports by some of my colleagues today. Certain members of the mainstream press, sports journalists like myself, are for some reason infatuated with drugs or just otherwise incapable of being positive about anything.
Look, I'm not naive, I realize that doping is a part of all sports in this day and age. As human beings we are programmed to always try and find an edge, to be better. That's called competitiveness and competitiveness is integral in succeeding in sports. All that we can do is continue to stay on top of the new medicine with testing methods that can accurately detect the drugs. However, drugs don't need to be dragging down sports and achievements like they are. It's up to the media, people like myself, to decide how these things are perceived and right now there are too many people being far too skeptical and pessimistic about everything. There is way more good going on than they realize. They make it seem like 90% of the sports community is on some variety of performance-enhancing drugs when in all actuality it's closer to like 5%, if that.
I'm just tired of having the achievements of a guy like Usain Bolt, a 21 year old Jamaican sprinter, be immediately cast into shadow because of things that happened in the past with completely different individuals. Here's a guy that could become a face of the sport of track, be the best sprinter there ever was. He seems like a great person but as soon as he does something worth commending he's questioned and everyone becomes skeptical.
Our ability to move forward through the era of steroids is all in our attitude. The longer we dwell on this negativity the longer it will remain associated with sports. Drugs don't need to be the focus of sports. We don't need to be devoting attention to something that ugly. What will happen, will happen. Eventually it will resolve itself, but in the mean time let's not undermine the athletic achievements of some wonderful people who work so damn hard at what they do.
And for heaven sakes, take notice of Mr. Bolt. Watch this race between him Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell. Revel in it. It should be very entertaining.
That is, if you like sports. At all.