Steroids in Sports

This seems to be a hot topic in sports these days ... It seems that every sport has to take their lumps, last season it was baseball, this year it's pro wrestling (I know most of you will make the case that wrestling isn't a sport) ... Any how here's my take ...

It's understandable why steroids would be such a big deal in professional sports, afterall they are performance enhancers ... But my problem is there's no double standard when the media decides to "hang" someone for it, there always has to be a scapegoat ...

Rewind to the 1988 Summer Olympics and the whole Ben Johnson scandal, the Canadian sprinter took the fall for the whole thing, despite the fact that years later reports came out revealing American athletes were tested positive for steroid use as well, including the individual who was awarded Johnson's gold medal, Carl Lewis ... But there is no way Carl Lewis is getting stripped of the gold medal now, afterall he is an American ...

Now let's fast forward to a couple of years ago in baseball, Jose Canseco revealed that many players, including Mark McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro, have used steroids in the past ... However, baseball nor the media did anything to tarnish the reputations of those three (Palmeiro only hung himself for lying) ... It was only until Barry Bonds came close to, and eventually broke, Hank Aaron's home run record did the media pick their scapegoat ...

No double standard at all ...

While I do agree that steroids should be banned in those sports, pro wrestling on the other hand is a different story ... WWE is sports entertainment, which based on athletic ability where the outcome is predetermined, so performance enhancement is not really an issue with pro wrestling, the wrestlers are not hurting their sport, only themselves ... After a report came out about some pharmaceutical company supplying steroids, WWE decided to suspend 10 wrestlers ... I think this is complete B.S. ... steroids are only an issue because of the events surrounding Chris Benoit ... Did it ever occur to the media that maybe the guy was already an unstable individual to begin with? ... But again the media needs their scapegoat, which in this case is WWE and steroids ...

I don't condone the use of steroids at all, but if the media is going to punish people for it, punish them all ...

One,

- J -

Random Shots

-I watched a few of Team Canada Men's Basketball games ... They're not playing half bad, but if Coach Rautins is expecting Carl English to be their best player they're in serious trouble.

-Michael Vick, entertaining to watch on the field, but it's sad to watch him off of it ... I'm not going to condone his actions, but to play devil's advocate, this stuff is going on all over the world, but the United States is supposedly a "civilized" society ... Back to Vick, it's so coincidental how all these celebrities claim through the wrong in their actions they've changed and found God.

-Anyone paying attention to our neighbours down south? ... Election time is coming up ... I'd love to see Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton take the presidency ... However, if it goes to the Republicans, Rudy Giuliani would be my choice.

-Speaking of the States, damn them for controlling our oil prices, these gas prices are nuts ... I grew up seeing 40 cents/litre ... those days are long gone ... We have one of the biggest oil deposits right here in Canada in Alberta's oil sands ... But because of the brilliant agreement known as NAFTA, the United States has open access to them ... I wonder if they'd declare war on Canada if we closed our borders to the oil.

-I'm not an anti-American though, I love visiting there, and with the loonie almost at par with theirs, this would be the perfect time to go cross-border shopping for some gear, preferrably in NYC ... Nab me some timbs, ecko jeans, lacoste shirts, adidas kicks and maybe a couple jerseys to add to my growing collection.

-caught monday night raw for only the second time in the last two years (the other after the death of Chris Benoit) ... All I have to say is that it's not what it used to be ... well then again, nothing is, sports, music, television.

That's all for now,

One,

- J -

If I had 11 million dollars

Why 11 million? Because it's my favourite number ... Money can't buy love or happiness ... True statement ... While I eventually want both of those things, money can buy the one thing that I want the most at this point, peace of mind ... Having financial security would give me just that ... I hate sounding cliche, but seriously, if I didn't have to worry about money for the rest of my life, I could spend a lot more time living life as opposed to worrying about it ...

Now the question, what would I do with my life? ... Answer, A lot of things ...

- Retire my parents

- For sure, spend time with fam and close friends

- Definitely visit my favourite places more often: New York City, Phoenix, Vancouver, California, Las Vegas

- My regular routine would probably include: going to the gym, playing golf, going to basketball games

- I'd definitely buy both a house and a condo, house on bayview or mississauga rd. and a waterfront condo in Toronto

- If I actually get bored, I'd work, maybe work concessions at Raptor games ... the hell with that, I'm gettin' myself season tickets

-Oh yeah, I'm definitely catching a boxing match in Las Vegas or New York City

-I'll live off the interest of what's left

But a reality check. I ain't gettin' all that handed to me, my whole life has become about earning everything I get. That's cool though.

One,

- J -

Racism still alive and well in Canada

Blog time again ... If you read the title, you know what direction this blog is going ... What can I say about it, except it's a fact ... I am in no way condemning a particular race, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is a different ball game for visible minorities in Canada ... I read a few interesting facts, studies were performed and they showed that: the average wages of visible minorities is lower than that of non-visible minorities, white employers tend not to hire minorities for management positions, less than a quarter of skilled immigrants (professionals and educated in foreign countries) are working in their field in Canada and job applications are disgarded if employers cannot pronounce the last name of the applicant ... Being in a corporate environment for years, I can testify to all of this ... looking at the demographic of my former department, about 90% of the workers are white, all of whom are in frontline positions ... More interesting though, looking at the demographic of the company's corporate structure: Almost the entire Board of Directors are white, visible minorities in middle-management are few and far between, front line positions is about 75% white and most visible minorities in the company can be found in support positions ... Is all of this coincidence? Hell No! ... We have skilled people in Canada working in convenience stores, factories and driving taxi cabs ... Don't get me wrong, not all white people are racist, but there is no doubt in my mind that racist attitudes still exist in Canada, the only problem is, it is harder to fight it, because the discrimination has become more subtle ... I'm not knocking Canada, there are great opportunities in this country, BUT, to say visible minorities are on par with their white counterpart, would be inaccurate to say the least.

One,

- J -