What ever happened to hard work???

[Bluedawg]

It appears athletes have found a new chemical to try and boost on field performance:


Athletes trying to improve on-field performance with Viagra (http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1123292.html)

LONDON - Athletes looking for a performance boost appear to be turning to a little blue pill more usually taken for its off-the-field benefits: Viagra.

I know I'm old school, but what has happened to good old fashioned hard work to boost athletic performance?

[wilko]

Maybe the pros have a hard time getting up for the game..




(it HAD to be said... sorry)

[Indoor66]

Maybe the pros have a hard time getting up for the game..




(it HAD to be said... sorry)

Not WILT!

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

we are a society that thrives on instant gratification...

[wilko]

Not WILT!


Thers was no wilt on WILT.

[darthur]

we are a society that thrives on instant gratification...

I think it is more accurate to say we are a society that rewards winning, no matter what the cost. Athletes already work very, very hard. The question is how *else* can they improve their performance?

[bhd28]

I think it is more accurate to say we are a society that rewards winning, no matter what the cost. Athletes already work very, very hard. The question is how *else* can they improve their performance?

You are exactly right. As long as there have been sports, there have been athletes looking for whatever edge they can find. Not just in the US and not just today.

[Jarhead]

It appears athletes have found a new chemical to try and boost on field performance:

I know I'm old school, but what has happened to good old fashioned hard work to boost athletic performance?
Putting hard work, and Viagra in the same thought is... Well, uh...

[colchar]

Maybe the pros have a hard time getting up for the game..




(it HAD to be said... sorry)

And maybe ameteurs use it because they have a hard time keeping up with the pros...

[EarlJam]

Putting hard work, and Viagra in the same thought is... Well, uh...

you beat me to it!

[rthomas]

Not sure I'd want to slide head first into second base.

[tecumseh]

The story on the development of Viagra is kind of interesting (some of this maybe urban/medical legend but it rings true). It was developed to treat hypertension but the double blinded placebo tests showed it did not work and when the study was over all of the volunteers were told to hand in the rest of the samples not taken as the study was over. This was met with I think I will hang on to them and do you have any more of them now that the study is over. To which of course the researchers wanted to know why.

The other interesting aspect which is true is when the formal studies were done to test how effective it was the placebo effect was enormous I seem to recall in the 20 to 30% range. So Viagra had to work quite well just to beat placebo effect.

Final tidbit Cialis (tadalafil) was the third drug on the market. Now it is given that the pharmaceutical industry never competes on price and the only real advantage of this drug was it's much longer half life, almost 20 hours. Now I and many others were really skeptical on the advantage of the day long erection. But their marketing has been brilliant, really smart and hats off to them.

The one off label performance enhancing drug I find interesting and disconcerting is insulin.

[captmojo]

What happened to hard work? I turned 52 recently. I have become forever enamored with doing things "the easy way". :D