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2002-02-24 - 7:53 p.m.
As I was flipping through the stations tonight trying to find Seinfeld, I watched a bit of the news. I didn't catch the whole story but it was something about people being disqualified in the Olympics for using some sort of endurance enhancing substance. At first I was dismayed, thinking how terrible it is that even our top world athletes can't abide by the rules for even one event. But then I got to thinking about the whole thing and the more I thought about it, the more the disqualifications seemed absurd. I mean, will it eventually get to the point where people are disqualified for getting eight hours of sleep the night prior to competing when their opponents only got four? There are a lot of things athletes do to enhance their performance. I'll be willing to wager that those athletes that get regular massage perform better than they would if they didn't get regular massage and they more than likely do better than their opponents who don't get massage at all. If you've ever read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, and if you agree with her philosophies then you will understand why I am a little irritated with all these rules in the Olympics, why I was pissed off beyond belief when this country went after Bill Gates and his "monopoly". I guess I just adhere to the thinking that if you can figure out a way to be the best, then so be it...you are the best and pity the people who can't figure out a better way to do it. It doesn't mean people like Bill Gates should lower themselves down to the level of the commoner who can't figure out how to make billions. He is the top of the top and instead of lowering him down to middle ground (where this society likes to keep people) we should let him keep climbing and see who, if anyone, can catch up with him. I think the state of our technological advances is pretty damn good now, just imagine how it could be if people were actually competing to see who could make things better. Don't get me wrong, I don't condone the use of drugs in Olympic sport. It just seems that the state of affairs is getting to a point where eventually people will be diqualified for things like sleeping too much or doing special stretches they were taught by some yogi on top of Old Smokey. |
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