Joseph McNamara was formerly Chief of Police in Kansas City MO and San Jose CA.
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SF Chronicle Op-Eds
Thursday, April 15, 2004
I've been a police officer most of my life and a Giants baseball fan
even longer. Growing up in New York City, I sat in the bleachers and
watched Willie Mays do his magic. For both of those reasons, I am
dismayed to see that home-run king Barry Bonds' personal trainer has
been charged with illegal-drug distribution, adding fuel to the
rumors that Bonds has used anabolic steroids to bulk up his already
muscular frame.
There are plenty of other bigger and stronger guys than Bonds who
could spend a lifetime at home plate without ever banging a home run
into San Francisco Bay. Bonds' incredible home-run hitting and
athletic ability comes from his extraordinarily keen eyesight, superb
reflexes, sense of balance, knowledge of the game and brain wiring
that we can only guess at.
So the question is: Would we have unleashed the urine police,
federal agents, prosecutors and a grand jury if a jock had been
suspected of taking drugs to enhance his eyesight or other mental and
physical abilities possessed by great athletes? The muddled answer
that we get from the mother of all nannies, the Food and Drug
Administration, is that anabolic steroids, synthetic versions of male
hormone testosterone, may, in future years, be shown to be dangerous
to health and should be "nipped in the bud."
Really? My cardiologist tells me that aspirin could be fatal for me,
as it is for thousands of Americans, because it conflicts with other
medications. If we're worrying about danger, shouldn't we also be
outlawing skateboarding, surfing, downhill skiing, horseback riding,
mountain climbing, skydiving, ice cream, chocolate and bacon
cheeseburgers? There is no conclusive scientific proof that these
particular steroids have killed or caused serious illnesses. The
standard warnings on prescription and over-the-counter medicines are
similar to the mumbo jumbo about steroids from the FDA. Indeed, the
absence of class-action lawsuits suggests that the ever-alert
class-action lawyers haven't even discovered this health crisis.
Nor do the nebulous claims from establishment guardians of
virtuosity in youthful athletes that we must have a "level playing
field" for all make sense. I have news for them. When Bonds and his
fellow greats were born, only a handful of other humans were on a
level playing field with them.
I'm no advocate for testosterone or other diet supplements. In fact,
a couple of times a week, my senior-men's doubles group watches in
envy as the slender youngsters on Stanford's women's tennis team hit
balls 50 mph faster than we bulked men can. Their superior timing,
technique and training would drive us off the court in five minutes.
As someone who spent most of his life as a police officer, I think
the government should be spending its resources and our money finding
bin Laden and destroying al Qaeda, instead of launching
investigations into which jocks are using molecules determined to be
immoral by the federal government.
Joseph D. McNamara, formerly the chief of police of San Jose, is a
research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SF Chronicle Op-Eds
Thursday, April 15, 2004
I've been a police officer most of my life and a Giants baseball fan
even longer. Growing up in New York City, I sat in the bleachers and
watched Willie Mays do his magic. For both of those reasons, I am
dismayed to see that home-run king Barry Bonds' personal trainer has
been charged with illegal-drug distribution, adding fuel to the
rumors that Bonds has used anabolic steroids to bulk up his already
muscular frame.
There are plenty of other bigger and stronger guys than Bonds who
could spend a lifetime at home plate without ever banging a home run
into San Francisco Bay. Bonds' incredible home-run hitting and
athletic ability comes from his extraordinarily keen eyesight, superb
reflexes, sense of balance, knowledge of the game and brain wiring
that we can only guess at.
So the question is: Would we have unleashed the urine police,
federal agents, prosecutors and a grand jury if a jock had been
suspected of taking drugs to enhance his eyesight or other mental and
physical abilities possessed by great athletes? The muddled answer
that we get from the mother of all nannies, the Food and Drug
Administration, is that anabolic steroids, synthetic versions of male
hormone testosterone, may, in future years, be shown to be dangerous
to health and should be "nipped in the bud."
Really? My cardiologist tells me that aspirin could be fatal for me,
as it is for thousands of Americans, because it conflicts with other
medications. If we're worrying about danger, shouldn't we also be
outlawing skateboarding, surfing, downhill skiing, horseback riding,
mountain climbing, skydiving, ice cream, chocolate and bacon
cheeseburgers? There is no conclusive scientific proof that these
particular steroids have killed or caused serious illnesses. The
standard warnings on prescription and over-the-counter medicines are
similar to the mumbo jumbo about steroids from the FDA. Indeed, the
absence of class-action lawsuits suggests that the ever-alert
class-action lawyers haven't even discovered this health crisis.
Nor do the nebulous claims from establishment guardians of
virtuosity in youthful athletes that we must have a "level playing
field" for all make sense. I have news for them. When Bonds and his
fellow greats were born, only a handful of other humans were on a
level playing field with them.
I'm no advocate for testosterone or other diet supplements. In fact,
a couple of times a week, my senior-men's doubles group watches in
envy as the slender youngsters on Stanford's women's tennis team hit
balls 50 mph faster than we bulked men can. Their superior timing,
technique and training would drive us off the court in five minutes.
As someone who spent most of his life as a police officer, I think
the government should be spending its resources and our money finding
bin Laden and destroying al Qaeda, instead of launching
investigations into which jocks are using molecules determined to be
immoral by the federal government.
Joseph D. McNamara, formerly the chief of police of San Jose, is a
research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
