Body Building--The Last Frontier

Body Building has become the last sport in which it's world champions are allowed to, and even encouraged to, use anabolic steroids. Jay Cutler has won his third Mr. Olympia title in 4 years, as he joins a growing list of those immortalized as genetic superfreaks for thier muscle size. Competitors such as Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, and oh yeah, that Arnold guy too; have created a mainstream sport that many see as simply amusing. However, these athletes are allowed to purposly poison thier bodies in the spirit of competition, something that almost any other sports league has deemed immoral and illegal. If the NFL or MLB bans steroids becuase it is detrimental to the health of the players, why would it continue to be allowed in a sport that is one of the most rapidly growing in the country.

With people caring more and more about how they look in the media spotlight, these men and women appear the fittest of all, prompting those everywhere to join in. Besides the long term health effects to themselves, these athletes have contributed to the downfall of health throughout many of American gyms and health centers. You don't have to travel far to find those who are "juicing," there are guys in our own Saginaw Valley Ryder Center that have, and continue to use these drugs to advance thier physique or their game. But because they aren't competing in collegiant sporting events, they're overlooked. Instead of spending time, money and effort on ridding the world of these illegal and harmful drugs, why doesn't the government, or some company at least, use that time and money to create a strain of steroids that helps to advance fitness results, WITHOUT SIDE EFFECTS. It's alot like the medical marijuana issue that we see today, instead of spending so much money to prevent it, why don't we legalize it, make it safer, and tax it. As these body builders continue to grow and become more plenty, so will the amateurs who don't have the medical personnel that millionaire body builders have. Action needs to be taken to prevent this from becoming an even bigger problem in the future.

Champions

Don't Hate, Appreciate.

Head Trauma

Just this last sunday there was a game between the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and if you watched this game, it's likely that there was only one part that you remember still today; the hit. Late in the second quarter, Carolina had punted the ball to Bucs' punt returner Clifton Smith. As he waited for the ball to come down, his world went black. Panthers safety Dante Wesley had hit Smith so hard, with his helmet and his shoulder, that the unfortunate player was knocked unconscious for over a minute. Being unconscious for over a minute can cause several devastating problems involving your organs as well as your brain cells. Now concussions and big hits happen in football, however, the problem here, is that Wesley had hit Smith not just while he had his eyes to the sky, defenseless, but that he had hit him directly in the head. As Wesley was ejected from the game, it truly brought the brutal side to the front, showing just how out of control and uncareful these world class athletes can become. As I have touched on previously, steps have been taken to prevent these situations such as fines, suspensions, penalties and new equipment; however, unless the league, and the sports world in general makes significant changes fast, there will finally be a bigger dark cloud over the world of sports entertainment than steroids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOYqZfNbXcc

Exercise Bulimia

Just stumbled onto an article that caught my interest, it's about eating disorders and overexercising. This particular article focused on Bulimia, more commonly known as, "throwing up your food after you eat it to stay skinny," however many college students might be humbled to learn that another aspect of bulimia is "people who use means of exercise to purge through weight loss." Now this is a very touchy subject, as exercise is a very important, and very beneficial activity for every human, but in this particular case, the article was referring to those who spend hours a day, every day, in the gym. More specifically, those individuals that have such ritualistic exercise practices, that they wouldn't slow even if they reached the level of fitness they were striving for, those who have exercised past the point of becoming skinny or toned, and are beginning to cause permanant damage to their body. This is more a stereotypical thing for models and actresses, but it happens much more commonly everyday in local high school and college gyms, all the way up to the obsessed soccer moms who can never seem to get back to thier high school weight.

Prosthetics/Pacemaker

Charlie Davies

Charlie Davies, a player for the U.S. National team was in a car accident in which he has broken both of his legs, suffered several facial fractures, and a lacerated spleen. For most, this accident and these injuries would usually put a person in a wheel chair, or at least on a cane, for a long long time, if not the rest of their life; however, doctors believe that because of Davies incredible fitness level, his recovery may take 6 to 12 months before he can take the field again and play world class soccer. Just another reason why people need to be more active. They quickly repaired his lacerated spleen, and were quick to put steel rods in his leg bones to sustain the remaining integrity of the player's "money makers."

Concussions in Sports

According to the Sports Concussion Institute "An estimated ten percent of all athletes participating in contact sports suffer a concussion each season." If you consider the millions of athletes, from elementary school to professional levels, that are active in contact sports; this is an astounding number. A concussion is defined as "concussions occur when a blow to the head or neck interrupts brain function. The effects of these concussions vary between individuals, and many mild concussions are undiagnosed and unreported."

This common injury is often overlooked because patients can oftentimes recover quite quickly, and with relatively little harm done.



Last night after watching Sunday Night Football, I got caught watching the 60 minutes program that regularly follows, and the show opened talking about new findings about sports concussions. The study that they exposed to the public, had shown a strong correlation between concussions and brain disease. It was estimated on this program that professional football players, based on their speed and weight, clash together similar to a car hitting a brick wall at a speed of 40 mph. This can cause huge problems when players make contact head to head. One former player that they had interviewed named Ted Johnson, used to hit so hard that he once split another players helmet in two through a tackle.

According to the study, a mass amount of concussions in different contacts sports can dramatically increase that athletes chance of having a brain disease in their future, and not necessarily all that late in life. "The study found the players under the age of 50 were 19 times more likely to have been diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer's and other memory related diseases, compared to the general public."

There are some strides being made to protect the athletes including different types of sports equipment and rules that protect against head to head contact. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to avoid the contact; and as the studies come out about the future repercussions for multiple concussions, contact sports could soon undergo some major chances in attempt to protect it's athletes.