Good to see that I have Malcolm Gladwell on my side (here and here) in this whole debate.
...it is perfectly legal for an athlete to get painkillers after an injury, so he can continue playing (and, I would point out, risk further injury.) It is not legal for that athlete to take Human Growth Hormone, in order to speed his recovery from that same injury. Again, why? What is the distinction? Why is it okay to play hurt but not okay to try and not play hurt? There may be a perfectly valid reason here as well. But don't we need to spell out what it is?
I realize that the people running major league baseball and the NFL are not philosophers. But the intellectual sloppiness with which this current crusade has been conducted is appalling.
That's always been my most basic point: if we're going to draw distinctions between one type of behavior and another, don't we need to explain our basis for doing so? And then, don't we need to think carefully about how that principle can be applied across a whole range of circumstances? Because if it cannot, its never going to be taken seriously, either by fans or players.
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