We Need MORE PED's In Sports

The issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports is nothing new. A simple Google search will show as many articles as you care to undertake on how the major league sports in America have failed time and time again to "clean up" sports in this country. Hell congress even got involved back in the late 1990's. (Which seems a bit hypocritical since those folks cheat the system constantly)

Just like the war on drugs, this particular battle is simply inefficient. It's inefficient because there is faaaaaaaaar too much money at stake for the players who are using PED's. When there's 10 and 100's of millions of dollars at stake players will do WHATEVER is necessary to secure said millions.
So I say that if a player is willing to bet his future health on the potential of making millions today, let him do so.
I need 600 foot home runs. I need linebackers that can tun 4.4 - 40's. I need quarterbacks that can throw an 80-yard pass on a rope. It's entertainment at the highest level. We pay exorbitant prices to marvel at the physical prowess of these people; let's stop handicapping them and give them all the tools they need to really give us a show!
Just like marijuana, the people are going to do it anyway, so you might as well get out of the way and stop trying to slow down the train.
Let's take this thing full-on gladiator style. "Are you not entertained?"
Nope. Not yet.
Not until the idiotic policing of sports stops completely. Just stop it.
I say let these totally free individuals walk up to the plate with a needle hanging out of their ass and then proceed to hit the ball 650 feet!
God bless America!!!

Political Open-mindedness

How the mighty have fallen.....

As I tune in to the occasional political talk show to try and stay up-to-date on the goings on in D.C., I.m very often brought back to the realization that our country has never been more divided along party lines.
Our elected "leaders" do little to ease this tension because all they truly endorse is additional power and money for themselves and their colleagues. People often base their opinion on another human being based on whether or not there's a D or an R after the person's last name. It seems to be that we have completely lost ALL compassion for those who do not align with our own beliefs.....that's pretty damn cocky; to think that YOU have all the right answers to what ails us as a nation. 

How did we get to this point?
How did we become so incredibly thin-skinned? So easily offended? As if someone presents an opposing view, they are a direct threat to our humanity. It's crazy!!!

What has happened to true, open debate where people do not feel the need to talk over one another? (Not that the candidates for any elected office do much better)
Does anyone care to learn any more? And even if you don't agree with a person after you have had a civil discourse, then agree to disagree and part and friends. For God's sake it's truly maddening. 
Consider the possibilities that exist if our elected officials could simply find a way to meet in the middle. (For the record, if you remove a few hot button topics from both sides, there's really not a plug nickels worth of difference between them.) What technology could we unwrap, diseases could we cure?

Please, the next time you come across someone with different views than you do, TALK to them. Maybe, just maybe, they can open your mind to a new way of looking at a given topic or issue. Just be able to back up WHY you hold the views that you do. If you're unable to do that simple task, you look rather silly and simple-minded.

Some Try Harder

In this life there will be challenges; this I know for certain. These challenges will appear in different forms, at different times, and will involve different areas of one's life. 
I've always been intrigued by the way people, my self included, react to a given set of conditions, challenges, whatever you may call them. I haven't always responded in the best way possible and that it primarily due to the fact that I was completely hung up on my own wants and needs and not the "greater good" as it were. 

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

 Vince Lombardi

For some people, life will forever be about nothing greater than their own wants and desires. They are blinded by the daily grind and lose sight of the things that truly matter; people, caring for one another, helping others who need our assistance. How one perceives and adapts to or bitches about a given set of circumstances or challenges speaks directly to their character; the essence of who they are. So when challenges arise, ask yourself the following questions:

1. "Does this effect my life?"
2. "How can I use this set of circumstances to learn, grow, and become a person, mother, sister, whatever?"
3. "Do I see a better or more efficient way to go about ___________?"

Challenges will come. How will YOU handle them?