Trust is a funny thing. Once it's broken, it's hard to regain. The world of professional sports has lost mine and I don't know when, if ever, I'll be able to trust it again.
After watching these past Olympiad it's become clear that athletes today are more dominant than they've ever been. World records were being set left and right and these freakish athletes were coming from all corners of the earth. And while most sports fans and writers prefer to sit back and enjoy it, I'm struggling with this little pessimistic voice in the back of my head that keeps whispering, "How are they doing it? This isn't really possible."
Maybe I'm crazy, like most people who hear voices in their heads, but if I am, I blame the sports world for making me that way. It's cheated on me too many times in the past, so now I'm suspicious of it. I wish I could take every record-breaking athlete on the show "Cheaters" and catch them in the act.
I hope the voices are wrong but I'm bracing myself just in case they're not. I won't be caught off guard and shocked if five years from now we find out Michael Phelps was taking something illegal. Eight gold medals in one Olympics? Rushing off the podium to win another race literally 10 minutes later? How did he do it?
Or what about Usain Bolt? He effortlessly broke multiple world records, while looking back at his opponents, pounding his chest, and pointing his finger to the sky mid-sprint without even missing a stride. He's either a super alien from another planet sent to take over track and field, or he's on something. Right?
And even in the world of basketball where the "Redeem Team" dominated the competition all the way to clinching a gold medal, some form of cheating could still exist. Look at a guy like Lebron James who has bulked up even more since entering the NBA. This guy is 6'8 and weighs 260 pounds. He's Karl Malone's size with the agility and quickness of most point guards. You mean to tell me that is all natural? And don't you find it strange that football, baseball, and hockey players are being caught using performance-enhancing drugs while the sport of basketball is squeaky clean?
I hear you sane people out their telling me that they test all these Olympic athletes so there's no way they could being using steroids. But didn't they test Marion Jones and Maurice Green? Weren't Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds tested over and over again?
Could it be possible that Phelps, Bolt, James, and other Olympic athletes have just found some new drug that they haven't been able to test for yet?
I'm probably just being paranoid. The world of professional sports has screwed me over several times already, but they said they'd never do it again. They didn't mean to do it,
I swear they didn't mean it.
I wish I could shake this feeling though. I wish I could just enjoy these supremely talented athletes who are dominating their sports. But for some reason, I just can't. In the words of our well-spoken president, "Fool me once…shame on you…fool me…I can't get fooled again."
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