Hmmm......

Here's one for you:

In a book, a sports doctor asked a more than 100 world class runners if they would take a hypothetical pill if it would guarantee an Olympic gold medal, but would also kill them in a year.  He also asked, unrelated to giving/taking the first pill, if they would take "a magic drug" that would let them win every competition they entered for the next five years, but likewise would have them dead five years after taking it.

I don't know if I was surprised or not by the responses.  More than half of the runners said they'd take the pill or drug.  Huh?

Now, granted, these are athletes who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of Olympic gold, but still??????

I, for one, think anyone who would do this is a fool, but as usual that's just me--or is it?  It got me thinking about it, though.

I wonder if this question had been asked, say, 50 or more years ago the answers would still be "Yes."  Were times different then, with athletes having a different focus?  I do know that Bob Gibson, the great St Louis Cardinal pitcher, recently said he'd have seriously considered taking performance-enhancing drugs.  (Imagine trying to hit Gibson with PEDs!  He could hardly be touched without them--and with a flatter pitcher's mound.)  Are we a different society/culture, where celebrity trumps all?  Note all the athletes, from the high schools through college to the pros, who take steroids.  They must know of the destructive side effects of the drugs, right?

Is it like smoking?  "Yeah, smoking causes cancer, but it's the other guy who will get it--not me." or "You gotta go from something......"

What if such a pill/drug was offered for winning American Idol or one of those other television contests?  I wonder if those contestants would also opt for the drug.

And, what might be the lower limit--little league?  college glory?  Miss America?

Ah, for me it's just food for thought.  But for others, it just proves what fools there are out there.