Outdoor Track and Field on Flotrack 2013

The Spam Folder: Gay, Powell, and The CREAM (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)

Jul 16, 2013 by FloTrack Staff

There’s a lot of banter that goes undocumented at the Flocasts HQ. We finally decided to publish a few emails in our new series, The Spam Folder. This week, Mitch Kastoff and Ryan Sterner ask who doesn’t want the sport to be clean, what it truly means to be equal, and try to recite as many ‘90s rap lyrics about money as possible.

Want to chat about something or simply want to join the conversation? Email us.

TO: Mitch Kastoff
FROM: Ryan Sterner
SUBJECT: McGwire and Sosa, I mean Gay and Powell

Mitch,

I’m writing to you just a few days after discovering Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, and a handful of other Jamaicans had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs (or whatever it is the kids are taking these days). I’d like to tell you that I was surprised when I found out. As it was, I just sighed and said “Of course.”

With that said: This doping scandal hits close to home for a lot of track fans, me included. Part of it seems to be that no one believes that Tyson Gay could be a doper—I certainly didn’t think so. He’s quiet, modest, and even after he flexes his neck across the finish line to run 9.74, the guy is humble and unassuming. More people probably wanted to see the guy crack a smile than run down Bolt in a final.

But then I think again: of course he was doping. Even if we want to believe that he didn’t knowingly take drugs like he claims, why wouldn’t he be taking drugs? It seems that in the 21st century world of Track and Field the idea of a level playing field is a field where everyone is doping. Ethics aside, you’d be a fool not to. It seems like track and field is late to the party that Lance and the Tour De France started years ago; if you’re not doping, you’ve got no chance.

So what’s the point anymore? Is every world caliber sprinter on the juice? Have we gotten to the point where a level playing field is non-existent? Do we even want to see a race where there is a level (in this instance I’m talking about those natural, dope free athletes) playing field?

In sickness and health,
Ryan Sterner

TO: Ryan Sterner
FROM: Mitch Kastoff
SUBJECT: Dolla dolla bill, ya'll

Ryan,

What does “level playing field” even mean? Seriously. What do you consider fair?

Access to physios? Altitude camps? High-tech gadgetry? Platelet-Rich plasma therapy? Therapeutic Use Exemptions? New supplements? People are always looking for an advantage.

Not everyone in track and field is doping. But don’t pretend like this a problem that is solely limited to running. Whether it’s EPO in cycling or hGH in football, a certain number of athletes will be “cheating.” That means that these athletes are using something deemed illegal by WADA. But a large amount, probably larger than you think, are exploring the gray area.

Where do you draw the line? I side with Ato Boldon when he suggests that there should be a “distinction... between supplements and stimulants and what we call ‘the hard stuff’ - steroids and hGH.” The gray area will always exist, but maybe it could be a little more white and "legal." But then that puts ethical athletes and coaches at a disadvantage because they'll never use that stuff. Then we're creating a ceiling of limitation and not a floor.

I’ll answer your question with another question, mainly because I’m interested, but also because I don’t know the answer.

Would you rather watch a race where there’s a chance of someone running 9.5 (under questionable circumstances) or a race where the winner will run no faster than 9.8 (but you’re guaranteed that he’s clean).

Make sure to consider the CREAM. No, not that cream. I mean Wu Tang’s CREAM: Cash Rules Everything Around Me.

Cheers,
Mitch Kastoff

P.S.: David Torrence is doing an AMA on Reddit right now about this stuff.

P.P.S.: I also wondered if PEDs in the MLB raised the average attendence. They didn't.

TO: Mitch Kastoff
FROM: Ryan Sterner
SUBJECT: It's all about the Benjamins

Mitch,

“Fair” is always going to be arbitrary. In a world where drugs don't exist, would we be strapping sandbags around the waists of genetically superior athletes? Absolutely not. So saying that to create a level playing field we need to give every athlete access to what every other athlete has is just as ludicrous; it’s impossible. There is always going to be an advantage, in our case we’re talking about doping.

When you say we are creating a ceiling, I agree. But I’d like to modify that. We are creating an ever expanding ceiling where pharmaceutical companies [or whoever makes this stuff] will continue to come out with things that push the envelope of what we consider fair. And with that we have athletes that want to be “ethical” who will always be sitting on the floor and then the “not so ethical” who are stacking phone books to get as close to the ceiling as WADA permits.

And that’s how I like it. I honestly would rather see a questionable 9.5 any day of the week. Not because I condone doping but because that's what we already have every time any current athlete steps on the track. Everyone loves seeing Bolt win by a country mile but isn’t the question of whether or not he’s clean in the back of everyone’s head?

If it's not, it should be.

Fact: the top twenty 100 meter times in American history are all owned by people that have been implicated in doping scandals.

Fact: Usain Bolt and Nesta Carter are the only men to have “cleanly” dipped under 9.84.

In this day and age when breaking the 10-second barrier is commonplace, every race we watch has become questionable. Does that make it any less enjoyable? Absolutely not. Give me Bolt kissing babies on the back of a Bentley being driven by the queen any day.

Does this make me a bad person?

Best,
Ryan

TO: Ryan Sterner
FROM: Mitch Kastoff
SUBJECT: Mo' money, mo' problems

Ryan,

“Oh look at me I’ve read Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. Did I show you my signed copy of Cat’s Cradle?” Real talk: nice reference. That dystopian future makes too much sense in this situation. What Vonnegut story isn’t dystopian?

I’m fine with the idea of clean guys “only” running 9.8. I laugh that I have to put clean in quotes. I guess that once the bar is raised, it doesn’t come back down. When it’s raised by illegal substances, then it’s hard to get back up there.

But it’s not a matter of whether I like watching it. It’s about money and the casual fan.

This from a guy who emailed me Sunday night, but wanted to remain anonymous. “Sports are fueled by money. Players want more money, so they have to outperform their rivals. What about everyone else? Look at baseball. Owners want to make money to fill their stadium. The league wants more money to they can sell TV ads. Commissioners want to make more money because, I think, their salary is based on the total revenue of the league.”

“The KEY if everybody is going to make money is general interest.”

The diehards will always watch the races or travel to the meet. It’s the casual fan that needs to be influenced to watch track and field.

The Diamond League has no sponsor. WADA says it needs more money to battle drugs.

You want the morbid-there’s-no-Tooth-Fairy truth? There may be a dialogue on Twitter and blog posts calling for change, but nothing will happen unless the punishments become more harsh (which has been suggested by some people - @7:05) or some angel investor decides he wants to save track and field (to the same anonymous donor: If you also want to help pay for my student loans, I’d really appreciate it).

Ryan Fenton also just read this email my shoulder. That dude. He wanted to add, “Based on what you’re saying, it’s not that a clean sport doesn’t make money, it does. A dirty sport just has the potential to make more.”

Pretty much.

This whole email was just a bunch of quotes,
Mitch

TO: Mitch Kastoff
FROM: Ryan Sterner
SUBJECT: THERE'S NO TOOTH FAIRY

Mitch,

Exactly.

You said it, Wu Tang said it, and Fenton said it: Cash rules. There is almost no incentive for the people in charge to have a clean sport, because a cleaner (slower) sport isn't going to sell as much as a dirty (faster) sport. And in turn makes it so there is little incentive for athletes to be clean--if you’re lucky you can get a gig selling shaving cream!

At the end of the day I am sad that track and field has been reduced to these debates. It makes me sadder still that at this point I've given up hope of having clean competition. But as you said, the competition bar has been set, the drug ceiling raised, and all we can do is sit back and watch the monster we've created.