4 ms·

I'd be interested in a set of games that had minimal rules governing doping. Let's see what the human body can achieve with science.

vinchuco 10y ago
http://www.majorleagueeating.com/contests.php http://www.majorleagueeating.com/contests.php
- strictnein 10y ago
  Do they allow some sort of doping for Major League Eating competitions? Or are we talking full scale cyber-stomach enhancements?
themihai 10y ago
There would be a lot of heart attacks and cancers due the doping abuse. Not to mention the ethics. I'm not sure who would like to sponsor a such environment/event. Maybe the pharmaceutical industry but even for them would become damaging at some point.
RodgerTheGreat 10y ago
I'd be curious myself, but the argument against this type of competition is that it creates enormous pressure on competitors to do things that could have serious negative impacts on their long-term health for the sake of winning. Even if participants are adults of sound mind, it seems unethical to create a situation where people are encouraged to risk crippling or killing themselves in pursuit of fame, no?
- jrockway 10y ago
  > it seems unethical to create a situation where people are encouraged to risk crippling or killing themselves in pursuit of fame, no? But think of the millions you could make! Donald Trump could be the host! Make sports great again!
  - thrownblown 10y ago
    NBA, NFL, MBA, UFC.... all make loot while only paying lip service to doping controls. UFC has only recently brought in WADA, and NBA, NFL and MBA all have strong enough players unions that actually protect the athletes desire to use PEDs. There is some testing in the major US professional sporting leagues, but IMHO it is only there to constrain the guys from going buck wild with the steroids. Most high level athletes in sports that fall under IOC umbrella are enrolled in the biological passport program and have many, many, annoying, out of competition doping controls where they take urine, blood and hair samples. Think of being woken up at 5 am for a blood test while on vacation. They have to supply there exact whereabouts for months in advance and if they can't be found they will suffer a suspension equal to a failed doping control. Vastly different than Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds.
  - DefaultUserHN 10y ago
    >But think of the millions you could make! Donald Trump could be the host! Make sports great again! Well, if athletes are going to cheat with steroids, I say we let Hillary host. Make sports crooked again. Imagine the amount of money that can made at the crippling expense of other people.
- venomsnake 10y ago
  That is exactly what they are doing now. So what is the point. With free for all doping I think it could be at least as safe for them as the current situation. If you think that weightlifting leaves your joints intact ...
  - thrownblown 10y ago
    weightlifting is one of the safest sports with 0.0017 injuries per 100,000 hours of participation. Track and field had 0.570. http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1994/02000/Relative_Safety_of_Weightlifting_and_Weight.8.aspx http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1994/02000/Relati...
- goldenkey 10y ago
  This "enormous pressure...crippling or killing themselves".. guess what? It already happens normally. More than a couple athletes are seriously injured or die while training for the olympics. Usually in the more dangerous sports like gymnastics. Anyhow, I think it would be great because science thru support by capitalism and prestige would actually apply positive pressure to discovery of safer and more effective anabolic steroids and other muscle growth agents. Instead of just dumb grunt sport, we would have a scientific aspect that actively is pushing humanity forward and upward onto a new plateau. The everyday person would benefit. Disabled and physically/mentally handicapped children and adults could get huge gains in their treatment efficacy because many of the agents that enhance mental acuity or muscle strength also repair or cure deficiencies.
buro9 10y ago
Cycling already did this by just not enforcing strict rules until drugs were already endemic in the sport. At the extreme end you get the death of the athletes. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/19/us/stamina-building-drug-linked-to-athletes-deaths.html?pagewanted=1 http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/19/us/stamina-building-drug-l... I'd love to believe the sport was now clean.
- goldenkey 10y ago
  Whats wrong with voluntary death for entertainment? The gladiators in colloseums were heralded even more so than royalty. But we can all agree that slavery isn't right. That doesn't change the fact that the coloseums were very entertaining, a consensus among the population. So why should we not let bikers voluntarily augment themselves. Sports are all about entertainment. The athlete is like a biblical lamb to the slaughter. Self sacrifice for pride, glory, cash, and kingship. Football has a risk of MS. Definite brain damage over time. Same thing with boxing. I dont think drugs are much different. They probably can be done a lot safer than some of these sports are to begin with
  - notfromhere 10y ago
    Because we've as a society determined that blood for sport creates a perverse set of incentives. I take it people who believe in your sentiment aren't the ones doing the dying.
    - goldenkey 10y ago
      Speak for yourself. Well until the late 19th century, duels were an everyday occurrence. And spectators were common. Enjoy reading this one that involves Jim Bowie, creator of the Bowie knife. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbar_Fight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbar_Fight
nsxwolf 10y ago
The more technology creeps into sports performance the less interested I become. There's a spectrum that goes from nutrition and fabric technology at one end to transhumanism at the other. I don't really mind performance being increased by advances in nutrition or training methods. I start to get a little turned off by drag reducing suits that let you swim faster, because the apples to apples comparisons get murkier. Once we get into doping and prosthetic limbs that outperform natural ones you just lose me entirely. If it's a competition for cyborgs, then say so.
- verisimilidude 10y ago
  Cyborg competition is going to be more or less entertaining depending upon the sport. For many events in the Olympics, I'd completely agree with you. Human variation adds a lot of drama. If every sprinter were to run on the same Footech XYZ-4 Hamstring, etc., it's hard to imagine there would be many differences between those sprinters. It'd be boring without other changes to the sport. On the other hand, doping and augmentation could allow entirely new types of sport. Diving from 500 meters. Sprinters with pit crews like race cars. American football players with their brains removed. I might be interested to watch some of that.
  - raihansaputra 10y ago
    "American football players with their brains removed." So remote controlled human bodies crashing into each other?
strommen 10y ago
Hate to post something this silly on HN, but you might enjoy this old SNL skit: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-all-drug-olympics/n9691 http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-all-drug...
rurban 10y ago
That's the system we already have for a few decades. And national IOC executives get about 20% of the athletes winning fees to support suppressing the various doping reports. Just look at the numbers.
nawitus 10y ago
There are some sports with untested "federations", see e.g. powerlifting.

vinchuco 10y ago

http://www.majorleagueeating.com/contests.php http://www.majorleagueeating.com/contests.php

strictnein 10y ago
Do they allow some sort of doping for Major League Eating competitions? Or are we talking full scale cyber-stomach enhancements?

themihai 10y ago

There would be a lot of heart attacks and cancers due the doping abuse. Not to mention the ethics. I'm not sure who would like to sponsor a such environment/event. Maybe the pharmaceutical industry but even for them would become damaging at some point.

RodgerTheGreat 10y ago

I'd be curious myself, but the argument against this type of competition is that it creates enormous pressure on competitors to do things that could have serious negative impacts on their long-term health for the sake of winning. Even if participants are adults of sound mind, it seems unethical to create a situation where people are encouraged to risk crippling or killing themselves in pursuit of fame, no?

jrockway 10y ago
> it seems unethical to create a situation where people are encouraged to risk crippling or killing themselves in pursuit of fame, no? But think of the millions you could make! Donald Trump could be the host! Make sports great again!
- thrownblown 10y ago
  NBA, NFL, MBA, UFC.... all make loot while only paying lip service to doping controls. UFC has only recently brought in WADA, and NBA, NFL and MBA all have strong enough players unions that actually protect the athletes desire to use PEDs. There is some testing in the major US professional sporting leagues, but IMHO it is only there to constrain the guys from going buck wild with the steroids. Most high level athletes in sports that fall under IOC umbrella are enrolled in the biological passport program and have many, many, annoying, out of competition doping controls where they take urine, blood and hair samples. Think of being woken up at 5 am for a blood test while on vacation. They have to supply there exact whereabouts for months in advance and if they can't be found they will suffer a suspension equal to a failed doping control. Vastly different than Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds.
- DefaultUserHN 10y ago
  >But think of the millions you could make! Donald Trump could be the host! Make sports great again! Well, if athletes are going to cheat with steroids, I say we let Hillary host. Make sports crooked again. Imagine the amount of money that can made at the crippling expense of other people.
venomsnake 10y ago
That is exactly what they are doing now. So what is the point. With free for all doping I think it could be at least as safe for them as the current situation. If you think that weightlifting leaves your joints intact ...
- thrownblown 10y ago
  weightlifting is one of the safest sports with 0.0017 injuries per 100,000 hours of participation. Track and field had 0.570. http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1994/02000/Relative_Safety_of_Weightlifting_and_Weight.8.aspx http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1994/02000/Relati...
goldenkey 10y ago
This "enormous pressure...crippling or killing themselves".. guess what? It already happens normally. More than a couple athletes are seriously injured or die while training for the olympics. Usually in the more dangerous sports like gymnastics. Anyhow, I think it would be great because science thru support by capitalism and prestige would actually apply positive pressure to discovery of safer and more effective anabolic steroids and other muscle growth agents. Instead of just dumb grunt sport, we would have a scientific aspect that actively is pushing humanity forward and upward onto a new plateau. The everyday person would benefit. Disabled and physically/mentally handicapped children and adults could get huge gains in their treatment efficacy because many of the agents that enhance mental acuity or muscle strength also repair or cure deficiencies.

buro9 10y ago

Cycling already did this by just not enforcing strict rules until drugs were already endemic in the sport. At the extreme end you get the death of the athletes. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/19/us/stamina-building-drug-linked-to-athletes-deaths.html?pagewanted=1 http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/19/us/stamina-building-drug-l... I'd love to believe the sport was now clean.

goldenkey 10y ago
Whats wrong with voluntary death for entertainment? The gladiators in colloseums were heralded even more so than royalty. But we can all agree that slavery isn't right. That doesn't change the fact that the coloseums were very entertaining, a consensus among the population. So why should we not let bikers voluntarily augment themselves. Sports are all about entertainment. The athlete is like a biblical lamb to the slaughter. Self sacrifice for pride, glory, cash, and kingship. Football has a risk of MS. Definite brain damage over time. Same thing with boxing. I dont think drugs are much different. They probably can be done a lot safer than some of these sports are to begin with
- notfromhere 10y ago
  Because we've as a society determined that blood for sport creates a perverse set of incentives. I take it people who believe in your sentiment aren't the ones doing the dying.
  - goldenkey 10y ago
    Speak for yourself. Well until the late 19th century, duels were an everyday occurrence. And spectators were common. Enjoy reading this one that involves Jim Bowie, creator of the Bowie knife. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbar_Fight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbar_Fight

nsxwolf 10y ago

The more technology creeps into sports performance the less interested I become. There's a spectrum that goes from nutrition and fabric technology at one end to transhumanism at the other. I don't really mind performance being increased by advances in nutrition or training methods. I start to get a little turned off by drag reducing suits that let you swim faster, because the apples to apples comparisons get murkier. Once we get into doping and prosthetic limbs that outperform natural ones you just lose me entirely. If it's a competition for cyborgs, then say so.

verisimilidude 10y ago
Cyborg competition is going to be more or less entertaining depending upon the sport. For many events in the Olympics, I'd completely agree with you. Human variation adds a lot of drama. If every sprinter were to run on the same Footech XYZ-4 Hamstring, etc., it's hard to imagine there would be many differences between those sprinters. It'd be boring without other changes to the sport. On the other hand, doping and augmentation could allow entirely new types of sport. Diving from 500 meters. Sprinters with pit crews like race cars. American football players with their brains removed. I might be interested to watch some of that.
- raihansaputra 10y ago
  "American football players with their brains removed." So remote controlled human bodies crashing into each other?

strommen 10y ago

Hate to post something this silly on HN, but you might enjoy this old SNL skit: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-all-drug-olympics/n9691 http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-all-drug...

rurban 10y ago

That's the system we already have for a few decades. And national IOC executives get about 20% of the athletes winning fees to support suppressing the various doping reports. Just look at the numbers.

nawitus 10y ago

There are some sports with untested "federations", see e.g. powerlifting.