Disappointing
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“I give credit to the journalistic work that went into this podcast, but unfortunately I came away very disappointed for a few reasons.
The first is the way it glosses over the health implications of steroid use. It sets up a straw man by rightfully acknowledging the scare tactics used to dissuade young people from using. But there is no balanced conversation here. At one point we are asked, “Have you ever heard of a professional athlete suffering a heart attack or stroke?” Well, I can name one off the top of my head: Tedy Bruschi, whose multiple strokes were never fully explained. Then there are the former athletes who were clearly steroid users and who have died early from cardiac-related issues, for instance wrestler Randy Savage who died in his 50s.
Men *can* increase their testosterone levels moderately without acute and sudden health disasters, of course. But a more nuanced approach would have included asking the question, “What are the natural reasons for men’s testosterone levels to decline with age?” There is a huge literature on this and a wealth of scientific commentary and opinion. Also: what about women? Are we to believe steroid use in female athletes is just the next step in the evolution of training? The podcast avoids any real depth on these topics rings like an exercise in apologetics for the use of moderate testosterone boosting drug use.
The other bone I have to pick with this podcast is that it seems to assume that the use of steroids and other PEDs in baseball and other pro sports somehow ended when MLB instituted more rigorous drug testing. In reality, we are very likely in the middle of a new steroid era, one in which the masking of doping has become much more sophisticated, and the leagues have purposefully fallen behind in the arms race when it comes to their testing procedures. These leagues have PED policies in place, but are now exhibiting the same type of greed-driven willful ignorance that created the original steroid crisis in baseball. Their testing regimes are a joke. Just look at the athletes’ bodies, their physical strength and speed, their top physical performance even at advanced ages, etc versus the late 1990s. There are a hundred pro baseball players now who looked like McGuire during his career. I can not say with any certainty that drug use in sports is worse now than it was in the age of McGuire, Sosa, and Bonds. I’m just saying a journalist’s job is to ponder the question.”
edmund apple via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
07/01/21
More reviews of ROS Presents: Counterattack
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“This is an enthralling listen with a focus on people and the stories often forgotten around this tragic tale.”
berkman_s via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
08/26/21
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“Great storytelling! Takes you back to when you fell in love with baseball.”
czarohan via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
04/01/21
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“Crushed was a very well structured and remarkably interestingpodcast. Personally, I am extremely interested in the steroid era of baseball and how it affected the game of baseball. This podcast covered that and went way beyond my previous knowledge of baseball in the 90s. I saw an ad for this...”Read full review »
bradley ramsden via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
05/25/21
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