Okay, I admit to reading the sports section. To skipping huge pieces of it, of course, but I read it because my passions include figure skating and gymnastics. And the WNBA. And I sorta vaguely follow tennis. But effective 2005, I won't be following baseball. I had quit watching the Mariners several years back for various reasons; stopped even wanting to go to a game because after the voters said "no, we don't want a new stadium" the Powers That Be said "you don't MEAN that' and we got stuck paying for TWO new sports arenas. But when news that Randy Johnson - the only reason i watched baseball - was traded from Arizona to the Dreaded Yankees (sorry Stu but I do hate them; it's in my blood) (mom's from Brookline, I was raised in Hartford, we went with Boston), I won't be checking scores or watching even the occasional game.
But It IS skating season -Nationals just over - Europeans, Canadians, Worlds on their way (at least on tv) so I read. And this caught me and gave me a giggle fit this morning.
Story in the "briefing" section - the short paragraphs of news (anything from someone getting arrested to a championship in a lesser known sport gets announced here):
"Curling, known more for sweeping than steroids, has its first U.S. doping case and possibl the first worldwide.
"Mitchell Marks, 22, of Madion, Wis. was banned from competition for two years after refusing to take a random drug test last October, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said."
Okay, so it's NOT that I sneer at curling - I GET why it's a sport I really do, even if it's the silliest LOOKING sport to me right after race-walking. And actually,this man has NOT been found to use steroids, but the refusal means an automatic ban.
No, it's the idea that one would TAKE steroids in order to become a better curler. SCUZE ME?? You wanna bulk up? for CURLING? There are just certain athletic activities were steroids are NOT going to be helpful. Bigger body mass won't help you get your triple lutz, double toe combination down. and sure, curling stones are damn heavy, but PLEASE don't tell me people are taking nandro or other steroids for curling. It would just break my heart.