Where is the line drawn?

All this week... maybe two; I have heard about nothing but steroids on Sports Talk radio. Should records stand? Should awards be taken away? Who knows?

I know I don't.

I do know that technology evolves. And games evolve. It's the source of stupid rankings. But you can read what I think about that below. Anyway, there is the saying that "records were made to be broken." By steroids? What about other technology? Take football. If a wide reciever breaks the record for catches, do people look to see if the receiver wore the tackified gloves? Isn't that an advantage? How much does it help? I know receivers 20 years ago did not have them, so should they get the record? Of course.

Peyton Manning broke the record for touchdown passes. He plays in Indianapolis that has a domed field. Is that an advantage? How much? How many TD passes would he have thrown if he didn't play at least half of his games indoors? Should he get the record?

Today's athletes enjoy the fruits of technology, whether it be custom shoes as opposed to Chuck Taylor's, better rehab through medical technology, better equipment, better everything. Once upon a time there was some talk about aluminum bats in professional baseball. The consensus is making use of these things is not cheating. Even though not eveyone does take advantage of these things. Not all receivers where gloves.

So I guess it comes down to what is legal, and what isn't. And that's where it gets tricky, Leagues draw certain lines about what can and cannot be done. People talk about the "integrity of the game" and what not, when the game changes. The 3-point shot, the play clock, no contact rule, no standardized size for baseball parks, and the list goes on. I'm not saying that steroids is not cheating. It very much is. What I am saying is that there is some level of hypocracy in condeming Home Runs yeilded by steroids and turing around and praising the long drives of a golfer who is using the latest Bertha driver that adds 'X' amount of yards to a drive. There's a difference. One the body is juiced, the other the intrument is.

I don't know where the line is drawn...

All I know is that if it weren't for technology, no one would be reading this right now. Not that I'm breaking records or winning awards...