The 2021 Athletics Thread

[starrynight]

It’s about admiration.

We follow elite sports because what these people do is extraordinary and we are in awe.

They have levels of self discipline the rest of us mortals can only dream of. I could never match it, but it impresses me to watch those who can.

 

[BittyBug]

I wasn't alive in the 60s for example, though

I was alive but in diapers so definitely not partaking of the ganj. Not sure it's a generational thing, but maybe just a matter of different circles and geographies.

 

[starrynight]

Marijuana is terrible stuff anyway. I had a friend who went through a phase of smoking it constantly and her intelligence and motivation deteriorated badly. However once she stopped, she got back to her normal self. It really isn’t the kind of thing athletes should be promoting as a good idea.

Welp, there we have it. Proof that not everyone thinks the same about it at this point

I do understand the position that USA is a free country and if people want to hurt their health by consuming things that’s their own business and personal choice.

One of my sisters work colleagues is probably going to be dead by 40 due to severe alcoholism. It’s extremely upsetting to everyone around him.

Some people kill themselves with huge consumption of junk foods and sugar.

Sure that is not an argument to say that no one should be allowed to drink or buy junk food because some ruin their lives with it.

But I know what I saw happen to my friend. Wasn’t good to watch. But her choice I suppose. But certainly not a good choice.

 

[once_upon]

I hate to say this but if your friend lost her intelligence and motivation she was NOT on just weed but probably mixed with some other drugs (candy-flipping).

I have some real personal experience with a family member. TCH is NOT as safe as you would lead people to believe. Ive spent the last month in hell because a family member is using THC - in a legit medicinal purpose. But it is causing a huge adverse reaction.

The point for athletes is that, no matter what you want it to be, it is a banned substance. That's the end of the story. If athletes and their governing bodies want to change it...do it.

FWIW driving thru Colorado, you find all kinds of PSA telling you that driving high is driving under the influence.

 

[canbelto]

I do understand the position that USA is a free country and if people want to hurt their health by consuming things that’s their own business and personal choice.

One of my sisters work colleagues is probably going to be dead by 40 due to severe alcoholism. It’s extremely upsetting to everyone around him.

Some people kill themselves with huge consumption of junk foods and sugar.

Sure that is not an argument to say that no one should be allowed to drink or buy junk food because some ruin their lives with it.

But I know what I saw happen to my friend. Wasn’t good to watch. But her choice I suppose.

I don't believe you. Pot never harmed anybody that way. Your friend wasn't just on pot. It's tobacco and alcohol that are truly the harmful substances.

 

[once_upon]

I don't believe you. Pot never harmed anybody that way. Your friend wasn't just on pot. It's tobacco and alcohol that are truly the harmful substances.

Bull sh!t. Want 8 emergency room visits bills?

Any drug...and THC is a drug....can have adverse reactions.

 

[canbelto]

Bull sh!t. Want 8 emergency room visits bills?

Any drug...and THC is a drug....can have adverse reactions.

THC's harm comes if you overuse it. Like if you're a total pothead. I've met them before. They smoke up before they brush their teeth in the morning.

Casual recreational use (like taking a hit at a party or a concert) is generally harmless.

SO much of our literature on weed is racist propaganda meant to scare people into being afraid of "black' drugs like weed and crack cocaine.

 

[starrynight]

The same attitude of viewing marijuana as a gateway drug worthy of caution exists in lots of areas of the world that don’t have the USA cultural fabric. Suspicion of marijuana certainly isn’t a USA exclusive issue.

A lot of this falls under the category of the USA isn’t the centre of the universe.

 

[Karen-W]

THC's harm comes if you overuse it. Like if you're a total pothead. I've met them before. They smoke up before they brush their teeth in the morning.

Casual recreational use (like taking a hit at a party or a concert) is generally harmless.

SO much of our literature on weed is racist propaganda meant to scare people into being afraid of "black' drugs like weed and crack cocaine.

You really need to stop. If you haven't been following along with @once_upon's story in Sekret Sources then you really don't know and you're way out of line in your blind support for THC and willingness to dismiss any criticism of its use as part of racist propaganda.

 

[tony]

THC's harm comes if you overuse it. Like if you're a total pothead. I've met them before. They smoke up before they brush their teeth in the morning.

Casual recreational use (like taking a hit at a party or a concert) is generally harmless.

SO much of our literature on weed is racist propaganda meant to scare people into being afraid of "black' drugs like weed and crack cocaine.

How many people do you know that take 'a hit' on a random big event day?

You've now also changed tunes from weed not being dangerous to saying it is if it's overused. And let me tell you, by the definition you're trying to throw out there now, most everyone I know would be considered to overuse it in your eyes.

 

[once_upon]

Casual recreational use (like taking a hit at a party or a concert) is generally harmless.

Casual recreational use of alcohol is generally harmless.

In fact most things are generally harmless. But to make a blanket statement that THC is harmless and claiming other substances (like ETOH) are way worse is naive at best.

ETA - thank you @Karen-W

 

[canbelto]

Casual recreational use of alcohol is generally harmless.

In fact most things are generally harmless. But to make a blanket statement that THC is harmless and claiming other substances (like ETOH) are way worse is naive at best.

ETA - thank you @Karen_W

Actually, it isn't. A casual beer or shot at a bar can mean impairment driving and a car accident. Besides, alcoholics are the most awful people I know. Abusive, manipulative assholes.

And I'm not in Sekret Sources. I don't even know what Sekret Sources is. So how would I know anything?

 

[tony]

Actually, it isn't. A casual beer or shot at a bar can mean impairment driving and a car accident. Besides, alcoholics are the most awful people I know. Abusive, manipulative assholes.

And I'm not in Sekret Sources. I don't even know what Sekret Sources is. So how would I know anything?

Blanket statement again. While it's true that alcohol can turn people into really aggressive or nasty people, it's not the case for everyone. Some turn to it for the same reason they turn to weed, or anything else that is a drug. It makes some people happier or more confident, and they never get aggressive or 'manipulative'. If you're out here generalizing that this is what alcoholics are, why do you greet others with an 'I don't believe you'?!

You lost me long ago in this conversation and you aren't adding anything to it at this point besides changing your own definition.. but I promise you, regardless of the sample size I may know, most people who like weed aren't doing it once in a blue moon. Your earlier statement truly made me laugh out loud with how off-base you're getting.

 

[Karen-W]

Actually, it isn't. A casual beer or shot at a bar can mean impairment driving and a car accident. Besides, alcoholics are the most awful people I know. Abusive, manipulative assholes.

And I'm not in Sekret Sources. I don't even know what Sekret Sources is. So how would I know anything?

It's not as though @once_upon didn't make it clear that she is speaking from recent, family experience right here in this thread, and yet you still persisted in being an absolute jerk and dismissing her position as nothing but "racist propaganda." So, you keep on rolling your eyes at people who challenge your narrow-minded intolerance of anything that doesn't fit into your "everything is racist!" worldview.

 

[quartz]

@canbelto - @once_upon is also a medical professional. You may want to listen to her a little more closely. Your cavalier attitude is quite disconcerting.

 

[once_upon]

Just count yourself among the fortunate who has not lived my last month of hell.

 

[canbelto]

Just count yourself among the fortunate who has not lived my last month of hell.

I'm not doubting your story, and I apologize if it came across like I was. But I will never apologize for believing that byzantine, archaic drug laws that imprison and punish people for minor drug offenses are harmful and need to go, and quite frankly I'm tired of the white fragility that occurs whenever people want to push back against those laws.

I'm also an educated person and the lectures are tiring. I've worked for many years in communities destroyed by the Rockefeller drug laws. I know what I'm talking about.

 

[tony]

I'm not doubting your story, and I apologize if it came across like I was. But I will never apologize for believing that byzantine, archaic drug laws that imprison and punish people for minor drug offenses are harmful and need to go, and quite frankly I'm tired of the white fragility that occurs whenever people want to push back against those laws.

I'm also an educated person and the lectures are tiring. I've worked for many years in communities destroyed by the Rockefeller drug laws. I know what I'm talking about.

White fragility? A large portion of my generation and I guarantee you an even larger portion of the generation below me wants weed laws gone. Plain and simple.

You are educated, but you don't know what you're talking about a lot of the time and then throw everyone into the same group of thinking. Because someone doesn't follow a rule that they knew was a rule and people agree with a ban DOES NOT mean that said person has racist motives in mind at all. Some people just believe a rule is a rule.

You are quick to throw out mansplaining, whitesplaining, and accuse people of lying when their views don't go exactly along with your own. The fact that you came here to argue that people taking 'a hit' of weed at a concert or event is normal life shows how off-base you are with 'recreational use' of it. The fact that you argue for pages and pages about how you know exactly what it does and then change your tune completely now, and then have the nerve to characterize all people who are alcoholics as the same shows me that you really don't know what you are arguing anymore.

All the power to you for fighting for racial equality, but not everything needs to turn into that (nor do you need to come up with 'THIS IS WHAT YOU THINK'). At the bottom of this, there are international regulations in sport that say she broke the rules. And honestly, Japan doesn't give a shit about what Americans think about weed.

 

[MacMadame]

I don't believe you. Pot never harmed anybody that way. Your friend wasn't just on pot. It's tobacco and alcohol that are truly the harmful substances.

Of course, pot can harm that way. You just have to abuse it.

I'm not doubting your story, and I apologize if it came across like I was. But I will never apologize for believing that byzantine, archaic drug laws that imprison and punish people for minor drug offenses are harmful and need to go, and quite frankly I'm tired of the white fragility that occurs whenever people want to push back against those laws.

Pretty much no one here is arguing that weed should be illegal. Many are even saying that WADA shouldn't regulate it. But that doesn't mean weed is totally harmless. No drug is. And any drug can be abused. And defending a Pairs skater smoking weed prior to a competition is just dumb. You don't want anyone out on the ice to be high on anything especially if there is a partner involved.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

The WADA restrictions on which drugs are allowed in competition don't really have anything to do with the US war on drugs. Not everything is America-centric.

 

[once_upon]

I'm also an educated person and the lectures are tiring.

I came out of my self imposed not posting on FSU (which really only lasted 3 days) because the "pot is only a high" bull crap was more than I could tolerate at this point.

A quick ask Dr. Google search can give you all sorts of medical journal articles on THC effects both good and bad. And give you ideas of how difficult it is to compare impaired ETOH driving accidents/fatalities to impaired TCH driving accidents/fatalities. Not the least is detection of THC blood levels.

And YES you were/are doubting my experiences.

 

[canbelto]

I came out of my self imposed not posting on FSU (which really only lasted 3 days) because the "pot is only a high" bull crap was more than I could tolerate at this point.

A quick ask Dr. Google search can give you all sorts of medical journal articles on THC effects both good and bad. And give you ideas of how difficult it is to compare impaired ETOH driving accidents/fatalities to impaired TCH driving accidents/fatalities. Not the least is detection of THC blood levels.

And YES you were/are doubting my experiences.

Ok now you're just resorting to personal attacks. I never said anything negative to you ever in all the years I've been on FSU. I'm sorry you're going through whatever you're going through.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Well, there definitely is some fragility going on in this thread.

 

[MsZem]

Ok now you're just resorting to personal attacks. I never said anything negative to you ever in all the years I've been on FSU. I'm sorry you're going through whatever you're going through.

You say people are whitesplaining and mansplaining if they don't agree with you. You claim posters delight in the misfortunes of Americans and are brainwashed by "reefer madness" films, whatever those are. You've accused people here of lying. In contrast, once_upon wrote that you were wrong about something.

I don't think she's the one making personal attacks.

Richardson has owned up to her mistake. She has not tried to argue that it reflects bias against her. I think that says it all.

 

[canbelto]

White fragility? A large portion of my generation and I guarantee you an even larger portion of the generation below me wants weed laws gone. Plain and simple.

You are educated, but you don't know what you're talking about a lot of the time and then throw everyone into the same group of thinking. Because someone doesn't follow a rule that they knew was a rule and people agree with a ban DOES NOT mean that said person has racist motives in mind at all. Some people just believe a rule is a rule.

People who think "a rule is a rule" without examining the racist, colonial implications behind that rule are the reason why schools need to teach critical race theory and workplaces need implicit bias workshops.

AOC said it much better than I could:

AOC defends US Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, says 30-day ban is ‘racist and colonial’

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the Olympic Games' ban of a U.S. sprinter who failed a drug test was the result of a “racist and colonial policy.”

news.yahoo.com

 

[tony]

People who think "a rule is a rule" without examining the racist, colonial implications behind that rule are the reason why schools need to teach critical race theory and workplaces need implicit bias workshops.

AOC said it much better than I could:

AOC defends US Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, says 30-day ban is ‘racist and colonial’

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the Olympic Games' ban of a U.S. sprinter who failed a drug test was the result of a “racist and colonial policy.”

news.yahoo.com

[edited much later to tone it down]

AOC is good and all but she's also very good at stirring shit up when it doesn't need to be and I bet people don't want to hear that. She fuels fires for those who don't put in the work behind why rules are rules and gets the left riled up an awful lot. It frankly doesn't matter what history you have or how you think your degree/educators license puts you above people - you've repeatedly shown it's your way or no way. The US doesn't even have a national legal cannabis policy yet, and not all states are so welcoming to it. You think the rest of the world is all on the same page too? No. But the rest of the world doesn't give a shit about what is happening in the United States most of the time. Elena Berezhnaya got suspended for three months over her infraction and guess what? It was just under three months to the date of Worlds. Don't you think there was a purpose behind that suspension? If they wanted to go full-force, they would've suspended Richardson for the entire year or the entire Olympics. They didn't. She. Admits. She. Was. Wrong. and she doesn't need people like you, although probably ultimately kind-hearted, spewing nonsense like you're some expert at what weed does only to be told you're wrong and then completely change your story from it never doing anything to anyone, to only affecting people when they do it often...

This back and forth with thing with you reminds me of the morons who constantly are still claiming that CV was created as a big scheme to get Trump out of office and to get Biden to win. You know how stupid that sounds? Do you know how countries are still getting hit hard with massive numbers of deaths because they might not have the resources or the ability to shut things down financially? But yeah, this is still all about making Trump lose because people can't get out of their bubble mentalities. Personally, I think you're stuck in the same kind of mentality in a different sense.

And BTW- I believe that you're not well-versed about weed to begin with but a few pages ago you basically painted the picture of being a stoner yourself . You'd consider just about everyone a 'pothead' and an over-user if you actually knew what you were talking about. People aren't getting high by taking one hit once a month at some random concert.

 

[allezfred]

You seem to delight in playing the role of the scold here. Not sure why.

Because I know what I am talking about.

 

[BittyBug]

Because I know what I am talking about.

 

[allezfred]

Roll your eyes all you want. I have been following athletics all my life. I have undertaken national anti-doping training. Have you?

 

[BittyBug]

Roll your eyes all you want. I have been following athletics all my life. I have undertaken national anti-doping training. Have you?

I guess it's hard to read when you're all puffed up with smugness. NO ONE is disputing the ban. The rules are the rules. EVERYONE has agreed with that. People (or at least some people, including me) are discussing whether these particular rules are just and should be changed. You can argue that they shouldn't be, but that's not what you've been doing. What you've been doing is basically saying, "Neener, neener, neener, suck it up Sha'Carri," which she's already done, and with great aplomb.

So why do you derive such joy from slapping her down and then flipping to try to slap down the U.S. as a whole? Why do you feel the need to do that? What does it add to the conversation? Why does it seem to bring you joy?