Sex, Drugs, and Ultimate

Actually, forget about the sex. We can argue whether it's a sport enhancer or not later, but let's look at the drugs and two recent things I came across.

On my latest look at the WFDF site I noticed the Antidoping section. Immediately, I started thinking will players going to worlds be tested for drugs? Our sport and some of our complaints of being on the fringe of athletics, and we get included in the antidoping regime. I can't say I have any trouble with this, and one side of me hopes that we're all clean, but the mischievous side wonders what the first drug scandal in Ultimate will rock the world (or at least RSD for maybe a week).

Pictured Above: Torontula Ladies (all tested clean) warming up at Canadian Easterns in Ottawa (photo courtesy of Lexi Marsh).

My roommate, Peyton, subscribes to a magazine called ODE, and in the most recent issue there's an article about the hypocrisy of normal people and the sensationalism of drugs in sport. Basically, the article is saying that many people use harmful drugs in their daily lives for various reasons, and why they point such an accusing finger at athletes who use drugs to enhance performance.

For this weekend, I've collected my insulin, ibuprofen, sugar free Red Bull, and diet Pepsi. I'll be playing at regionals with a range of legal drugs coursing through my veins. Have I crossed a line? Have we as a sport crossed a line where we speak of vitamin I (ibuprofen) or Red Bull as a necessity for many of us to compete. I wonder if there are some in Ultimate who have gone to the other side of the line using even more dangerous substances like steroids and the like. Where as a sport should we stand on these issues?

PJ