Comebacks seem to be the story as of late with a number of athletes making their return to the limelight, including former track star turned jail bird, Marion Jones. Read more.The term performance enhancement has been tossed around regarding Manny Pacquiao is odds on favorite to win his upcoming bout against Joshua Clottey. Read more.
And Tiger Woods might be making his comeback at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the next two weeks, but from all accounts from his several hot mistresses, Mr. Woods doesn’t need any performance enhancement.
With the MLB steroid fiasco and the subsequent crackdown on performance enhancement drugs, particularly steroids, it has changed the way I, and probably many others bet on sports. I’m not going to say Manny Pacquiao is on performance enhancement drugs, but he probably is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a boxer with that much power, stamina and energy at the end of a fight. Maybe he is the most well conditioned boxer of all time, but in this day in age it’s fairly likely he’s taking something for an added punch so to speak. Granted until he’s been tested and found guilty of such, then you have to give him the benefit of the doubt, but is that really true?
It wasn’t too long ago Barry Bonds was in the news with wild accusations of his steroid abuse, even though he hadn’t actually tested positive for performance enhancement. We all know how that turned out. What about Roger Clemens and his steroid use? Or maybe I “misremember”. The fact is that bettors should be paying attention to the changes in sport in regards to performance enhancement drugs just as much as sportsbooks should be and are. Take Pacquiao for example, if you think that one of his fights are expected to go into the late rounds, it’s looking more and more like a good bet on a late round knockout. Pacquiao seemingly gets stronger and certainly doesn’t lose any power off his punches as his fights progress, while most boxers do. Whatever he’s taking is working so I’d be betting accordingly.
Certainly baseball has changed. Homeruns are down dramatically from previous years and it’s no secret why that is. You take a look at some of the major power hitters of previous years, and while you would have expected favored odds for guys like David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez to hit thirty plus homeruns, these days, I’m not so sure. Ever since both those guys got busted for or admitted to taking performance enhancement drugs their numbers have fallen off, along with many of the game’s so called power hitters. Some people have argued that at best, taking PEDS will only increase your injury recovery, (Mark McGuire) and maybe add about ten feet to a ball you hit. Well, let’s see, ten feet is pretty much the difference between the warning track and the fifth row. Also, no question it makes the player stronger, so that 30 oz bat now feels like a piece of driftwood, wonder if that will give a player an advantage and increase their power numbers. Additionally, complete games from pitchers has also decreased, while that may also be a function of teams going to their bullpens early, you wonder how much of that is because pitchers just don’t have the juice, or aren’t on the juice anymore.
PEDS pretty much can make a scrub, average, and average player an allstar and a hall of famer allstar into maybe the greatest of all time. For those who question how much performance enhancement drugs can impact sport and betting, consider this, Marion Jones was crowned the greatest female athlete of all time, and then she admitted she took performance enhancement drugs. Roger Clemens, one of, if not the best pitcher of all time, also on PEDS. Barry Bonds greatest homerun hitter of all time, PEDS. Manny Pacquiao greatest pound for pound boxer all time? PEDS? Too soon to call it. But I do know any player I suspect of taking PEDS, I’m betting on, anyone busted for taking PEDS, I’m betting against.
