Raiders With The Lost Art

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 490
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There's no knowing where erectile dysfunction may strike. It can be in the old or in the Average Joe. Except, every now and again, a celebrity steps into the limelight and claims the honor. Over the last few days the headlines have been all about Louis Murphy. For those of you who live in a box, this is a sporting hero, playing for the Oakland Raiders. The story goes that our hero was driving along in his SUV with the music cranked up a little on the loud side. When police officers, concerned the neighborhood might lose sleep if this loud noise continued, attempted to stop the SUV, Murphy refused. Later, it took a posse of officers to subdue their man and ship him down to the police station. In the SUV, they found a bottle containing eleven little blue pills and, shock horror, he did not have a prescription for them. So, in addition to the charges for resisting arrest, he's going to be charged with possession without a prescription.

It seems the NFL players have been getting into trouble lately. Perhaps the lockout has left them feeling bored and in need of excitement because there have been other arrests for drunken ...
... behavior plus one for carrying a concealed firearm - obviously, some fans can be a nuisance. The club owners and NFL commissioner have been saying they will apply the league's personal conduct policy even though the players are locked out. It seems they are expected to be good little boys no matter what's happening around them.

Anyway, back to Murphy. A few years back, he pleaded to possessing marijuana and did a little community service. No one expects their sporting heroes to be angels. But possessing this type of drug is more interesting. This guy is only 23 years old and in what should be top physical condition. If he really does have erectile dysfunction, this could be a real warning of heart disease and he should have urgent medical attention to prevent a stroke or heart attack within the next five years. But if his protests that he was having problems in meeting his girlfriend's expectations are a lie, then we must assume he's using the drug for a different type of enhancement.

The World Anti-Doping Agency is currently considering whether to add this drug to its list of banned substances. That would put it alongside steroids and the other drugs we associate with building up strength for sport. The reason is that the drug works by dilating the arteries. This improves the circulation of the blood and increases the amount of oxygen reaching the muscles. This builds strength and endurance. There's a mass of "evidence" that athletes are using it during training and taking pills just before big games. It helps keep the performance up to high levels, particularly towards the end of the playing period. When other players are getting tired, our enhanced players keep going. Perhaps it seems odd for Viagra to be considered worth banning, but think about the problems of baseball and the suggestions of cheating by using performance-enhancing drugs. Do we want good football players or men that can only keep up the pace because they take Viagra?