[sumo] [spoilers]Takanohana and steroid abuse

[Joshua Maciel]

On Dec 11, 2007 11:26 AM, Scott M. Kahn <smk1 at columbia.edu> wrote:

> As for home runs being a marker of steroid use, you must be familiar
> with the research of Tufts University physicist, Roger Tobin.  He
> published a paper, "On the Potential of a Chemical Bonds: Possible
> Effects of Steroids on Home Run Production in Baseball," in the
> American Journal of Physics.  I don't have the article in front of
> me, but if I remember its summary, the increased muscle mass allows
> a batter to swing with more speed or force, equating to hittling the
> ball farther.
>

Yes, I am familiar with it, and don't think it proves anything or even hints
toward anything significant. He assumes that muscle mass increases the power
with which a baseball can be hit, which is questionable to say the least,
and he bases his research on mathematical models -- not on reality.

I'm all for research, but poor research is poor research, no matter how
prestigious the university it's come from.

And, I would submit that the overall baseball statistics you relate
> are not appropriately controled.  One would have to look, not at
> the entire population, but specifically at individual batters
> before and after being juiced, going up against the same pitchers.
> Perhaps the numbers should be crunched to measure the number of
> power hitters, and the relative number of home runs of those power
> hitters before and after the juicing started.


There isn't enough information on steroids, because it's illegal to use
without a prescription, and people don't tend to want to discuss their
illegal drug usage. As a result, we don't have data to make those sorts of
conclusions, and have to go with what we have.

Furthermore, what half of the half-baked notions involving steroids in
baseball do is to ignore the fact that pitchers take the damned things too.
I'm far more inclined to believe that increased muscle mass has a greater
effect on pitchers than it does on hitters because of the regenerative
properties of steroids, rather than the strength-increasing ones. Healing
muscle damage quicker is going to have a far bigger impact on a guy who's
throwing 100+ pitches every fortnight.

Regardless, you're ill informed about baseball and steroids, and it makes
your accusations on people from another sport questionable at best, and most
certainly unethical in my opinion.

Base your accusations on fact.