The Modern Day 'Samson'

Every sports channel, every sports blog, every sports page, the 'witch hunt' of Barry Bonds is at least mentioned. Recollecting this past decade and the accusations from the prosecution on how Barry accomplished extraordinary feats in Baseball, it reminded me of the story of Samson. Everyone knows the story of Samson and his godlike strength that lied within his hair. For those who do not know the story, here's a brief description:
Samson was born during the time of when Israelites were being oppressed by the Philistines and Angel came down to tell the parents that their son (later to be called Samson) was the one to free Israel. However, a vow was to be taken which required - no grape products, avoid tombs and corpses and the most famous one, not to cut his hair. As Samson became a man, it was said he killed a lion with his bare hands and defeat an entire army with only a donkey's jaw bone. As the myth of Samson grew, many people especially the Philistines wanted to get rid of Samson because he was giving the oppressed people hope something that they did not want happen. Later on in life, Samson fell in love with a beautiful Philistine woman, Delilah, who was bribed to find out the secret of his superhuman strength. During their time together, Delilah was so persistent in finding out the secret that Samson withstood the first attempts but in a moment of weakness, he gave in and told her. Consequently, she cut it off and Samson no longer had his herculean strength; thus, creating a opportunity for his enemies to capture him.

Although this story has been around for thousands of years, there still are examples of a modern-day Samson throughout professional sports. A few sports that have notoriety for such athletes are the NFL, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Professional Wrestling (WWE), but the ringleader is the MLB. Major League Baseball has been plagued by some athletes performing at superhuman levels especially after a year of sub-par performance. For example, Brady Anderson under-performed one year but the next year, he was able to hit 50 home runs as a lead-off hitter, which is an extraordinary accomplishment. At one time, MLB had so many Samson's that they called those years are the 'Steroid Era'. Baseball's 'Samson's' include to name a few: Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, aforementioned Brady Anderson, Garry Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco and the most infamous, Barry Bonds. As the case with Samson, many people wanted to know how they could achieve such feats that were unfathomable and wanted to know their secret. Which in this case, the equivalent to Samson's hair was rampant PED use (Performance Enhancing Drugs) specifically Steroids and the Delilah was Jose Canseco.

Once the secret was out, the performance levels of these athletes plummeted given the accomplishments that they achieved during their 'Samson' years. Although none of these athletes were captured by their enemies but all these athletes did fall from grace especially in the eyes of the fans. Till this day, many athletes deny using Steroids and one culprit being Barry Bonds, which has called his trial a 'modern day witch hunt'.' As that saying goes: 'Those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it.' Maybe these athletes should have learned something from the story of Samson...

What Should An Athlete Do?

What would you do; if someone where to tell you that 'you can participate in your last competitive and important tournament of your entire career but chances are that you will require surgery is more likely than 100%?'

That is what one of the athletes is going through - He broke his hand, during an intense practice. This kid has been working hard for four years (off-season included) to achieve a top six spot at what could be his last tournament of his high school career. According to the rankings, this kid is in the top five wrestlers that could accomplish a top five finish and even though rankings are nothing but stats on paper, more so than anything, rankings are a good indicator on the abilities of such athletes.

That being said; what is the best course of action that an athlete can take? Risk surgery for a cause that the athlete has been working so hard for four hard years? Risk regretting not participating in the last tournament of a grueling career? Participating in the tournament till the body tells the athlete that it can no longer keep up with the mind set and withdraw?  In the end, a dedicated athlete will not be in the right mind set in terms of knowing whats best for them, so the coach will have to evaluate the situation/outcomes of all scenarios and suggest the best course of action with the athletes best interest in mind.