Is Messi a genetically engineered cheat?

AberystwythLAD · 8 Dec 2011 at 19:46

'Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, to parents Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner.[12][13][14][15] His paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from which his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883.[16][17] He has two older brothers named Rodrigo and Matías as well as a sister named María Sol.[18] At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge.[19] In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario.[19] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[20] The traditional River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for treatment for his condition which cost $900 a month.[15] Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, had been made aware of his talent as Messi had relatives in Lleida, Catalonia, and Messi and his father were able to arrange a trial.[15] Rexach, with no other paper at hand, offered Messi a contract written on a paper napkin.[21][22] Barcelona offered to pay for Messi's medical bills if he was willing to move to Spain. Messi and his father moved to Barcelona where Messi enrolled in the club's youth academy.[19][22]'

----------------------------------

He was given HGH for treatment. In a lot of sports this is considered cheating. Could this mean he has an advantage over other footballers? Surely, this could explain his core athletic nature and why he can just bounce off other players with his low centre of gravity? I mean, give any player HGH and they're going to see some improvements.

How do we know Barcelona gave him the right dosage to make it fair?

Is this another similarity with Maradona and Messi?

Could he be like one of these superheroes? :eek:

tom_e · 8 Dec 2011 at 19:50

HGH doesn't make you superhuman! Especially if he was already deficient

Locky · 8 Dec 2011 at 20:03

Answer to the question in the op is No.

drunkenmaster · 8 Dec 2011 at 20:27

tom_e said:
HGH doesn't make you superhuman! Especially if he was already deficient

Deficient IN HEIGHT, maybe, but who says he didn't have the appropriate amount of muscle mass, and his treatments didn't help him become much stronger than he otherwise would normally have been?

Either way, I still find it, odd, what if a 6ft player wanted to be 6'5, and takes growth hormone as a kid, long before you start getting tested as part of a professional league, does that make it fine?

Realistically, its not okay for a tall person to cheat to become taller and stronger, I fail to see how its okay for a short person to do it.

But then, there really is nothing stopping ANYONE in athletics doing drugs for a decade from teens then competing a little later on in life than normal once you can't be caught.

I don't think he did cheat, and I wouldn't begrudge any other short arse getting some help, but had he decided at 18 he wanted to see if he could gain an extra few inches........ it would have been a very different situation.

Messi is very strong for his size and he's quite bulky for a little guy as well.

It is a slippery slope, some other kid who is only a couple inches shorter than normal will get treatment next, then some other kid will get something more serious fixed, then we'll get someone doing the leg lengthening surgery to gain a few extra inches even though he's already around 6ft, where is the limit exactly?

Morally, its dodgy, a parent thinking about the risks for their child with nothing to do with sport, but wanting a normal life, and a football club wanting the best athlete they can get? What if the next time someone decides to add some steroids to the mix, etc, etc. Something feels, wrong about it.

Somehow giving your kids, or letting a club give your kid drugs to hopefully improve his athletic ability seems wrong.

nydryl · 8 Dec 2011 at 20:31

Gab Marcotti wrote quite an interesting article on bioethics in football in Issue Zero of The Blizzard. You might want to read that if you're genuinely interested and aren't just trolling.

AberystwythLAD · 8 Dec 2011 at 21:35

nydryl said:
Gab Marcotti wrote quite an interesting article on bioethics in football in Issue Zero of The Blizzard. You might want to read that if you're genuinely interested and aren't just trolling.

Cheers for the heads up, have to give it a read sometime.

nydryl · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:07

You can download it for 1p.

http://www.theblizzard.co.uk/

Yas786 · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:08

Locky said:
Answer to the question in the op is No.

Cosimo · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:19

Locky said:
Answer to the question in the op is No.

cm1179 · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:20

props to him for fulfilling the life he has

d_brennen · 8 Dec 2011 at 22:28

Isn't anyone who's been treated in hospital for anything more serious that tummy ache not cheated in life itself? Odd point of view to have that medical treatment as a child could be considered cheating

Chong Warrior · 9 Dec 2011 at 01:07

AberystwythLAD said:
He was given HGH for treatment. In a lot of sports this is considered cheating. Could this mean he has an advantage over other footballers? Surely, this could explain his core athletic nature and why he can just bounce off other players with his low centre of gravity? I mean, give any player HGH and they're going to see some improvements.

How do we know Barcelona gave him the right dosage to make it fair?

Is this another similarity with Maradona and Messi?

Could he be like one of these superheroes?

All this post does is show your ignorance of what HGH is. It will have absolutely ZERO to do with Messi's ability as a footballer, none, nada, zilch, diddly squat, zip, nothing.... what-so-ever.

Just in case you were in any doubt

Raymond Lin · 9 Dec 2011 at 01:35

It's not like the treatment made me the king of dribble, nor made him 6'4 and built like a tank who can barge through defenders like they weren't there.

He had these tricks when he was 5 on the playground. The treatment was not to make him into a super human/athlete. The treatment allow him to grown into a 5'7 tall bloke!

AberystwythLAD · 9 Dec 2011 at 02:02

Chong Warrior said:
All this post does is show your ignorance of what HGH is. It will have absolutely ZERO to do with Messi's ability as a footballer, none, nada, zilch, diddly squat, zip, nothing.... what-so-ever.

Just in case you were in any doubt

I know plenty of people who take HGH for performance enhancement. To say it can't means you have no clue whatsoever about it. It wouldn't have affected his skill, no, but his athletic being, definitely.

Robbo · 9 Dec 2011 at 05:32

lolbritboy

DiCe! · 9 Dec 2011 at 09:47

hi britboy

FrankJH · 9 Dec 2011 at 11:18

The skills are god given - the speed at which he does them, who knows (certainly anyone here cant say one way or the other for definite)

(edit for the record - I would also like to think the speed is also god given)

jakeke · 9 Dec 2011 at 11:26

I think he was already a handy footballer since Barcelona brought him over from Argentina ..

Chong Warrior · 9 Dec 2011 at 12:47

AberystwythLAD said:
I know plenty of people who take HGH for performance enhancement. To say it can't means you have no clue whatsoever about it. It wouldn't have affected his skill, no, but his athletic being, definitely.

What kind of enhancement do all these people you know experience exactly?

Did they already have a HGH deficiency?

tom_e · 9 Dec 2011 at 12:53

AberystwythLAD said:
I know plenty of people who take HGH for performance enhancement. To say it can't means you have no clue whatsoever about it. It wouldn't have affected his skill, no, but his athletic being, definitely.

Go on then, tell us what sort of performance enhancement they've had? It's not a drug that brings dramatic changes even at pretty big doses, unless it is also stacked with other performance enhancing substances in which case they will be what is giving the really noticeable gains.