When you think of professional athletes and drug tests, I bet you the first sport you don’t think of is electronic sports, or e-sports. Yes, people make a living, a damn good one, playing video games professionally, but believe it or not, these guys sometimes take extra steps to make sure they are the top of their games.
According to engadget.com, the Electronic Sports League will now be drug testing all participants in tournaments prior to the start of the event. The tests will be for performance enhancing drugs.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “These guys take the same drugs that Alex Rodriguez was busted for?” Well, not exactly. A-Rod was busted for steroids and the ESL is looking for drugs that will keep gamers more awake and alert during their hours of gaming.
The news comes on the heels of Counter-Strike player Jason Friesen and his team Cloud9. Friesen recently admitted that he and his team took Adderall, a stimulant usually taken to control ADD or ADHD, before a tournament in Poland.
The ESL has announced that they won’t take any retroactive punishment on Cloud9, because they did not win the tournament, but this has caused the league to step up their game in catching these illegal acts before they happen.
I swear if we hear about one team loosening buttons on another team’s controllers at a tournament in the future, I am just going to stop watching the NFL and start going to these tournaments every Sunday. It seems like they are about the same anyway.
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