<<So, you're against, say, a football quarterback having, say, a broken thumb and playing anyway, probably with some modicum of painkillers involved?>>
Yes, that's why I said that only healthy players should be allowed to compete. 100% healthy. If you're injured, if you need any kind of drug to participate, then stay out of the fucking game. Of course a guy who takes an aspirin for a minor pain before a game is relatively harmless, but where would you draw the line? The only practical line you can draw is the one between drugs and no drugs. Any other way and we'd have lawyers, doctors and pharmacists fighting over every fucking pill.