by Paul Larusch

Created on: June 04, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

A few years ago, when she was a junior in high school, my friends' daughter (call her Ashley) started dating a boy her parents disapproved of. Let's call him Alex. He wasn't a bad kid, but he wasn't very bright-he'd been held back twice-and he came from a broken home and lived in a rough neighborhood. Rather than hang a "verboten" sign around Alex's neck, my friends discretely kept an eye on the boy and their daughter. They took the "bring him on over" approach: we're opening the pool Saturday, Ashley, bring Alex over. We're having a birthday party for your brother next weekend. You're invited, of course, and so is your friend Alex.

Do you see what mom and dad instinctively knew? If you regulate something-any behavior-to the max, you have the paradoxical effect of completely deregulating it. If the Smithmeyers had not allowed their daughter to see her boyfriend my guess is that instead of spending the night at a birthday party with 30 other people, two-thirds of whom were adults, Ashley and Alex might have done the Romeo-and-Juliet thing and run off to a motel. After that, mom and dad might have had real trouble.

Theory: when laws, rules, and regulations prohibit individuals from acting in ways that make sense to them and harm no one else, the laws, rules, and regulations will be discarded. Prohibition failed because most people had no problem with other adults gathering for a few drinks after work. The current drug war is failing because most adults have no problem with other adults' recreational use of relatively benign intoxicants.

Consider this scenario: you're a 23-year-old outfielder for the New York Yankees. You don't start, but you're the fourth outfielder, the first man off the bench when there's an injury. One day, during batting practice, one of the GM's men approaches you. "Rodriguez," he says, "Alomar is on the wrong side of 30 and his numbers are down again this year. Show Mr. Steinbrenner he can count on you for what we used to get from Alomar, 30 and 120, 30 homers, 120 runs batted in, and we're talking guaranteed big numbers in a long-term contract. We know you can run and we know you can throw; but you need to show us you can hit and hit with power."

What would you do? I know I would show Mr. Steinbrenner that I was serious about bulking up. I would ask around, if I already hadn't, and find a reliable, effective training aid, something that would help me add 20 to 30 pounds of lean muscle mass in the off season. If that "something" turned out

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