by John Hoberman   (Note:  John Hoberman is the author of   MORTAL ENGINES: The Science of Performance and the Dehumanization of Sport (1992),  TESTOSTERONE DREAMS: Rejuvenation, Aphrodisia, Doping (2005),  and many articles on the history and sociology of doping.  He is a professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.) By now even those of us who take little or no interest in sports are aware that many elite athletes have become dependent on doping drugs to perform at the world-class level. In the media, the doping scandals that have erupted in Major League Baseball, the Tour de France, and in various Olympic sports are routinely presented as resulting from transgressions committed by corrupt athletes who have betrayed their athletic communities. The incentives to dope that are built into the system by politicians, sports federations, and corporate sponsors...