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Steroid use in professional sports thesis
Steroid use in professional sports thesis
Anabolic steroid use among athletes essay
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Drug Abuse in the NFL
It's nothing new for the National Football League's players to be abusing anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Drug abuse in the league has recently focused around recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol. The newest drug being abused is painkillers. The commissioner and his personal need to change their policies. Will they wait until many more players start to die before they tighten up their drug policies? The National Football League (NFL) can stop most of these drug problems by having more random drug tests given, enforcing stricter punishments when players are caught using drugs, and requiring every team to educate its players annually on the effects and consequences of all drugs.
The number of players abusing drugs in the NFL is increasing every year (www.cbs.sportsline.com). This is concerning because it seems like more and more players each year get caught either using drugs, or being involved in some kind of drug activity. The only drug being used that is on the decline is anabolic steroids. This decline is due to several players in the 1970's and 80's dying before they could see their kids make it to high school. The first player to publicly come clean about being addicted to drugs was Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. He was a Dallas Cowboys linebacker who played in three Super Bowls. He told the world about his addiction in 1981. He claims that a player using cocaine and marijuana was very uncommon at his rookie season. The more he played, the more drugs he began to take. He claims that since he came clean, the problems have been getting worse. More and more players keep doing drugs even after they hear of players having drug problems. If these...
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MLB needs to eliminate drug use to regain the trust of the fans who love and respect the game. The game has seen a dirty past ten years and needs to reestablish their reputation as a fair league. Of course, fans love watching their favorite player slug sixty plus homers in a season, but not if it is ultimately ruining the fairness of what was once a clean game. Selig needed to end the “Steroid Era” seven years earlier to save the reputations of Hall of Fame caliber players. Who knows what steroid allegations will arise in the next few years to tarnish another all-star‘s shot at Cooperstown?
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The NFL has multiple reasons for maintaining a tough drug policy. Former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle stated that serious health problems occur for players who abuse drugs. Additionally, since the NFL is a billion dollar business, they have an interest in maximizing productivity from its players and alcohol abuse hinders that. It says in the Marquette Sport Law Journal, “The league has an interest in protecting the safety of all players” (Sisson and Trexell 11). Players who abuse alcohol or any drug for that matter put themselves and other players at risk. In 2012, Dallas Cowboy defensive tackle Josh Brent killed his teammate while driving under the influence of alcohol. He was released by the team three weeks after the incident and does not play in the NFL anymore. There are numerous incidents of players getting into trouble because of alcohol.
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The era in sports from the late 90s and into the 2000s has often been nicknamed “The Steroid Age” due to the raging use of anabolic steroids and other PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) by professional athletes. The usage of drugs in sports has never been more prevalent during this time, and many people are making it their goal to put an end to the abuse. Influential athletes such as Lance Armstrong, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens, who were once held as the highest role models to the American people, now watch as their legacies are tarnished by accusations of drug use. The American population, and lovers of sports everywhere, have followed in astonishment through recent years as many beloved athletes reveal their dark secrets. As organizations such as the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) and BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) attempt to halt the use of PEDs, both the drug users and their high-end suppliers work diligently to avoid detection. The use of performance enhancing drugs in recent years has proven to be cancerous to the honesty and competition of modern sports. Although some strides have been made over the past few decades, the use of steroids is in full swing in Major League Baseball, The dangerous side effects of the drugs are often overlooked and many do not realize the message this sends to the youth. The support for halting the usage of PEDs is in need of attention or professional sports will face the loss of all progress made through the past two decades in its war on steroids.
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
After thoroughly evaluating the positives and negatives impacting the sport entity, The NFL is really in a tough position by far. More and more players continually are being diagnosed and the worst part about it is, to fix the issue of retired players being exposed to this disease the league must fix its current game. Roger Goodell is in a tough position because like Bernard stated if you are going to practice the “safety rule” in today’s day and age, defensive players are going to be more concerned about getting fined then making the plays for its respective team. The game will lose integrity. The NFL must find a way were it can coup with everything because yes older players are suffering, current players are displeased, but what’s going to happen when parents turn away from football? The NFL may see it’s last snap.
...enon in sports. Some resolutions to this issue include not supporting teams and players that have previously taken steroids by not purchasing their teams or player merchandise. Another solution to this issue in sports is mixing up the times of drug testing throughout the course of a season, making sure the athletes do not know when the tests are coming. Steroids should not be permitted at all in sports and they should incorporate a zero tolerance policy so that if athletes are caught the first time they become banned completely. The game is played fairer and more even when there is a fair playing field and everyone abides by the same rules and guidelines set by the sport. This unleveled playing field has made sports much less interesting for the audience and has a negative impact on sports as a whole. The issue of steroids should be evaluated in sports immediately.
The intent of this essay is to show that steroids have many negative effects and that steroids, and other natural supplements, should be closely studied by the FDA. This essay will also support the claim that the professional sports industry needs to eliminate steroid use and set a good example for younger athletes.
NFL should be responsible for the long term illnesses associated with playing the sport. The
Every athlete dreams of becoming the best player in their sport. For most athletes, this dream was created in their childhood watching their favorite player perform at great levels to achieve success. Most athletes will stop at anything to achieve success, even if that means breaking the rules. An athlete whether the biggest, fastest, or strongest, will always look for something that will give them and extra edge over everybody else, even if that means performance enhancing drugs. With new records being broken day by day, I believe performance-enhancing drugs should be legal in all professional sports.
Performance-enhancing drugs should continue to be banned from professional sports because they have side effects that athletes may be unaware of, there is a disadvantage to athletes that do use PED’s and it is unfair to previous athletes who hold records. Individuals may disagree and argue that we should revoke the ban so we will be able to monitor it more safely. If the ban on performance-enhancing drugs was to be lifted who knows what the next illegal drug to become legal will be.
Smith, Chris. "Why It's Time To Legalize Steroids In Professional Sports." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 24 Aug. 2012. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. .