For Your Entertainment The sports of today are significantly more brutal, serious and competitive than they ever have been in the past. Athletes in these sports go to great lengths to be called a champion in their sport and some are willing to cross the line and cheat their way to the top. In competitive sports, rules are laid out to level the playing field keep the sport fair so there can be no chance of a person taking advantage of something that not everyone can be expected to do. Steroids and other performance enhancing techniques are prime examples of athletes using specific illegal drugs to enhance their physical performance and give them greater probability of winning and some in the industry would want to keep it this way, mostly because they would profit from more powerful athletes on the fields. The downfalls of steroids makes it painfully obvious that not everyone can be forced to use steroids to compete and thus these substances must be banned and tested heavily to keep these competitions as fair as possible. Steroids come in different forms and styles, the more popular versions are the classic steroids that most are familiar with while others like blood doping and even genetic modification are newcomers on the field. These drugs can have medical side effects that range from life threatening mental and physical effects to very non-lethal things like bad breath and baldness. The real hard hitting impact that juiced up professional athletes have is on the children who idolize their favorite players and heros. These children can end up using steroids before their body is even fully developed and it can even cause the adolescent body to stop developing all together. The way sports organizations go about testing for these... ... middle of paper ... ...ught to the fact that he was cheating the sport he loved but also accounts out meticulous he was about keeping it a secret. Lenpendorf, Dan. “How Does Steroid Testing Actually Work?”. The Hardball Times., 30 August 2012. Web. 11 November 2013 This article completely explains steroid testing and how most tests are failed and why that isn’t always a real problem. Dan writes a very informative article about the different tests used in Major League Baseball and he accurately portrays steroid testing in major sports and shows how tests can still be fooled. He does not overload the reader with facts and jargon but rather explains everything he says nicely and in laymen terms. Throughout the article he takes the time to explain the chemistry and mechanics of the test and how it actually catches the cheaters This makes the article a good read and makes it very informative.
Steroids in baseball, particularly in Major League Baseball (MLB), have become a major issue. Two specific athletes have affected Major league Baseball dramatically; these players are Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. It is hard to catch a steroid user. Don Catlin, a former director at the UCLA Olympic testing lab says time after time they try to find the users and test them method, after they have evidence, however, this method does not work (Quinn). Mark McGwire’s and Barry Bonds’ use of steroids affected baseball in terms of trust issues, record holders, drug policies, and the future of baseball.
The Use of Steroids in Baseball: A comprehensive resources covering the growing concern of steroid use in the MLB.
Jose Canseco was a former major league baseball player who admitted to using anabolic steroids. He wrote a book called “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big” where he claimed that eighty five percent of major league baseball players used steroids. His book became a New York Times best seller and lead to many congressional meetings in front of the House of Representatives where baseball players, including his former teammates, were asked to testify about their alleged steroid use. One player in particular who gained a lot of attention and trouble as a result of these actions was Roger Clemens.
The issue of performance enhancing substances in baseball has been mostly present over the past ten years. The reason for players taking steroids is simple, by taking steroids, hitters like Barry Bonds gained more strength to hit better averages and more home runs, while pitchers like Roger Clemens gained better stam...
“We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals” by William Moller and “Cheating and CHEATING” by Joe Posnanski are both articles that mention the use of steroids in the world of sports today. In “We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals” William Moller writes an article on the reasons why professional athletes take steroids. He starts off with a “personal story” to help support the reason as to why athletes take steroids. He started off by telling us when he was in high school he really needed to do well. And always wanted to try and go above and beyond. Because he wanted to do so well in school he made a really big decision and took class 3 drugs so he could stay awake. This is a type of steroid; he thought that taking the drug was a lot better than failing a test. Moller then goes on to saying that the only reason that athletes take steroids is because of
Those who believe the use of anabolic steroids should be allowed in professional sports have numerous arguments for those in opposition. Professional sports leagues have tried to stop the use of steroids by drug testing players and punishing those who do not pass. A number of major athletes, such as Lance Armstrong, have been stripped of their athletic accolades due to discoveries of drug use. Despite witnessing the fall of great competitors due to “doping,” people continue to use. Because of unsuccessful attempts at banning the drug, many people believe “it may be time to head in the other direction: legalize performance enhancers” (Smith 1). No matter how many rules and regulations are made against the use of steroids, athletes will continue to abuse the drug in order to get ...
Steroids have become an athletic advantage to those becoming the best. Steroids first used in the early 1990’s were used by players as an everyday supplement, providing a boost in their game. This has evolved into a daily habit for players and teen accessing a life destroying choices just to be the best for once. For steroids have developments in the scandal with “13 Major League Baseball players, including Alex Rodriguez- the highest paid player in professional baseball” (Woerner). Showing PED’s will destroy the things you love the most, but only “effective in the short term” (Woerner). Meaning that the little amount you took won’t last you a lifetime.
With television and computer so common in today’s society, more and more people spend much time at home watching sport shows. Young children grow up with their heroes being famous athletes they see on TV everyday. These young children grow up wanting to be just like the people they have watched for years on television. Becoming a great athlete is a dream of many young people and also their parents. Because steroids have seemed to make it a lot easier for people to attain the goals they have set out to accomplish, many people have turned to the drugs to gain that goal. Without thinking about the physical side effects or the mental side effects that steroids can have on them, they are willing to risk all that to become bigger, stronger, or faster just to succeed in sports whether it be in junior high, high school, college or at the professional level.
In 2002 Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB produced a policy to begin testing players in 2003. In 2003 the first year testing began and despite the new policy 104 MLB players tested positive for steroids (Schlegel, 2009). The U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing Restoring Faith in America’s Pastime: Evaluating Major League Baseball’s Efforts to Eradicate Steroid Use. Even though one year earlier government officials held a similar hearing for the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, they were right back at it. Regretta...
Steroids are ruining sports in the United States, and they are also going to ruin future athletes if the United States does not put a stop to it. Many young athletes in the United States are taking performance enhancing drugs because they see that professional athletes are doing it and getting results. These teenagers are using steroids because they want to look muscular and fit, but they are not aware of the negative effects steroids have on their bodies. Young athletes do not know that they are not only risking their careers but also their bodies. Steroids may make a person look muscular and fit, but at the same time, it is ruining their heart. Steroids also cause people to act differently and do foolish things like using other drugs. Parents can prevent steroid use by teaching their children about it at a young age and staying involved in their children’s sport lives. Steroids have ruined professional careers. They ruined Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds’ careers and almost ruined Alex Rodriguez’s career. Professional athletes use steroids to improve their performance which is cheating. The game is not fair if someone is performing better by using drugs, and everybody should be performing with what they got. There are many different ways to achieve what they want in fair and healthier way. Many high school athletes are using steroids in the United States. They are not doing it under a doctor’s supervision; therefore, they are ruining their bodies without them knowing. Many of these athletes are looking at the outcome only and not what there are doing to their bodies in addition to getting stronger, muscular, and fit. All governing sport bodies in the United States need to take steroid testing seriously and give at...
Recently the topic of steroid use in baseball has been everywhere in the news. It has finally come to the attention of Major League Baseball, and now the general public, that a vast percentage of players have been using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. This not only casts a cloud of suspicion over which players are using steroids, and makes one wonder which players are genuine, but it tar...
Since at least the 1980’s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have been a major challenge in the world of Major League Baseball, and past trends indicate they will continue to pose an ongoing problem. A number of the most prominent and accomplished professional baseball players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, are also the most famous examples of baseball players who have broken longstanding records, attracted countless numbers of fans, and allegedly have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes who have been caught using steroids in order to increase and better their performance rates have been suspended, fined and traded from the teams on which they once played. Despite the punitive actions taken against them by the League and lawmakers, players continue to use performance-enhancing drugs and likely will continue to do so, because the associated athletic effects will draw more fans and bring more money to the individual player and franchise.
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.
The problem of steroid use in baseball came into the national spotlight during the 1990s. It was during this time that home run records were being broken at an incredible pace. It was also during this period when several famous baseball players began to speak out about steroid use in baseball. The most controversial expose about steroid use in baseball is perhaps that of Ken Caminiti in 2002. Caminiti admitted publicly that he was using steroids when he won the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1996 and in the several seasons following that. That revelation of his drug use highlighted the issue of steroid use in baseball. From that point on, the professional baseball league was under constant scrutiny from the public as well as from the federal agencies. Many had criticized Major League Baseball as ineffective in its efforts to address the issue of steroids use in professional baseball. When the BALCO incident exploded in late 2003 and affected many big name players in baseball, the public and Congress demanded answers from the accused baseball players. It was then that steroid use in baseball sparked media frenzy and legisl...
Currently it is an estimated that at least 6.67 percent of high school seniors in the United States have tried steroids, which is 500,000 males between the ages of 17 and 18 (Anabolic Steroids). The pressure of steroids on teenagers is constantly drilled into their heads because they associate increased strength with perfection. Teenagers are under immense pressure to be perfect. Kids are pressured to do well in school, sports, and any other activities that they are participating in. Anything other than the best is unacceptable and failure which strikes and leads to disrespect. Failure has the sole purpose of tearing people from their self confidence and lending them to be insecure, questioning their abilities and themselves. It does not help that kids have role models that choose the easy way to accomplish their goals. It also sends a message to those who admire them that taking certain sacrifices to reach self-goals and standards are very much acceptable. Hard work and determination has become something of the past when it is possible to do the same amount of work and receive results faster if you just take a couple risks. Steroids should not only be banned from sports, but athletes who are found to have used steroids should receive a more distinct and severe punishment. No matter how it is said or defended steroids truly are cheating. Steroids are becoming a substitute for hard work and determination.