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Essay steroids in sportsts
Steroid use among athletes essay
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The Use of Steroids in Sports
Before the 1990's, athletes were unique. They were able to capitalize on their
God-given talents, and make themselves famous based on their skill. But then something
happened. Steroids began to play a bigger and bigger role in sports. No longer were the
most naturally gifted athletes becoming the stars. Now, it can be said that whoever has
the best pharmacist can be the best athlete. As the amount of performance enhancing
steroids increases in professional sports, many athletes are gaining an unfair advantage
over their competition.
Athletes take steroids to gain an advantage. Steroids are used by athletes in
baseball, football, and in Olympic events in hopes of finding the edge to make them the
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We always want to get rich the
fastest way, we want to get famous the fastest way, we want to get strong and be
competitive the fastest way," Arnold Schwarzenegger said, on why athletes take steroids.
Some athletes simply do not feel like they can compete with the best in the world
without a little help. This could be the number one reason why athlete begin taking
steroids. Some of their peers are bigger, faster, or more skilled, and they want to feel
equal, and get a little outside help. "...Some people are naturally gifted, others have to
work very. Some people are not going to make it without extra help," remarked Erik de
Bruin, coach/husband of Michelle Smith, who won three gold medals in the 1996
Olympics, shaving almost twenty seconds off her best time from 1993. To try to gain
athletic equality, or superiority in their sports, they go to steroids for a little extra kick.
Muscle building drugs have transfonned sports into something of a freak show.
The general build of a given athlete is much bigger with their arms, shoulders, and legs
enlarged, sometimes to a point that they do not look real. "...Guys out there look like
Anabolic steroids have become an epidemic amongst athletes since the 1950's when a Swiss company by the name of Ciba Pharmaceuticals introduced what was to become the most popular anabolic drug for athletes called methandrostenolone. “By this time, the era of the steroid athlete was well underway and world records were being shattered and re-shattered with remarkable regularity.” (Oklobdzija & Weyrauch, 1989, para 3) From then on, there have been many cases throughout professional sports where athletes are reported or caught using anabolic steroids.
Steroids have become prevalent in baseball, with more players getting involved with them. Although they entered the game through trainer Curtis Wenzlaff in 1992, they have become a big part of the Major League today in 2014. However, players and the game's image suffer when they become caught up in steroids. Some of the best players to ever play the game, including Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, have been caught up in steroids. These players are supposed to be role models for younger kids, yet when they see their idols using steroids, they are tempted to use them as well.
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
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.
“We have to make some radical move to get the attention of everyone. Cheaters can 't win and steroids has put us in the position that it 's OK to cheat” (“Steroids Quotes”). Unfortunately, baseball has been plagued with the assistance of performance enhancing drugs to lengthen players careers, to boost statistics, and create an extraordinary ballplayer out of an average player. Contrary to the steroid abusers’ beliefs, steroids are not positively influencing any aspect of their game or personal life. The credibility and dignity of baseball has decreased due to performance enhancing drugs, which is not only cheating, but it also leads into a even
Steroids are illegal in the US, and banned from baseball, however in the past they have not been suspected to be such a big problem. Therefore, Major League Baseball has failed to properly address it with preventative measures. In the 2001, the Major League Players Association’s contract with Major League Baseball protected players on the 40 man roster against testing. As for the minor leagues, testing only occured in-season, and was restricted to some players. Many players use in the off season and know how long the drugs will remain in their bodies (anywhere from 2 weeks to 18 months). If tested positive, they receive a warning about the hazards of the drug and are not punished at all. Five to ten percent of minor leaguers tested positive, and which fails to account for users not tested, those who used out-of-season, and those who found measures around the test. In the majors, some suspect that 50% of players use steroids and some, such as Jose Canseco, as hig...
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.
Athletes are grown up in an environment that praises the tough and confidence. No one wants a teammate or player that is weak physically or mentally. They want someone who is big and strong. If hit, will get right back up and hit 10 times harder. Someone who will have the confidence who will kick someone out of the line up, just their name makes you scared.
The steroid era as many know now started roughly 2003, but there was a time in which many forget. In the 1980’s there was a strike, cocaine scandal, a 1985 World Series blown call, and the banishment of all-time leader Pete Ross for gambling (Addona). These were the main things in people’s minds at the time, but they didn’t see that steroids were slowly working its way into the mix. In April 1988 the Los Angeles Times reported that American’s pastime remained “essentially steroid-free” (Steroids). Thomas Boswell wrote for the Washington Post, as a sportswriter didn’t feel the same way. Boswell wrote for the Boswell wrote about Jose Canseco as “the most conspicuous example of a player who has made himself great with steroids.” Canseco would deny the allegations and later on went to win the American League Most Valuable Player. Jose would eventually admit to using steroids in 1985 saying that he took them in the late 1980’s and the 1990’s (Steroids). He says steroids in baseball were as common as a cup of coffee during that time.
Anabolic steroids are a group of muscle building chemicals, which are synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone. Developed in the 1930’s, they were prescribed to aid in muscle tissue repair by those who had undergone surgery or had degenerative diseases. Now the patients do not only use them but also athletes. Starting in the 1940’s steroids were introduced into sports. Steroids were one of the main reasons that Russia’s 1952 Olympic weightlifting team came out with pile of medals. With these results other nations thought their competitors should have the same advantage, and the use of steroids spread like wildfire.(NIDA pg 2) But now steroids are illegal to use if not prescribed by a physician, and have been banned by nearly all-athletic organizations, both professional and amateur.
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.
Americans today tend to believe that there are only a select few in sports who are users of steroids. However, according to Julian Savulescu, "20.3% of professional athletes said they have tried drugs or steroids to improve their performance in the game" (3). At this high percentage, about one in five athletes are considered "cheaters". Jacob Beck believes that "using steroids is not cheating if a whole generation of the best and most promising athletes have been doing it" (5). There is no reason to continue trying to catch steroid users when so many athletes take them. All major league sports are filled with steroid use to some extent. It is impossible to have a perfectly "clean" sport without eliminating a good percentage of its players. Since steroids already have a major presence in major league sports and there is no way to ever completely get rid of them, steroid use should be legalized. By legalizing steroids, athletes would no longer have to worry about unsafe or risky suppliers; with prescriptions from doctors, steroids would be safe for the athletes, and users would be less likely to abuse them. Also, the playing fields for all sports would be more equal than they have ever been in a long time. By creating an equal playing field, sport records would be more meaningful and there would be much fewer arguments for cheating or an unfair record. With an increase in muscle strength, there would be fewer injuries and more quality performances, which would make fans more inclined to go to a game knowing there was going to be a great display of strength and athleticism.
If one were to turn on the television and watch the news you would hear a lot of news stories, but you won’t commonly hear about a rising incline in steroids in today’s society. Today many people, even children, are using steroids to gain a strength advantage over their peers. So why are people using steroids?
It is amazing what athletes will do to achieve higher levels of performance and to sometimes get the extra edge on the competition. Most of the time people do not realize the long-term effects that result from the decisions they make early in life. This resembles the use of steroids in a person’s life.
There are many different reasons such as taking them to stay physically ready and healthy, and mentally prepared. However, many take steroids to become bigger and stronger. This way they can move from the minor leagues to the major leagues faster. Since many abuse the use of steroids, it does not stop in the minor leagues; the players will carry the habit with them into the majors. “The use of steroids in Major League Baseball (MLB) has become a big problem. Most of the players have decided to use steroids because it helps them to increase their muscles faster. This drug makes the players anxious and the desire for exercise is more often. Most of the fans think that the increase of home runs of the 2006 season is mostly caused by players using performance-enhanced drugs; this fact is based by earlier results of 47% of the fans agreeing on this issue conducted by USA Today/Gallup Poll” (Newman, 2006). “Also, the players see this like an opportunity to move faster in the system and be seen as a top player to be considering a big value on the market (Herrera 2007).” For example, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did so well in the home run derby in 1998 that people started questioning if they was taking steroids. “The success of Mark McGwire in baseball's home run derby fueled an ethical debate surrounding ergogenics and sports performance. Androstenedione, [a type of steroid,] has been banned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association,