Athletes and Steroid Use Essay

Steroids are a hot topic of debate and controversy in the world of athletes and sports. Steroids fall under the umbrella of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and are a dark cloud that have been hovering over the sports world for a long time. In the world today, steroids are the most relevant in major league baseball. Many baseball players, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Mark McGwire, just to name a few, have ruined their reputations because of steroids. There are repercussions for PED use in major league baseball, which have cut down on the substance abuse by players but have nowhere near eliminated the problem.

Many children all across the United States and other countries try to replicate their favorite superstar athlete. Many athletes become the children’s idol and once the child learns that the athlete has cheated the game the athlete plays the child no longer looks up to the athlete. It is almost gotten to the point where no athlete that excels in a particular sport can be trusted. Every time a single athlete becomes great at their respective sport, speculation of steroid abuse immediately follows.

Since Major League Baseball all-star Ken Caminiti openly admitted to Sports Illustrated to have used steroids during his career, steroid use as a muscle and performance enhancer has been uncovered and become a big issue Major League Baseball is wrestling with. The “ongoing and delicate subject, baseball’s dirty, little secret that is no secret anymore,” is a huge and growing problem (Curry B20). Now that light has been shed on the issue, critics are beginning to realize the magnitude of this problem and do not like it. Steroids are a cheating virus that is spreading quickly. Users cheat other players, themselves, the fans, and the game itself. Action must be taken to rid Major League Baseball of this virus

cheating has always been around and in baseball Steroids are a Performance Enhancing Drug or PED for short that help with strength or players have also been known to use Human Growth Hormone or HGH, “Wonder if steroids helped Roger Clemens to lead the Houston Astros and New York Yankees to the World Series?” (Bilson) Ty Cobb sharpened spikes, and bet on baseball and he's still in the HOF, or how Mike Scott doctored baseballs with an emery board, or Alberte Belle, Sammy Sossa with Corked bats a corked bat is a bat that does not have the wood filling super balls can be put in there in place for it many different things can be used in place of that. Also how can anyone forget Barry Bonds with steroids how much did that help bonds break the All-Time home run record? How about Triss Speaker and the scandal of him fixing games , Gaylord Perry doctored baseball with various substances to throw off hitters. Other players other than Bonds have admitted to Steroid use Paul Molitor Class of 2004 and Wade Boggs Class of 2005 both admitted to steroid use, Boggs later admitted to being a sex addict on the Barbra Walters show. Mike Piazza alleged steroid scandal his back acne grew significantly and his substantial amount of hair growth on his back. Cheaters never win has been said through out the history of the world. I fully believe that is the honest

Anabolic steroids have been abused by Major League Baseball players for years, it’s time to forever ban the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs before they ruin America’s past time. Why should athletes be able to cheat when teammates or rivals are competing with honest effort? Every year records are broken and new heights are achieved, the game of baseball is very simple yet very humble, and to deceive the game you love, forever will you be punished. Let me inform you with the origin in which PEDs were first used and where they came from, regulation, and a possible solution.

“The Steroids Era” refers to a period of time in Major League Baseball when a number of players were believed to have used performance enhancing drugs, resulting in increased offensive output throughout the game. During the 1990’s, Major League Baseball experience an increase in

Major League Baseball’s (MLB) commissioners are debating about the anabolic steroids situation that is occurring in professional baseball today. To many professionals are getting accused of using the harmful drug. Professional baseball players are getting tested twice a year for anabolic substances throughout the course of the regular season. In order to stop steroids in MLB, commissioners should pass random drug testing. Tony Larussa stated, “By having random drug tests, it would make the game of baseball true once again.” Steroids are ruining the game of baseball, and the commissioners need to decide on something soon. By having random drug tests in Major League Baseball throughout the season, it would fix the problems that baseball is

However the spotlight that steroids find themselves in are in professional sports, mainly Major League Baseball. Steroids have been an on-going issue with Major League Baseball. The MLB has been tainted in one way or another since the game began. However, now the game has been tainted with drugs that are giving some players an advantage over others. These players are also taking risks with drugs because they are constantly trying to attain a drug that does not get detected when they get drug tests. The MLB should outsource their drug testing policies to an independent organization like the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between players and the MLB. In 1994-95, the MLB suffered a strike that resulted in the cancellation of the post season. Afterwards, fans were deterred from the sport. So in 1998,

Athletics play such an important role in our society, but, unfortunately, some in professional sports are not setting much of an example. The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now.”

It is these people who stand behind the notion that the utilization of illicit drugs takes away from the purity of the sport. Baseball players should be revered for their skills that are a result of hard work and dedication, not from the aid of quick shortcuts such as steroids. Some people say that Bonds took the easy way out and put up statistics that he did not necessarily earn, and it is for this reason why many think of his actions as immoral and unjust. Not to mention, but doping can also be extremely dangerous for an athlete’s health. Additionally, what kind of message does the use of steroids put out for the children who might look up at to this athlete as a role model? One could argue that a child could see a player such as Bonds doing so well in his career because of the drugs he took, and takeaway the idea that it is acceptable to cheat so long as it gets you to the top. The last argument against doping in baseball and sports altogether is that it establishes an uneven playing field. As, “athletes who choose not to use steroids are at an unfair advantage – most will be unable to compete at the same level as athletes who are using steroids” (Ashby, 2010). It is a culmination of the aforementioned reasons that led to Bonds leaving a bad taste in a lot of fan’s

The most commonly discussed issue in sports of the 21st century is the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes. Over the past four years, it has been nearly impossible to turn on the television without hearing something about athletes and these drugs. From former National League MVP Third Baseman Ken Caminiti's admission of steroid use in an issue of Sports Illustrated (Verducci, 2004) to 2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis being stripped of title due to a failed doping test (Blue, 2006) virtually every sport is involved. Are performance enhancing drugs a substance that threatens the very existence of professional sports, or are they the future? Perhaps the issue

If Rob Garibaldi had one wish it would be to play major league baseball. Growing up he played baseball throughout high school and college. There was one problem. He wasn’t as big as the other players. Beginning in his junior year of high school he was strongly influenced to take supplements to increase his strength. A few years later, after continued use of steroids, his life started to spiral out of control. He was feeling very depressed, struggling academically, and had become very aggressive. That bright, young man with aspirations to play major league baseball ended up taking his own life with a fatal gunshot on October 1, 2002. Ultimately, Rob Garibaldi killed himself but steroids could easily be deemed his accomplice.

The sport that has gotten the most attention on the subject of steroids is Major League Baseball. Due to the suspected prevalence of them from the late 80’s up until the present day, the so-called baseball purists now question all the records and achievements

To begin with athletes never should use steroids for the health and well being of his/her reputation. A great number of athletes today have been caught using steroids, and their reputations damaged together with imaginable hall of fame careers ruined. Such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds and Shawne Merriman. Lance Armstrong is a seven times Tour de France cross country cyclist champion and the most recent superstar to admit to using steroids. He knew he was wrong for using the substance and said in an interview: “It’s been well documented. I did not invent the culture, but I did not try to stop the culture, and that is my mistake, and that is what I have to be sorry for, and that is

Steroids are a bigger problem now then they’ve ever have been. They’ve always been a problem but they’ve been incognito to the public eye. The New York Times bring up a troubling issue that’s been going on for years and that is the misuse of steroids in professional level sports.