In 1889, Bud Galvin became the first man to use steroids in american sports when he tried to inject hormones from animals into himself. “Charles Brown-Sequard's "Elixir of Life," which became the earliest known performance enhancing drug in American professional sports when Pud Galvin of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys used it in 1889” (VICE). Since then steroids have been a staple in american sports, especially the game of baseball. When people think of the best player in baseball many people will say without even thinking about, Babe Ruth, the great yankee slugger who hit close to 720 homeruns in what people will call the dead ball era. Babe Ruth, however may have been using some sort of performance enhancing drug when he was still playing with
“Before steroids, records were made to be broken. Now they’re stolen,” is a quote that many know. The number of athletes who use steroids is staggering. First of all, the health effects could create huge problems for the athletes. Next, the consequences for using steroids are huge. Lastly (transition), many athletes that use steroids are better than their opponents, by cheating. Athletes that use steroids should have bigger consequences.
Fans go to games to watch superhuman athletes play, not average ones. McGwire and Sosa generated so much fanfare because they did the impossible. Only years later, Barry Bonds astounded fas around the world, as he broke McGwire’s record. As the great Vince Lombardi once said “Defense wins games, offense sells tickets.” With the absence of steroids, pitchers are taking over the game; by using steroids a player is able to reach his full potential. Dr. LIncoln Allison argues that in truth, steroids are not really “cheating”, they are just a way to bring out the full ability from a player. “A sportsman or woman who seeks an advantage from drugs just moves up to the level appropriate to his or her underlying ability”(107). She suggests that we deal with other, much greater problems, before worrying about teroid issue, ”In general, the risk to health from performance-enhancing drugs is considerably less than that from tobacco or alcohol, and we ought not to apply paternalistic moral assumptions to sport that we are not prepared to apply to the rest of
Steroids can cause many health issues, “including “steroid rage,” the development of male characteristics in female athletes, heart attacks, and greatly reduced life expectancy (The Database Book. 2009).” Steroids could also ban you from playing ever again. The first time a player is tested positive they are put on an eighty game suspension, second positive test will put the player on a 162 game suspension, which is the whole season including postseason, and a third positive test will ban the player from Major League Baseball for life. Steroids also give the player an unfair advantage over other players who are playing with their natural ability. “The sport badly needs to restore the public’s confidence in the purity of competition. A step in this direction is the new drug testing program that was negotiated and approved by the owners and players for the 2005 season. It is far more comprehensive, intrusive, and punitive than the 2002 program that it replaced. Time will tell whether the new program will rid the sport of the blight which allows juiced-up players to achieve phony records that overshadow authentic accomplishments (Staudohar. 2005).” All players work hard everyday, but the ones who are taking steroids to get ahead faster are just cheating themselves. Although, there could be a brighter side to steroid use. If a player is taking steroids to become a power hitter, they could be
For years, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has haunted all levels of sport, baseball taking the majority of the publicity. Many have lost sight of the fact that baseball players are not the only athletes that face this life threatening addiction. Due to the amount of padding they have to wear, football players can easily disguise their size therefore keeping them from receiving scrutiny from the public. This has allowed more and more players to look to PEDs in order to gain an edge over their opponents. The issue spans to not only the professional level, but the high school and collegiate divisions as well. Because the National Football League sits on a higher platform, they bring in an exceptional amount of money compared to that
One of these is the negative effects of the drugs on the person taking the PEDs. Taking PEDs can take a major toll on your health, so that is why PEDs should not be allowed in sports. Steroids and creatine are two major supplements that are used by athletes. It has been documented that use of these causes major health risks like kidney and liver damage. PEDs have shown no long-term rewards just some short-term like strength and speed. Another bad thing that PEDs can cause is bad acne, an increase in good and bad cholesterol, high blood pressure, and violence, rage, and anger issues. Another downside of doping is if you get caught doping, you could never compete again as an athlete. They can make you bald, give you mood swings, Depression issues, They are addictive, and they can also make your tendons more likely to become sore or
For two straight years and possibly even longer, Alex Rodriguez spent over $12,000 a month for performance enhancing drugs (PED) to gain an unfair advantage over his competitors (Weaver). Professional athletes like him are subject to huge contracts and an incredible amount of pressure to perform at a high level. As a result of this, many resort to steroids as a training aid. It is difficult to keep regulations on steroids in different sports leagues. Some steroids can be undetectable in drug testing and some leagues simply do not have strict enough rules on steroid use. This is extremely unfair to players that work unquestionably hard to be a professional athlete while some athletes are cheating through the use of steroids. It also destroys the integrity of the sport because awards, records, and championships seem to be fallacious.
Steroids are considered a drug. With any drugs, there are harms that it can do to the body. According to Daniel DeNoon, steroids can; make men develop breast, get painful erections, shrinkage of testicals, and become fertile. In the article “Steroids And Their Harmful Side Effects” states that steroids can make a person have mood swings, paranoia, high levels of anxiety, make females have a deeper voice, cataracts or glaucoma to the eye. It can also make male and female users become bald, high level of cholesterol, blood clot in the veins disrupting the blood flow to the heart causing a heart attack. Steroids can make the biggest organ in our body, the liver, not to get rid of any harmful and waste products. Lastly, steroids can cause skin breakouts, oily skin, red blotchy skin on face and back.
Barry Bonds has the most home runs by any Major League Baseball player in history with 762 home run. He surpassed legends of the game like Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. Barry Bonds went to Arizona State university for college. He was drafted in 1985 by the Pittsburgh Pirates and started his career in 1986. In 1993 he signed with the San Francisco Giants and finished his career there in 2007. Barry Bonds was a great hitter, he hit a lot of home runs. In 2003 Barry Bonds had to go to court for being a consultant with the BALCO organization. He was one of many athletes that got caught up in the doping scandal associated with BALCO.
Athletes using performance enhancing drugs have always been in the media. When a beloved athlete is caught using drugs the media tears them apart. Any one’s favorite athlete could become nothing to them after a drug test. The articles “Cheating and CHEATING” by Joe Posnasnski and “We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals” by William Moller, show two sides of the effects of media as well as fame for athletes.
Pete Rose is infamously known for gambling on baseball games during the season. When players gamble on athletic events, a player may intentionally play terrible or intentionally influence the outcome of the game to the way they placed their bet, (Kennedy 49). While Rose was a manager it was often believed that he “overused Rob Murphy”, due to him placing many bets on his team to win. The desire to win the bet pushed Rose’s decisions to do what was best for the money instead of focusing on the long season. The Pete Rose case is important to steroids because Pete Rose was banned from baseball on Aug. 24, 1989, (Verducci 67). Rose was banned for betting on the game of baseball, which is prevalent in America. However, players who continue to abuse steroids are given opportunity after opportunity to clean up their acts, but some of the athletes end back in the same situation as they were before. The suspensions increase as the number of offenses increases, but after a while Bud Selig should possible consider banning players due to them continue to taint the game. According to Michael Shermer, “Athletes have a huge incentive to dope.” In Shermer’s article, he discusses the small chance that athletes have of getting caught with using steroids. Also, he explains how using steroids can make you a millionaire but if you do not use them then “you
Many people see steroids as a bad thing, but some medicines that doctors give to us contains anabolic steroids. We asked the question should we use steroids or should we ban the use of steroids. A list of articles i found tell tell us and argue about the use of steroids and the types of steroids. We see them as a negative thing but some of us need them for our daily lives.
Steroid use in baseball has been a massive problem over the years. Steroids have been on the banned substance list since 1991 but testing did not begin until 2003. Players have been taking performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) since the nineties, but it was not until recently when players started getting tested and caught. The use of steroids has negatively effected the sport overall, the community of fans and children, and also the players; moreover, there are some major consequences if a player tests positive for performance enhancing drugs.
seasons. In his season of 1998 he broke the baseball single season home run record of 70
Alex Rodriguez has been receiving a lot of attention he has been known for his skills on the ball field but recently got caught using steroids.Alex Rodriguez became a home run champ and a three-time MVP during his years with the Texas Rangers New York Yankees until he was suspended for the entire 2014 season for using performance-enhancing drugs.This research will analyze why athletes dope in sports and how it negatively affects the athlete 's health.