Alex Rodriguez: A Hero Or Hero?

The use of PED (performance-enhancing drugs) is always a popular topic especially since the Olympic game passed by. Author Zach Petersel’s article: Here 's Why Suspensions Won 't Deter PED Users Like Maria Sharapova claims that punishment for taking PED is incremental, while the benefits are exponential. After carefully reading the article, I think the article would be great to be printed in the Shorthorn of the University of Arlington. First of all, Zach made a clear and strong claim. He also builds his credibility by using one of the most famous cases that happened on the famous athletics to make the article, and he addresses an issue that lots of the college student will be interest in.

My controversial topic is on Pete Rose and how he should be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Pete Rose was a player that I looked up to when I was a young boy playing baseball. I was a big fan of his collecting all of his baseball cards from rookie year up to the present time. Now, most of the baseball critics and others do not want Pete Rose inducted. They claim that his illegal betting on baseball games should keep him out of the Hall of Fame.

The performance that goes beyond the possible one by an average player received a critical attention by the Major League Baseball. The article, “Under Mounting Pressure: A History Of Media Influence On Major League Baseball Steroid Policies,” is based on the relationship between Major League Baseball and the media. The authors break down how the media reports on

The media affects society in positive and negative ways. This can be seen in America’s national pastime baseball. Baseball is a sport that became the national sport in the United States in the late 19th century. From the beginning of the sport they tried to keep the highest standards to each player and ball club. There were times of scandal, but of all the things that happen to baseball substance abuse has been portrayed as one of the worst thing a player could do. To defame the baseball was to ruin everything the sport stood for. This research paper will look at one of the worst blotches in baseballs history, the steroid era.

Alex won his third AL (American League) home run title in a row and won his first AL MVP award in 2003. However what people didn’t know is that A-Rod tested positive for two anabolic steroids. Rodriguez showed up on a list with another 104 players in the MLB (Epstein and Roberts). If you ask me I think that all of the players on that list should’ve got suspended including Alex because 2003 ended up being one of his best years as a pro. Without those anabolic steroids I don’t think that he would’ve produced like he did. However according to Epstein and Roberts “Though MLB's drug policy has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.” Even after this news comes out the New York Yankees trade for Alex send Alfonso Soriano to the Rangers in one of the biggest blockbuster

Not necessarily cheating by lying about a game or sneakily finding an unfair way to win that violates the rules. The cheating that is becoming controversial in sports are about athletes using sports performance enhancing drugs. The motif to cheat in sports is similar to the motif to cheat in schools. Athletes use drugs to boost their performance or to beat other competitors. Athletes just like High School students face a lot of pressure to do well or to at least do better than other athletes. In a text written by Chuck Klosterman, Klosterman explains that steroid scandals are no longer uncommon amongst the National football League athletes. These huge athletes are expected to be massive compared to normal humans and to perform task that no ordinary human could perform. It should not come as a surprise to the public that these football hero’s use steroids to live up to there expectations. On the contrary it is a let down and disappointment to the NFL fans once they discover their favorite athletes have been deceiving and cheating by using unpermitted substances to increase their performances. “My point is that sports are unique in the way they’re retrospectively colored by the specter of drug use.” stated by Chuck Klosterman. Many famous musicians, authors, and stockbrokers were on drugs when they did their best work and yet these titles are not stripped away from them and they face little to no

Yadier Molina is and always will be one of the greatest catcher to ever play the game of baseball. With Yadi coming into the league at such a young age, he has had more of an opportunity to prove himself and the stats and awards he has won can really back it up. Not just is he one of the greatest to play the game at that position, he is one of the best “on the field managers” as they say as far as controlling the tempo of the game and how it is played. With all of the accomplishments Molina has had in his career, it proves why he is one of the best to ever play the game at the catching position.

Thesis: Today I am going to persuade you all about the use of steroids in Major League Baseball, persuading you why steroids should not be allowed in Major League Baseball. I have a call to action for all of you to help others if they are considering using steroids, and next time you watch a MLB game to realize the impact of steroids.

A prime example of steroid controversy on the Hall of Fame ballot is Mark McGwire. McGwire (pictured left) hit 583 home runs, including what was once a record of 70 in the 1998 season for the St. Louis Cardinals. McGwire’s career was tainted when he was caught with Androstenedione in his locker during the 1998 season. Androstenedione better known as Andro, is a steroid precursor which is banned from baseball. When McGwire was questioned about steroid use at a Congressional hearing on March 17, 2005, he repeatedly said, “I’m not here to discuss the past” (qtd. in McGwire Unlikely). This damaged McGwire’s candidacy for the Hall of Fame ballot by raising the suspicion of drug use, influencing BBWAA writers not to vote for him. McGwire has received close to a 25 percent vote on the ballot the three-years running up to 2012. Not nearly the 75 percent needed for induction. Several BBWAA writers discussed their stance on McGwire’s silence at the Congressional hearing; that it was a tacit admission that he used steroids while playing. McGwire needs to clarify his past and explain whether or not he used steroids, in order to maintain his integrity and character. When evaluating McGwire’s 16 year

Background: Although people have been using steroids over 50 years, it wasn't until we started seeing headlines about athletes using steroids that it started receiving attention.

In the days when steroids were only being used by body builders and professional wrestlers, stories about performance enhancing drugs could only be found on the back pages of the newspapers. When former Oakland Raiders All-Pro Lyle Alzado admitted to steroid use in a 1991 Sports Illustrated article the whispers about what professional athletes were using steroids began to get louder. (Puma, 2005) Finally, in 2002, when Caminiti, a former MVP, came clean, two things were clear; athletes in all sports were using these drugs, and that they worked. The fact that steroid use had permeated our national pastime combined with the media explosion of the internet and 24 hour a day sports talk created a perfect storm which created the biggest sports story of the new millennium so far. However, two other facts remained clear, performance enhancing drugs were old news, and athletes in all sports from all over the world had been using them for years.

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.

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

The star third-baseman, the man with the incredible swing, and the quarter billion dollar man. All these things can be used to describe Alex Rodriguez but now you can add cheater, liar, and drug abuser. Alex Rodriguez, also known as A-Rod, has been involved in an investigation going on for over a year about his use of performance-enhancing steroids.

A win is a win no matter what. However, it is how it is achieved that makes the difference. When it comes to sports, it is either hard working, making use of a special talent or a brilliant tactic that can win you a game, but is it really ethical for a win to be achieved with the aid of steroids? The article “Is Doping Wrong?” published in August 2007 by the Australian professor in ethics and the current Ira W. DeCamp of Bioethics at Princeton University, Peter Singer, discusses the debatable aspect of whether the use of drugs by professional athletes should be permitted or not. Despite his illogical arguments and fallacies at some points, Singer was able to portray his ideas in a coherent and organized way. Therefore, I would recommend this article to the Writing 101 students, as it would teach them how to display their ideas in a well-organized and consistent manner, in addition to learning how to avoid the use of some specific fallacies.