Pro Sports Athletes Should Not Be Banned

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.

     It was a warm, sultry night in September. The fans were crazed in anticipation as Mark McGwire stepped to the plate. With a gentle stretch, he paused, patiently poised, waiting for what would eventually be the greatest hit baseball had ever seen. The pitcher, Steve Trachsel, came set. He shot a determined look to the dirt. In a rivalry such as this (Cubs, Cardinals) he did not want to be the one to give up the great number 62. He cocked his arm back, to let loose what would be an eighty-eight mile an hour fastball that most men would not see fly by, but Big Mac was not most men. With one mighty swing, sixty-one was no more, ney sayers were silenced, and the game

Some of the greatest athletes in the history of sports are Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGuire. One thing they had in common was that they all were Kings of hitting home runs in the 1990s and early 2000s. Another thing they all had in common, they illegally took performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their careers in Major League Baseball. They have been labeled as having a high lack of sportsmanship, being a poor role model for children, and cheaters, which are a couple of reasons why none of these players have been elected into the hall of fame. There have been experiments and studies that have proved that the use of PEDs affects both the physical and psychological parts of the human body. This is why athletes should be banned

Baseball is known as America’s pastime and is one of the most popular, respected sports on earth. Since the beginning of the sport, it seemingly advances with technology every year making faster and stronger players. The use of steroids became rampant and spread among players and has carried them away from the true history of the game they play. Controversy still today runs around the sport today about fines, punishments and record breaking. The past two decades of Major League Baseball have been tainted because of the use of performance enhancing drugs, also known as steroids, causing the loss of many fans and the true meaning of America’s favorite sport.

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

The MLB is just a giant business. How can you see it otherwise? Steroids in baseball have changed dramatically over the past ten years and a major factor impacting the changes may be players’ use of performance enhancing drugs. Do these players not realize that they are cheating? They are putting a drug into their bodies to make them better then everyone else. In less than four years Babe Ruth’s single season record of 60 home runs has been broken by Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. These were three of the players who were faced with a charge of using steroids and notice how they are three of the top hitters. McGwire just retired too, I think steroid use, and people finding out had a smidge to do with it. All these players aren’t losers, they are all stars and looked upon from all over and know are being accused of cheating. (Kingsbury)

One of the underlying issues with the PED problem is that it does allow a player to gain more power with their hits. The extra power is not caused by the drugs directly, but by the fact that the drugs allow them to train harder, longer, and have shorter recovery times than normal. Power hitters are always considered the elite player, which makes sense because most people want to see home runs. As one player stated “Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, single hitters drive Fords” (Solberg, Joe, and Richard Ringer). Gaining better numbers creates an increased incentive to start using PEDs. The highest regarded records in baseball are all home run based and the players

The "steroid era" has been devastating for fans that appreciated the game, but no one cannot say that. Kids and adults were leaving the action players brought to the field every day. Many did not know a lot about the steroids being used by famous players, but there were rumors in and out teams. Having a substance that will guarantee help in hand-and-eye coördination, better endurance, speed, power, agility and more is the miracle substance for any athlete. Being fun and all, there are numbers that alarms scouts, managers, general managers, fans, media, and more when a player is being productive. When a player is having a good year on the field, making a noise and maintaining the level of play throughout the season is coming. Seeing the same player having more than one horrible season is also common. But when players’ stats are constant for many seasons, that is when red flags come up and questions are followed by it.

Perhaps one of the most controversial topics in Major League Baseball is the discussion of the use of steroids and human growth hormones. Both are completely illegal in the sport, and come with drastic consequences. One would think a fifty game suspension as a first offense would scare players away, but for some reason steroids in baseball is occurring more and more often to the disappointment of Major League Baseball. The reason players take steroids in the first place is to enhance their performance on the field. Steroids make players stronger and they perform at a higher rate. Another use for steroids is to help the players on certain rehab assignments for injuries. Either way, it is still illegal and banned in the sport.

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

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.

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, fans don’t want to cheer for cheaters. Parents don’t want to tell their children - or even teenagers - that their favorite athletes were using PEDs or violating the rules. At the same time, athletes that fans look up to can’t continue to play, letting fans down. As proof, if athletes use PEDs enough, they could die. This would probably make fans wonder what happened, and how the athlete died. In other words, spectators see PEDs as a way to ruin the game.

My first reason is, they affect the respect of the game and its rules. It is a rule that players are not allowed to use drugs or there will be a consequence and athletes still continue to disrespect the rules and use drugs anyway. Secondly, it changes the fairness of the game. Doping and performance enhancing drugs conflict with the natural spirit of the game, consequently making the spirit of the game less valuable due to bending the player’s natural ability to play the sport. Many people say that the use of drugs does not define the spirit of the game, admittedly it doesn’t, it just doesn’t make the spirit as valuable. There is a quote that states, “addiction is a family disease… one person may use, but the whole family suffers.” This quote is stating that in sports if one person uses drugs, it will affect everyone. Finally, using drugs such as steroids and doping changes the recognition of the athlete’s natural talent. When players use drugs to make them better not all of the talent is real, therefore it is now unnatural talent due to the use of drugs. Athletes may be better, although that is simply because they are cheaters and now unnatural. Without a doubt, there are so many reasons that sports should get rid of drugs.