Steroids Should Not Be Used In Sports

In “We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals,” William Moller strongly criticizes the “. . . self-righteous media types who make a living by drumming up indignation from the masses” (Moller 548). In addition to criticizing the media, Moller also condemns the general public for demonizing professional athletes because “. . . the reason [insert name of professional athlete] did [or does] steroids is you and me” (Moller 547). In other words, he claims that society is to blame for athletes’ usage of performance enhancing drugs because “[w]e, the public, place the best athletes on pedestals, gods on high” (Moller 547-48). Therefore, Moller argues that you and I are hypocrites because at some point in our lives, we all cheat and do wrong, yet we expect athletes to be superhuman without the aid of banned substances. While I agree with Moller’s assertions, his explanations as to why athletes use PED’s are limited, thus lacking the oomph necessary to propel his argument to a new dimension. Ultimately, fame and fortune, pressure from fans, and the human nature to perform as best you can are all factors that cause athletes to use illegal stimulants.

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.”

“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 do not positively influence any aspect of their game. 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 more serious social case: drug addiction, affecting personal relationships and spiritual

Steroids are a common drug in sports. Steroids should not be allowed for sports. They allow for athletes to become bigger and faster more rapidly. Many athletes over the years have used them, including Alex Rodriguez, Mark Mcgwire, and many more. There are also some downsides of using them and this is why the should not be used.

Nobody would argue that the quality of sports is basically dependent upon the level of skill of its players. As the skills of the players improve, so too does the quality of the game. So why are substances that would further athletes’ skills beyond human levels so ostracized? Doping is the practice of using steroids and other illegal substances to boost performance in sports and athletics. The debate of the morality of such substances has been going on for decades and continues to affect the world of sports in many ways. At the moment, steroids and all other performance-enhancing drugs are banned in their entirety from nearly all sports in most countries of the world. Scandalous lawsuits involving athletes abusing substances are constantly popping up, usually involving players and athletes that were considered fan-favorites or even heroes. Performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed in sports because it would make it easier to control them, allow athletes to perform better, and widespread use of steroids would allow more solid research and advancements in the pharmaceutical field.

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.

Over the past century using steroids or performance enhancing drugs has been a massive issue in today’s athletic society. Using steroids is unfair to athletes and their fans, because it gives certain sportsman an unfair advantage. Some athletes try to win at all costs even if sometimes that cost is there career, achievements, and even there lifes.

Coercion limits freedom by manipulating a person into believing that he/she cannot refuse a choice they were offered (i.e has no other option but to make the choice imposed onto them by a manipulator), by means of societal pressure. In sports, many athletes feel compelled to take performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) like steroids. The use of PEDs is strictly illegal in professional sports, but many athletes use PEDs hoping to give themselves an advantage over their competition; and in the world of professional sports, the difference of a fraction of a second can be the difference in first and second place, setting a world record or not, and/or earning millions of dollars. The incentives to use PEDs in professional sports are especially high considering that

Barry Bonds, Mark Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa, some of MLB’s biggests stars, are players who have used Performance enhancing drugs like steroids (Auerbach). Athletes wanting to get an advantage on others started to use drugs like steroids. These enhancing drugs should not be allowed in sports. The drugs have bad side effects, and also gives athletes an unfair advantage.

In the world of sports, there has always been the debate to legalize anabolic steroid use. Since I was a young boy, I have seen several players stripped of titles, achievements, and even careers. In one scandal, Barry Bonds stripped of his home run record title for suspected steroid use. Years later, Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles for using anabolic steroids. While steroid use seems to be a common occurrence in the last few years, some supporters have risen to speak in favor of having steroids legalized in the world of sports. On the other hand, numerous others and myself believe it should not be legalized on any level of sports due to several mental and health issues that arise from steroid use. It

Would you let your children follow in the footsteps of a drug user? Therefore, this is one of the reasons why I think steroids shouldn’t even exist or be used for anything. Due to the amount of people using performance enhancing drugs in pro sports today, most people when they hear “Steroids” they think of huge men or women with big bulging muscles. Steroids have been used throughout sports in every way in almost every sport. I think that the professional athletes that use performance enhancing drugs should be able to use them since they are getting paid substantial amount of money to play a sport. Therefore I think that the use of steroids shouldn’t be used by regular people, that isn’t a professional athlete.

Professional athletes are role models to the younger generation. Younger athletes look up to the professionals as motivation and inspiration. They pick styles and even numbers to reflect who they are inspired by. This can be seen when a basketball player wears 23. The number 23 represents one of the greatest basketball players of all time Michael Jordan. I believe steroids should be banned from professional sports because they give the younger generation the wrong message. Young high schoolers that are athletes will see the open usage of steroids and start to use them themselves. As Greg Schwab said in the hearing for "Steroid Use in Professional Baseball and Anti-Doping Issues in Amateur Sports" and before the US Senate Committee on Commerce,

Over the years, sports have changed dramatically. One major change has been the use of performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). This is a very controversial issue in all levels of sports today. Some people think this is a good thing to allow, while some think the complete opposite. Whenever sports were first becoming very popular, the use of PED’s were not available. There were no drugs to alter an athlete's performance on the field or court because the technology was simply not available to produce these. Although the drugs were not available, the sports were still interesting to watch and the athletes still played at a very high level. They did not need drugs to make themselves better because no one was using them which made the playing field

A more subtle and serious question is why we prohibit certain performance aids in the first place. Sure, the rules of sport may ban anabolic steroids or synthetic hormones like human growth hormone (HGH), believed to enhance strength, and erythropoietin (EPO,) which stimulates the production of oxygen-carrying cells in the blood and thereby increases endurance. But what makes those means for improving performance bad while other things, from better equipment to more sophisticated training methods or nutrition regimens, are perfectly okay? What makes the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport an ethical

their personal value is not measured by winning or losing, but doing the best that they