Engl 125: Research Paper Performance Enhancing Drugs
Engl 125: Research Paper Performance Enhancing Drugs
Maximilian H. Szeto
Vancouver Island University
November 26, 2014
Instructor: Richard Arnold
Engl 125: Research Paper Performance Enhancing Drugs
These days, it seems like performance enhancing drugs are the norm in the professional sports worlds. Whether it is football or basketball players, many professional athletes are getting exposed to PEDs. As a result, a lot of athletes are consuming performance enhancing drugs because athletes are living in a culture where PEDs are acceptable in all sports profession. There are certainly many positive effects when it comes to consuming performance enhancing drugs, but most professional athletes do not really consider the long lasting negative effects it has on the athletes’ health, reputations and their playing careers. As well, the influence of PEDs has totally made many professional sports uncompetitive because PEDs …show more content…
has caused athletes to lose their respect for professional sports. And instead of using PEDs, there are alternatives that professional athletes can consider to improve in their respective sports. Therefore, PEDs should be banned from professional athletes.
It is a total myth when athletes comment on how little risk involved when it comes to taking performance enhancing drugs. In the past, PEDs were to used because of legitimate health reasons, but these days, professional athletes are “looking … [for] substances that speed up the recovery rate, that enable them to do a training workload that’s higher intensity, that enable them to work more without … [their] body breaking down” (Healey, 2013, p. 2). Also, there are many classes of drugs such as “lean muscle builders [that] drive and amplify the growth of muscle and lean body … stimulus [that] stimulate the body and mind to perform optimally … [or] blood boosters [that] increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood beyond the individual’s natural capacity” (Healey, 2013, p. 6-7). As a result, many professional athletes are now relaying on PEDs to make them stronger physically and they do not know what the consequences are from consuming drugs daily; especially when the athletes take drugs when it is not necessary, it eventually takes a toll on the athletes’ body and destroy itself slowly. For instance, Barry Bonds is a former MLB baseball player who used steroids during his playing days. Although Bonds was able to build his strength and endurance, there were signs of him having side effects from the steroids. Bond was having chronic knee and leg problem late in his career and he had a surly attitude towards the press which was hints of the steroid effect. As a result, when Bonds gets older, he might have some physical side effects such as an “increase … [in the] risk of liver and cardiovascular disease … [more prone to] mood swings … [or] make … [him] more aggressive” (Healey, 2013, p. 6-7). It does not matter whether professional athletes take human growth hormones, marijuana, or stimulants; they all affect the athletes’ physical and mental capabilities in the long haul. Another reason there is a health risk concerning intake of PEDs is because there are instances where professional athletes will die right after a competition. For example, in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, after “the death of Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen … (the autopsy revealed traces of amphetamine)” and in 1967, “the post mortem found that … [cyclist Tom Simpson] had taken amphetamines and alcohol” (Healey, 2013, p. 42). There have not been any follows up on these stories, but there could have been a possibility where the parents’ of the athletes could have sued the coach and the sports authorities for giving the athletes PEDs even though they knew the health risks involved. Although there are many drug tests that can control the level of drug consumption in a professional athlete’s body, an athlete’s body is still in danger in terms of well-being.
Another reason why performance enhancing drugs should not be allowed in professional sports is because it causes unfair competition among athletes. Many professional athletes like to gain an advantage in their sports, so they often try to find the fastest way to improve their body so that they can be successful. As a result, professional athletes will maximize their performance by being “more dependent on increasingly sophisticated systems of medical support in their efforts to run faster, to jump further, or compete more effectively in their chose sport” believing that “the quality of medical support may make the difference between success and failure” (British Medical Association, 2002, p. 79). Instead of competing with other professional athletes fairly, PEDs are not giving all athletes an equal opportunity to win at their sports. Some of the youth might even questions the integrity of professional sports, and if they see that professional sports is more about taking PEDS than hard work, they might not want to pursue their dream of being a professional athlete because there are bunch of cheaters in professional sports. Moreover, many athletes today are pressured by the media and the fans to perform well in their sport. So when professional athletes get hurt, they usually feel the obligation to come back earlier than expected to help their team win games. So, professional athletes will shortcut the healing processes by in taking PEDs that will help them recover faster so that they can prevent “the increasing constraints to ‘play hurt’, that is to continue competing while injured” (British Medical Association Staff, 2002, p. 80).. Even though fans and the media might applaud the athletes for their heroics, the professional athlete might reap the benefits in the short term, but suffer the consequences in the future. Lastly, money and fame play a factor when professional athletes decided whether to use PEDs. In reality, there are some athletes who are in the sports profession to earn a ton of money and live the dream life. As a result, those athletes will do anything it takes to stay in the sports profession for as long as possible by using PEDs to help the athletes gain the “massive increases in the rewards – particularly the material rewards ... [that comes] with sporting success” (British Medical Assocation, 2002, p. 80). Thus, the sports world should be more aware about the inequality in major sports leagues and find a way to prevent it.
Without the illegalization of performance enhancing drugs, the reputation of professional sports will be ruined. The entertainment value of watching sports is seeing the competitiveness among the professional athletes. But unlike in the past, many people are turning against professional sports, because of how fake the professional sport is these days. Although the “World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA and the national equivalents (ASADA here) carry out drug testing on elite athletes and ... detected a prevalence rate of about 2% over the past decade,” it is impossible for the doping agencies to catch every single athlete that dopes. Consequently, many professional athletes are getting away with taking illegal substances which creates an ethical dilemma about the presence of PEDs. Furthermore, there are many hardcore sports fans that spend around a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars to view sports live at its very best. And according to Adam Silver who is the commissioner for the national basketball association, he mentions that the “annual salary cap ... [is] $A72.45 million [dollars] ... [which makes basketball athletes] the highest-paid professional athletes in the world, earning an average $5.7 million a season” (“NBA not about to wear,” 2014). It means that with the overflowing cash professional athletes earn each year, fans expect professional athletes to know that it is a privilege to compete on the highest level of sports and play their sports the right way. If fans find out they are watching a bunch of professional athletes that inject themselves with PEDs, they might stop going to games and supporting the professional sports. As a result, ticket sales might drastically go down in some cities, and small market sports teams could be in big trouble because they are not getting enough revenue to keep a professional sports team in their cities. In conclusion, people who watch professional sports want to watch pure talent of athletes and not athletes that use drugs to improve their nature potential.
Other than using PEDs, there are other ways for athletes to improve an athlete’s performance in the sports profession. There are “[many] other factors ... [such as] psychology, nutrition, training methods and technology” that help athletes to keep their bodies in an athletic shape (Healey, 2013, p. 3). For instance, with advanced technology, the invention of the “super [swimming] suits used in polyurethane material ... [enable] swimmers to sit in a higher and more streamlined position in the water” (Healey, 2013, p. 3). Even though the super suits are now disallowed, Michael Phelps was able to use the suits in the 2008 Olympics to win 8 gold medals and break 7 world records. Speaking of technology, many professional sports teams are using advanced metrics such as synergy sports to analyze the performance of athletes. For example, when a professional basketball player wants to find out why he is not playing well, he can use advanced stats to figure out the reason. If the player finds out that his assist per turnover ratio is really bad, he will know that he has to limit his turnovers for him to perform better in games. Therefore, it increases the player’s knowledge about his progress in basketball games he plays in. In addition, there is newfound nutrional research about how it is better for an athlete to eat food every 2 hours instead of eating 3 whole meals every day. By consuming calories in athletes’ body more frequently, it allows athletes to adapt to the intense workouts they endure every day. It lets the athletes replenish the energy they have lost during the workouts. So rather than using PEDs, there are many choices that professional athletes can consider to maintain a good body.
To conclude, PEDs should be removed from professional sports because it affects not only the athlete health, but also the level competiveness.
If professional sports start to have a negative influence towards the media and fans, there could possibility where the popularity of professional sports will go down. Hopefully the issue of PEDs can be resolved and become less of a distraction for professional athletes that frankly want to focus more on being the best they can be in their respective sport.
References
BMA Board of Science and Education Staff, and British Medical Association. (2002). Drugs in sport : The pressure to perform. London, UK: BMJ Books.
Healey, Justin. (2013). Doping and drugs in sport. Thirroul NSW, Australia: The Spinney Press.
NBA not about to wear salary cap criticism. (2014, November 15). Sunshine Coast Daily (Queensland). Retrieved from
http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=8399&sr=HLEAD%28NBA%20not%20about%20to%20wear%20salary%20cap%20criticism%29%20and%20date%20is%202014
Maximilian H. Szeto
Vancouver Island University
November 26, 2014
Instructor: Richard Arnold
Engl 125: Research Paper Performance Enhancing Drugs
These days, it seems like performance enhancing drugs are the norm in the professional sports worlds. Whether it is football or basketball players, many professional athletes are getting exposed to PEDs. As a result, a lot of athletes are consuming performance enhancing drugs because athletes are living in a culture where PEDs are acceptable in all sports profession. There are certainly many positive effects when it comes to consuming performance enhancing drugs, but most professional athletes do not really consider the long lasting negative effects it has on the athletes’ health, reputations and their playing careers. As well, the influence of PEDs has totally made many professional sports uncompetitive because PEDs …show more content…
has caused athletes to lose their respect for professional sports. And instead of using PEDs, there are alternatives that professional athletes can consider to improve in their respective sports. Therefore, PEDs should be banned from professional athletes.
It is a total myth when athletes comment on how little risk involved when it comes to taking performance enhancing drugs. In the past, PEDs were to used because of legitimate health reasons, but these days, professional athletes are “looking … [for] substances that speed up the recovery rate, that enable them to do a training workload that’s higher intensity, that enable them to work more without … [their] body breaking down” (Healey, 2013, p. 2). Also, there are many classes of drugs such as “lean muscle builders [that] drive and amplify the growth of muscle and lean body … stimulus [that] stimulate the body and mind to perform optimally … [or] blood boosters [that] increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood beyond the individual’s natural capacity” (Healey, 2013, p. 6-7). As a result, many professional athletes are now relaying on PEDs to make them stronger physically and they do not know what the consequences are from consuming drugs daily; especially when the athletes take drugs when it is not necessary, it eventually takes a toll on the athletes’ body and destroy itself slowly. For instance, Barry Bonds is a former MLB baseball player who used steroids during his playing days. Although Bonds was able to build his strength and endurance, there were signs of him having side effects from the steroids. Bond was having chronic knee and leg problem late in his career and he had a surly attitude towards the press which was hints of the steroid effect. As a result, when Bonds gets older, he might have some physical side effects such as an “increase … [in the] risk of liver and cardiovascular disease … [more prone to] mood swings … [or] make … [him] more aggressive” (Healey, 2013, p. 6-7). It does not matter whether professional athletes take human growth hormones, marijuana, or stimulants; they all affect the athletes’ physical and mental capabilities in the long haul. Another reason there is a health risk concerning intake of PEDs is because there are instances where professional athletes will die right after a competition. For example, in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, after “the death of Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen … (the autopsy revealed traces of amphetamine)” and in 1967, “the post mortem found that … [cyclist Tom Simpson] had taken amphetamines and alcohol” (Healey, 2013, p. 42). There have not been any follows up on these stories, but there could have been a possibility where the parents’ of the athletes could have sued the coach and the sports authorities for giving the athletes PEDs even though they knew the health risks involved. Although there are many drug tests that can control the level of drug consumption in a professional athlete’s body, an athlete’s body is still in danger in terms of well-being.
Another reason why performance enhancing drugs should not be allowed in professional sports is because it causes unfair competition among athletes. Many professional athletes like to gain an advantage in their sports, so they often try to find the fastest way to improve their body so that they can be successful. As a result, professional athletes will maximize their performance by being “more dependent on increasingly sophisticated systems of medical support in their efforts to run faster, to jump further, or compete more effectively in their chose sport” believing that “the quality of medical support may make the difference between success and failure” (British Medical Association, 2002, p. 79). Instead of competing with other professional athletes fairly, PEDs are not giving all athletes an equal opportunity to win at their sports. Some of the youth might even questions the integrity of professional sports, and if they see that professional sports is more about taking PEDS than hard work, they might not want to pursue their dream of being a professional athlete because there are bunch of cheaters in professional sports. Moreover, many athletes today are pressured by the media and the fans to perform well in their sport. So when professional athletes get hurt, they usually feel the obligation to come back earlier than expected to help their team win games. So, professional athletes will shortcut the healing processes by in taking PEDs that will help them recover faster so that they can prevent “the increasing constraints to ‘play hurt’, that is to continue competing while injured” (British Medical Association Staff, 2002, p. 80).. Even though fans and the media might applaud the athletes for their heroics, the professional athlete might reap the benefits in the short term, but suffer the consequences in the future. Lastly, money and fame play a factor when professional athletes decided whether to use PEDs. In reality, there are some athletes who are in the sports profession to earn a ton of money and live the dream life. As a result, those athletes will do anything it takes to stay in the sports profession for as long as possible by using PEDs to help the athletes gain the “massive increases in the rewards – particularly the material rewards ... [that comes] with sporting success” (British Medical Assocation, 2002, p. 80). Thus, the sports world should be more aware about the inequality in major sports leagues and find a way to prevent it.
Without the illegalization of performance enhancing drugs, the reputation of professional sports will be ruined. The entertainment value of watching sports is seeing the competitiveness among the professional athletes. But unlike in the past, many people are turning against professional sports, because of how fake the professional sport is these days. Although the “World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA and the national equivalents (ASADA here) carry out drug testing on elite athletes and ... detected a prevalence rate of about 2% over the past decade,” it is impossible for the doping agencies to catch every single athlete that dopes. Consequently, many professional athletes are getting away with taking illegal substances which creates an ethical dilemma about the presence of PEDs. Furthermore, there are many hardcore sports fans that spend around a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars to view sports live at its very best. And according to Adam Silver who is the commissioner for the national basketball association, he mentions that the “annual salary cap ... [is] $A72.45 million [dollars] ... [which makes basketball athletes] the highest-paid professional athletes in the world, earning an average $5.7 million a season” (“NBA not about to wear,” 2014). It means that with the overflowing cash professional athletes earn each year, fans expect professional athletes to know that it is a privilege to compete on the highest level of sports and play their sports the right way. If fans find out they are watching a bunch of professional athletes that inject themselves with PEDs, they might stop going to games and supporting the professional sports. As a result, ticket sales might drastically go down in some cities, and small market sports teams could be in big trouble because they are not getting enough revenue to keep a professional sports team in their cities. In conclusion, people who watch professional sports want to watch pure talent of athletes and not athletes that use drugs to improve their nature potential.
Other than using PEDs, there are other ways for athletes to improve an athlete’s performance in the sports profession. There are “[many] other factors ... [such as] psychology, nutrition, training methods and technology” that help athletes to keep their bodies in an athletic shape (Healey, 2013, p. 3). For instance, with advanced technology, the invention of the “super [swimming] suits used in polyurethane material ... [enable] swimmers to sit in a higher and more streamlined position in the water” (Healey, 2013, p. 3). Even though the super suits are now disallowed, Michael Phelps was able to use the suits in the 2008 Olympics to win 8 gold medals and break 7 world records. Speaking of technology, many professional sports teams are using advanced metrics such as synergy sports to analyze the performance of athletes. For example, when a professional basketball player wants to find out why he is not playing well, he can use advanced stats to figure out the reason. If the player finds out that his assist per turnover ratio is really bad, he will know that he has to limit his turnovers for him to perform better in games. Therefore, it increases the player’s knowledge about his progress in basketball games he plays in. In addition, there is newfound nutrional research about how it is better for an athlete to eat food every 2 hours instead of eating 3 whole meals every day. By consuming calories in athletes’ body more frequently, it allows athletes to adapt to the intense workouts they endure every day. It lets the athletes replenish the energy they have lost during the workouts. So rather than using PEDs, there are many choices that professional athletes can consider to maintain a good body.
To conclude, PEDs should be removed from professional sports because it affects not only the athlete health, but also the level competiveness.
If professional sports start to have a negative influence towards the media and fans, there could possibility where the popularity of professional sports will go down. Hopefully the issue of PEDs can be resolved and become less of a distraction for professional athletes that frankly want to focus more on being the best they can be in their respective sport.
References
BMA Board of Science and Education Staff, and British Medical Association. (2002). Drugs in sport : The pressure to perform. London, UK: BMJ Books.
Healey, Justin. (2013). Doping and drugs in sport. Thirroul NSW, Australia: The Spinney Press.
NBA not about to wear salary cap criticism. (2014, November 15). Sunshine Coast Daily (Queensland). Retrieved from
http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=8399&sr=HLEAD%28NBA%20not%20about%20to%20wear%20salary%20cap%20criticism%29%20and%20date%20is%202014