I believe that a lack of personal accountability is to blame for the seriousness of this issue. PEDs are undoubtedly a temptation for baseball players due to the physical and mental benefits that they provide, and I agree that “Given the perceived link between offense and popularity, and the roster decisions that gave preference to offensive potential, it cannot be surprising that players would conclude that their individual success as professional baseball players was linked to their offensive potential and productivity” (Solberg, 98). This idea that the culture and values existing within sports gives players a skewed view of success is in the essay, “Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Baseball: The Impact of Culture” which is written by authors Joe Solberg, Department of Finance Insurance and Law at Illinois State University, and Richard Ringer, Department of Management & Quantitative Methods at Illinois State University. However, regardless of the “benefits” of PEDs, they are illegal and dishonest. Each person faces temptations in life, but our morals and values decide whether or not we give in to them. Baseball players need to be held accountable for their wrongdoings rather than being regarded as innocent because they have the same opportunity to resist temptations as everybody else. In my opinion,…
Imagine an athlete working their whole life to make it to the major league in a sport but then losing to someone who cheated and did not work as hard as the athlete. Instead they took drugs to get stronger and faster than others. How would an athlete feel if they lost a championship game to a cheater and watch them celebrate when they did not earn it. This is Common in the major league sports industry and even in non pro leagues. Most athletes have to deal with cheating that goes unnoticed. Some people think the only way to win is to cheat and so it starts a domino effect. This is a big problem in sports and it must be stopped. Performance enhancing substances should not be permitted in major league sports…
Pampel, Fred C. "Drugs and Sports." Http://www.scribd.com. Facts on File Publishing, 2007. Web. 01 Feb. 2013.…
The United State is a country that thrives on competition. We idolize our sports stars and practically make major athletic events holidays. Children grow up with their favorite athletes plastered to the wall of their bedrooms and dream that one day they will be the next Barry Bonds, Shaqullie O 'Neal, or Tom Brady. Professional athletes train year-round to be in ideal psychical shape in order to perform their best. But what happens when their best just isn 't good enough? We expect our sports stars to be perfect, upstanding citizens and role models but this isn 't always the case. The recent exposure of athletes using steroids has exploded into a phenomenon involving athletes all around the world. It has cheapened sports and cast doubt on the integrity of our athletes. Steroid use is not exclusive to professional sports. More and more college and high school athletes are beginning to use steroids for many of the same reasons that the pros do; to enhance performance, get an edge on the competition, and improve personal appearance.…
There was a time when athletes were special with just their gifted talents and ability to work hard. Those who took advantage of their gifts went to the professional leagues and even became one of the best in their sports. After the late 1980s though, something happened, there was the evolution of steroid use in sports. With athletes beginning to use steroids it didn’t matter any more if you were naturally gifted or not because you had substances to give you the edge compared to other athletes. Now days anyone with a good connection to steroids and good advice on how to take it, has an opportunity to increase their physical performance on a higher level. As much as steroids help athletes have an unfair advantage over others, it also contains many side effects, which can negatively affect athletes in the long term.…
For the past few years, it has been all over the media; athletes on steroids and how it should be dealt with (Rutherford). But as sports-fan and as a society in general, we can be hypocrites at best. We like to see collegiate or Olympic athletes break long standing records, being in the 100 meters dash, the high jump, or in swimming, but when it is done and over with and later we find out that it was done with the help of anabolic steroids, we want to crucify them.…
The harms steroids can cause on the athlete are not the only concern when taking them. Steroids give athletes that boost in their performance which puts them above their competitors. This gives for an unfair advantage among the players. Since steroids work so well and create an unfair advantage, it breaks the social contract athletes agree to: “We are going to have a fair contest” (“ProCon.org”). Sports are about competition on equal footing, with respect for the opponent, and with respect for the rules of the game (“Why Steroids Have No Place in Sports”). Even if there were a safe substance for enhancing performance, if it wasn’t equally available to everyone it would still be considered cheating.…
It is estimated that around forty-two percent of professional athletes use steroids. Any athlete who uses steroids goes against the “spirit of sport”, which is based on honesty, fair play, ethics, health, the respect for game rules and the respect for yourself and other participants. Steroid use shows bad sportsmanship and lack of respect, and is fundamentally a contrary to the “spirit of sport”. Steroid use then makes for tainted glory, and questions of whether the win or trophy was actually deserved are quick to…
Through the history of sports there has always been cheating. Cheating in sports has always been a topic for conversations, controversy and debates. It seems that cheating currently is at the highest point, and will not go down anytime soon. With the fast development of technology and medical science it seems that drug use in sports will increase. The line between acceptable and unacceptable will be harder to determine as it takes time to make proper tests. There are various different motives for someone to cheat. Some sportsmen cheated because of the pressure to be the best. Some cheated for money and some of them cheat because they simply want to have fun. Regardless of the reasons, it seems that the cheating has only increased and will continue to increase even more as…
When a player moves up to the major leagues they have already achieved one of the highest status’s in their profession. Grasping for more is useless if someone cannot earn it. They are already among the best so there is no reason for these professionals to try to be better by cheating. This is causing their fans to look poorly upon them or worse imitate their poor actions. Children and young adults idolize many of these professionals, wanting to be just like them. If their role models take PEDs, then their fans will take the same drug to be just like their role models. In an effort to be cool and do what is popular children and young adults will be ruining their health to follow the leader, to follow their role model. Professional athletes are seen as an example of how people should be. Who sees their abuse of PEDs? Children, teenagers and young adults. What do they do when they see their idol do something? They emulate their idols. It does not matter if the athlete wants to take PEDs and it is their own decision. They are being watched by the nation’s youth and should hold themselves accountable for what they…
Every athlete has the motivation to always strive for success, the drive to win and be the best weather its in high school, college, or the pros. Every athlete will try to get just a little bit bigger, stronger, faster, try to increase the amount of weights they lift by just a few pounds. They will try to become the best of the best, try to be better than any athlete before them. As athletes are getting stronger, faster, and ultimately genetically kore advanced it gets hard for anyone in specific to really stand out and compete. To achieve these goals many athletes will take extreme measures and turn to performance enhancing drugs such as steroids. The use of performance enhancing drugs is becoming more and more popular among athletes, many of them don't…
Many people do not see the severity of drug use in professional and High School athletics. Drug use in professional athletics is looked upon as somewhat of a serious problem, but also very discrete and low key. Every once in a while and individual might see a prominent figure in a certain sport being reprimanded for the use of an outlawed drug. However , that athlete may just be one of the many who happened to get caught. Athletes today seem to find no moral problem with using performance-enhancing drugs, or in other words, cheating. Athletes feel that because they are "stars" there should be no repercussions for their illegal activity. Today, drug use in sports has reached enormous proportions in society and destroying athletics from the ground up. The use of steroids and other performance enhancement drugs also effects athletes at the high school level. It does not matter how good the athlete is, a zero-tolerance policy should be in place at all levels of competition.…
Some people say that the only way that athletes will stop using the drugs is if they get a lifetime ban from the sport they love playing. The complicity of medical professionals and shadowy labs are often involved. Corruption in general has and also doping are ubiquitous in both amauter and professional sports. It has taken the character of a symmetric threat. A lot of athletes that are serious about the sport is that you will do anything to win and the competitive sport can be fierce.…
Baseball is the first sport that comes to one’s mind when doping in sports is brought up. Doping is also common in cycling, wrestling, bodybuilding, swimming, and running. These sports take an immense amount of strength and stamina. On top of that, athletes are pushed over the edge to exceed greatness in the competitive world. The average amateur player does not feel the need to enhance their abilities because they play for the love of the game. On the other hand, competitive athletes want to be noticed. They want to be the best they can be, along with the best on their…
Not only is this a form of cheating, but an illegal form of cheating. The Anti-Drug Abuse act prohibited the use and distribution of steroids for anything other than medical prescriptions. After this act was enforced, more and more similar acts against drug use were passed. Now in sports, athletes have been watched closer than ever before, but witnessing doesn’t always make a difference in court. A West German study has discovered that smoking three cigarettes in a time period of half an hour, there is about a 15% decline in athletic performance. If this happens in the first half hour, what could happen in a sports season? This leads to not only the death of careers, but the deaths of athletic role models. The same role models younger athletes base themselves upon.…