Will Moller Analysis
A Rhetorical Analysis of Will Moller’s “Those Who Live in Glass Houses”
Cheating, in all forms, is considered deceitful and wrong. However, people still do it hoping the end result is an A on an exam or a better performance, in an athlete’s case. Cheating in itself is like an addiction and follows a domino effect. Once one athlete decides to use steroids, others follow in their footsteps hoping to perform at a higher level. There have always been several athletes who choose to cheat for their own benefit and personal glory. As a result, those athletes are looked down upon for cheating the game and the fans. Nonetheless, people fail to understand the outside factors that influence great athletes such as Barry Bonds and Ben Johnson to use performance enhancing drugs. In his May 5, 2009 article “Those Who Live in Glass Houses” Will Moller, blog writer for The Yankees $, argues that that performance-enhancing drugs should be permissible because the majority of good professional baseball players are forced to take steroids and such, as a result of baseball fans placing players on a pedestal to perform beyond their capacity. Moller makes a good point that fans have some responsibility for athletes cheating because of the pressure fans place on them to perform at an enormously high level; however, there are other responsible parties as well, including coaches, players, and the NCAA drug policy system as a whole.
One of the primary reasons for athletes using performance-enhancing drugs is because of the fans animalistic desire for great entertainment. This actually causes athletes to want to perform at the highest level possible and stand out as great icons to the fans. To support his implication, Moller uses the pathos appeal, as he presents an analogy, of his personal experience as a student who was forced to use Ritalin because he struggled with the rigorous and competitive academic work assigned to him. Moller’s reaction to his choice was that he “did what [he] felt
Cheating, in all forms, is considered deceitful and wrong. However, people still do it hoping the end result is an A on an exam or a better performance, in an athlete’s case. Cheating in itself is like an addiction and follows a domino effect. Once one athlete decides to use steroids, others follow in their footsteps hoping to perform at a higher level. There have always been several athletes who choose to cheat for their own benefit and personal glory. As a result, those athletes are looked down upon for cheating the game and the fans. Nonetheless, people fail to understand the outside factors that influence great athletes such as Barry Bonds and Ben Johnson to use performance enhancing drugs. In his May 5, 2009 article “Those Who Live in Glass Houses” Will Moller, blog writer for The Yankees $, argues that that performance-enhancing drugs should be permissible because the majority of good professional baseball players are forced to take steroids and such, as a result of baseball fans placing players on a pedestal to perform beyond their capacity. Moller makes a good point that fans have some responsibility for athletes cheating because of the pressure fans place on them to perform at an enormously high level; however, there are other responsible parties as well, including coaches, players, and the NCAA drug policy system as a whole.
One of the primary reasons for athletes using performance-enhancing drugs is because of the fans animalistic desire for great entertainment. This actually causes athletes to want to perform at the highest level possible and stand out as great icons to the fans. To support his implication, Moller uses the pathos appeal, as he presents an analogy, of his personal experience as a student who was forced to use Ritalin because he struggled with the rigorous and competitive academic work assigned to him. Moller’s reaction to his choice was that he “did what [he] felt
Cited: Huffman, Steve. “I Deserve My Turn.” Sports Illustrated. Time Inc., 27 Aug. 1990. Web. 14 Nov. 2012 Moller, Will. “Those Who Live in Glass Houses.” The Yankees $. N.p., 5 May, 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2012 Posnanski, Joe. “Cheating and CHEATING.” Sports Illustrated. Time Inc., 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2012 Suggs, Welch. “Steroids Are Rampant Among College Athletes, a Senate Panel Is Told.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. 50.46 (2004): A33. ProQuest. Web. 14 Nov. 2012