...Does Steroids Provide An Unfair Advantage In Baseball or Does It Even The Playing Field? Baseball has been an American pastime for centuries and will be for centuries to come. Adults have been taking their children to baseball games since the Major Leagues first came about in the late 1800s. From the Philadelphia Phillies' great Astrodome to their current Citizens Bank Park or the Atlanta Braves' Fulton County Stadium to their more modern Turner Field baseball has been loved in America. Although the game is as old as it is, baseball has not changed even though the players continue to get better and better. Many fans first take is the use of steroids in baseball. But did steroids really help Barry Bonds become home run king? Because Hank Aaron had the record generations before and he reportedly never injected steroids. Every year it seems like a new player gets brought into the league that is going to be faster, stronger, and an overall better player; except the ones that have the records broken that is. Although steroids are supposed to make athletes bigger, faster, and stronger,; are steroids really making athlete's statistics better or simply bridging the gap between decent athletes and great ones? There are many aspects in hitting a baseball that coaches teach athletes at a young age. Seeing the ball well, swinging with your hips and not just your arms, being disciplined and not swinging at a ball out of the strike zone, these are all examples of what it takes to be a good...
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...English 1302-76003 Brown July 14, 2014 Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez: The Worst Role Model of Our Time On August 8, 2013, the New York Yankees’ third baseman and three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez, was suspended for the length of the 2014 season (211 games). The Major League Baseball Association released a statement stating that Rodriguez’s suspension was for “his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone over the course of multiple years” (Eisen). A-Rod has been in his share of trouble with the League for accusation of biogenesis, but this time around he is claiming innocence. “Rodriguez has denied any wrongdoing and immediately declared his intention to appeal” (Linden). The ongoing issue with biogenesis is one of many of Rodriguez’s unethical qualities, and is a negative role model for all young men in our country, and for that matter, around the world. Like many celebrities and athletes, Rodriguez has sponsored fundraisers and charity events that were supposed to help the less fortunate people in our country. It is not unusual to hear these fundraisers don’t raise anyone’s funds but the host’s, but Rodriguez raised the bar in 2006. In 2006, Rodriguez teamed up with rapper Jay-Z to host a charity poker tournament; a Boston Globe review surfaced pitiful numbers: from the $403,862 raised, only $90 went to a Little League Baseball team in Miami, FL. The IRS lifted all tax exemptions...
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...people with excess money have to earn every penny with hard work. In certain cases, people are born with certain talents and abilities that supply vast opportunities of which others may not have. A prime example of this would be Alex Rodriguez, who is considered one of the most talented and highly paid baseball players in the Major Leagues. Due to his talents on the baseball field, Alex Rodriguez is currently making 27.5 million dollars a year to play the sport he was born to play. The public views Alex Rodriguez as an idol for everyone who strives to be the best at what they do. As a college baseball player at Umass Boston I have seen some of the hardest working athletes imaginable, but for most of them being as successful as Alex Rodriguez is completely unreachable. Each and every one of us is born different with different talents and abilities, and the best we can do is maximize our potential. The only way to accomplish this is with hard work. Every person is created different and will have more potential at certain things, which is why I feel that money should solely be earned on the hard work they put into their career. This also includes the hard work endured in order to achieve this career and maximizing your potential. While we put Alex Rodriguez on a pedestal that resembles God, we forget the people who work each and every day to keep our society functioning correctly. Without the men and women who are teachers, we would have nobody to learn from. At this poi nt in the...
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...Is winning real when all you do is cheat? All athletes must remain determined and passionate in order to succeed. However, there are ways several athletes may attempt to succeed unlawfully. Blood doping and the use of steroids are two major illegal acts to commit in the world of sports. Alex Rodriguez and Lance Armstrong are very much admired athletes that were both accused of taking illegal performance enhancing drugs during their winning sport seasons. Lance Armstrong was publicly accused of blood doping, and Alex Rodriguez was accused of taking illegal steroids. While Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez are world famous athletes, they are prime examples of why wining while cheating is not worth the hard work and dedication of a sports profession....
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...Olympic champion such as Michael Phelps really share similarities with an offensive lineman in the National Football League? Throughout this essay I will be commenting on the variation of athletes in modern society, the steroid controversy, and how the United States in particular has a skewed perception of what an athlete should be. A recent major example of one of the most popular sports figures going down the abyss of the steroid scandal, among other gossip, is New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Since A-Rod’s first season playing for Seattle he has been glorified as having the potential to be the greatest to ever play the game of baseball. He played precociously at such a young age in Seattle, hitting for power and average and playing the infield well. Rodriguez immediately became a public darling, drawing comparisons to all the greats in the game, and many anticipated him to break the all time home run record currently held my proven steroid user Barry Bonds. Rodriguez played so...
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...English 8 July 2014 The Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs Ryan Braun, a former Major League Baseball player was suspended for the rest of the baseball season for the use of performance enhancing drugs. Ryan Braun share with CNN News that “I am not perfect. I realize now that I have made some mistakes. And willing to accept the consequence of those actions.” The MLB’s commissioner points out that Braun had various unspecified breaches of the baseball’s drug program and violations labor of contract. For that reason, Ryan Braun will miss the total of 65 games without pay, the suspension will cause him to lose three million dollars out of his eight million salary. As an MLB spokesman shares with CNN that Braun is welcome to return after his suspension, as long as he’s making positive decisions that benefit Major League Baseball, whether it’s on field or off the field. Many professional athletes use PEDs to bulk up, build more muscles, and endurance; however, using PEDs nonstop can result in side effects like strokes, heart attacks, and death when used incorrectly. For the last couple of years, professional athletes from different sports have been caught for the use of PEDs or any other type of steroids, the players, usually a well-known person like Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez. Although, the aid of performance enhancing drugs may provide entertainment to sports they also betray the values of sportsmanship; as well as give an unfair advantage over those who choose not to...
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... for injury recovery, and if they feel like they aren’t strong enough and want to get big as fast as possible. Performanceenhancing drugs are proven to increase strength and endurance by any athlete that uses them correctly. I believe that this stimulating drug should be legal in sports everywheres because all it does is make you stronger! San Francisco's former baseball player Barry Bonds, was “convicted for lying under oath about using performanceenhancing drugs.”(Johnson,476) Bonds said that he was given steroids without his knowledge, says that he thought he was given flax seed oil and cream to help ease muscle ache. Known for his record of home runs hit in his Major League career, but in order to hit home runs, the player needs to make contact! Steroids did not improve how Barry barrelled up the ball, he did himself. He also put on 45 pounds of muscle within 3 years, which is another sign of steroid use. The use of performanceenhancing drugs should be legal and used by athletes. If you think about it, records will be broken, and sports ratings will rise drastically! As a baseball fan, I would love to see this happen, along with the rest of the sports world. Savell 1 Lance Armstrong, the world’s best cyclist known to mankind, admitted to performanceenhancing drugs such as EPO, testosterone, cortisone, steroids, and blood doping. If you don’t know what EPO (erythropoietin) is, it’s a hormone developed by the human body to make more red blood cells...
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...It has been a constant debate recently whether steroids and performance enhances should be allowed in sports today. This topic usually occurs in baseball but in recent discoveries, many football players are condemned for doping. Vast names in sports such as: Ray Lewis, Alex Rodriguez, and Christian Laettner were all suspended by their respected leagues for doping. Steroids should be banned in professional sports today because they give athletes unfair advantages, they’re horrible to the athletes’ body, and there can be severe side effects. There are copious types of steroids that athletes use. “The most common type of steroids that athletes use are anabolic steroids, or synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone” (Quinn). This particular...
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...Sports Medias Negative Approach Ernest Culler COM 150 10 November 2012 Janice Prince Betian Sports Medias Negative Approach In the late 1980s and early 1990s many professional athletes were viewed as positive role models. During this time sports media found it hard to report about the negative accounts of the professional athlete. It was not until the early 1990s when Mike Tyson became the first prominent athlete to gain negative reports aired on national television. Before the 1990s Mike was known as the greatest boxer in the world after he was convicted of rape he was known as a criminal. While Sports media believes they report about the positive athletes as much if not more than they do the negative athletes, the bias approach taken towards role models is unequal. Sports media has chosen to take a radical approach in reporting about the favorite role models of children in today’s society. Over the past three years sports reporters have driven Lance Armstrong from atop the cycling world, they have taken an approach that has tarnished both his career and personal life. Michael Pearson reports that Lance Armstrong has stepped down as Chair of the Live Strong Cancer charity. In a CNN report Pearson (2012) writes that “Nike, which initially stood by Armstrong, dropped him October 17, 2012 with a terse statement citing what it called seemingly insurmountable evidence that he participated in doping.” Pearson has chosen only to give partial information...
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...Performance Enhancement Drugs in Sports, the Ethical Choice In May 28, 2002, former Major League Baseball player Ken Caminiti admits to Sports Illustrated in the article “Caminiti Comes Clean” that he used steroids during his 1996 National League MVP (most valuable player) season with the San Diego Padres and he estimated that half of the players in the big leagues were also using steroids. He later died of a heart attack at age 40 where it was ruled by the New York Medical Examiner that drugs are a factor in his death. In October 5, 2007, track star Marion Jones admits to use steroids during the 2000 Olympic Games where she won three Gold Medals and two Bronze Medals. She was later sentenced to six months in prison for lying to the court and stripped off of all of her medals. Throughout history, there have been many stories of athletes using performance enhancing drugs, but none more than in the last 20 years. As technology advances in science as well as the media, more drugs has been engineer to enhance performance as well as the test to detect such drugs, as the results get to the hands of the media, the entire world would be at noticed in a manner of minutes. The fact is that performance enhancing drugs have existed since the time of the ancient Greek during the original Olympic Games from 776 BC – 393 BC. The question is why should we care? If most athletes are using it, is it a plain level field? And why is the government involved? Should the government be involved? ...
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...dollars a second (Christian Science Monitor). Another unbelievable statistic is Mike Tyson's earnings in his match with Peter McNeeley. In a single second, he made 281,000 dollars (Christian Science Monitor). Alex Rodriguez will be paid $29 million this season, making him the highest paid player in baseball (Newsday). Rodriguez’s salary is $4 million more than the entire 25-man roster of the Houston Astros will make this year (Newsday). Athletes do not deserve all that money. President Obama’s salary is 400,000 dollars. President Obama is the leader of the ‘United States of America, and he is paid less than a professional athlete that sits on the bench in any professional sport. Professional athletes are easily the most over paid job in America. Professional athletes are overpaid in several professional sports. Professional sports generate massive revenues, and the athletes who play these sports are being paid tremendously high salaries. New York Yankees baseball star, Alex Rodriguez, signed a contract in 2008 that includes him being paid $275 million over the next ten years (Newsday). Many other baseball, football, and basketball superstars have multi-year contracts worth more than $100 million. Because teams within a league must compete with each other to attract the best players, some professional sports leagues started to impose salary caps in the 1990’s. A salary cap is a limit on...
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...Jason Alvey Major League Baseball: The Steroids Era The use of performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball is an issue that caused quite the uproar throughout the nation in the past decade. Superstars and public icons have fallen from grace after being so instrumental in the reemergence of America’s past time. Careers have been made and lost in single seasons under suspicious gains and losses in “abilities.” The United States Government has even begun to come down hard on baseball from many different angles. The main office of Major League Baseball, along with many active players, has taken steps to help prevent the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Many Americans claim to want a clean game and true records, but I am a true believer that steroids are here to stay and the public only pretends to care. Some of the biggest names and even some of the record holders in professional baseball have been accused of using various steroids to gain the competitive edge. Barry Bonds has been one of the most popular professional sports figures in this country for more than 15 years, but he is now waiting for a March court date when opening statements will be heard in his Federal perjury trial. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, the two most instrumental players that helped the bring fans back to the stadiums after the 1994 players’ strike, will never be voted into the Hall of Fame because there is a suspicion that they used some type of performance enhancers. ...
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...a routine and my focus shifted from my own performance to the actual subjects I was writing about. This shift from performance to subject may not have made the columns any better, but it sure did improve my psychic equilibrium. That period was a lesson in the perils of self-preoccupation. I think of this because of the news on Monday about Alex Rodriguez’s suspension from baseball through the 2014 season. Judging from the outside, the rest of us are pikers of self-preoccupation next to A-Rod. When you see him standing on deck or running off the field at the end of an inning, you see a man who seems to be manufacturing his own persona, disingenuously crafting a series of behaviors designed to look right. When he gives a press conference, he doesn’t look like a man giving a press conference. He looks like a man giving a performance of giving a press conference. Even his off-the-field life — dating Madonna, partaking in soft-core kabbalah, dragging along his publicists and entourage — leaves the impression that he is always observing himself, and measuring to see if he lives up to the image of a superstar. Rodriguez was a baseball prodigy from his earliest years. He batted an insane .505 his senior year in high school and had up to 100 scouts at every game. When he was drafted first over all by the Seattle Mariners, he hired...
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...Albert in St. Louis. Over the past ten years, he has become an icon to the great city. He is not only the best player in baseball, and on his way to having a Hall of Fame career, but an iconic figure in sports. While in negotiation, we wanted to keep in mind our common goals. Albert and the Cardinals wanted to play great baseball. We wanted them to play great baseball and it was our job to find the best people to do that. We also wanted to negotiate terms that would protect our organization. Going into negotiation, the Cardinals’ goal was to pay a fair price for a player of Albert’s age, ability, and achievements. Knowing his statistics, we expected a hard bargain. Leverage: Pujols received $16 million in 2011. Cardinal management acknowledged he was in line for a raise from that, but the question was how much and for how long. They knew the risk that another team could offer a higher bid that they could not match, but hoped the open market would not be as welcoming as Albert and his agent, Dan Lozano, had hoped. The Cardinals did not have a lot of leverage in this negotiation. They were one of many teams that sought after the great player and the one with the right price and package was going to win. However, they hoped that Albert’s ties to the area would be enough to make up for any of the money they could bring to the table. Norms: The 31 year old baseball player had 30 home runs, driven in 100 runs, scored 100 runs, and batted .300 for eleven straight years. These stats...
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...Lou Gehrig, one of the most famous baseball players in history, is still being talked about 70 years after his death. Although Lou Gehrig was a great baseball player, he is most well known for the disease that is named after him.Lou Gehrig was an amazing baseball player because of his family and childhood, his major life events and his achievements both in baseball and in life. Lou Gehrig had an exceptional family and childhood. He was born on June 19, 1903 in Yorkville, New York City, NY. Lou Gehrig was the son of two immigrants, Heinrich and Christina Gehrig. Christina Gehrig was the main thing that was holding the Gehrig family together. She was pretty much the only working figure in the house. She worked as a maid, brought in laundry...
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