...Steroids in Professional Sports Nicole Hohn ITT Technical Institute November 13, 2014 SLesure Steroids in Professional Sports In recent years there has been speculation on individuals in professional sports using steroids to better enhance their performance. In 2012, Lance Armstrong was disqualified from seven races that he had won ten years before, all due to the United States Anti-Doping Agency confirming that he was doping- which is the term used to describe the act of doing steroids. Armstrong was stripped of all his medals and is one of many examples of a professional having their achievements taken away because of the use of steroids (Smith, 2012). Many people still believe that the use of steroids is wrong and gives the professional the upper hand over one who does not do steroids. At the end of the day you still have to have raw talent. An average Joe could not take steroids and then expect to go play in a Major League Baseball game. As with cigarettes and alcohol every individual should be able to decide what they want to responsibly put into their body. Steroids should be made legal for all individuals and the usage should be monitored by doctors. As stated above, any individual has to still possess the talent in the first place. There is a common misconception that steroids are making them “stars”. In all actuality it is only enhancing their ability to perform (Smith, 2012). Every single sports player takes extra steps to help themselves perform every day; for example...
Words: 951 - Pages: 4
...competitive sports, doping refers to the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors, where the term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. Doping has turned into a world wide issue that still to this day has gone unnoticed by society but some how seems to cross many peoples minds. Little do the athletes and the contributors to their addiction know what lasting effects involving health issues, how it alters their life longevity, and how it can also ruin their careers. Doping is an unfair advantage in sports and deserves to be banned. A article “Drug abuse in Athletes,” by Claudia Reardon and Shane Creado, part of the department of psychiatry, at the University...
Words: 2566 - Pages: 11
...Steroids are one of the most controversial drugs known to the human race. These drugs are seemingly notorious for their ability to produce large amounts of muscle mass in an attempt to exploit ultimate power, performance, and dominance in a person. However, the negative effects of steroids tend to have a severe impact on the justification of the drug’s use in today’s society. When I say society, I am rather referring to a more predominant superior subculture, the professional athlete that can easily be held accountable for the cultivation and spread of steroids. This “high-class” group can denote the contrary of ethics; that is, revealing actions which tend to expose a sense of narcissistic personal qualities that hinder our beliefs of what is right and what is wrong. At one point or another, performance enhancing substances outspokenly seem to enter every professional athlete’s mind. The issue of steroids or any performance enhancing drugs in this matter has significantly heightened recently and seems to be a legitimate issue within professional sports. In an attempt to meet expectations and standards, reduce the pressures to perform, and alleviate public scrutiny, many professional athletes are left quivering in fear whether or not to take the two-faced drug that’s so readily adhered to by many. In my attempt to explore the mainstream issue of steroids in professional sports, I wish to focus on three imperative aspects that will help assist in the configuration...
Words: 3631 - Pages: 15
...[Debate 3: Steroid Use in Professional Sports] | A view opposing the use of steroids | Merriam-Webster defines a steroid as “any of numerous natural or synthetic compounds containing a 17-carbon 4-ring system and including the sterols and various hormones and glycosides.” A more specific steroid is called an anabolic steroid. The definition for Anabolic steroid is “a class of man-made drugs that are chemically related to the male hormone testosterone.” Anabolic steroids are more accurately called anabolic-androgenic steroids. This name defines their two principle characteristics. Anabolic means to synthesize or build up; thus anabolic steroids increase skeletal muscle mass. Androgenic means involving male sexual characteristics. Anabolic steroids are related to testosterone and affect the body in many of the same ways as testosterone. As of 2009, not a single anabolic steroid had been manufactured that was free of negative side effects. In many developing countries, anabolic steroids can be purchased without a prescription. However, in the United States, they have been controlled substances since 1991. Possession of an anabolic steroid without a prescription is illegal and can result in a maximum one-year prison sentence and a minimum fine of $1,000 fine for the first offense. Steroids only purpose for the professional athlete is to artificially boost muscle mass and power. The steroid user gains a significant edge over their fellow competitors who do not employ such unscrupulous...
Words: 1279 - Pages: 6
...29 March 2013 Word Count: 1,766 Steroids should be legalized Abstract The use of steroids and illegal performance-enhancing drugs appears to be growing in professional athletics. More and more high profile athletes are being busted for their use and consequently ostracized by fans and those in the athletic community. Beyond that, there are thousands of other professional and amateur athletes who have resorted to these drugs as well. As someone who has found a passion for all things fitness, and aspires to open up my own gym and train athletes someday, this issue is of high importance to me. Although many have accepted steroids as illegal and a type of cheating, these drugs should be legalized in sports. While it is widely accepted that performance-enhancing drugs pose health risks, I think it is the athletes’ own choice whether or not these risks are worth the benefit. In this research, I will argue why it makes sense to lift the current ban on steroids in professional sports. The effects of steroids are well known. They will help increase athletic performance and they also come with negative side effects. In a study done by clinical biochemists, it was found that use of anabolic steroids combined with exercise was highly effective. This research took 43 volunteers and divided them into four groups. One group of people took a placebo pill and exercised, one group took a placebo with no exercise, and two groups took an anabolic steroid with one of them exercising. The study...
Words: 1973 - Pages: 8
...Christopher Bell the main focus was steroid use amongst Americans and their medical, emotional, and physical effects. Christopher Bell is an American man who was raised in a Christian family home in New York State with his parents and two brothers. Like every American boy he and his brothers looked up to American heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sylvester Stallone. As they grew up they wanted to be just like their heroes, they wanted to be big and strong and compete competitively like their heroes. The brothers grew up lifting weights, wrestling and playing football like most average American teens boys. The documentary goes to explain that later on in the Bell brother’s lives they all continued to keep getting bigger even when they lost the motivation from their heroes who have been uncovered to using steroids on national news. Christopher Bell was the most hurt out of his brothers to find out this news and did not know what to do. Had everything he had looked up to as a child been a lie? Everything that he believed from his heroes when he was younger had all been a lie because of their use of steroids. His heroes where not the people that he thought they really were when he was growing up. Unlike Christopher, his brothers did not have as big of a problem with their heroes using steroids and even started using steroids themselves. When finding out that his brothers and heroes are using steroids Christopher began to question steroid use not only amongst athletes but...
Words: 1318 - Pages: 6
...Professional athletes are the best of the best, but should they be able to use steroids to make themselves that much better? Using steroids to enhance performance and physique has been and is very popular among athletes. Many times, athletes view steroids as the main contributing factor in efforts to reach the highest level in their profession. Steroids are not good for sports as they have an impact in the world bigger than the effect on each individual steroid user. Sports have been seen as a display of pure skill and talent, but with an integration of steroids, that model is hard to tell as athletes become bigger, faster, and stronger. Steroids should be avoided in sports because they create unfair advantages, affect the integrity of the sport, and lead to poor choices in younger ages as the professional athletes are seen as popular role models. Steroids have been supported by multiple people and continue to lead to discussions as to whether or not they belong in professional sports. Being among the greats takes years of practice and raw skill...
Words: 1440 - Pages: 6
...Involvement with drugs and athletes is a big step towards future activities. It can cause hazardous predicaments by taking illegal drugs, not following the laws that’s required for an athlete to compete. The drugs that are used by athletes are to be used for considerable reasoning. Instead, it gets used for the wrong reasons. Cheating your way towards a great success, will soon catch up and turn out into a tragedy due to eagerness. Athletes must find a way to abstain from this type of virus. Any and everyone can do this, but it takes time to do so with the certain capabilities that will help. It might appear that drugs are being abused by athletes, but as to them, it is taken as a concise product. By athletes enhancing drugs, risks are being taken. In results, athletes rely on drugs by keep them in the best shape of their lives as well as performing at their best level Testing Drugs on Athletes "Drugs have changed the way athletes perform. It has spread throughout the world in many different ways and is an effect towards the young, as well as the elderly" (Adler, 2009, p.44). Athletes are first tested by giving a urine sample. Athletes must first go through this progress in order for them to proceed. A drug test is an ANALYSIS of specifics through hair, blood, urine, sweat, or saliva. It’s to determine whether or not a person is on drugs. Drug testing is assembled all throughout the world. Discovering drugs on athletes can be critical at times. Any athlete can...
Words: 2519 - Pages: 11
...Comp I 4/26 /13 Steroids in Sports Should athletes be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs in order to improve their performance? Steroid usage in sports has long been a real big issue for many athletes both professional and amateur. Steroids are not allowed in any sport however; some athletes do take the chance by using performance-enhancing drugs in order to increase the chances of a successful outcome in a competition. Many athletes have been banned from participating in certain sports because they were convicted of taking steroids. In light of this, one can only wonder how many top athletes have won events due to the use of steroids. There are many sides to the debate of whether or not athletes should be able to use steroids. Despite health reasons there are quite a few people who do believe that athletes should be allowed to use performance- enhancers. On the other hand, there are those who believe that steroids should not be used. First, in the current sports arena , professional athletes are known to have well paid salaries and because steroids have the potential to improve performances and to heal injuries, it is not surprising that research activities have been enhanced to develop better and acceptable alternatives for testosterone. The Germans had started taking steroids during the 1960s in order ...
Words: 1466 - Pages: 6
...October 2015 Legalize It Professional athletes have become a part of a realm of sports that’s forever changing. Professional sports have significantly become a huge role in many different cultures and have become a realm of its own. Professional players have adapted to succumb to the level of athleticism that continues to rise within every generation. They are adapting to a constantly changing sport where athletes are becoming bigger, stronger, and faster. The increased amount of competition and athleticism in professional sports has advocated a need for new ways for players to get ahead of the rest of the pack. Performance enhancing drugs sit high on the list that the athletes have to choose from as a method to gain the advantage, but these substances have been recently heavily fought against in the realm of professional sports. This resistance has done more harm than good in a sense in that drug testing fails at what it’s supposed to do. It has led to more players turning to black market labs to obtain their steroids. As drug testing is supposed to level the playing field for all athletes, it truly de-levels the playing field in that so many athletes are cheating the drug test than there are natural athletes. Athletes who are taking PED’s are going to these black market labs that are not controlled or supervised when they are creating these drugs and as a result could potentially harm the athlete’s health. The legalization of PED’s in professional sports will not only reduce the...
Words: 1971 - Pages: 8
...browse through a newspaper sports section; tune a television set to ESPN; or listen to a sports talk radio station without being aware of facts, speculations and opinions regarding the recent revelations about the use of steroids in Major League Baseball. We have been informed about parents who are outraged at the example steroid use sets for our youth. Journalists speculate about who has lied and what is the degree of alleged falsity in players’ statements. Hall of Fame induction potential of alleged and proven steroid users has been debated. Former players have commented on the implications of such behavior. When Rafael Palmeiro returned to the field after his 10-game suspension resulting from...
Words: 903 - Pages: 4
...Baseball is a sport that is viewed all across America and embedded in classic American culture. Professional baseball athletes entertain large audiences with their outstanding skills and achievements in the sport along with leaving an impacting influence on young athletes. However, sometimes their influence can be negative. Some baseball players use other means to achieve their goals, performance enhancers that are known as steroids. Steroids give players competitive advantage over those who do not use them. Steroids are synthetic versions of male testosterone, a male hormone taking this hormone produces rapid muscle growth and recovery from workouts. (Filomena and Ascione 2009) Steroids can aid athletes tremendously by increasing their strength...
Words: 652 - Pages: 3
...Steroids: an Athlete's Choice Most athletes are paid outrageous salaries to play sports they have come to perfect, giving their fans what they expect. Most fans want to see athletes with explosive speed, excessive strength, extreme attitudes, and perform beyond the normal athletic ability. Athletes have come to increase these attributes with assistance of performance enhancing drugs, which is acceptable and encouraged by most fans. This day in age many professional athletes have evolved into “super human beings” taking sports into a new era; as history and statistics shows this could be due to the use of performance enhancing drugs. However, steroids have been known to cure certain illnesses but it can also cause many repercussions if used inappropriately. The History Steroids have been around for sometime time now, these days steroids have been widely known for its usage in professional sports. History shows that steroids were used as a medical treatment to assist in abnormal growth deficiencies. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy [ONDCP] (2008), steroids were developed in the late 1930’s primarily to treat hypogonadism, a condition in which the testes do not produce sufficient testosterone for normal growth, development, and sexual functioning. Thereafter, scientist discovered steroids enhanced the growth of skeletal muscle in laboratory test animals giving an appeal for humans to intake. By this discovery lead to an outbreak of athletic interest and...
Words: 2190 - Pages: 9
...Illegal Drug Use in Sports Drug testing in professional sports should be at random times and professional sports leagues should have stricter policies on drug testing. Performance enhancing drugs give professional athletes unfair advantages that are unfair to the athletes who do not use performance enhancing drugs. When athletes use performance enhancing drugs it affects their health and if they are caught when drug tested the athlete can face severe punishments. Consequently, if an athlete is caught using performance enhancing drugs it sends a negative message to young people that often look up to professional athletes. If drug testing was not required in professional sports, some athletes would gain an unfair advantage. Performance enhancing drugs have been used from all the way back to the Greek Olympics through present day. The first drug tests began in February 1968 at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France. "The IOC instituted its first compulsory doping controls at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France in 1968 and again at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City in the same year. At that time the list of banned substances issued in 1967 included narcotic analgesics and stimulants, which comprised sympathomimetic amines, psychomotor stimulants and miscellaneous central nervous system stimulants [including alcohol]. Although it was suspected that androgenic anabolic steroids were being used at this time, testing methods were insufficiently developed to...
Words: 992 - Pages: 4
...which include popular music, cyber culture, sports, entertainment, leisure, advertising, and television. But among the genres, sports and television are certainly the most influential examples of pop culture. From what the television and the media display to how the athletes' lifestyles are and how they behave in Public. Sports are played and watched across all social classes, but the masses...
Words: 1513 - Pages: 7
