In the last decade sports have been taking a long look at Steroid and HGH (Human Growth Hormone) use by there athletes. They claim that this is a form of cheating and is not acceptable to use them.
A few of the most famous alleged steroid users are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Jose Canseco. The picture on the left is two pictures of Barry Bonds. The one on the left is of him as he began his career and the Right is after we "used" steroids and is now much bigger.
Now I understand sports purists who do not want steroids and HGH in their sports because of how it will be easy for them to gain muscle and hit more home runs and therefore it is easier for them to break record that have stood for years if not decades.
I also understand that using there products have extreme side effects on your body and therefore are clearly dangerous to your body.
But my though process is if the athletes know and are well aware of these risks and are still willing to take and use steroids why should we prevent them from doing so. If everyone was allowed, and did not fear suspension, to use them would not that not level the play field.
So my question is this: Is the ban on Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs to benefit the athletes or is the ban more than that?
My theory is that since they are role models and kids emulate them and dream of becoming professional athletes. Is the ban more to prevent high school aged kids from using performance-enhancing drugs?
What are your thoughts?
15 comments:
I think sports stars are definitely heroes to kids and that is one reason they shouldn't take steroids, but I also think that there is something to be said about sport in it's most natural form. It is so much more inspiring to see athletes give their personal best without any un-natural enhancement. It shows sports at their finest, the way they were intended to be.
I think that steroids are absolutely unacceptable because although many athletes do take them willingly, there are other athletes that would not want to take them, even if they were allowed by professional sports leagues, either because of health risks or because they do not want to use chemical enhancements to alter their performance. Allowing steroids would not level the playing field, and it would send the message that in order to succeed, natural talent is not enough.
I don't think that people who have to use steroids to be better athletes should be rewarded with medals. I think that an honor of that kind should only be rewarded to someone who really deserves it, who really puts in the effort. It would be like setting up an American Idol who lip syncs. That's not real talent.
Charles Barkley famously said, "I'm not a role model... Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids." There is some truth to this statement, but whatever Barkley's feelings, for good or bad, most sports figures are deified and hero worshiped in western culture. Kids try to emulate them because excellence is considered the ultimate goal in western society. When steroid use becomes almost institutionalized as with the scandals in baseball, then there is a real problem. Most baseball fans will acknowledge that Bonds was juicing it during his career, and yet somehow he has the record for home runs. Many argue that such a record should have an asterisk by it, indicating that he was using performance altering drugs and that it was not a true human achievement. That I think is the aim of the ban. Not just to protect kid's image of sports players, but because the notion of cheating somehow offends most people's sense of fairness, of achievement, and of willingness to recognize greatness.
i think that is just one reason for professional athletes to not take steroids but i think since professional sports team have turned into such a political thing that they ban them to keep the game fair. of course anyone could get really huge and good with the use of that stuff but by not allowing it it requires the athletes to actually have a natural talent.
I think the ban on steroids definitely goes beyond the personal health of the individual because professional athletes represent someone very influential to growing adolescents. Although I also believe that we are trying to preserve sports to it's natural form as well-- because that's how sports were created. The ban on steroids plays towards the growing generation because giving your personal best without enhancements is regarded as true talent, honorable and honest.
I think the ban definitely has to do with the fact that kids idolize these professional sports players and yes, if they see Barry Bonds or someone using steroids, they may want to use them too. I'm not sure that allowing the use of performance-enhancing drugs would level the playing field, because there would still be those who choose not to use them, so some people would be huge and muscley, while others are relying on their pure talent.
I think the ban is to level out the playing field and in a way keep the competition alive. If athletes have to find a natural way to play better, true skill must be involved.
I am a romantic when it comes to sport. I love it in its pure, unadulterated form, which in this day and age means high school. College sports, unfortunately, is run by power and money hungry conferences who are looking for profit instead of true competition. Pro sports are worse. Steroids and PEDs have only made it exponentially worse. Don't get me wrong, I still admire and am amazed at what these athletes can do, but its been diluted severely because of steroids among other things. When kids see these super stars having to cheat in order to get ahead, they learn real quick that not only do you have to be really good, but you also need to cheat and not get caught. That is the sad reality of sports in today's world.
I think that using steroids should be completely fine. In cycling they regularly drug test, causing athletes to turn to much more dangerous methods to gain an edge, like blood doping. I think if the steroid industry were allowed to progress like any other pharmaceutical it would continue to become safer. Athletes are going to find some ways to gain an advantage and it would better if it was a controlled and understandable product, rather than some mystery medicine that will allow someone to pass a drug test.
I think that kids should be not allowed to use the drugs just because I doubt they would be able to fully understand the consequences.
I really feel like athletes who use steroids are "cheating." Even if steroids were legal, the side affects of them are not worth the risk. Every athlete would be pushed to use them if they were legal. This would mean result in all of our athletes becoming super-human and bunches of them would die from steroid use.
I think steroids are banned to set an example for younger athletes. If these kids get into using performance-enhancing drugs, it could alter their future negatively. Steroids have been known to have adverse side effects and I think that could be a second reason why they are bad. If used incorrectly, they can create major health problems.
I think the ban is to preserve the integrity of sports in general. You have all these problems with records broke because you have to put an asterisk by the record indicating if the record was made before or after steroids. It just ruins the integrity of the sport because athletes no longer have pure talent.
I think the reason they keep that stuff out is the same reason they don't allow kids to have cheat sheets during tests. Granted, we could let everyone have a cheat sheet, but then things would move on even further as some kids wouldn't be ok with just a cheat sheet. By stopping the use of steroids, they keep the playing field even, and keep things from getting worse.
I think that the ban on steroids gives hope to all that with enough training and hard work, they too can become the next baseball star.
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