Steroids and Careers

            Steroids are often stereotyped as a very dangerous substance that should be banned from baseball. Steroids are always thought of as something that desperate people do to make themselves look better or a last ditch effort to make athletes shine. Although steroids do have their risks, what does not these days? Athletes have every right to do to their bodies what they want and there is no reason to regulate that.

            Many of the people against the use of steroids cite the fact that athletes are considered role models for young athletes. Quite often, these people think that these athletes will convince their child that steroids are good. They think that the kid will take steroids just because their idol does. In fact, in recent years less and less children have admitted to using steroids. “Results from the 2005 Monitoring the Future Study, which surveys students in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades, show that 1.7% of eighth graders, 2.0% of tenth graders, and 2.6% of twelfth graders reported using steroids at least once in their lifetimes” (Steroids), while in 2004 those numbers were higher, 1.9% of eighth graders, 2.4% of tenth graders, and 3.4% of twelfth graders admitted to using steroids in their lifetime (Steroids). There is much more knowledge on the subject of steroid use now. Children are being taught in school what the effects of steroids are along with the effects of drugs. They are being allowed to make their own decisions, and they are realizing that they do not need steroids to make it through high school. They know that some of their idols use steroids to enhance their play and they do not care, it does not impress them to the point where they need to do it to feel like a big shot.

In recent years steroids have become very common in baseball. However it wasn’t until the winter of 2006 that baseball instituted the strictest penalties for using steroids. Baseball has banned the use of forty-seven different steroids (“Major League Drug Policy”). These rules were set because a few very old records were being broken and most fans thought that these records never would have been broken. The average fan thought that the records were set so high and the game had become too challenging for anyone to come close to those records ever again. A lot of fans now believe that the game is heading into ruin because some of the most idolized men in the sport are no longer at the top of the record books. There is an adage that states “records are meant to be broken”. Therefore any record broken by anyone, with the help of steroids or not, is what the athlete is trying to do. There once was a time when this was accepted. Now no one can break a record without going through accusations of steroid use.

            Every year, millions of fans flock to the baseball field to watch their favorite players. Normally they want to see this player hit a home run. They also want to see this player perform to the best of his ability at all times throughout the game. This is one of the biggest reasons why athletes take steroids. Their fan base puts a lot of pressure on them to play at peak performance through the course of an entire season. The athletes know the risks involved in steroid use. Steroids have been taken by athletes and body builders since they were first discovered to help build muscle mass in the 1930’s (Steroids).

            While fans were flocking to the stadium to watch players hit monstrous home runs, many trainers and managers were becoming suspicious of their players. They were willing to look the other way because it brought fans to the stadium. If fans came to the stadium then money came with them. Now that the steroid “scandal” is out in the open and everyone is following it, people are asking who knew that the players were taking steroids.

Who knew? We all knew: the trainers who looked the other way as they were treating a whole new class of injuries; the players who saw teammates inject themselves but kept the clubhouse code of silence; the journalists who "buried the lead" and told jokes among themselves about the newly muscled; the GMs who wittingly acquired players on steroids; and, yes, owners and players, who openly applauded the home run boom and moved at glacial speed to address the problem that fueled the explosion (Assael).

Even the people deeply involved with the game refused to do anything while steroid use was at its peak. Why should we do anything about it now? Steroids still provide the entertainment that the fans desire, and players admire the sheer strength shown by their peers.

            Athletes have chosen their sport as their profession. Just like everyone else they want to be able to excel at their jobs so that they can maintain their employment status. Athletes look for every edge that they can get. They can only work on hand-eye coordination for so long, after that they need to find another way to get that edge over their peers. Quite often that advantage is steroids. It’s a simple way to make them stronger, but they do nothing if they do not work on their hand-eye coordination or their basic knowledge of how to play the game. Athletes earn their salaries based on their performance. The better they perform, the more they are paid. After they get an edge on their peers they will then be justly rewarded with a new contract with more money involved. Getting the edge on their peers is necessary in order to get what they deserve for all the effort they put into playing the game.

            Many working class fans also need to find an edge in their working world in order to bring home a paycheck. There may be a time or two that they are working on an important report or project. They might need to stay up late at night in order to finish it. One way that they may choose to help keep them awake is to take caffeine. “Caffeine temporarily ward off drowsiness and restores alertness” (Caffeine). Caffeine in this case acts very much like steroids do. Caffeine is being used as a supplement to enhance a person’s work. Athletes are doing nothing more than that. If steroids are illegal, then why is taking caffeine supplements a common practice? Caffeine in large quantities can have harmful effects just like steroids. As stated on a wikipedia.org article entitled “Caffeine”:

An acute overdose of caffeine, usually in excess of 250 milligrams (more than 2-3 cups of brewed coffee), can result in a state of central nervous system over stimulation called caffeine intoxication. The symptoms of caffeine intoxication may include restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irregular or rapid heart beat, and psychomotor agitation.

Caffeine is much easier to obtain then steroids and can do very similar damage to a person.

             

            Steroids are given a bad name by men and women who abuse them. If taken properly and carefully monitored the side effects of steroids can be very minimal. Athletes take steroids to please their fans. If the fans do not want them to use steroids then the fans should not demand for them to put on a show every single day. Steroids should be perfectly acceptable in today’s power hungry society. Once our society settles down then it would be understandable to ban steroids, until that day there is no reason to ban performance-enhancing supplements.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Assael, Shaun, and Peter Keating. "Who Knew?" ESPN. 25 Nov. 2006 .

"Caffeine." Wikipedia. 15 Nov. 2006 .

"Major League Baseball Drug Policy." Wikipedia. 15 Nov. 2006 .

"Steroids." White House Drug Policy. 15 Nov. 2006 .