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David Racster
Professor DiSarro
English 103
17 November 2010
Steroids and its’ Negative Influence
What is the best way to get big quick? Most would say to go to the gym or start a more
intense workout program. It is contrary for some professional athletes that go against the correct
way to maximize their strength and take anabolic steroids. It’s clearly known when participating
in a professional sport then it is an unfair advantage for them to take any drugs at all. This
problem continues to increase, and needs to be dealt with properly. If not, then more young
adults and kids will continue to follow in their favorite athlete’s footsteps and use this harmful
drug. There are some people that may say it’s making the sport more entertaining and
competitive, but in actuality it’s hurting the players themselves and especially those people they
influence.
Not only are professional athletes getting caught using steroids, but now it is trickling
down to high school athletes as well. This is completely ridiculous to think that teenagers can
get their hands steroids. The latest state to handle this issue has been Texas; they have taken it
out of the hands of educators and are making a test necessary for all athletes to take before they
can play in a sport. This is a great reason why parents are becoming angry about the influence
professional athletes are having on their children. It is known that things are getting worse when
it comes to steroid abuse because 20 years ago people wouldn’t have thought that tests would be
conducted as early as high school. Professional athletes are to blame, because without them the
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idea of using steroids for sports wouldn’t be an option. Though quite a bit of people tend to think
that athletes aren’t meant to be role models, unlike parents, teachers, and community leaders who
are. It’s clearly a bad sign when high school athletes are getting caught using steroids at such an
increasing rate. The percent of high school athletes that have abused has gone from 6 percent to
11 percent within the past three years. (Goldman 54) I feel professional players caught using
these steroids need to have a more harsh punishment then what they are now. A lot of this
negativity is happening due to our country being an instant gratification society. The US has
slowly become more and more of this type country and it has a lot to do with the medical and
technological advances. If someone doesn’t feel good, then all one has to do is a take a pill or a
drug and he will feel better or at least think so. This concept correlates with many other parts of
life, from fast food restaurants to online shopping. Both of these two examples illustrate how our
society creates ways to get things as fast as they can, even if they aren’t the best.
For those people that understand athletes and their use of steroids, well there can be
multiple reasons why. First off, what is one thing people love watching in sports, specifically
baseball? It’s obviously the hard hits and homerun balls being hit out of the ballpark. Lately in
the national football league (NFL) players have been caught using steroids, too. One well-known
player that was caught was Brian Cushings, last years AFC Rookie of the Year. Come summer
time he was caught with anabolic steroids in his system. In return, they had to revote on whether
he should still be considered the rookie of the year knowing that he had taken steroids, and of
course he retained the title. There are always some people who want to see the greatest no matter
what. Another example would be the baseball player we all know, Barry Bonds. In the 2001, in
one season Barry Bonds blew up and hit a major league baseball record with 73 homeruns. He
broke Mark McGuire’s homerun record by three homeruns; McGuire was also accused and later
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admitted to taking steroids. In San Francisco, fans love it when a player hits the ball out of the
ballpark and they even call it the McCovey Cove. Barry Bonds is the all-time leader with the
amount of balls being hit out of that ballpark with 35. There have only been 55 hit out total, so he
has more than half of them. Most fans love it when it happens and don’t care if Bonds was on
steroids or not. Then, there are also a few people that shun pro athletes in ways too, such as;
holding signs up, throwing syringes on the field, and loud vulgar shouting. Some of the most
excited fans are kids, and that’s the depressing when they see what players have accomplished
with the use of steroids.
Steroids just hurt the sport, and are a bad influence on the kids that want to play sports. If
athletes want to increase their body mass and become stronger they should have to work on that
without the influence of steroids or even the thoughts of taking them. Not only can one be
suspended or even kicked out of a sport for using, but also can extremely risk the state of their
health. Psychological effects appear to be the only consequence of an overdose of anabolic
steroids, but long-term usage can lead to infertility, testicular atrophy (in males) and disturbances
of the menstrual cycle (in females). (Graham, Michael R 513) The severity depends on which
steroid or combination of steroids that are being abused. The brain (psyche), the skin (acne), and
the liver (hepatis) are three main parts of the body that get abused by shooting steroids. (Graham,
Michael R 513) In 1994, recreational bodybuilders attending a Welsh needle-exchange clinic
completed a survey on feelings of hostility/aggression. Subjects reported significantly higher
feelings of aggression towards objects, verbal aggression and aggression during training. During
the 6 to 14 week AAS period, other changes included significantly higher feelings of alienation,
irritability, anxiety, suspiciousness, and negativism. This shows that there are tremendous
negative effects of using anabolic steroid, not just the glory that fans get to see. (Graham,
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Michael R 513)
In today's world everyone seems to have a certain look that they either want to portray or
they need to have just to be what they want to be in life. Life is important to about most people
and to be able to get somewhere in life, some have to do certain things just to get there. Some
people have low self esteem that if they do not look a certain way that they either would not be
successful or be noticed by anyone. As an athlete in the present time of the world today it is the
most competitive things to have as a job or an activity in your life. There is always someone
better then you when it comes to sports and being an athlete. There are choices that they have to
make in order to be better than that one person that comes between them in getting a full ride to a
most prestigious sports college, or being on a NFL or NBA team. And in those choices is to take
the cheating route and take anabolic steroids. Lets just hope that future and present athletes stop
making that choice and lead by example. Further more, steroid use isn’t just a problem with high
school students and professionals, but with college students as well. There have been college
students that have decided to take anabolic steroids to maximize their strength, for college level
sports and frivolous lifting. (Munro 112) They, like everyone else, want to get big quick and
decide to go beyond what’s right and hurt their body. With a high combined population of high
school and college students’ anabolic steroid use, people should be aware of how serious of an
issue it is that professionals are influencing.
Present players need to think of how they are affecting younger athletes. The
suspensions aren’t doing what they need to be doing, someone has to take charge and think of
another way to deal with it. People can be for it and against it, but all in all the professional
athletes taking these steroids are non-verbally saying it is all right if you take steroids; and that’s
not positive for young athletes to think at all. They need to get to that high level of play on their
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own, not by taking steroids. This can carry on into life in general and not just sports.
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Work Cited
Goldman, Bob. Death in the locker room: steroids & sports. South Bend, IN. Icarus Press. 1984.
Print.
Graham, Michael R., et al. "Anabolic Steroid Use." Sports Medicine 38.6 (2008): 505- 525.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?
vid=1&hid=105&sid=53f365ac-3824-4544-
afc8-264c578eed33%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=aph&AN=33163676
Munro, Regina. Anabolic steroids: knowledge, attitude, and behavior in college age students.
Arizona State University: 1991. Print.