Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Should Steroids Be Banned From Sports?
Should Performance Enhancing Drugs Be Banned
From Sports?
Gino De Paoli
Professional
sports are full of impressive history with even more impressive figures that
will be remembered throughout history: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Wayne Gretzky,
Mario Lemieux and John Elway. As newer innovations to the game and sciences
develop we’ve seen the baseball world get a tainted name thanks to performance
enhancing drugs or steroids that have given a black mark on the game. Players
like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and Ben Johnson has been
investigated for using PED’s. All of these players have broken records set by
the forefathers of Major League Baseball. Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s
all-time homerun record of 755 homeruns and many are vying for his name to be
abolished from the record books. Some may ask why punish those who take them? They
aren’t hurting anybody? Wrong! They’re
hurting themselves over time, which can create harsh medical problems or
deficiencies, and it’s plain and simply cheating!
Where
Pro PED’s in sports and more specifically Baseball, fail to get my approval and
why it should be banned is back to basics of baseball where hitting is where
the money is. Those that can hit the ball stay in the league. The juicers like
Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa fall into place is the fact they are
good technical hitters anyway you can’t teach a perfect swing, many of these
players had that but used PED’s to go over the top to get the contracts. It
wasn’t even about winning baseball games as long as you got or getting paid
your millions you’d sleep better at night. These players were a good 30-homerun
hitters a season before juicing which is a good thing to be in the majors on
any team to offer big coin. There’s a laziness factor here yes they worked out
with new technologies and medicine. But… they could have got that power over a
slower period of time and hit those 50 plus home run seasons but fear of losing
a position to someone who is coming up the ranks higher for instance could have
them fighting for their jobs. It’s plain cheating it’s like adding weights to a
bobsled to go faster down the track then without them. If you’re good at what
you do, you shouldn’t worry about those behind you and the money… It will come
to you if you work at it.
For keeping steroids in baseball and not
serving any suspensions of any kind can be broken simply as an evolution of the
game. Supplements can help a player get stronger and faster then ever before in
the early days of baseball were there wasn’t as much offseason training or
workouts during the season. Because the competition of baseball is very intense
and big money plays a factor into how your performance on the field goes,
players may need to do that to stay afloat in the league or risk being a
journeyman ball player who doesn’t win a championship or enjoy America’s
Pastime. Also through time and as human beings are concerned every player is in
the most part bigger then the average player 70 plus years ago when Babe Ruth
hit 715 total home runs (Not To mention his main diet was Hotdogs and Beer).
The
extent that really hits home to me on the use of PED’s, Growth Hormones or
upping Testosterone levels is simply the health ramifications behind them.
Through my time being a journalist and learning about sports health, I’ve
stumbled on many gruesome side effects. Three years ago while researching a
documentary project on steroids/PEDs from the views of the male perspective.
The doctor who has never prescribed these to anyone in sports medicine for
rehab or development plainly said it would create serious ramifications on you
and those around you. The first was simple for any man who uses it for an
extended period of time would suffer from shrunken testicles and sexual
impotency. Right away for average males
and myself, no one wants to see their manhood take a hit like that. But at the end of the day more than 100
baseball players have been suspended for doping violations. Other common occurrence
with steroid use on the effects leading to early deaths that we hear in the
news is, a vast increase in LDL cholesterol, (the bad kind) which creates those
dying of heart attacks in their late 30s or early 40s like pro wrestlers in the
past.
There’s
the physical side effect of PEDs/steroids but what might actually be the part
of them that no one sees is their impact on the mentality of a human being.
With all the chemicals going through the body helping an athlete stay in shape
and have the biggest muscles they can possibly have, it slowly takes control of
your life and have no self control at times of your surroundings. AAS or as we
know it “Roid Rage” creates a chemical reaction that reaches combustible levels
in the brain. Effects from AAS can be
depression, severe psychosis, aggression and violence. One case that’s stands
out still to this day is the murder/suicide of WWE Wrestler Chris Benoit on
June 25th 2007. Autopsy results showed massive amounts of brain
damage and a mix of numerous undetectable steroids have been linked to the
murder he committed on his wife and seven year old son before hanging himself
on a weight machine. All because one wants to be in the best shape can possibly
be in so they can continue to earn big money, endorsements and mostly keep a
job because that’s all they’ve known to do. No sure that’s the way I’d like to
make a living if my life span would be 40 and have serious medical issues.
Lastly
the use of PEDs/steroids is just embarrassing for yourself and those associated
with you. Final case and point Ben Johnson the Canadian Sprinter who won the
100 Metre Dash at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Here he was on top of the athletic
world and had made his country proud for a couple of days and now he’s the goat
of Canadian Sports and known for being a cheater not an athlete which the
embarrassment lives till the end of time for himself. Why would you put
yourself through health problems that can lead to deficiencies in your life
including an early gravesite or embarrassment and being known as a cheater.
PEDs/Steroid use doesn’t look like the way to get into in shape fast and not to
mention in the modern era of sport… You will get caught. You may as well hit
the dumbbells, weight-room and health food stores the right way. Find a
trainer, find a program, eat right and work hard… It will get better but only
if you’re not willing to cut corners.
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