The Double Life of Athletes Using Steroids Some Athletes in society today are considered heroes despite their double lives. Their drug use and violence are brushed aside while leading their teams to victory. Who is your hero? If that question was asked to a group of people, some might think of loved ones or family, and some may talk about doctors, firemen, or even a teacher. However, most would probably say their hero was some celebrity or star athlete. While some celebrities and athletes can justifiably be labeled "heroes", there are some people who may appear to be heroic, but lead a completely different life off the field. Even movies in Hollywood mirror this double lifestyle. After watching Any Given Sunday in class I was appalled by the casual drug use in the film by two particular football players. During the day these two men made tremendous strides for their team (the Sharks), but at night these men were completely different. They were snorting cocaine and other illegal drugs while they appeared to be entertained by prostitutes. Even though this movie was not based on a true story, it can very well resemble the truth in athletics today. There are several athletes who have been arrested and convicted of crimes, however three men have been the center of attention for the past few years. Players such as Daryl Strawberry, Michael Irvin, and Ray Lewis have proved to be heroes for their team and even the sports they play for, but their lives are far less than heroic. Drug use, sexual assault, and murder are the charges brought upon some of these men. Daryl Strawberry had always seemed like a natural when it came to baseball. He was a starting player for the Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, an... ... middle of paper ... ...ouldn't do work cited because I didn't know enough information on where it was from or when exactly it was written). -Stats, Inc. Career Statistics - Primary. 1999. http://espn.go.com/nfl/profiles/ stats/primary/0232.html. -Baro, Madeline. Williams, Irvin investigated on sex assault charges. 31 Dec. 1996. http://amarillonet.com/stories/123196/williams.html. -Scott, Steve. Pretrial testimony begins in Irvin case. 12 June 1996. http://texnews.com/ cowboys/pretrial061296.html. -Court TV.com. Baseball Star Daryl Strawberry arrested again, jailed. 25 Oct. 2000. http://courttv.com/people/2000/1025/strawberry_ap.html. -Sporting News. Drugs found in Irvin apartment. 14 June 2000. http://tsn.sportingnews. com/nfl/20000811/252158.html. -Baseball Reference. Statistics for Strawberry. http://www.baseball-reference.com/ s/strawda01.shtml.
Taylor, Hopkins. Substance abuse issues to Offending Athletes. Miami: Beachwood Press, pages 35-37. 2009. Print.
A hero is someone you look up to, someone who has done something to inspire you, someone who is your role model. In our society, there are many different types of heroes—family, friends, teachers, firefighters, and police officers to name a few. But a hero that stands out to me is a U.S. soldier. Soldiers risk their lives every day just so we can have our freedom.
Performance enhancing drugs have been a longstanding problem in sports. It not only deteriorates the honesty of the game, but also can have broader social affects that one may not even realize. The use of performance enhancing drugs is especially apparent in Major League Baseball. This problem can be traced back to the 1980’s when baseball was facing one of its first “dark periods”. During the 1980’s Major League Baseball was experiencing a home run drought. Home run totals were down as far as they had been since Babe Ruth, and fans were seemingly becoming bored with the sport. The lack of home runs was a growing concern for players whose salary relied on home run totals. Players needed to find a quick way to boost their power and performance in order to keep the sport alive and to keep bringing in their paychecks. This desire for fame and fortune introduced steroids into Major League Baseball in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Home run totals jumped tremendously during these decades and players were willing to risk being caught using illegal substances in order to shine above the rest. New idols and role models started to sprout up from these outstanding home run statistics and young children started to take notice. This all came tumbling down when these new idols and role models who were making the big bucks and hitting the ball out of the park tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Here lie the affects of a growing social problem in sports. These famed athletes become walking advertisements and promotions for the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. The influence professional athletes have over aspiring young athletes is very powerful and these roles models make it seem acceptable to use performance ...
Human beings have always had a strong competitive nature, and many people have a inclination towards achieving fame and glory. Professional sporting events measure the great spirit, unique natural talents, and competitive nature of humans as they attempt to heroically represent the entire race. Often times humans search for the ultimate advantage in sports to put themselves above and beyond the other athletes. Unfortunately, some athletes turn to unnatural agents to supplement their own natural talents. They often ignore the side effects of the drugs and more importantly ignore the damage they do to how they are perceived and how people view the game. Athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, also known as PEDs, create a monstrous persona,
The use of illegal substances in sports is a trendy topic in today’s society. In the last few years a copious amount of players have been under the spotlight of substance abuse, which led to a punishment for their actions. Andrew Sullivan wrote an article in the year 2004 called “In a Drugged-up Nation, the Steroid Sports Star is King”, in which he illustrates how these “pharmaceuticals” have revolutionized sports around the world but mostly in America. These drugs have had a large influence in the overall performance of the players, even if it the use of drugs is “often denied or simply overlooked”(Sullivan 1), it will lead to a lack of judgment in what is right and what is wrong.
Ever since the introduction of steroids to professional sports in the 1970s (Assael), they have greatly undermined the core American beliefs that sports held dear for so long. Values like honesty, hard work, and dedication h...
Professional athletes have been taking steroids for decades, it is proven. Athletes get stripped of gold medals they’ve won in the Olympics because of steroid use. Many sports have been now increasing the amount of steroid testing because they feel it is an unfair advantage. People who take steroids clearly are more super...
Steroid use ranging from high school to professional athletes regardless of the chosen sport is indeed a factor that can cause an athlete’s career to dramatically end before it even begins. Athletes who use steroids are often stripped of their playing time, position, and may even be fined or penalized monetarily for their role in substance abuse. In order to prevent these types of situations, the organization should impose stiff penalties such as prohibiting the player from participating in any sports- related activities for extended periods of time. However, if these situations continue to be apparent, resolving this issue may require that the organization recommend for the athlete to partake in some form of rehab. The National Football League is known for suspending athletes who abuse the substance abuse policy such as running back Mike Cloud of the New England Patriots, defensive back Lee Flowers of the Denver Broncos, and Keith Newman of the Atlanta Falcons (Steroid Abuse
Our athletes are looked at as heroes and in our dark and painful world we love superheroes. So what’s better in our world than real life superheroes, nothing. This is why they are given special treatment just like how men of God were back in the day when Religion was the opiate of the
These athletes will be our future leaders. It is imperative that we teach these athletes the importance of being conscientious and clean. Everyone does it is not a justified reason to why you should have unnatural abilities over others. Hard work, dedication and good practice is how you enhance your physical abilities and not through drugs.
Many professional athletes have ruined their career from using steroid. A few MLB players are Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens. Some of the other athletes are Shawne Merriman a NFL player, Canadian Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson, Floyd Landis an American cyclist, Greek olympians Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou, ...
Doctors, lawyers, and politicians can be considered everyday heroes, but we the people tend to hold a more trivial profession higher then all of those, Athletes are held the highest. While athletes present us with great feats of ability, we hold these individuals higher then they deserve credit. We place athletes on a pedestaled and we force them to do whatever it takes to preform at there greatest.
...Though there have been various laws and rules in the sports, athletes didn’t hesitate breaking those rules. Using drugs in the sports a favorable outcome (to win) and gambling have speeded to the maximum. Athletes are cheating in sports through drugs and gambling leads to cheat to get the name, fame, money and rewards and instead of using their own effort and ability to work. They cheat when they don’t have to and when they get caught it ruin their career. In addition, gambling itself is addictive and the athlete who begins losing the money can be dangerously vulnerable to different destructive behaviors. Drug use and gambling are harmful for the career. Finally, all cheating in sports has to eliminate to save the spirit of sports.
In conclusion, performance enhancing drugs have a harmful effect on the body and I can’t see why with all the recent news of disallowed 1st place wins, deaths rooted from undetected performance enhancing drugs uses in the past, people focused and determined over years, going into a competition and coming out a winner is more respected in my view than an athlete performing well on the day and later being found out to have cheated. That is just amplifying the injustice not setting an example for young athletes possibly breeding a new race of deceitful people in the world of sport
When asked who their hero is, most people respond with the name of an athlete or an actress/actor. When asked who my hero is I would have to respond with a simple three letter word: mom. My mother has been the greatest inspiration in my life and is the main reason that I am where I am and who I am today.