Steroids in Sports

           For the past decade, steroids have been the biggest problem in sports leagues such as the MLB and the NFL. Star players like Alex Rodriguez have been shamefully punished for their involvement, and records such as Barry Bond's home run record have been tarnished.  This is because the use of steroid is a clear act of cheating.  The problem was brought to light in the early 2000s, and it was soon discovered that it had been in use for years in professional sports.  In a revealing interview, Ken Caminiti, a steroid user, estimated that half of the MLB's players used performance enhancing drugs.  From there, things only escalated.  Dopers were discovered in every league while steroid testing and subsequent punishments were established.  However, the most notorious of steroid users was cyclist Lance Armstrong who finally surrendered to multiple charges in 2012.  He was harshly but fairly stripped of each of his Tour De France titles because of his clear advantage.  It was a shameful moment in sports and a key moment in a saga of steroid investigation, as one of the world's best athletes was revealed to be a cheater. Steroids is a problem in sports that needs to be solved even while it has also harmed the legacy of the top leagues and players. 
              The use of steroids has put a giant asterisk under many of the greatest records and achievements in sports.  Initially, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Marion Jones, and more were discovered to have used steroids.  All of these athletes carry with them glittering trophy cabinets and numerous personal achievements.  Lance Armstrong set a record that seemed impossible to set, and he was an inspiring figure with his incredible victories.  Now, it is clear that his record is impossible to achieve, and one of the greatest accomplishments in sports is nothing more than a shameful lie.  Likewise, Barry Bond's home run record takes the title away from players who amassed their totals without the aid of illegal substances. Performance enhancing drugs have also taken away from team victories.  While sports organizations can not strip a team of a title without proof that the team itself had something to do with the steroid use, it must also be understood that a champion team's best and most important player might be so because of steroids. Steroids have destroyed the competition in sports and made mockeries of some athlete's incredible feats It is not until the playing field is level again that competition can mean something again. 
              Primarily, steroids are clearly a problem which requires a solution and many have been attempted by the various sporting bodies of the world. Most of these solutions are the addition of drug tests to sports. However, accompanying these tests is punishments that are more severe than ever. Players who test positive are regularly suspended for a steadily increasing amount of games. In 2009, the MLB suspended Manny Ramirez for fifty games. Last year, Alex Rodriguez was suspended for the entirety of a season. While Rodriguez's case was more severe than Ramirez's, it is still an example of how the sport's world has responded to performance enhancing drugs over time.  Likewise, where the individual sports are concerned, it is not uncommon to see titles stripped from athletes caught with steroids.  This was exemplified in the case of Lance Armstrong.  After confessing to doping for years, Armstrong's record seven Tour de Frances were taken from him.  Similarly, the same punishment is applied in individual sports such as track, as runner Marion Jones's medals were taken from her after it was discovered she had been doping.  Marion Jones also ended up in prison for six months after lying in a court dealing with her suspecteed steroid use.  Finally, athletes getting into legal trouble over steroid use is not uncommon.  Athletes such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have both been charged with lying in a court about perfromance enhancing drugs, and the athletes can be left with jailtime as a severe punishment.  The search for a real solution to steroids is ongoing while new punishments continue to be implemented. 

             The punisments for steroid use can extend beyond suspensions, as steroids can include undesirable side effects.  These effects can vary between minor or severe.  The most dangerous problems seem to occur in the long term.  These include liver cancer, heart attacks and an all-around shorter lifespan.  Primarily, one of the main areas of effect from steroids is the hormones.  Steroids change the body's hormone system which will then create irregularities in the physical characteristics of users.  In males, steroids can causethe growth of breasts and baldness.  In females, steroids cause the body to become more like a male's Females will grow body hair and get deeper voices.  The majority of these side effects only get worse the more steroids are taken. Additionally, steroids also hugely affect the cardiovascular system.  Steroids alter the levels of the different lipoproteins in the body to irregular levels which can ultimately cause a heart attack or stroke.  This is beause by changing those levels the body has an increased chance of clotting blood vessels with fat. Finally, there is evidence of athletes suffering these consequences.  In 1992, a player in the NFL named Lyle Azado died of brain cancer which was a result of twenty years of steroid use.  In 2007, it was revealed that German athletes who had unknowingly been exposed to steroids were beginning to show side effects.  Many of them have cancer and their children have various problems ranging from the physical to the mental.  The use of steroids has hunted sports for many years, and a solution is required to preserve the safety of the athletes and the purity of sports.

Sources: www.sportsanddrugs.procon.org
               www.drugabuse.gov

                 

 

 

             

Brady Suspended for Role in Deflategate!!!

              This week, the long awaited Ted Well's report about the scandal known as Deflategate was released, and the NFL has handed down a suspension to Brady for evidence indicating that he had a role in deflating the footballs in the AFC Championship game.  Brady's suspension is four games long, and the New England Patriots were also punished.  The Patriots were fined one million dollars and lost draft picks.  In a statement released before the report was released Robert Kraft stated that his team would cooperate with any punishment the league believed was necessary although he restated his team's innocence.  After the punishment, Kraft seemed to have changed his mind when he expressed his disagreement with the punishment.  However, it does look like the Patriots will not appeal despite Kraft's outrage.  Tom Brady, meanwhile, can and most likely will appeal his suspension.  Brady does have a good chance of minimizing his suspension to one or two games.  The Well's report does not exactly condemn Brady beyond doubt.  After all, most of it is based on circumstantial evidence.  Even the author himself will not directly accuse Brady.  Instead he says, "It is more probable than not."  There are many more problems with the report.  These include that the texts that were key pieces of evidence against Brady were, in fact, sent months before the Patriots took on the Colts.  Then there is the fact that key evidence to do with the actual PSI could have been messed up due to two different gauges, and the punishment is handed out to a crime that Brady might not have committed.  Eventually, it is clear that Tom Brady's suspension has little to do with deflated footballs and everything to do with politics.  Roger Goodell needed a statement after his horrible handling of several other discipline decisions.  He has chosen to punish to heavily punish a star quarterback for a minor cheating issue he may not have actually been involved in, and he has made this issue bigger than it actually ever was.  There is a small piece of irony in the situation  Tom Brady is scheduled to return from suspension in a game against the Indianapolis Colts.  Good luck to them.