Should professional athletes be allowed to use steroids?

Should professional athletes be allowed to use steroids?
Everyone has different views on the use of steroids in sports. Some believe that over the years steroids have helped various sports will other believe that steroids are going to destroy sports. Some people believe that sports should be about god given abilities and that steroids have are dangerous to the person that takes them. While over think that the athletics should do whatever it takes to succeed and that the reward is greater than the risk.
Each side has very good points about the use of steroids and whether or not it is good for sports. If major league sports allow the use of steroid rating would go up but at what cost? But if steroids are banned from sports it allows for a more respect for the game. These are some of this issue I will address in this blog

Background/Pre-Analysis:
Steroids were first created in 1958. The American wrestling team in 1960 decided not use steroids and competed against the Soviets who used them. The Soviets destroyed the Americans and won five of the seven gold medals. In 1963, the first football team used steroids. The San Diego Chargers forced their played to take them and that year won the AFL championship. For baseball steroids became a big issue in the late 1990’s. Now steroids are banned in all sports and athletes are tested each year.

Content Analysis:
There are a certain words and rules that if you do not understand the topic will not make much sense. First off and most importantly, what are steroids and what do they do? One type steroids I am talking about is anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroid is testosterone. They are used to make you bigger and stronger. The muscles in the body become bigger and happen at a fast rate. Another type of steroids which is most commonly found is baseball player is human growth hormones (HGH).

Problems of Fact:
The 1994 baseball strike lowered the popularity of baseball. For the next few season baseball was having all time low attendance. That all changed during the 1998 season. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa both were going for the most homeruns in a season. It is now known that both of these baseball players have taken steroids. Both of the players beat the previous homerun record. The popularity increased by 20million people from just four years before. Some believe that steroids singly brought baseball back from one of its lowest points. Now the others think that it might of helped but now baseball is hurting more than every because of the whiplash it caused. They believe that now all the records that happened during the steroid area (1990’s- present) are tainted. Baseball is unlike any other sport. Baseball fans take records seriously.
The nay sayers, believe that steroids are harmful to the person that is taking them. As facts steroids cause acne, mood swings, and a decrease in sperm count. They also say that steroids can kill you. The people for steroids say that no one has ever died from the use of steroids other than people overdosing on it. Which anyone can die from taking too many pills. Also that it’s the players choice to take them knowing the risk that they could cause.

Problems of Value:
Ever since I was a baby I was taught not to cheat and do everything the right way. That by not cheating I would be able to get farther in life and also gain more respect. But I was also taught that do whatever it takes in life to succeed. These are two lessons that every grows up with. So when athletes decided not to cheat, not to take steroids, they are following their moral values. But then the athletics that are taking steroids are doing whatever they can to live. So they are going by the code survival of the fittest.

Meta-analysis:
The global issue with the use of steroids involves the Olympics. The Olympics is multi sporting events that happen every two years. Countries compete to earn gold metals and pride. Steroids were first used in the Olympic in 1960 when the Soviets won 5 out of 7 gold medals in wrestling. In 1972, the Olympic committee started a full raid against drugs. In the 2000 games, a Romania gymnastics named Andreea Raucan won a gold medal. Later the Olympic committee discovered that she had some type of steroids in her blood system. Andreea claimed that she had a cold and the medicine she was prescribed made her test go positive. She was stripped of her gold medal. Was it fair that being sick and taking medicine caused her to lose her medal? That is up to you. The Olympic committee said they have strict rules and that they must follow them. This is not that uncommon now. People get caught ever year in the Olympics using some type of steroids. Do steroids allow people to bring honor and victory to their country or does it bring shame? Ben Johnson from Canada broke 2 world records while taking performing enhancing drugs. He lost his gold medal and his world records were erased from the record books.

Summary:
Throughout the world of sports athletics are doing whatever they can to become better and stronger in their given sport. Most of them do it by working hard, eating right, and a lot of practice. While others, take an injection or a pill that will cause them to become bigger and stronger. The drug is known as steroids. Steroids can cause muscles to become better and allows the user to work out longer and lift heavier weights. In football steroids are looked at in a neutral way. Most fan do not care that their players are taking steroids to become better. They just want to see their team win. On the other hand, baseball fans hate the use of steroids. In baseball if you get caught using steroids your name gets put up on the wall of shame. No one that has taken steroids has been elected into the hall of fame yet. Baseball fans care about the records more than any other sport. They believe that steroids users taint the record books. In the Olympics, steroids bring shame to your country. But it is hard to say that steroids are all bad. They allow the athletics to become all they can. It makes the games more interesting, from the big hits in football to the homeruns in baseball but at what cost? Should professional athletics be allowed to use steroids in sports?