Blog #4: Christian Hawkins- Steroids Era

I have decided to take a different route with this blog. A more controversial topic if you must, steroids. 

What are steroids and what do they do?

"A steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane ring that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone" according to Wikipedia.org. But who really understands that! The english version; steroids are either taken oral or injected with a needle to gain strength and/or muscle. 

What are side effects of taking steroids?

For males:

• Shrinking of the testicles
• Reduced sperm count
• Baldness
• Difficulty or pain while urinating 
• Development of breasts
• Enlarged prostate
• Acne
• Jaundice
• Swelling of the feet or ankles
• Bad breath
• Reduction HDL, "good" cholesterol 
• High blood pressure
• Aching joints
• Increased injury to ligaments and muscles
• Threat of AIDS from using dirty needles
• Cancer
• Heart/ Liver/ Kidney failure
• Emotional illness

You may find yourself asking, "Why would anyone want to put their bodies through this?" I ask myself the same thing! Putting their lives at risk just to try and be a stronger batter and have a better arm to throw is not worth it to me. In 1991 Major League Baseball banned the use of steroids, but it was not until 2003 the league implemented league wide PED testing. There have been 128 major league baseball player who have been linked to either steroids or Human Growth Hormones(HGH), both illegal. After a player has been proven guilty of taking steroids, they are placed on suspension. Depending how many times they have been caught depends on how long they will be on suspension. One of the most well known player for being suspended was Manny Ramirez from the Tampa Bay Rays, he was out for 100 games.

The way that I see it is if a player is taking steroids it is taking the whole point away from the game, to have fun. Sure if a player is taking illegal supplements they will have a much stronger swing, sending the ball way over the fence for a home run or even being able to have a stronger arm to throw as I stated before. But for me, a baseball fanatic, the game is about rooting for your team and just having fun. If I knew one of my players were on steroids, I look down on them. They were scouted back in the day because they were good just as they were. Even if the player is setting records for the team, none of that matters to me if they are on steroids. I would rather root for a team that is not doing the best, rather than go for a team who is amazing but using illegal supplements.

Above is Barry Bonds. He played for the Pittsburg Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and then was signed to the San Francisco Giants in 1993 to 2007. In 2007, he was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the grand jury during the government's investigation of BALCO, by testifying that he never knowingly took any illegal steroids. 

My outlook on steroids as you can tell is that they make the wonderful game of baseball a negative thing.

Sources:

• http://ezinearticles.com/?Baseball-and-Steroids--The-Controversy&id=12718
• This article gave me all the information on the controversial issues with baseball and steroids.
• http://espn.go.com/mlb/topics/_/page/the-steroids-era
• This site was one of the most informative because it taught me about the Steroid Era.
• http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~shumow/iit/Steroids.pdf
• I was able to learn about all the dangers of steroids and who uses them other than just athletes. 
• http://www.baseballssteroidera.com/bse-list-steroid-hgh-users-baseball.html
• The statistics from this page helped me with all the players who have been suspended.
• http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2007-12/34253184.pdf
• This paper informed me about the history of baseball and illegal supplements. 
• http://0-web.ebscohost.com.opac.sfsu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&sid=458a897d-402e-4aad-8ad4-442c7b23ef2d%40sessionmgr115&hid=112&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNvb2tpZSx1cmwsdWlkJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=J0E084345287813
• This article informed me even more about the history of steroids and baseball.