10/14/13
The Damaging Drugs
Many in my generation idolized the sports
characters we saw on television. I was one. I watched their heroic acts of
playing through injuries, battling cancer, win, and then come back to win
many biking titles, and hit homerun after homerun. Ask anyone of us who we
would like to be, and the heroes we saw on TV would immediately come out of our
mouth. But the more we grew, the more our knowledge increased about the
people we idolized. The people we saw as heroes turned out to be frauds and
cheated in the games we loved to play. Why did these players take performance
enhancing drugs? What were they thinking?
The players got caught, but the damage had already been done. Many
sports are scarred with the scandal of performance enhancing drugs. The
sports now are trying to heal by suspending, fining, and holding back many
players from "halls" of fame. But the players don't care; they have
made their millions and won their championships. They live their life as a
millionaire without apologizing, unless they have to or are forced to for
reputation's sake. Do they not know how many kids are crushed because they
cheated? Do they know they almost ruined a sport?
The players now live with the physical consequences of what they did.
Performance enhancing drugs destroyed their reproductive organs, if
they were planning on kids they can't count on them now. The have hurt
relationships everywhere with the anger issues brought with the drugs.
They would get mad easily and now friends, family, and co-workers have to watch
what they say and do around them. Lastly, their bodies are more
worn down than an average sport star and this will eventually lead to
an earlier death. Was it really worth the fame and fortune? Did they
know the side effect when starting the drugs?
The sports stars are role models for millions of kids, and the modeling
they did was not good. Many kids could now see the effects of fame and
fortune, and now make the same mistakes their role models made. The use of the
drugs could go up, unless the players talk out against these drugs, kids maybe
learning all the wrong ways of becoming great at a sport. Many players for many
reasons, from legal issues to denial, don't believe they are wrong or would
rather put the issue behind them. Do they not notice their effect on a younger
generation? Do they care about the generation?
I wouldn't say that the players have all the responsibility in the scandals of
performance enhancing drugs. Many doctors and medical professionals had to
sell or prescribe these drugs to them. If the players are not able to get these
drugs, then the players are not able to cheat. How the players got all the
drugs is slowly uncovered, in fact, many players are busted by the medical
professionals that gave the drugs to them. The doctors are selling out the
players to avoid trouble for themselves. The source of the scandal did not help
anything, and continually doesn't because they are selling, for the
most part, legal drugs. But the medical professionals are
not monitoring how or why the drugs are to be used; all they care about is
making a quick and sometimes big buck. The players are the ones misusing
the drugs, so the medical field takes the money but no blame. Can the medical
field start to enforce a stricter policy onto who they give powerful
drugs? Can the medical field be held responsible for any of the scandals
in sports?
The sport's authoritative figures also carry some of the blame for
what has happened. Players are using performance enhancers under the controls
of these leaders and yet they haven't stopped them. Even more saddening is some
sports have brought new regulations in and still players’ use the drugs. If the
leaders of their respective sports really want the drugs gone, they would
control the situation. That is what the leaders are elected and hired to do.
They are there to manage a league and make the play as fair as possible; hence
the reason they have the names of commissioner and president. Why are steeper
penalties not enforced to stop the use of performance enhancing drugs? Do the
leaders of their sports even care?
Finally, the worst part about the scandals that have taken place in sports is
it has really affected the most important part of sports, the fans. The fans
are losing trust and respect for the sports they support. This is a
shame because without fans these sports are not what they are
today. The fans should feel hurt and cheated and rightfully so. The
fans come to see a team win or lose not see players banned from the
league because he/she cheated. The people who are being
cheated the most through all the scandals are the fans. Do the players,
coaches, or league leaders care about the fans? Should the fans keep putting up
with all the cheating?
I remember seeing the scandals come to the surface for the first time. I saw
the players I looked up to being convicted of cheating and taking performance
enhancing drugs. I remember the disbelief I felt, I thought of these guys
as heroes and they turned out to be frauds. I know that no one
is perfect, but this is a huge rule being broken and people have
to intend to break it. Needless to say, they were not my heroes
anymore.
I
still watch sports and root for my favorite team and players. The question
always has to be asked if someone is cheating or not, but that is how it has to
be. Sports are working at cleaning themselves up, and it is getting
better, every year fewer players are busted for performance enhancers. I
believe the new players up have seen the consequences of the drugs and are
working at taking them out of sports. The scandals will go down in history and
someday looked past maybe forgotten. The players, who sold
their legacy for fame and fortune now, will be the
forgotten bunch that decided to cheat on sports. It’s like the old saying goes:
Cheaters never prosper.
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