Drug Situation In Sports example essay topic

Twenty years ago, when I was a competing professional athlete, I spoke publicly of the frustration of feeling pressured to use anabolic steroids. I felt pressured to compete in an environment where I and many others believed there was an unbridled problem. I mentioned the prevalence of use in adolescents and commented on the training advantage using these drugs gave competitors. At that time, NFL management denied the extent of the problem and little was done.

The NFL, to its credit, in 1987 started its non-punitive testing program and proclaimed it was considering random testing. In 1988, in a Sports Illustrated commentary, I predicted the failure of random testing, citing obvious loopholes, and questioned the overall concern of the fans. I solicited the ire of some in the sports media when I suggested medical supervision as an alternative to faulty drug testing. However, you can't monitor a drug problem medically that society wants to pretend doesn't exist.

Another issue I wanted to bring forward was urging people to keep the health effects of these drugs in perspective, as well as the sports world's tendency to define this as primarily a public relations issue. I still wonder why some of the reporting of my situation either ignored or minimized some of my known lifestyle heart risk factors (alcohol abuse, for example) in preference to highlighting steroids. Happily, the severity of my health issues and my former addictions are a thing of the past. In the wake of the BALCO scandal and the revelations in Major League Baseball, do any of these issues ring familiar? None of the BALCO athletes (clients of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative) have ever flunked a drug test. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is citing drops in numbers of positive tests in 'announced' testing as reasons for optimism.

After 20 years of researching this issue, I have earned my pessimism. Has he earned his optimism? For those paying attention at all, the BALCO investigation has reinforced the reality that athletes are using undetectable drugs. Perhaps the optimism in testing is because there is no plan B and Selig is tired of the drug allegations.

In 1989, the NFL initiated random testing. This was a smart move for two reasons. First, it showed media and the public that they implemented the strongest policy that technology and the law would allow. Second, it was prior to impending legislation (the 1990 Steroid Anti-Trafficking Act) that re-classified anabolic steroids under Schedule of the Controlled Substance Act.

This law made using anabolic steroids for anything other than their legitimate medical uses a violation of the law. Where Major League Baseball made its major error was that its steroid situation surfaced after the changing of the law. To add insult to injury, because of both financial resurgence and a strong union, its leaders dragged their feet in instituting public relations drug testing. But I really don't believe that baseball's drug problem is any more severe than the other major sports -- just under more scrutiny. With my 1991 book 'False Glory: Steelers and Steroids,' I attempted to show that the performance-enhancing drug situation in sports was as institutional as it was individual.

I was only partially correct in my evaluation. I believe this situation is more societal than it is sports-related. What is my evidence? My friend and fellow researcher Charles Yes alis from Penn State University, who also is trained in epidemiology, discussed the basic numbers involved.

Look at the age group 21-35, which is the approximate age of most elite athletes. The total numbers of steroid users in the sports world seem diminutive in comparison to the huge numbers of recreational users in gyms across America. Recreational users ingest these drugs motivated primarily by vanity and insecurity. We live in an instant gratification world of liposuction, cosmetic surgery, Botox, Viagra and more. It goes further and becomes more personal.

Athletes are role models whether we like it or not. Drug use and role models are like oil and water -- they don't mix. No elite athlete wants to be perceived as a cheater. Admitting use of performance-enhancing drug is perceived as cheating, illegal and career suicide. Is it any wonder why we have witnessed denial of even what to some is rather obvious? Performance-enhancing drug use is more representative of the combination of intensity of competition for big stakes and the realities of modern training.

Any responsible coach would not advocate heavy resistance training techniques for a developing youngster. Anabolic drugs are taboo for adolescents for the same reasons -- both impede normal physical development. These factors make adult training techniques inappropriate for children. Perhaps we should view young people's games as the true 'role models' for real sport in our society.

They don't play for money. I think my background has given me a deep understanding of the realities of training in the modern world. When I observe sport, I know exactly what I am watching. I still enjoy sports and still find them interesting.

When we observe sports, aren't we more interested in being entertained than over-analyzing the training behind it? Don't we prefer the romantic image? Some may want to label this as deception. But aren't sports federations and the sports media giving us what we would rather hear? I don't think I am alone.