Steroids In Professional Sports

Every year there are always a few major scandals in the world of professional sports regarding steroid use. One major instance of steroid abuse was when championship cyclist Lance Armstrong tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Cases like these are constantly coming to the media’s attention. Some commentators, such as Stefan Kanfer, a cultural writer for the New Leader, argues in his article, “The Trouble with $port$,” that the use of steroids in professional athletics is not only detrimental to the athlete but negatively impacts and influences fans of the sport. According to major leaguer Jose Canseco, who played on seven different teams, there was a widespread use of steroids wherever he worked; clearly the use of steroids has

Many impressionable kids are influenced by sporting heroes and use them as role models, “worse still, [these same] drug-abusing stars become the idols of young athletes”, as these so called idols are marketed as role models and legends, children are gravely influenced by their inappropriate habits (Kanfer 14). Especially when they notice, “contracts for top players offer incentive clauses above and beyond their million-dollar salaries for top players” in which most cases, these rewards are offered to steroids using athletes (Kanfer 15). They observe their idols having everything they could ever want, how can you not expect for the thought of using steroids not to run through their minds. Similarly, in Aaron Smith, and Bob Stewart’s article, " Drug Policy in Sport: Hidden Assumptions and Inherent Contradictions", the authors investigate the atrocious behaviors of steroid infused athletes. Throughout their search both Smith and Stewart conclude, “professional sports [have] hyper-competitive natures, [which focuses] on an emphasis on achievements and rewards”(Smith and Stewart 124). With that being said, it is not only an idea for sports to be competitive, but it is intended for athletics to have competitive instinct. Furthermore, Smith and Stewart are concerned with the scandalous behaviors represented by the counsel of the sports leagues; they are "[for] the fact that sports hold winning as sovereign, which in turn produces a demand for anything that gives athletes a competitive edge”(Smith and Stewart