Essay About Fastest Way And Jose Conseco

Steroids in Sports
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Before the 1990s, athletes were unique. They were able to capitalize on their
God-given talents, and make themselves famous based on their skill. But then something
happened. Steroids began to playa bigger and bigger role in sports. No longer were the
most naturally gifted athletes becoming the stars. Now, it can be said that whoever has
the best pharmacist can be the best athlete. As the amount of perfonnance enhancing
steroids increases in professional sports, many athletes are gaining an unfair advantage
over their competition.
Athletes take steroids to gain an advantage. Steroids are used by athletes in
baseball, football, and in Olympic events in hopes of finding the edge to make them the
best in their sport. By mimicking the anabolic effects of testosterone, steroids help build
tissues, help muscle recovery after injuries, and strengthen bones. “We live in a very fast
world now and, were always looking for a shortcut. We always want to get rich the
fastest way, we want to get famous the fastest way, we want to get strong and be
competitive the fastest way,” Arnold Schwarzenegger said, on why athletes take steroids.
Some athletes simply do not feel like they can compete with the best in the world
without a little help. This could be the number one reason why athlete begin taking
steroids. Some of their peers are bigger, faster, or more skilled, and they want to feel
equal, and get a little outside help. “Some people are naturally gifted, others have to
work very. Some people are not going to make it without extra help,” remarked Erik de
Bruin, coach/husband of Michelle Smith, who won three gold medals in the 1996
Olympics, shaving almost twenty seconds off her best time from 1993. To try to gain
athletic equality, or superiority in their sports, they go to steroids for a little extra kick.
Muscle building drugs have transfonned sports into something of a freak show.
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The general build of a given athlete is much bigger with their arms, shoulders, and legs
enlarged, sometimes to a point that they do not look real. “…Guys out there look like Mr.
Potato head, with a head and arms and 6 or 7 body parts that just dont look right. They
dont fit. Im not sure how [steroid use] snuck in so quickly, but its become a prominent
thing very quietly. It!; widely known in the game.” Curt Schilling told Sports TIlustrated.
Baseball, a sport that can be greatly affected by steroids, has seen its statistics go
through the roof. In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been a total of
thirty-six fifty home run seasons. Only eighteen times had someone hit fifty home runs
in the first one hundred years of baseball. In the last seven years, the same number of
players have hit fifty home runs, with the all-time record of home runs in a season
increasing by 12. “When you add in steroids and strength training, youre seeing records
not being broken, but completely shattered,” acknowledged Schilling.
More and more world class athletes are being acknowledged for their ingestion of
steroids. Ben Johnson, in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, set a world record in the
100 meters, running it in 9.79 seconds. Johnson was the fastest man of all time for just a
couple days, when his medal and time was revoked when he tested positive for steroids.
Another track star, C.J. Hunter, tried to gain an advantage over his competition. Prior to
2000, Hunter was the top shot putter in the United States. Right before the Olympics, he
tested positive of steroids and was banned from all competitions for two years. Last year
in the NFL, Rookie of the Year contender, Julius Pepperss season was abruptly halted
after he tested positive for steroids. Jose Conseco made history when he became the first
man to hit forty home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season. After his retirement,
Conseco claimed that he had taken steroids throughout his career, enhancing his abilities
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and allowing him to do what he did. Another big-time player, Ken Caminiti, came out of
the steroid closet after his retirement. He started taking steroids after he had injured his
shoulder at the beginning of the 1996 season. After the All-Star break, Caminiti went on
to hit thirty-six home runs, raising his total to fifty, twenty eight more than his previous
high,