Thursday, October 27, 2011

Adam Feeley


Professor Lutz


25 October 2011





Drug Testing


                    The improvements with modern technology and the study with medicine have greatly changed. When growing up playing sports you can be pressured into many situations that you feel like you need an edge. With the professional sports being the ideal icon to many teenagers the players can be a great impact on how the teenagers act with their friends or family. If they can have an impact on how they act and even look with the clothes they wear, the teenagers will even want to have their type of body meaning big, cut and thinking it’s a healthy body. Teens are going to try anything to achieve that type of body or style of performance. This can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle for many young men and women because there are more bad side effects of using performance-enhancing drugs than good effects. Lately, with Major League Baseball and the National Football Association there have been more cases with players using steroids or drugs to be able to play while hurt or have an unfair advantage. Steroids have been proven to build muscle and boost their athletic performance, but many people don’t realize the bad side effects that affect your health down the road. High school athletes that include freshman until your senior year of high school should be drug tested while playing sports and throughout the off-season. By drug testing high school athletes it will stop the growth of steroids and illegal drugs that occur in high schools in today’s society.


First, understanding how steroids work. Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of the male sex hormone testosterone. Steroids work by filling the cell receptors that tell the cells to make new proteins. While it’s normal for the body to create new proteins, the steroids just tell the cells to create the proteins at a faster rate (Rogozkin). They enter through the blood stream and enter through the liver and are distributed throughout the body, manly to the muscles right after a workout. When you work out you create small tears in your muscles that need to be built up by protein which steroids make happen at a faster rate. Not only does steroids work to build muscle and to build bulk for bodybuilders or athletes, it also works for sprinters or pitchers because it helps athletes who need a faster turnaround from soreness. It is found more in baseball players which you may be asking yourself why baseball players? When it’s one sport you don’t need to be big to be successful. Baseball players use steroids because it enhances their hand eye coronation which makes their reaction time faster. With this being said, it makes there fast twitch muscles stronger so they can have a faster bat which will produce a longer ball or more homeruns. For pitchers, it enhances their rotator cuff muscles so they can whip the ball around faster and its one reason why we have seen pitches reach up to 106 miles per hour during the season.







One writer Julian Savulescu said in a debate about the use of steroids in sports “to say that we should reduce drugs in sport or eliminate them because they increase performance, is simply like saying that we should eliminate alcohol from parties because it increases sociability.” I understand where he is coming from but talking about a serious life threatening drug that not only cheats the game by increasing your ability to perform, it puts that athlete a greater risk. He talks about this as if it means nothing or is not as big deal. To not eliminate a drug that increases your performance is ridiculous when other people are willing to put their body through hell the hard way to reach their lifetime goal, it shouldn’t be interrupted by people who are taking the easy way out. There are many life threatening effects that come with using steroids such as “aggressiveness, acne, injury to the connective tissues, damaged liver and negatively altered cholesterol levels” (Steroid Abuse). Some people know these effects that can occur to their bodies but most people are not aware because the media does not do a good job by advertising against steroids. Here is one commercial that was displayed on ESPN in the past years but has not been aired in a long time which I think is wrong because it never gets old. They should run this commercial during the Little League World Series when most young kids are watching to put awareness into young teenager’s minds. By seeing this is makes you think about using steroids because of how they destroy the body and how they do such a good job demonstrating the effects that it can have on a person’s body.






An article off of East Carolina baseball’s website had a statement from their head coach on what he thought about steroids and baseball. "I think steroids in college baseball is getting out of hand," said East Carolina head coach Randy Mazey, although he said it has not been an issue with his team. "It filters down from the majors. Steroids in college baseball is a problem."(Powell Jr). This quote has a great impact on how coaches around the country view drugs in the game of baseball. It is getting out of hand, but it is coming down from the majors which is also true because if that’s what it takes to play at that level so many young players and teens are going to follow because they want to play at that level and the major league players are making it seem like that is the only way you can reach the pro’s. 
 
-this is just a rough draft, I’m struggling where to go from here.
 

2 comments:

  1. 1.) Does the essay make a clear argument? Yes___ No____ If so, what is the argument as you interpret it? If not, what is your best guess?

    Yes. The argument is saying that high school athletes should be drug tested on and off season in order to make sure they are not using drugs such as steroids and other abusive substances.

    2.) Find on sentence that you think best describes the thesis of the blog essay.

    “By drug testing high school athletes it will stop the growth of steroids and illegal drugs that occur in high schools in today’s society.” This sentence is a good thesis in my opinion because it includes the argument of drug testing athletes while mentioning what drug testing could accomplish/improve in the sports world and high schools.

    3.) Based upon questions one and two, what are the supporting points that your partner offers to support their argument?

    Firstly, he mentions all of the negative effects that steroids can have on the human body: heart disease, kidney cancer, liver cancer, depression, hostility and aggression, eating disorders, stunted height, beard, acne, risk of HIV.

    Secondly, he brings into the argument that professional athletes have a big influence on high school athletes and how some of there poor choices as professional athletes has made the view of steroids more controversial today. He points out that steroids and drug use to improve performance has more negative effects than positive, which is a very important fact to consider.

    4.) Does the article provide plenty of level-1 abstractions (examples) to support their argument? If so, please list at your favorites.

    Yes. I liked how he used an image that portrayed the negative side effects of anabolic steroids. It puts into perspective that using steroids and performance enhancers is not only “cheating the game” but it is also life-threatening and should not be permitted in professional sports OR used by high school athletes.

    5.) Does the article provide a detailed history of the problem so that the reader clearly understands who was involved, what happened, where it happened, when and why?

    The article provides history of professional use of steroids and also mentions that many high school athletes are using steroids because they idolize professional athletes, making it seem less threatening, when in reality it really is not okay.

    6.) Is the significance of all videos and images clearly explained in the essay? If not, make note of some examples.

    The images and videos are clearly explained and provide good support for the argument. If you he adds a couple more images and describes their significance, it could add even more to the argument.

    7.) Are their any claims in the essay that you are skeptical of? If so, why?

    I’m not really skeptical of anything he has mentioned. Everything he says seems to be solid facts and history. He could also mention some professional athletes that have gotten into trouble with steroid usage in order to provide more to his argument.

    8.) Are there points in the essay that you found to be particularly persuasive? If so, why?

    I definitely thought the life threatening effects of steroid use picture and explanation is really persuasive. Not many people think about the consequences of the future for their present actions and this part could open people’s eyes to the dangers of using steroids.

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  2. I do agree with my partner’s interpretation because it was exactly what I was trying to get across. They didn’t overlook anything and I actually think she found new things that I put into my paper and didn’t realize what the point I was trying to accomplish but she found it and makes me feel a little better with my paper with the things she interpreted. I would say that I need to make my argument or some points in and throughout my paper more clear. I should proofread it again and make more corrections to my paper for it can be the best that it can.
    I found my partners feedback very helpful and I believe that I can use some of her words or sentence structure that she used in her response, she made things more clearly to me and made me feel better about where I am at in my paper. I liked how she wasn’t afraid to tell me what I need to improve in and what I have strong things already in.
    I want to add players that have used steroids in professional sports into my paper. She made that point to me and I honestly forgot to add that into my paper and I think that would add a good view to my paper for people can relate to the players and how they have influenced young teenagers.
    Drug testing in high schools around the United States should start to do random drug tests for the athletes beginning at freshman year, checking for steroids and illicit drugs.

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