McCarty1

Corbin McCarty

Dr. Fisher

Comp 1

17 November 2020

Essay 3

Americas past time, sports are a big part of people's life and if you’re lucky enough you

can make a career out of it. Over the year's sports have changed, but there has been a repeating

issue since it all started, cheating. Cheating can be different ways depending on what sport, but

one way of cheating that every sport suffers from is banned substances. There are several banned

substances in professional sports such as androgens, blood doping, stimulants and, narcotics.

Blood doping or steroids is one of the biggest controversies in sports like the MLB. The MLB

has had several instances where amazing players have popped positive for steroids, are they still

some of the best players in the league if they’re using banned substances? As big of a problem

steroid use is in sports, they’re also bad for your body and can affect you in the long run.

Mark McGwire was a player for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998 when he set the single

season homerun record, he hit a marvelous 70 homeruns in one season. In 2010 on an interview

over the phone Mark admitted to using steroids in his record-breaking season saying he used

steroids for over a decade (FoxSports). Why wasn’t he tested and if he was then why wasn’t he

punished? Steroids had been part of baseball's banned substance list since 1991, testing for major

league players did not begin until 2003, when MLB conducted surveys to help gauge the extent

of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use in the game (FoxSports).

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It’s a different story for world light heavy weight champion of the world Jon Jones. Jon is

a professional mixed martial artist in the UFC where he’s 26-1 at the young age of 33 and

arguably the best fighter of all time. He was suspended three different times. The first suspension

was for a crime, the second was the cause of a potential doping violation. The third and final

time that he was suspended he again got a doping violation, but this time tested positive for an

anabolic steroid. This stripped him of his lightweight championship belt and suspended him for

15 months. How is it far that he gets suspended, but Mark McGwire didn’t? First it could be

from them being at different times and because of the sport difference. Different sports

organizations handle stuff differently (Tyler). Olympic athletes can be tested at any time, it can

be out of the season and not even an Olympic year but if you made the team or were selected

then you can be tested at any given time (Tyler).

Steroids can put your body at risk in several different ways. Some of these ways may

seem small in significance, but others leave a lifetime effect on your body and health. The first is

it can increase risk of liver, kidney and prostate cancer. It can lead to high blood pressure, which

causes heart attacks and strokes. Abnormal cholesterol levels, which increases the chance of

heart attack and blood vessel disease. Also, premature stopping of bone development and linear

growth which is your height. It can cause damage to the liver, including the formation of blood-

filled liver cysts that can rupture, causing death. Along with that it can also cause acne and

increased risk of HIV and hepatitis because of risks from sharing needles. In males: Baldness,

breast formation, shrunken testicles, and the temporary inability to father a child. In females:

Decreased breast size, irregular menstrual cycles, and masculine appearance, particularly an

enlarged clitoris, facial and body hair, and a deep voice (Health).
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Along with risks to your body, there are many different psychological symptoms. These

include mood swings, sleep distribution. Aggressive behavior, extreme irritability, and delusions.

It can also be a cause of impaired judgment because of feelings that nothing can hurt you. Also,

can cause paranoid jealousy, Euphoria or an exaggerated feeling of well-being and then finally, it

can cause depression after you stop using steroids (Health).

Although sports are a large part of today's world, there is no need to risk your health to

play better for your fans. Steroids do not even really have control over if the player can play

better or not. Along with that, it is not worth ruining a professional career that someone has

worked for, for many years just to use an illegal steroid. Steroids or blood doping is also so

tremendously bad for your body, not only is it bad in the long run, it can cause effects almost

immediately. You can notice different mood swings almost directly after taking them. All the

other psychological problems can also be identified quicker than the health effects, but just

because they are identified quicker, does not mean that the health problems are not rapidly

occurring in your body without the person noticing.

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Works Cited

Foxsports. (2011, December 15). Baseball's most notorious steroid users. Retrieved November
19, 2020, from https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/gallery/mlb-baseball-most-notorious-
steroid-users-players-who-admitted-to-ped-use-121511

Health Effects of Steroids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2020, from

https://www.hormone.org/your-health-and-hormones/steroid-and-hormone-abuse/health-
effects-of-steroids

Tyler Spraul Director of UX & Head Trainer. (n.d.). Tyler Spraul. Retrieved November 19,

2020, from https://www.exercise.com/learn/steroids-in-sports/