Steroids Impact On Athletics Today


I have actually been waiting to write something on the topic of sports and steroids. As a former athlete I played NAIA football and was involved heavily with an NAIA basketball team, I have known a few semi-pro wrestlers, and I have never had interaction with any pro athletes.

To me you have to take Bonds, Benoit, and Jones with a grain of salt because they all perform a different function and play a different sport. My opinion on Bonds is this: As the guy got older he used supplements and maybe even steroids, but there weren't many substances that were illegal in baseball when he did. Also the main point people are overlooking is that steroids don’t make your hand eye coordination better; you can’t hit a ball better because you have more muscle. It doesn’t work that way. He may be able to hit harder, but not better. I have never been able to hit a 90 mph fastball and if I did all the steroids on the planet it wouldn’t help. He is naturally good and was supplemented with some stuff that made him stronger, be it steroids or sports supplements.

Marion Jones situation is a little more finite because she had admitted them and now they are tearing her apart. You know sprinters and runners don’t get much attention anyways. I mean, name five off the top of your head other the Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis. I can’t. So even though she may be well off, a sprinters life in the sport is short and she was taking every advantage to create longevity and be able to compete at the highest level possible. For her I do believe it enhanced her situation and made her a better athlete.

The final person Chris Benoit is what I am most adamant about, I’m a bit biased because I am a huge wrestling fan and have been my whole life. The reality of the situation is wrestling is not a sport, its acting and its entertainment. What those guys do to their bodies is their own business. It doesn’t hurt me when Chris Masters does steroids, it doesn’t hurt me if he doesn’t either.

Its entertainment and when I watch I want to see the bigger guys with better genetics than myself. The specific case of Benoit is a little tricky cause people want to blame steroids, I have known quite a few people who do steroids, but I personally have never done them. I have seen mood swings and my friends acting a little different while going through a cycle. But never have I seen someone get stupid violent or even try to hurt someone. Benoit had something else going on that no one will ever understand, and instead of people just saying man he was screwed up they are looking to steroids as a scapegoat. Let’s face it, everyday someone that isn’t on steroids performs a horrible unthinkable crime. People need to stop blaming steroids in this case and place the responsibility on the man who was crazy and killed his family.

To close I would say that steroids have been and are part of the sports culture. I believe people take it way too serious. You know Barry Bonds hits baseballs for a living, he doesn’t save lives. Hell he doesn’t even help people. Athletes are athletes and they play GAMES for millions of dollars. If they want to destroy their bodies then so be it. If Bonds or any athlete in pro sports dies it doesn’t affect my life. It doesn’t really affect anyone lives. We put these guys on pedestals and worship them. Our congress is looking into baseball to figure out whether people are abusing steroids. Isn’t there a war going on? Isn’t their poverty to be fought? Isn’t unemployment up? Isn’t there a kid tomorrow that will wake up without parents?

That’s who I want my government to be worried about and not some hack athlete who couldn’t even graduate college and uses steroids. We live in a train wreck society where we aren’t looking for positive. We want to see who will crash next. It saddens me that it’s like that. I hope that someday we can stop caring about what athletes are doing and stop being worried about the integrity of a freaking GAME. Take all that energy and focus it on something that could be positive. I wish ESPN would spend all the money they do on Bonds, Benoit, Marion and put it towards a youth football league or something that would actually make a difference.