Steroid Use in Sports

Riley Sheahan

Steroids are being used all over the world for personal benefits no matter what the consequences are. Professional athletes are continuously buying their muscles so they can play better on game day. It’s hard to believe how good of a player these athletes are when most of them are all taking growth hormones or steroids to perform better. Today’s day and age this is the new “popular” thing to do. And sadly these are athletes who are making millions a year to play a sport and yet they have to cheat and set a bad example to people who look up to them. In 2012 1.3% of seniors in high school reported they used steroids. While .8% of sophomores admitted and .6% of 8th graders said they used steroids. These percentages are only showing the amount of people who reported and admitted they used steroids. Think about how many people in the world use steroids and keep it to themselves just like the professional athletes try and do.

It’s hard to believe that sports are coming down to cheating and taking the easy way out instead of putting in hard work and getting your strength yourself. For an example, Barry Bonds who was a professional baseball who played his first seven years with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then his last 15 years with San Francisco had a tremendous batting average. According to ESPN, “Barry Bonds has earned 172 million dollars in salary over his career.” Giving someone this much money a year in the first place is ridiculous and second of all, the opportunity cost of taking steroids is getting getting caught and or potentially getting killed. MLB watchers knew something was happening because his performance was incredible, but clearly he got so much attention and brought thousands of dollars money into San Francisco because everyone wanted to see him play and catch his home run balls. Barry Bonds 715th home run ball which got him 2nd on the home run home list was sold for 500,000 dollars on Ebay. According to Profit and Loss, “Revenues have increased from around $65 million in 1992 to about $171 million last season.” As you can see, Barry Bonds got millions of dollars to come into San Francisco because of his performance. This goes along with all the athletes who were on steroids, their performance brings money to the city because everyone wants to see this person perform on game day. And of course, their performance is fascinating which attracts people around the world. Not only is Barry Bonds the “bad guy” who used steroids along with bringing a lot of attraction into the city he plays for, but it’s the fact that citizens look up to these athletes and the opportunity cost is only resulting in something bad for the user of steroids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljOC0L1Bq8E