From an early age children are told to “dream big” and that “nothing is impossible”. When you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up the most common answer is to be a professional athlete and from an elder’s standpoint to tell them their dream is more than likely unattainable due to the difficulty of the physical requirements, would be contradictory. So we the older generations allow these children to look up to these professional athletes as role models and dream of someday being like them and being able to play in a professional sports arenas, but who exactly are these kids looking up to? Today’s professional athletes consist of nothing more than being greedy, dishonest, and dramatic. To be quite honest if these are the types of people being looked up to, then our country has a big problem that lies ahead.
In a 2008 study 16,500 athletes held jobs as competitive athletes and sport competitors. In the same study 16 percent of the athletes were found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs, nearly one in every five. Even with that number deceptively seeming high, professional athletes are one of a kind. They go into their respected leagues with the raw natural talent needed to succeed in their sport; however that doesn’t seem to be good enough for them. The thought of the god given talent these athletes possess not being enough to fit their standards is disgusting to think about. Here these individuals are given the opportunity most people dream about and all they do with it is taint the purity of the sports world. It seems like now days you can’t turn on sports or a sports talk show without hearing about a new athlete that has been found to be using performance enhancing drugs. In my opinion once an athlete has been found guilty of these acquisitions they have not only negatively affected the purity of their sport but have put any record he or she may have broken in question. A recent example would be when baseball superstar Barry Bonds was discovered to be using performance enhancing drugs his whole career. Bonds, who is the league’s all-time leader in home runs now surfaces the question if his legacy is legitimate. I can sure tell you he would not have my vote to get into the Hall of Fame. These are the athletes that need to be made an example of. John Dawson writer in World Express magazine stated, “Imagine that day in the future when Bonds walks to the podium and begins his acceptance speech. Will he thank his trainer, Greg Anderson, who, according to leaked grand jury testimony, helped Bonds acquire undetectable anabolic drugs known as the “cream” and the “clear” and has spent months in prison rather than testify against Bonds?” This brings to mind the idea that it is more than just the players and this foreshadows only bad things for the sport world’s future.
There is no doubt that steroids and performance enhancing drugs are getting out of hand in all professional sports, but how the consequences will be determined is still up in the air. If I were the commissioner of any sport I would make it an automatic one year suspension for any athlete caught taking these substances. Whether they were first time offenders or third time offenders, and if they just so happen to be third time offenders they would be banished from the league indefinitely. These punishments may seem harsh but something must be done to save the purity of the sports we all know and love. If something is not done soon steroids will be a requirement to get into professional sports, eliminating true talent all together. There must be some type of movement in the sports world to eliminate all dishonest athletes that take the easy way out and the sooner the better. As far as the future purity of the league, well that remains to be seen.
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