Steroids in MLB free essay sample

Steroids and Other Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Major League Baseball Steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs have become a major part of sports at all levels, especially in Major League Baseball (MLB). However, the role they have played is not a positive one. Not only do steroids create an unlevel playing field, but they also have scarred the record books. In a 2005 study by USA Today, 79 percent of the 568 players surveyed said that they believe steroids have played a role †both big and small†in record-breaking performances by current high-profile players Oenkins). Therefore, steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs should be monitored more closely by Major League Baseball because they create an unfair playing field, are harmful to the users body, and cause a distortion of records and accomplishments. To better understand the role of steroids in MLB, it is beneficial to know the history of steroids. Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male sex hormone testosterone. We will write a custom essay sample on Steroids in MLB or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Anabolic refers to muscle-building, and androgenic refers to increased male sexual characteristics. Steroids refers to the class of drugs (Drugabuse. gov). In 1935, a group of German scientists, led by Adolf Butenandt, created anabolic steroids to treat testosterone deficiency. However, the first case of steroid use to increase athletic performance did not occur until 1954 and involved the Soviet Union weightlifting team (Shore). The biggest inclination of steroid use in baseball came in 1998, when a bottle of an injectable steroid, called androstenedione, was found in Mark McGwires locker. However, no punishment was issued because steroids were not on MLSs list of banned substances at the time. Four years later, in 2002, Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, instituted the games first performance-enhancing drug testing policy. Another major performance-enhancing drug scandal occurred in 2003 when a high-profile track coach said that the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) and its founder, Victor Conte, made and distributed many steroids that were unable to be detected. An ensuing investigation led to the connection of these steroids with many star athletes, such as Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield. Then, on December 13, 2007, the Mitchell Report†a 21 month long nvestigation by former Sen. George Mitchell into performance-enhancing drugs in MLB†was released and it connected 89 current and former players to steroid use, including Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite (Shore). Steroids have many useful and acceptable medicinal purposes, such as treating testosterone deficiency, combating symptoms of cancer patients, and treating delayed male puberty. But, the main purpose of athletes using performance- enhancing drugs is to gain an edge over other players, which creates an unfair playing field. However, most people will ask if performance-enhancing drugs really make a difference. To answer this question, John Brenkus states in The Perfection Point, First, in case youre wondering whether performance-enhancing substances really work, the answer is an emphatic and unambiguous Yes. The improvements can range from the subtle to the truly immense. Everything an athlete ingests is a chemicals that have more immediate and visible effects (77-8). Can a player not using steroids do the same things a player who is using steroids with hard work? The answer is no. A player using performance-enhancing drugs will always be bigger and stronger than if he was not using performance-enhancing drugs (Brenkus 89). There are also statistical facts to show the effectiveness of performance-enhancing drugs. First, there is Babe Ruth, who is third on the all-time homerun list. He averaged 46 homeruns per season from age twenty-nine to thirty-three. Yet, in the five years after that, his average dropped to 43 homeruns per season. This is common due to the fact that as an athlete ages, his performance decreases. In contrast, Mark McGwire, who confessed to using steroids throughout the second half of his career, averaged 31 homeruns per season in the first seven years of his career. Interestingly enough, his verage homerun total Jumped to 49 homeruns per season in the last seven years of his career (Brenkus 83). It should now be obvious how much of an impact performance-enhancing drugs play in the game and how much of an unfair playing field is created. The main counter argument to the first point is to allow all players to use steroids in their respective sport. Norman Frost, a professor of pediatrics and ethics at the University of Wisconsin, argued that steroids should be allowed in sports because steroids are far less dangerous than the sport itself (Driffill). There has been only ne death that occurred while playing baseball. In 1920, Roy Chapman, a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, was struck in the head by a baseball. There has only been one death directly linked to performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. In 2003, Steve Bechler, a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, collapsed and died of a heatstroke and abnormal liver function, a side effect of the performance-enhancing supplement, Ephedra. This is only one of the many effects of steroid and performance-enhancing drugs. Steroids have a grave list of side effects, especially when taken at certain oses. Therefore, allowing all players to use steroids would subject players to these potential side effects. Without question some of these substances are harmful, although theres a pretty good argument that in small, reasonable doses, the side effects are negligible (Brenkus 77). Yet, to create an edge, players do not take small, reasonable doses of performance-enhancing drugs. There are quite a number of physical side effects, as well as, mental and emotional side effects. Some physical side effects include: the reduction of the production of natural hormones, liver and idney damage or failure, sterility and shrinking of the testes, lowering of good cholesterol and raising of bad cholesterol, development of breasts (gynecomastia), acne, stunted growth, and baldness. In the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, five cases of liver damage were documented in young, healthy men, who had been on a supplement for no more than four months (Epstein and Dohrmann). The mental/emotional side effects can include roid rage, withdrawal syndrome, and addiction. Roid rage is an increase in aggressiveness and violence by people who use steroids. This is a rare symptom, but still has been seen on multiple occasions (Steroid. com). Withdrawal syndrome includes mood swings, depression, and other emotional effects caused from abrupt cessation of steroids (Dupre-Neary). Finally, addiction can become a major problem, especially because of the increased risk of Recently, the supplement industry has become Just as dangerous as the listed steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. In a 2007 study, 25 percent of 58 supplements tested would have made an athlete test positive for a banned substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). However, six years earlier, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) funded a study of 634 supplements commonly used by athletes. Of these supplements, 15 percent of them would have caused an athlete to test positive for a banned substance. In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) said that supplements could be sold without proof of effectiveness or safety and without approval from the FDA (Epstein and Dohrmann). Also, it should be known that you can own a supplement store without being a chemist, or even having a chemistry background. Such people are making and/or selling products in which they have no idea what ingredients are in their roducts. Sometimes supplement makers, prohibited by cost and their lack of expertise from creating novel ingredients, fall back on what they know works and sells: anabolic steroids and prohormones that have not yet been added to the DEAs list of controlled substances (Epstein, Dohrmann). According to Brent Musburger, a play-by-play college football analyst, said that professional athletes could use steroids under a doctors approval and supervision to improve athletic performance (Report). Yet, if performance-enhancing drugs are legal, then the athletes could go to doctors to learn how to properly use them, correct? Wrong. The reason athletes take performance-enhancing drugs in the first place is to gain edge over their fellow athletes. Why would they stop even if they knew how to properly use steroids? The answer is that they would not stop.

Extended Essay Sample Business

Extended Essay Sample BusinessThe concept of writing an extended essay may seem like an impossible undertaking. After all, what could be more tedious than to have to sit down at a desk and start writing a long text that has to consist of lengthy paragraphs. If you are like many writers, then you may have this problem.Luckily, there is an answer to the problem of writing an extended essay. This answer is the Extended Essay Sample Business. An Extended Essay Sample Business is simply a business that allows writers to learn to write a few pages at a time. Each chapter contains essays to help writers develop skills needed to improve their writing.When you begin working on this essay at the basic level, you will find that it takes just a few hours of work to complete the entire thing. For example, a few pages about good grammar and how to organize your thoughts will provide enough training for the reader to see how the process works. The next step is to add several pages about creating an outline and keeping a journal so that you can plan your future writing.From there, you can decide how many pages to include in each individual chapters. The way this works is that after writing a few pages, you can go back and insert your ideas into the text so that you know where you are with your writing efforts.At this point, you can move onto the other steps of the writing process. For example, a few pages on how to prepare an outline and use your journal will allow you to write all the way through to the end of the project without having to run from pillar to post.At the basic levels, you should be able to write several pages per day. However, the business offers other options for those who want to get to the advanced level faster.An Extended Essay Sample Business can also be purchased as an electronic course. This means that once you pay your fee, you can sit back and watch videos or listen to audio lessons as you learn to write. In most cases, the courses are very similar to regular ones that you would find on the internet.The extended essay samples offer writers a good way to start a career in writing. If you are willing to put in a little time, you can produce the next great classic.

Free Essays on Age Of Anxiety And European Culture

At its start, the Great War of 1914-1918 was a popular war. The war was even blessed by those thinkers and artists who were non-violent by nature. The war, many people sincerely believed, would be quick and glorious. The war soon gave way to bitter disillusionment. This bitterness is illustrated in the film Paths of Glory (1957) as well as in Erich Marie Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front (1929). The stupidity of the war became apparent to all those men who fought for their nation. On the home front, of course, the story was a bit different. But when soldiers, lucky enough to still be alive returned home, it was to a land which knew nothing of the Somme or Verdun. "A land fit for heroes"? Perhaps. Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a wordthe men Leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages Lasting a little while longer: Never such innocence again. (Philip Larkin, MCMXIV) It was William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) who remarked, in 1879, that "war is at best barbarism†¦. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell." But it was the British poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) who added, "war is hell and those who initiate it are criminals." This was the final verdict of the Great War, especially among the Anglo-French. "The Old Lie: Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori." The initial "vision of honor and glory to country" faded quickly and was replaced by sorrow, pity and cruelty. For the BRITISH WAR POETS, the whole affair ended in bitterness. People felt betrayed by those men who were "running the war." The horrors of the trench rotting horseflesh, mud, poor food, weapons that would not fire, poison gas and the sheer terror of waiting for death these were the images and experience of the Great War. It was t... Free Essays on Age Of Anxiety And European Culture Free Essays on Age Of Anxiety And European Culture At its start, the Great War of 1914-1918 was a popular war. The war was even blessed by those thinkers and artists who were non-violent by nature. The war, many people sincerely believed, would be quick and glorious. The war soon gave way to bitter disillusionment. This bitterness is illustrated in the film Paths of Glory (1957) as well as in Erich Marie Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front (1929). The stupidity of the war became apparent to all those men who fought for their nation. On the home front, of course, the story was a bit different. But when soldiers, lucky enough to still be alive returned home, it was to a land which knew nothing of the Somme or Verdun. "A land fit for heroes"? Perhaps. Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a wordthe men Leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages Lasting a little while longer: Never such innocence again. (Philip Larkin, MCMXIV) It was William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) who remarked, in 1879, that "war is at best barbarism†¦. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell." But it was the British poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) who added, "war is hell and those who initiate it are criminals." This was the final verdict of the Great War, especially among the Anglo-French. "The Old Lie: Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori." The initial "vision of honor and glory to country" faded quickly and was replaced by sorrow, pity and cruelty. For the BRITISH WAR POETS, the whole affair ended in bitterness. People felt betrayed by those men who were "running the war." The horrors of the trench rotting horseflesh, mud, poor food, weapons that would not fire, poison gas and the sheer terror of waiting for death these were the images and experience of the Great War. It was t...

Organizing Function at Exxon Mobil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Organizing Function at Exxon Mobil - Essay Example Organizing Function at Exxon Mobil Specifically, the essay aims to proffer an evaluation of Exxon Mobil’s organizing function of management, as it relates to physical assets and human resources. The discourse would likewise discuss an evaluation and justification of whether Exxon has optimized these organization resources for effectiveness and efficiency, as required. Company Profile Considered as one of the world’s leader in the gas and oil industry is Exxon Mobil that boasts of being â€Å"the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, providing energy that helps underpin growing economies and improve living standards around the world†. Its roots are traced 125 years ago with the drilling of the first oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The company is globally entrenched â€Å"holding exploration and production acreage in 38 countries and conducting production operations in 23 countries around the world† . Human Resources According to Higgin (1994), the organizing function is â€Å"establishing the internal organizational structure of the organization. The focus is on division, coordination, and control of tasks and the flow of information within the organization. It is in this function that managers distribute authority to job holders†. Exxon Mobil’s organizational structure is designed according to a grouping of segments from units, sections, divisions, and departments that work harmoniously towards the accomplishment of organizational goals. The management team at Exxon is comprised of the chairman and chief executive officer, as well as four senior vice presidents, with one assuming the basic responsibility as treasurer. A total of eleven members of the board of directors, where 10 were considered â€Å"independent as defined by New York Stock Exchange guidelines, and all directors stand for election at our Annual Meeting of Shareholders† (Exxon: Our board of d irectors, n.d., par. 1). The global workforce that compose the organization’s executive and staff positions are revealed as â€Å"nearly 80,000 employees, of which about 37 percent were located within the United States and 63 percent internationally† (Exxon: Our diverse workforce, n.d., par. 1). Of this number, more that 3,600 collaborately form the management and professional group who were hired from diverse countries all over the world. Exxon’s organizing strategy in terms of its human resources is â€Å"to increase the number of national employees over the life span of a project and to train them in technical and professional skills necessary for working on existing and future projects and operations† (Exxon: Our diverse workforce, n.d., par. 3).The strategy is applicable to human resources functions of recruitment, selection, training, maintenance and development of personnel. As indicated, the long term goal of the strategy is to hone the skills of talented personnel who are deemed competent and highly qualified to meet global demands of future needs of the organization. 2. Physical Assets Exxon Mobil has recognized the crucial importance of securing the physical assets of the organization. The organizing function required management to design a comprehensive inventory of all

Kant and Schopenhauer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kant and Schopenhauer - Essay Example ical imperative can be termed as an unconditional principle that that all rational human use and it is free form from influence by one’s desire or motive. Kant has given proof that human autonomy should be a presupposed state of free will. Moral action is dictated by its uniqueness of the antinomy of freedom and fundamental determination. For one to do the right thing actions intended should have an impact in the world and one has to go on and undertake it to proof that one is free from external influence. Morality demands for causality and freedom from us. One can be able to conceptualize actions in two ways. One can think in two ways but at the same time, one should be intellectually independent. An autonomous will is required if we are to act morally (Walker, 2012). Moral law is motivated by the desire to attain other interest. Rational will can only come from moral law. This principle emphasizes that people should recognize the freedom of other to act independently to promote universal sable of moral laws. Kant challenges us to act and our will regarded and while at this, we should be able to make universal laws through this princ iple. When we follow reason, the world around us will be shaped by the authority that underlies within our will as humans. The ‘End in Itself†is another maxim used by Kant. It implies that one should treat others whether in one’s personality or others as resource and at the same as an end. Simply put we should not use others as objects but we should perceive them with dignity and significance we all bear. This helps us to differentiate things that have instrumental value and those that have inherent value. In life some things are only used as objects to obtain others. We appreciate inherent things for what they are and not for what they help us accomplish. According to Kant, people have inherent in the sense that we are able to go beyond our instincts and make critical decisions concerning our lived and the society at large

Music and Social Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Music and Social Change - Research Paper Example This paper will examine the reggae music genre, discussing its impact on society. Bob Marley, as well as other notable reggae artists, has a definite influence on the society as they advocate for social change through their music. During his brief life (1945-1981), Bob Marley rose from obscurity and poverty to international superstardom. Bob Marley remains the single third world artist to attain such worldwide acclaim. Bob Marley attained this status through charisma and ambition, and was it, not for these traits, reggae music would still be restricted to Jamaican ghettoes, which was its origin. Bob’s life changed when Haile Selassie visited Jamaica. Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian Emperor, was a cherished savior of Africans in Jamaica. Bob’s ideologies shifted after spending one year in America where he witnessed the evils of the free market, as well as the oppression of capitalism while working at a major corporation (Stephens 34). After returning to Jamaica, Bob established the Rastafarianism religion, which entailed wearing his hair in dreadlocks. Rastafarianism had a significant influence on Bob’s music as he sang about how the white race oppressed Africans. Bob’s main songs that speak to social change are Buffalo Soldier and Could You be Loved. Bob’s reputation transcended the controversy associated with his practice of Rastafarianism. He was regarded as a peacemaker, which is notable through his Smile Jamaica concert that sought to reduce tensions between rival gangs associated with two of the main national parties during an election period (White 124). Bob and his best friend Bunny wrote many songs that had a monumental impact on the Jamaican and global society. Bob used his music to send off messages of hope, love, and peace (Jah). At the end of all his songs, Bob Marley used the words â€Å"Jah Rastafari† to show his belief in Jah, i.e. peace and love.  

The Internet :: Internet Web Cyberspace

The Internet In 1973, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds. The objective was to develop communication protocols which would allow networked computers to communicate transparently across multiple, linked packet networks. This was called the Internetting project and the system of networks which emerged from the research was known as the "Internet." The system of protocols which was developed over the course of this research effort became known as the TCP/IP Protocol Suite, after the two initial protocols developed: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP). (I got my information for the history of the internet at www.isoc.org In 1986, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated the development of the NSFNET which, today, provides a major backbone communication service for the Internet. With its 45 megabit per second facilitie s, the NSFNET carries on the order of 12 billion packets per month between the networks it links. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Energy contributed additional backbone facilities in the form of the NSINET and ESNET respectively. In Europe, major international backbones such as NORDUNET and others provide connectivity to over one hundred thousand computers on a large number of networks. Commercial network providers in the U.S. and Europe are beginning to offer Internet backbone and access support on a competitive basis to any interested parties. One positive issue about the internet is that it is so much easier to buy or even sell things like on eBay. If you find something that you want to sell you don’t have to put it in the news paper you can put it on the web where you would have a much better chance of selling it. My resource for this is www.ebay.com Another positive thing is if you need to talk to somebody on the phone that is another state and you don’t want to pay long distance billing and if they got the internet you can just get onto a chatroom and talk for free. My resource for this is www.msn.com. Plus another positive issue about the internet is you can meet new people. I know a girl who met a guy on the internet and they have been dating now for over 2 years and plan to get married. Some bad issues about the internet is that if you do happen to meet a person online you never really know who they are unless you meet them in person because the internet can only allow you to talk to them: it can’t let you meet them.