Coinciding with the growth of
television, tobacco companies
used advertising to sell sex, style
and attitude in every home in
America. Advertising became
reality; the tobacco industry took
30 seconds to convince the viewing
audience that a cigarette can
be as healthy as an apple.
And now, larger-than-life
superstars are accomplishing
feats that once were the stuff of
dreams. The sight of these
extraordinary athletes obtaining
fame artificially, through steroid
use, sends the wrong message to
the youth of America.
“Immature athletes get too big,
too fast,” said Bucks student and
former quarterback for King’s
College Bob Speer. “No one ever
looks at the negatives.”
Barry Bonds, the former outfielder
for the Pittsburgh Pirates
and San Francisco Giants, has
been the center of the steroid
controversy over the past several
years.
Since the publishing of the
book “Game of Shadows” in
2006 by the San Francisco
Chronicles’ Mark Fainaru-Wada
and Lance Williams, baseball
fans around the world have
come to suspect that Bonds may
have knowingly used performance-
enhancing drugs to attain
baseball immortality. Bonds has
denied using steroids.
While allegedly using anabolic
steroids, which are synthetic hormones
injected into the body to
promote the storage of proteins
and the growth of tissue, Bonds
saw an increase in weight and
strength, as well as success.
After allegedly starting the
hormones in 2000, Bonds would
go on to win the National League
MVP twice, the Silver Slugger
award twice, and made the All-
Star team three times. He was a
part of the National League
Champions, the Giants, in 2002,
achieved the single-season
homerun record with 73 in 2001
and became the all-time homerun
leader in 2007 with 762 balls
over the fence.
Riding Barry’s big bat, ESPN
dedicated around-the-clock coverage
to Bonds chasing both the
single-season and all-time homerun
records, showing every atbat
the slugger had, interrupting
everything from tennis matches
to the fifth re-run of Sports
Center until the records were
broken.
Stadiums all across America
sold out with patrons hoping to
catch the record-setting long ball
and sell it on eBay. He was the
hottest topic on every sports
show and news channel. To the
more mature audience, he was
the poster boy for performanceenhancing
drugs; to the younger
audience he became an icon for
glory.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
steroid use among high school
students more than doubled
from 1991 to 2003.
The young adults see this
goliath hit every ball and they
want to be just like him. He’s big,
he’s strong, and he’s good at
baseball.
Steroid-using players can
influence young minds with the
idea that achieving your wildest
dreams can be done through synthetic
hormones and not hard
work and dedication.
The problem with steroids is
the side effects. Men who take
steroids can over time develop
breasts, have their testicles
shrink, decrease their sperm
count, become infertile or impotent,
get severe acne, become
bald, have an enlarged heart and
suffer heart attacks and delusions.
When these young minds are
supposed to be reading about
these drugs in their biology text
book, they watch these players
advertise their big muscles and
huge paychecks. From 2000 to
2007, Bonds is estimated to have
made more than $115 million, his
reward for unparalleled dominance.
The false logic of “seeing is
believing” may have corrupted
the future of America’s pastime.
Distrust, deceit and arrogance
have stained the game. This era
in baseball has lead to unfair criticism
and false accusations.
Every athlete who has excelled
no longer receives praise, but
scrutiny. The only justice may
come when the participants in
the steroid experiment feel the
long-term side effects of these
substances.
Maybe 30 years from now the
offspring of Generation X-Box
will ask why steroids were so
popular. And just like the baby
boomers told us about smoking,
ignorance is bliss.