Change

Baseball has been scrutinized on another level and the affecting results are to be determined. It may take a long time for the real truth to come out over the last fifteen to twenty years, but in all reality steroid use is a worldwide issue. All sports levels from professional, college, and high school are using it on a different scale.

If there is going to be a designated steroid test for professional athletes, than maybe it should also be brought into the collegiate and high school ranks. Any athlete that wants a boost or upper hand to prosper is going to do all they can to improve. When their work ethic starts to fail and they grow tired of their coaches daily abuse, what do you think they are going to do? Quit is an alternative some athletes do, but steroid use has become a growing problem especially on the high school level.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger recently shot down a proposed bill to implement steroid testing in the high school ranks, it makes you scratch your head for obvious reasons. Here is a guy that?s career was propelled by steroids, and even though it wasn?t banned at the time, it destroyed a lot of the early users lives. He has seen it first hand what the effects can be, but yet pushed it aside.

Another problem with athletics is the advice athletes are receiving. Most athletes have some sort of workout regimen that they follow, and then before or afterwards they have ten thousand pills they are suppose to take. These trainers are telling when and how often to take every pill in the book. More than often when a professional athlete tests positive for a drug, they automatically will say I had no clue. Nine times out of ten, I?d agree with that, because why research when you?re the one paying your trainer? Still athletes should have some sort of responsibility to ask questions, or figure out for themselves what they are taking.

Steroid use isn?t just a problem amongst athletes, as you can go into any average gym and point out users. In fact, if you go to a gym on a consistent basis, it wouldn?t be shocking to hear about someone approaching you about taking steroids. It?s around that much, and something needs to be done to cut it down.

David Boston recently failed another test for steroids, and the NFL is still researching a leak of information on nine current or former Carolina Panthers that allegedly bought steroids from an undisclosed source. Steroids may be illegal in the NFL, but there is an obvious loophole in the testing. Since testing is done on specified dates an athlete can do almost anything, and stop a few months before the test. On the other hand maybe the NFL should include the same sort of testing they have for first and second time violators, and that is random tests multiple times during the season. That system has been very effective, and often has pushed violators out of the league because they can?t get their problems solved.

The media can keep dwelling on Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, but in all actuality they are old news. If they have done it, it was five to seven years to late. McGwire is out of baseball, and Bonds may have a year or two left at best. They need to focus on the next generation and prepare the athletes that are on the verge of using steroids not to. Waning out the usage is going to be a long process but can happen if a system is implemented.

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