Steroids? Good Grief.

Sports games are suppose to be fair competitions between players who work hard to become successful and to outshine their opponents. However, with the introduction of steroids to sports, the idea of a fair competition is distorted. Many players now cheat their opponents, teammates, and their own bodies by using steroids to enhance their muscles without the hard work that was once required. The use of steroids have drastically increased in the numbers of players throughout the years. The majority of steroid use has been involved with baseball. It can be seen from this cartoon that Stahcer from The Columbia Dispatch has a strong argument about this issue. First of all, it is evident that the two characters in this cartoon are wearing baseball gloves, inferring that they are playing baseball. Next, the use of ethos in this characters helps establish the credibility of Stahcer’s argument. Everyone knows who Charlie Brown is. Charlie Brown is a very popular cartoon of an innocent, little boy who hangs out with a group of innocent children. The innocence of Charlie Brown’s character in this cartoon establishes Stahcer’s argument that the use of steroids is very common nowadays. This argument is supported by Lucy’s quote bubble that says, “Good grief…Not you, too?”

Steroid use has not only changed the way that players play the game; it also changes the perspective of inspiring fans that watch their games. Especially with the young children who look up to certain athletes as their role models, the use of steroids could influence the children to do the same. This negative influence now makes the society frown upon athletes who decide get involved with steroids. In a parent's perspective, they don't want their children to receive bad influences, so to prevent them from the influence of steroid use, parent's are more likely to prohibit their children from attending sports games. So the use of steroids can lead to the decrease in the number of fans the athlete will have and it could also lead to a bad reputation for the team that he or she plays on. With the bad reputation, the team will not be favored in any way, which could lead to a decrease in motivation in the teammates to do well and gain back acceptance from fans.

The use of steroids have many consequences that don't just affect the player but it also effects their teammates, coaches, and even their fans. If a professional athlete is found to be taking steroids, serious measures ought to be taken to aware others to not partake in such an activity. The punishment should be the banishment of playing professional for the rest of their life. This severe consequence can scare athletes away from using steroids to ensure they will be able to play.