Steroids have been prevalent in sports for decades. The document discusses the negative impacts of steroid use, including health issues, dishonesty, and damage to reputations. It examines several high-profile baseball players who used steroids, such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, and the legal issues that arose from their use. Overall, the document argues that steroids should be banned from sports because they are harmful, promote cheating, and tarnish the integrity of the game.

1. James Bell
March 13, 2012
Research Writing
Steroids Bad for Sports
Steroids in sports have been around the game for many years. Steroids have been
around in sports for nearly five decades. So what are Steroids? “Steroids are any of a
large group of fat-soluble organic compounds, as the sterols, bile acids, and sex
hormones, most which have specifically had physiological actions and damages to the
body.” (Dictionary). So I bring up the question are Steroids good or bad for sports. There
are flaws when using steroids for Athletes in the long run after with medical issues.
Players can be suspended for number of games as well. There are strong points in which
steroids can make the game better. Many players were seeing an increase in their
numbers in every aspect of the game. Fan were tuning into baseball games to see what
was going to happen next. In my opinion I believe steroids in sports are a negative. They
are harmful for sports in favor of the few reasons given. Those reasons include; players
were being dishonest, health reasons, and ruining reputations of actual teams.
In baseball there are notable players who used the drug as a performance enhancer
to get an edge in the game. For an example some players in the Major League Baseball
(MLB) who used the enhancer include; Jose Canseco, Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramirez,
Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmerio, and Mark McGwire. (A) All these baseball players were
elite in the game and have all achieved something amazing in the game such as home-
runs or big plays. Home- runs are hits that going into the stands. Big plays can be
anything that has a huge impact on the game like a clutch hit or a crazy catch to save a
game. In the long haul most of these players were caught and suspended by MLB.
Mainly suspensions were in between ten to one hundred games depending on the

2. circumstances of the player. Some of those circumstances include if someone is a one
time offense, two time offense, and etc. Also with these athletes and their respected
careers it tarnished themselves by using the drug. They were trying to get ahead of the
pack and be the best they can be, but all they were doing was cheating.
The most known players who used steroids are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Barry Bonds was a Pittsburgh Pirate before signing to San Francisco Giants in the 90s.
Early in his career he wasn’t known for his power in home runs than he went to the
Giants when his home run numbers sky rocketed. This was when he was first speculated
of using steroids. The year 2001 Bonds broke a three year record that was held by ex
steroid user Mark McGwire in home-runs in a season with 73. Years past Bonds was
breaking records left and right. (Almanac) Some other records he broke include; most
walks, most homeruns in a career, and even most consecutive most valuable player
awards (MVP) from 2001 to 2004.
So in 2003 the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (Balco) scandal appeared for
one of the best players in the game. Barry Bonds had to testify in a Grand-Jury too pleads
his case that he didn’t receive or take steroids from his personal trainer Greg Anderson.
(Williams) Four years later the Grand Jury indicted Bonds on lied under oath during the
Balco trial. They found out he lied based on the 2006 non-fiction book Game of
Shadows. The book showed interviews with Bonds and his trainer that he had used
steroids. Also has other proof of other baseball players using steroids in the book.
(Fainaru, Williams page 2) Bonds was charged with four counts of perjury and one count
of obstruction of Justice. Perjury is the willful act of swearing false act or oath. (Law

3. Library) Count of obstruction of justice is when someone lies about what they did too
higher authorities. (Law)
The trial lasted many years for Barry Bonds. In fact it lasted all the way to 2011.
After the trial he was sentenced to just community service and be placed on house arrest
because he was only charged with obstruction of justice at the end of the trial. (Now) In
my eyes he was guilty of all the charges and shouldn’t have been let off so easy. This was
bad for sports because it gave baseball a bad name by letting its poster child use steroids
and making the grand jury to find out his lies and not baseball. It damaged the sport just
because it was a huge legal fight and it took a very long time to figure out. As a fan of the
game what Barry Bonds did was ridiculous and was a complete disgrace because he
cheated by injecting himself with the performance enhancing drug. All the records he
broke in baseball are a shame and none of the records he broke should even count
because he broke the rules of the game. An interview I conducted with a good friend of
mine Japneet Dhillion views the same opinion as mine that all the records he broke
shouldn’t even count because he cheated. (Dhillion)
The next player who most is known for using steroids is Roger Clemens. Roger
Clemens is a seven time Cy-Young winner which is a high honor for a pitcher. Clemens
also has 300 plus wins as a pitcher. Roger Clemens also had over 4,000 strikeouts as a
pitcher. He was brought up in steroids by the Mitchell report. The Mitchell report is a
paper of the number of players who used and when they used steroids. (Mitchell) Roger
Clemens was one of the best pitchers of all time. When I heard the news of him using
steroids it was truly shocking.

4. With Clemens he faced similar charges like Barry Bonds because he lied to
congress when he got asked, “Did you use steroids”, and he answered with “no”. (Chron)
When the Mitchell report came out in 2009 saying Clemens used the drug. He got
charged with six felony counts involving perjury, false statements, and obstruction of
congress. (New York Times) The trial of Roger Clemens lasted over a year, but when it
was time for sentencing they just called it a mistrial because of prosecutorial misconduct
and the lack of evidence that was given. A mistrial if you don’t know is basically a trial
that’s invalid because of the lack of information given or fundamental errors. Most fans
didn’t really care if he was acquitted of the charges because once you are linked to
steroids you are linked for life making his career a joke. In my opinion I think he used the
steroids because most players who have been named in using have used to gain an edge
over the game. Roger Clemens had a competitive edge when playing pitcher for the
Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, and the Houston Astros. Most
of his wins while using steroids were in a New York Yankee uniform.
Using steroids can affect someone in the long run with health problems. There are
number of issues that evolve steroids. One of them is liver damage. This is bad because
your life is probably cut short and will need a liver transplant to stay alive if lucky.
Another issue is acne. With acne it’s everywhere when using steroids it’s in random
places basically. The places where it shows up include your face, back, chest, and even
your butt. I believe this is horrible because it affects your appearance with people and
makes people look at you in disgust. The next issue is it stunts an individual’s growth. No
one wants this in sports because height advantage is key to sports in playing baseball,
basketball, and football as well. Another issue is a person’s sterility. The problem this

5. causes is the man not be able to get an erection and has the lack of sperm. This is why I
would never use steroids because I want to satisfy a woman. Also that’s why you might
see baseball wives divorce their husbands. So a huge issue and most likely the number
one effect in steroids is roid rage. Roid rage is people who get very aggressive when
taking large amounts of steroids and begin to flip out on people for the oddest of reasons
and causing them to get violent with whoever is in their way. (Wedro)
A certain case comes to mind when talking about steroids and roid rage. The case
is the Chris Benoit story. (Press) Chris Benoit was a professional wrestler for World
Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Chris had a case of roid rage back in 2007 that turned
tragic. The incident happened on the night of June 27th
2007. The scene was like a horror
scene in a movie Chris Benoit killed his wife and son because he went crazy because he
had a high intake of steroids and other term he had roid rage. His roid rage was so bad he
killed two people he loved and also took his own life. Chris Benoit intake level was really
high when they did an autopsy on his body. They found multiple things in his system
including, different types of steroids, pain killers, testosterone. (Montgomery) The doctor
mostly found high intakes of steroids in his system. That’s why steroids can bad for
sports because certain cases like this can happen to people who use.
A team’s reputation can be changed just because a player has to use the drug for
their own personal gain. One of the changes is other teams in the league are going to look
at your team and say “You guys cheated when we played you guys because this
individual made you win this game” This individual who did use steroids had an impact
on the games that they won. For an example in 2002 World Series in baseball the San
Francisco Giants played the Anaheim Angels. This relates to how a player can have an

6. impact on games they won because one of the Giants players was Barry Bonds a steroid
user at the time. They wouldn’t even made the World Series without Barry Bonds having
a great season and post season.
Another way a team’s reputation can be changed based on someone using steroids
is the impact on free agency that they can have. A certain player can sign with any team
that they want to in the off-season when their contracts are up. With someone using
steroids on your team it can affect where someone goes to play in the off-season. A
certain player doesn’t want to play for a cheater and when that individual who did use has
an impact on where someone plays next season. For my own personal experiences while
watching sports and sportscenter on TV I see that a team who has a steroid user on their
team a certain player will not sign with that team. That player will not sign with that team
because they don’t problems going to that new team.
There are other players in sports who have used steroids other than baseball as
well. Football players who have used steroids include; Lyla Alzado, William Thomas
Romanowki, and Shawn Merriman. (Steroid) All of these players were highly known and
were great players, but they used steroids to gain advantage on football, and we all know
that is cheating. Also mixed martial artists (MMA) have used steroids to get advantage on
their opponents and to win a specific fight. For an example in 2010 an Ultimate Fighter
Championship (UFC) fighter known as Chael Sonnen had steroids in his system after a
fight with probably the best fighter in the world Anderson Silva. (Cage Potato) They
found it in his system by a random drug test after the fight with Silva. I believe Sonnen
used steroids because he wanted to win his fight and thought there’s no way beating him
normally so he used steroids to make him think he would win.

7. In conclusion I truly believe that steroids are bad for sports. I believe steroids are
bad for sports for a few reasons. Those three reasons did include; players dishonesty to
the game that they are playing, health reasons, and a team’s reputation that is on the line.
A final remark that I would like to make is anyone who uses and plans on using don’t
because of the risks that can be brought upon from it.

8. Work Cited:
Press, Associated. "Cops Eye Roid Rage.”. MSNBC, Jan 27 2007. Web. 4 Mar 2012.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/19424899/
A, Mike. "Roid Rage.”. N.P., mar 10th 2010. Web. Mar 2nd 2012.
<http://bleacherreport.com/articles/360500-roid-rage-ranking-the-ten-best-baseball-
players-who-used-steroids>.
Now, L.A. "Barry Bonds Convicted." L.A. Now. N.p., April 13th. 2011. Web. mar. 2nd
2012. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/barry-bonds-verdict-.html
.
Williams, Lance. "Bonds Used Steroids." Sf gate. N.p., Oct 16 2004. Web. 4 Mar 2012.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/c/a/2004/10/16/MNG0D9B5K21.DTL&ao=all>.

9. Wedro, BenJamin, ed. "Anabolic Steroids." medicine. Net. Steroids, n.d. Web. 4 Mar
2012. <http://www.medicinenet.com/anabolic_steroid_abuse
Dictionary , . "Steroid." . N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar 2012.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steroid>.
New York Times, . "Clemens Lied about doping." . New York Times, 19th Aug. 2010.
Web. 5 Mar 2012.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/sports/baseball/20clemens.html>.
Mitchell, George. "Mitchell." Baseball Almanac. N.p., 13th Dec 2007. Web. 5 Mar 2012.
<http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Mitchell_Report.shtml>.
Almanac, Baseball. "Barry Bonds 73 Home Runs." Baseball Almanac. N.p., n.d. Web. 5
Mar 2012. <http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats0.shtml>.
Fainaru-Wada, Mark, , and Williams, Lance. Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO,
and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports. New York, NY: Gotham
Publishing, 2006.

10. Law , Find. "US COde Chapter 73 Obstruction of Justice." . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar 2012.
<http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/73>.
Law Library, The Electric. "legal Definition of Perjury." . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar 2012.
<http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/p032.htm>.
Montgomery, James. "Chris Benoit had Steroids." . N.p., 17 July 2007. Web. 6 Mar 2012.
<http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1564953/chris-benoit-had-steroids-his-
system.jhtml>.
Steroid , E. "Steroids in Football." . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar 2012. <http://www.e-
steroid.com/steroid-articles/steroids-in-football.html>.
Chron, . "Clemens Defense." . N.p., 13th July 2011. Web. 6 Mar 2012.
<http://blog.chron.com/clemens/2011/07/clemens-defense-counters-governments-claims-
in-opening-statements/>.
Dhillion, Japneet. Personal Interview. 01 MAR 2012.