Yet another black eye to the culture of athlete worship. A recent cover story in Sports Illustrated recounts how and why a baseball super star like Alex Rodriguez felt lured to the dark side of steroid use, earning him a place alongside other fallen players like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.
Hazards of Celebrity Culture
The dangers of these athletes’drug-use far extend the physical cons on their bodies. The deeper peril is that children are being exposed to hero disappointment on a grand scale, or worse, are being desensitized to drug abuse. If these heroes of America’s pastime can possibly get away with alleged illegal use of illicit performance drugs and still have a chance at hall of fame induction, what’s the big deal?
In the real world, failing a drug test given by your employer would most likely result in job termination. No matter your job performance—top seller or an average Joe minding your business—your choice went against your employer’s expectations.
As an adult, one hopes to be less susceptible to peer-pressure when it came to drugs, even if the pressure only came from one’s own self-doubt, as Rodriguez claims. The pressure to live up to his baseball rock-star reputation, not to mention the monumental paycheck he was garnering, is what he said lead him to turn to experiment with banned substances during the 2001-’03 seasons, according to the February 16th Sports Illustrated article.
Drug Use Reprimand…?
In the first year of mandatory testing, 104 players tested positive, approximately 9% of the 1,198 players tested. That may sound like a small amount, but consider those numbers from a different perspective—that’s 90 students from a school with 1,000 pupils testing positive for drugs. More than likely, a scenario like this would have school administrators scrambling to find not only the cause for such self-destructive behavior but possibly ways to expel the students.
There are no known cases of permanent expulsions for any professional athlete from their team. What sanctions will be imposed then on these ‘role-models’--fines? How much can it really hurt a millionaire? Even if they were kicked out of the game for life, these players are rich beyond our wildest imagination; they are probably financially comfortable for the rest of their lives and the worst thing that could happen to them is their name wouldn’t be voted into the hall of fame.
Consequences
Disturbing stories have surfaced of high school athletes taking steroids, putting their still-growing bodies in physiological jeopardy. Of the thousands of student athletes, only a handful will ever make it to the big leagues, leaving those who abused steroids with any lasting side-effects—those on their bodies and their conscious—and nothing more to show for it.
Rodriguez states he stopped taking steroids in early 2004, seemingly just after baseball talks of possible random testing. Could the timing just have been a coincidence? Unfortunately, the clear message this sends to America’s youth is: “only stop if you might get caught.” How disheartening for any parent, teacher and coach who has spent their life’s work encouraging and implementing hard work, and taking satisfaction in a job well and honestly done. No doubt, putting professional athletes on pedestals has lead to a young person’s damaged perception of success.
The Bigger They Come…
Rodriguez is touted as a natural phenomenon, even as a scouted high school kid just playing the game for the love of it. He made it as far as any baseball player could dream—the statistics speak for themselves, the contracts have been dizzying. Yet it wasn’t enough. He made the choice that, although won’t erase all those numbers, will taint his reputation for all seasons.
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