The Herald

Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: Sports

Barry Bonds

Marion Jones

Roger Clemons

Daniel Sampson
Sports Editor

Countless numbers of athletes in all sports are glamorized on a center stage because of their phenomenal athletic abilities and achievements. But for a very few, extra "juice" is needed for them to accomplish such achievements.
New cases of athletes using banned human growth hormones/performance-enhancing drugs commonly known as anabolic steroids have been deteriorating not only their reputation but their sport(s).
There are numerous excuses or personal accounts athletes, physicians, and specialist can iterate towards why they use or distribute banned substances, but, at the end of their clarification, the SUBSTANCES are still BANNED. And still constantly, athletes that have been caught by their wrong doing fight the judgment of the laboratory tests' as false.
Majority of the cases being publicized comes from one of America's favorite past time, baseball. Since 2003, testing for steroids enhanced in Major League Baseball and so did the amount of positive test results. For the main proportion of the years since 2003, MLB multi-time MVP Barry Bonds has been the focal point around the steroids issue. Exact clarity on why isolate him is undetermined, but putting up record breaking figures in such a short time span, at an age of unusual results and being stereotyped as arrogant may bring a little clarification to his "single spotlight". But now since the well awaited Mitchell Report surfaced, Bonds has gained a few comrades that have helped diffuse the spotlight that was mainly adjusted towards him (at least for the time being).
Roger Clemens is considered the greatest pitcher of his era and now considered the biggest name linked to the steroids scandal as a possible user of banned steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Along with Bonds, Clemens is denying that he has ever used steroids. Also, like Bonds, Clemens seemed to have had a cakewalk right into the Hall of Fame before the steroids' allegations but now his fate to be shrine into Cooperstown is in jeopardy. As the old saying goes, Clemens and Bonds is both innocent until proven guilty.
Former Olympic Gold medalist Marion Jones unfortunately has her fate already marked down as guilty by her own confessions. In early October of 2007, Jones held a press conference testifying that she used the steroid known as "the clear" as she prepared for the 2000 Summer Games in Sidney, Australia. Two years earlier, Jones was suing the owner of BALCO for falsely accusing her of using performance enhancing drugs.
Many specialist and doctors believe the risks outweigh the rewards when it comes to anabolic steroid(s) use among athletes. In Marion Jones case, she may have to surrender her three gold medals and two other bronze medals won at the Sidney Olympics. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens may have their fame and records deteriorated or acclaimed beside an asterisk mark which symbolizes tainted records. Beyond all the despair athletes may encounter from using the banned substances, the fact is, anabolic steroids can cause serious physical and psychological side effects.
Dr. Gary Wadler, a New York University School of Medicine professor told ESPN side effects of the use of anabolic steroids may not cause danger until months, years and even decades after taken.
"There can be whole panoply of side effects, even with prescribed doses," said Dr. Wadler. "Some are visible to the naked eye and some are internal. Some are physical, others are psychological. With unsupervised steroid use, wanton 'megadosing' or stacking (using a combination of different steroids), the effects can be irreversible or undetected until it's too late."
Possible physical side effects for men include the decrease in size of the testicles, difficulty or pain while urinating or impotence (the dictionary gives a clear understanding of the word). Women on the other hand may encounter physical side effects which include growing facial hair and menstrual cycle changes. Users with continuous usage of anabolic steroids can experience side effects from merely acne to life endangering premature heart attacks and strokes.
Anabolic steroids are regrettably having a major impact on the world of sports. However a call to action such as the Mitchell Report and programs that educate the public about the substances may help abolish the use of anabolic steroids in sports today.

Danial Sampson is a sophomore journalism major in the Tavis Smiley School of Public Affairs and is a staff writer for the TSU Herald.

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