Proposals, 5 Sources – Marty Bell

Posted on February 23, 2012 by martyb68

Proposal:

The topic I have decided to research is steroids actually being a good thing for sports. I believe that my research will prove that making steroids legal in sports will benefit the athletes and the leagues. Anabolic steroids are performance enhancing drugs that are used to build muscle. They are not allowed in sports even though many athletes are using them. Many people are against steroids because they believe it is unfair or unsafe. I plan to research how making steroids legal is actually more fair by evening the playing field, since many athletes are already using them. I will also hope to find that it would be less dangerous for athletes because if they want steroids they will take them regardless. Therefore, having a doctor administer the steroids will make them as safe as possible. Along with the benefits to individual athletes I will look at how legalizing steroids will benefit the sport as a whole. I plan to find evidence that it will increase ticket sales and interest in sports. More specifically I will be looking at these benefits in relation to professional baseball.

Sources:

1. Evening the Playing Field: http://www.steroid.com/steroids-in-sports.php

Summary: This source provides information on how long steroids have been being used by athletes. It provides information on how steroid use was started in many sports. It gives a detailed background on the use of steroids by professional athletes.

How I intend to use: I plan on using this information to show the reader that steroids are already being used by many athletes regardless of it being illegal. I hope to prove that making steroids legal is just evening the playing field for the athletes that follow the rules.

2.Home Runs: http://webusers.npl.illinois.edu/~a-nathan/pob/BRJ-Steroids-v3.pdf

Summary: The source provides information on how steroids increase muscle mass. It proves the relationship between increased muscle mass and increased bat speed. It then ties increased bat speed into increased batted ball speed. To conclude it shows how batted ball speed directly correlates to home run production.

How I intend to use: I intend on using this source to prove the obvious; steroids increase home run production in professional baseball. Everyone knows that viewers like big hits and home runs. Showing that steroids increase home run productions will prove that steroids increase interest in the game.

3.  Negative Effects: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/04/27/long.term.anabolic.steroid.use.may.weaken.heart.more.previously.thought

Summary: This source describes the negative effects of using steroids. It shows that the left ventricle is weaker in those who use steroids. The left ventricle is the hearts main pumping chamber. It describes the significant link between steroid use and heart impairment.

How I intend to use: Even though I am trying to prove that steroids should be legal in sports I will acknowledge the opposing argument. I will show the negative outcome of using steroids. This will provide me with a more complete understanding of steroids. Knowing the negatives along with the positives will allow reader to see the pros and cons and decide which has more better.

4. Don’t Inject: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=e7d340fe-ac10-4c55-b1d8-0914c072d7d4%40sessionmgr13&vid=25&hid=8&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=10831460

Summary: This source describes the dangers of dirty needles. Dirty needles are a huge cause of spreading infections and diseases. Dirty needles account for a third of all reported AIDs cases. They are also the reason most people who use needles long term get hepatitis C.

How I intend to use: I will use this article to prove my point that legalizing steroids is the safer than the current use of steroids. I will explain how athletes who want steroids will use them regardless and it is unsafe for them to inject them on their own. I’ll use this source to explain that making steroids legal and allowing doctors to be the ones to administer them is the safest.

5. Mark McGwire:

Summary: This is a source that shows how ticket sales went up when Mark McGwire signed a three-year contract with the St.Louis Cardinals. The next year the Cardinals added 600,000 ticket sales. In the 1998 season the Cardinals broke their record for most fans in a season with 3.22 million fans. By acquiring McGwire and the attendance rising from the 1997 to 1998 season he produced about 5.5 million dollars in revenue.

How I intend to use: I will use this article on Mark McGwire to show that steroids benefit the MLB. It has been admitted by Mark McGwire himself that he used steroids. Mark McGwire increasing ticket sales shows that steroids will actually bring baseball more fans and a higher profit. I will provide this as a specific example of the positive effect of allowing steroids in baseball.

 

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4 Responses to Proposals, 5 Sources – Marty Bell

  2. davidbdale's avatar davidbdale says:
    February 26, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Marty, you haven’t asked for additional feedback on your revised topic. Do you seek it? Let me know.

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  3. davidbdale's avatar davidbdale says:
    February 27, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    I’m back from evening classes now, Marty. Let’s take a look at your proposal and sources.

    I’m happy for its counterintuitive nature. Considering the enormous effort expended in a flawed program to curtail use and monitor abuses, it seems reasonable to simplify the situation by eliminating the resistance. This is not the first time I’ve been offered a paper advocating legal steroid use, of course. In fact, not long ago when I couldn’t talk a student out of a vague proposal to tighten restrictions, I demanded he write a defense of total permission. His work was just as vague, but I found the different angle refreshing anyway.

    Obviously steroids wouldn’t be in use at all if they didn’t benefit the athletes, so that shouldn’t need to be proved. Or should it? What about those nutty braided ropes with the magnetic voodoo the players wear around their necks? Some of them swear by that nonsense. OK, so prove the advantages of steroids. Do it for pitchers as well as hitters. The pitching side is too often neglected.

    Explain to me the logic of “evening the playing field,” Marty. If you and I are equally strong and spend the same time in the gym but you start juicing, haven’t you just un-evened the playing field? If juicing makes you the equal of a player who has always been stronger, that may feel like an even field to you, but to him it feels unfair, and to me it does too. If your argument is that everyone who juices is eventually equally strong, I’m afraid I’d have to challenge that too. The way you say it, the field only gets even for the athlete who starts juicing to get even with those who already are. But, of course, you might never catch up if they don’t stop.

    Now, about having doctors shoot the juice, do you need legislation for this, or just a rule change from MLB? Do you think if baseball lifted its ban on steroids doctors would start scrambling for the business of injecting ballplayers? They might if it were legal. But would it be legal suddenly for everyone to juice in your plan? In other words, baseball bans them because they’re illegal, right? not because baseball has a conscience? Do you trust team doctors to do what’s safest for players when it conflicts with what’s most expedient and immediately successful? And really, isn’t what’s safest not injecting the stuff in the first place? They’re not hazard-free in anybody’s estimation.

    And that’s the last rub I want to suggest for tonight. Players can survive in the league today who might not stand a chance if most of the players enhanced. Which means there will be mounting pressure on every player to juice. Which means juicing will become almost mandatory. And when it does, you’ll have a league that can’t duck the responsibility for the violence and rage now associated with use, the diseases, syndromes and ailments that will likely develop; the suicides, depression, paranoia, and other mental illnesses that may be attributable to long-term or heavy use.

    2. Home runs are popular, and I guess harder pitched balls leave the yard faster when they’re struck well, but in general, won’t juiced pitchers counteract juiced batters and restore that balance, keeping the numbers the same?

    5. Did McGwire bring out fans by doing something inherently exciting (probably) or by doing something unprecedented (no doubt!). If hitting 70+ homers in a season becomes commonplace, how will that deliver fans to the ballpark?

    I offer these rebuttals (and all my comments really, Marty) to keep you on your toes and always thinking, “What objections will my reader have while following my argument that I need to satisfy?”

    Finding truly objective sources will be difficult. Steroid.com most likely has a bias?

    Nice work so far. See you tomorrow!

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