The Steroid Controversy in Baseball

When is the last time that you can remember that you actually watched a professional baseball game, and there wasn't a comment about steroids? Or even the last time you watched a game and said to your self, "that guy must be on steroids." That is the problem with baseball today. Everything that happens is based off of steroids. The problem has been getting better as of late, but in the past it has been really bad. I personally can't stand to hear anymore about steroids, but I also feel it is not that big a deal.

Everyone understands how the game of baseball is played, and anyone that has played the game understands that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. Even those that haven't played the game usually have an idea about how hard it is. Just imagine. You are armed with a tiny bat, and a pitcher is hurling a ball no bigger than the size of your bat at you at around 90+ miles per hour. This doesn't really sound too easy to hit. I don't care what drug you take, or what steroid you are on, it is not going to make you hit the baseball any better. If you were to give the average the chance to hit a 100 pitches thrown by Rodger Clemens, that person might make contact with 3, and by some bizarre chance might accidentally hit one in fair territory. Now give that same person and I bet that he still manages to make contact with only 3 and hit only one fair. Face it steroids are not going to make you hit the ball.

Now so far it seems I have no problem with steroids what so ever, but that is not a true statement. Most players use steroids because they make the healing process a lot shorter. Now if everyone were allowed to use this process I would have no problem with it. The truth is though that some players do follow the rules, and when they are injured, they don't rely on steroids. This is where my problem arises.

I also have a problem with the fact that steroids are used to increase your muscular ability. The only problem I have with this is that steroids don't just make you stronger. You still need to work at it to increase your muscle strength. There are other supplements out there such as protein, that are designed to aid in increasing your muscular strength. Now with baseball having steroids banned, I find it very unnecessary when players still use steroids for their muscular ability. However if it were not banned by baseball I would have no problem with it, because every player would have the ability to use steroids. It would be those who decided not to use them who would lose out on the results.

The steroid controversy is something that has created a lot of commotion, but is it really over nothing? It ha been proven that steroids increase your muscular ability, and give you the chance to heal from injury, or just normal wear and tear, a lot quicker. But steroids will never make anyone hit a baseball. Hitting a baseball is quite possibly the hardest thing to do in sports. It is all about the proper timing and excellent hand eye coordination, which you can only be born with. Steroid use should be banned by baseball, as it is, because of the devastating effects it can have on the body. But I don't feel that steroid use is that big a deal, because a player knows the health risks before taking the steroids. There are also other ways to achieve the effects of steroids without using them, but they just take a little bit longer.