My Steriods in Baseball news article

[Tanman19az]

Hey guys! I dont know if you remember that poll we had several weeks ago, but it was about the presence of steriods in baseball and the reactions of the fans. Well, I finally finished it and I just wanted to let you guys read it. Some of you responded to my PMs in time to get your full names in the article, but for those of you that didn't I just made up some names for you. Sorry if that bothers you. Once again thanks for your comments and your help with this article. Oh and just so you know this was for a college news writing class so I'm not an expert at writing news articles



Fans React to Steroid Use in Baseball

Baseball has been infused with a very popular drug that increases strength yet the sport of baseball is losing its strength among fans.

Professional sports are unique. Billions of dollars are spent on them each year. Yet, neither the team owners nor the players are in the driver’s seat. The fans hold that position because they are the cause of the revenue.

Fans are not interviewed after each game to express their feelings. Fans are just ushered back and forth from the concession stand to their seats. However, fans care and they like to show it.

In an online forum, 50 baseball fans were polled on whether steroid use among major league players has affected their interest in America’s pastime or not. 37 percent of the fans say that their interest in baseball has declined because of the publicized use of steroids among its players. Kyle Franklin from Alberta, Canada is among this percentile.

“Steroids ruin the game,” Franklin said. “It should be illegal for baseball players to use it. Home runs are meant to be few and far between, if every person hit a homerun at every at bat baseball would be no better than basketball. All games would end having 90 runs.”

Another fan thinks that baseball shouldn’t be played in the chemistry labs, but the focus should be placed back on the field where it belongs.

“The game degrades when everyone is swinging for the fences, Adam Giese said, a baseball fan on the blu-ray.com forum. “There was the short term growth in popularity, but it wouldn't last if steroids continued to go unchecked. Steroids do not win World Series championships.”

Fans also tend to bring up different theories of the role that steroids has on the sport of baseball. A Detroit fan, Justin Jorgensen, believes that steroid use was ignored by the Major League Baseball commissioner intentionally after baseball’s strike in 1994 to boost interest in baseball again. Consequently, the home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire began 3 years later.

Outside of the online poll, Drew Hopkins, a lifetime fan of the San Francisco Giants, doesn’t know who he can trust anymore. Even players like Roger Clemens and Andy Petitte, whom he considered as great role models of baseball, have been accused of steroid use. He feels that steroids “hasn’t yet destroyed baseball’s reputation, but it has tainted it especially the players.”

“Baseball and the media need to move on,” Hopkins said, in response to the media’s exaggeration of the use of steroids in baseball. “I am sick of hearing about it. The media loses focus on the game. Baseball isn’t about steroids. I want to hear about baseball being played.”

Christopher Zabel, a blu-ray.com member, also agrees that the media puffs up the steroids issue in baseball. He feels that baseball is held at a higher standard than all of the other sports especially football.

“The media would have never made a big deal about it if several known steroid users had not broken several long standing home run records,” Zabel said, in response to the publicity around the steroids issue.

Many fans agree with Hopkins and Zabel on the media blowing the steroid issue way out of proportion, but a Colorado Rockies fan doesn’t think the media is to blame.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the media,” Jon Rivers said, a forum member that voted in the online poll. I think it’s the players. They are all self-centered and only care about themselves. They don’t need the money they get and have no reason to ask for more. If anything, I think media is good because it counteracts their greediness.”

A pitcher for the Utah Valley University, T.J. Stone, doesn’t believe that the media has overdone the steroids issue either.

“Breaking the rules leads to this kind of stuff,” Stone said. “The media is just doing its job.”

As a college baseball player, the pressure to excel at his position is enormous. Stone says that taking steroids would be easy for him because he wants to increase the velocity of his fastball. However, if he was given the opportunity to take steroids, then he wouldn’t go through with it. He can understand why a player would take the illegal drug though.

Some fans are even for steroid use in baseball and credit it for the exciting home run filled games in recent seasons. Drew Hansen posted similar words on the forum. He doesn’t care if players “juice up or use any other performance enhancers.”

“Are you going to ban players because they get Lasik eye surgery or drink too much caffeine?” Hansen said, reiterating his point on not banning steroid use among professional baseball players. “Why not? They're both performance enhancers, too.”

Several baseball addicts want steroids to be more of a personal issue due to the health risks involved with the drug. Kevin Manning, a baseball fan from blu-ray.com, believes that Barry Bonds lost his speed and fielding ability because of steroid use. In his opinion, Barry Bonds was more useful to his team when he wasn’t taking steroids.

“Some players who have little ability, need to juice so they can hit a big HR to make up for the fact that they are not very good.” Manning said, in reference to damaging effects of steroids. “That's wrong, but they are sacrificing their lifespan for this ability.”

Hopkins wants strict action taken toward steroid use so that any other issues like it can’t happen again. He hates steroids so much that he wants the league to adopt rigorous testing for it. He doesn’t like how the league is handling the situation right now and believes that use among players should be dealt with on a team basis.

This performance enhancing drug has been in baseball’s bloodstream since 1984. Fans have lost interest, but the majority has remained faithful according to the poll given on the Web site, blu-ray.com
James Rollings is one of these loyal fans.

“Hitting a round ball with a round bat square in a fraction of a second is still the hardest feat in sports,” Rollings said, in defense of the sport of baseball. “Steroids do not increase hand eye coordination. It has not affected my love for baseball, little league to major league.”

[alan2308]

Excellent job. Now we have to ask, what did you get on the assignment?

[Stephie_is_a_dork]

LOL @ the making up names! I noticed you quoted "James Rollings" and "T.J. Stone". Are those real member names or were you listening to The Rolling Stones while writing this?

Very well writen, unbiased article though!

[Drewza89]

I noticed that you used my quote, but you gave me a fake last name! It doesn't matter, I wouldn't have wanted you to use my real name anyways. I thought you did a great job on the paper and you were fair to all arguments.


So what grade did you get?

[The Don]

am I Kevin Manning?

[Tanman19az]

Ok guys I got my paper back today and I got a 96 on it. The highest grade in the class. Thanks for your input! Sorry to those of you i used fake names for. I sent PMs and when it was time to turn the paper in, I didnt get your replies and i was forced to make them up. Even some of the ppl I asked just told me to make one up so dont feel too bad.