The phrase, life is not fair, is a very true saying. It is true in life as well as other things you may encounter in your lifetime, including sports. The sports world is not exactly fair due to many reasons, especially because of legal and illegal steroid use. There are different types of steroids used in sports, and most are very controversial, many different groups use them as well. Finally, they have many harmful side-affects.An anabolic steroid is one of a group of synthetic steroid hormones that promote growth of muscles, as well as other tissue in the body (White). Another steroid is Androstenedione ( andro ), and it is a steroid that the human body changes into testosterone, and that is produced in the body in small amounts, coming from the gonads and adrenal gland. Then continuing through the liver where it is formed into testosterone by an enzyme, then the testosterone promotes growth of muscle by helping “ stockpile” nitrogen (Schrof 1). Also, another steroid is creatine, it is an amino acid that is produced in small amounts by the liver, kidneys, and pancreas, also it helps muscles replenish adenosine triphosphate. Creatine is popular weight gaining supplement used by many different groups of athletes. It is not unusual for beginning users to gain 20-30 pounds in the first few months of usage. Creatine helps the athlete bulk up weight and then work to turn it to muscle. Blood Doping is another form of steroid use. It is where blood that has a high count of oxygen is removed from the body after a workout, and replaced into the athlete weeks later just before a performance to insure high adrenaline levels of play (Brown pg. 2). The typical steroid user is the middle class white male (Schrof #2). Athletes of all levels use steroids, most beginning at the high school level. In Oregon in 1992, 6% of all high school football players admitted to trying steroids at least once in their careers (no author). Females are...
