Cheating and Taking Steroids in Sports

Cheating and Taking Steroids in Sports INTRODUCTION Sports will either be a school of virtue or a school of vice, and thats why the epidemic of cheating in professional sports is, and ought to be, a huge cultural concern. Sports, at every level, is supposed to be a training ground for virtue, to mould the character of athletes, coaches and supporters so that they may learn lessons that may help them to achieve off-the-field as much as on. In few other venues are people able to learn as effectively the good habits of perseverance through difficulties, teamwork, striving to overcome obstacles, the importance of preparation and practice, and the courtesy and class we call good sportsmanship. But the field, court, track, diamond, rink, pool and roadway can also cultivate vice, when results become more important than virtue, when winning becomes more important than winning fairly. It has been hard to open a sports page recently without reading something to do with cheating and its consequences. Recently encountered readings include Bill Belichick and the clear contravention of the NFLs videotaping policy; Patriots Safety Rodney Harrison and his suspension for taking an illegal substances; NBA referee Tim Donaghy and his expulsion for betting on games he was officiating; Barry Bonds and his tainted home run record, along with former heroes turned synthetic pseudo-supermen Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro; Floyd Landis suspect yellow jersey and the expulsion of what seemed to be half this years Tour de France participants for blood doping and other violations; WWE icon Chris Benoit and his steroid-induced murderous-suicidal rage; various college recruiting violations, Olympic scandals and much more. Professional boxing almost looks clean and honest by comparison. WHY DO THEY CHEAT Sports are a microcosm and stylization of life: goal-setting, preparation, effort, character, the integration of mind and body, competition, success and failure. Its all there in sports, distilled and intensified into a few hours experience. The usual answer is that cheaters have so strong a desire to win that they will strive to do so at all costs. Cheaters do have a desire to win, but by the time we are adults we know that a cheated victory is hollow. An adult cheater knows that he has not won through skill and effort, and he knows he will not experience the pride that comes from a genuine win. The only thing the cheater is left with is that he knows that other people will believe that he won and he will reap the value of their enhanced esteem. So heres a hypothesis about the psychology of cheaters: Cheating is not motivated by a desire to win, but by wanting to be thought of by others as having won. Cheating is a kind of social metaphysics-what others believe is true is more important than what is actually true. Another possibility is that the cheater knows the above-that a cheated win is hollow-but in the short run his intense desire to win crowds out his knowledge. So cheating is a failure to hold the context of why one is playing sports: strong desire overwhelms the cheaters knowledge, or through weakness of will the cheater ignores his knowledge to indulge the desire. Cheating in a financial context: You cheat not because you want the win but because you want the money that comes with the winCheating in a social context: You cheat because you dont want your teammates to lose or because you want your teammates to have the win they wantCon-man cheating: You cheat just for the pleasure of pulling off a scamCheating that is malevolent: You want to see your opponent suffer a loss, so you dont care that the win is hollow-you enjoy knowing the other guy is hurting and/or that you deprived him of the experience of winning WHAT ARE STEROIDS Steroids are manufactured testosterone-like drugs that are usually taken to build muscle, enhance performance, and improve appearance. While some steroids are used medically to treat many conditions including asthma, chronic lung disease, skin conditions and allergic reactions such as poison ivy, non medical use of steroids can have serious side effects. Using steroids for cosmetic or athletic purposes is not sanctioned in the United States. Method of Use Swallowed in tablets or liquid or injected. Users take them in patterns called cycling, which means they take them over a specific period of time, stop, and then start taking them again instead of continuously using them. Many users also take different types of steroids in combination with other drugs. This is known as stacking. Signs and Symptoms of Steroid Use Steroid abusers often exhibit the following symptoms: Rapid weight gain Rapid muscle development Acne flare up Fluid retention Yellow tint in the eyes and on skin (jaundice) Mood swings, depression Aggressive behaviour Premature balding Drug Test Detection Oral steroids can be found in your system up to several weeks after use. Injected steroids can be found for several months after use. Short-term Consequences Use of steroids can increase muscle mass, strength, and endurance, but can also cause liver tumors, jaundice, water retention, and high blood pressure. Some users show bad judgment because the drugs make them feel invincible. Other users suffer from uncontrolled aggression and violent behavior called Roid Rage, severe mood swings, manic episodes and depression. They often suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability and can have delusions. Long-Term Consequences When the body experiences a build up of steroids in its system, conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol, kidney disease, stunted growth, and heart damage are likely to occur. Women can experience irreversible deepening of the voice, shrinking of the breasts, menstrual irregularities, baldness and hair growth on other parts of the body, and genital swelling. Men can experience baldness, breast enlargement, sterility, shrinking of testicles and impotence. Steroids such as prednisone and other synthetic steroids can cause a rise in blood sugar by blocking the effect of insulin. Over time, users can develop diabetes. WHY TAKING STEROIDS CONSIDERED CHEATING Steroids give some players an unfair competitive advantage over others. But this response stems from the faulty underlying assumption that players have some innate ability or talent which is not dependent upon their environment. In fact, the only way steroids are different from other performance enhancers like protein shakes or nutritional supplements is because their side effects are worse and their performance enhancing effects are large. This efficacy, and the steroid body that goes with it, triggers fans pharmacological Calvinism, the belief that taking a pill for any reason is bad, and leads to the media labelling the steroid culture and users as alien, which are the factors that truly keep steroids on the wrong side of public opinion and MLB policy. The first and most basic reason people view steroids as cheating is because they feel it gives players abilities that they otherwise would not have had. This is the position of every poll or article researched for this essay in the national sports media over the last four years. Again, the signs displayed in Philadelphia are representative. One 60-foot long sign said Babe Ruth did it on Hotdogs and Beer. Aaron did it with class. How did you do it?This question rests on the assumption that Bonds steroid use differentiates him from Aaron and Ruth, who set career home run records without steroids. But to simply say steroids enhancers players performance is easy. The deeper question behind that answer is Why does that matter? That question involves a number of different aspects of what it means to be a baseball fan. First among them, perhaps, is the notion of fairness. The US culture in general holds fairness as one of its central tenets, as part of the Puritan Work ethic and the capitalist ideal: everyone must deal fairly, so everyone has their shot to succeed if they work hard enough. That ideal is held to as strongly in baseball as any other sport. The problem with steroids, then, is not just that users have an unfair advantage over non-users. Widespread steroid use limits the free choice of non-users, because if they want to make a living they are almost forced to start taking injections, and having to deal with the side effects. This is called free choice under pressure by Thomas Murray (as reported by Peter Kramer). Theres no question, then, that the more players use steroids, the harder it is for others to stay clean. What are the implications of that for players, and what are players responses? At the physical level, this spiral of steroids forces players to endure the side effects of steroids when they otherwise might not. At the level of consciousness, players have their free choice limited by steroid-fuelled competition, and free choice is also something this country values. Players respond to these concerns by claiming that steroid use supports American values. For example, a value much appreciated in sports is the desire to win above all else. Players that have that desire, like Michael Jordan in basketball, are often revered. So a baseball player might argue that he simply wants to win at all cost, even sacrificing his body to steroids to win. Just because another, non-user does not want to win enough to take steroids, that doesnt mean the user should be punished for it. There are other problems with the argument that using steroids is cheating because they give a competitive advantage. The biggest fault with it is that steroids are not the only thing in baseball that gives a competitive advantage when there was none before. Revenue and payroll differences and environmental factors like the skill of the training staff and the quality of the facilities can cause unfair competitive advantages between teams and players as well, but those discrepancies are considered part of the game. The responses to this argument are that taking a substance is fundamentally different from working out more or on better facilities because you do not have to work as hard to get the same results as someone not on steroids. But some players use a good diet to get into better shape, or take legal supplements to make their workouts more effective. This is exactly the way steroids work they help to build muscle faster in conjunction with exercise and weightlifting, so those t hat work out the most are going to get the most out of steroids. Should the MLB disallow all possible supplements and mandate player diet and workout regimens to eliminate the possible advantage? Ultimately, you cannot justify getting rid of steroids because they give a competitive advantage, because baseball operates by identifying and using competitive advantages. Despite the arguments above, most people would remain convinced that taking steroids was cheating. There are three primary reasons: One is the notion of pharmacological Calvinism, two is the influence of the press on public perception of steroids, and three is the labelling of drugs in general and those who take them as alien. These are the real reasons that taking steroids in baseball is considered cheating today. Pharmacological Calvinism is the belief that taking a pill or drug is morally wrong, because hard work, suffering and pain are essential parts of human existence. The concept figures prominently in Kramers discussion of Prozac as a way of explaining the publics response to the drug, and the same can be said of fans and baseball players. This phenomenon can be seen in baseball lingo: someone who is clean is someone who is off steroids. This terminology might come from the MLB policies, but it probably comes from larger drug culture, and reflects the idea that even though it is tough to argue against steroids ideologically, there is still a taint to taking steroids, the sense that a player who takes them has lost some purity they might have off steroids. This also might be why players like Jose Canseco are ridiculed and reviled when they talk about steroids being the standard throughout the league: they are deliberately taking a stance against pharmacological Calvinism, and so automati cally people hearing them want to reject the idea without listening to their analysis, which often is more logical than people care to admit. Another effect of pharmacological Calvinism is that news reporters looking to cover steroids automatically assume a negative stance towards them, although that is also influenced by the dangerous side effects. Sports journalism is very pervasive. Every fan has to get their scores and results from somewhere, often on a daily basis. Sports fans also tend to spend a lot of time discussing sports, so ideas and opinions they read get discussed and argued about in their social circle. The final reason steroids are considered cheating is because they work so well. And because they work so well, and so many ballplayers used them, the build of a user, his problems and habits, became commonly known and looked for. What is more, because of the negative press steroids got, fans were able to label them an other to dismiss steroids users as people holding alien values without really looking or considering how they might be motivated by the same things as regular fans. This can be shown by the massive amount of jokes about big heads, small balls, a common side effect of steroid use, and the vehemence of the national polls quoted earlier. For fans to say that anyone testing positive should be thrown out of the sport is quite harsh, considering that there are arrests of ballplayers all the time for a variety of other drug use charges and crime, and none of them are thrown out on the first offense. Something that might help explain this position is the legitimate use of stero ids. Steroids are not like nutritional supplements of protein shakes that people might regularly take to get in shape, and they are not petty crimes or drug charges that baseball fans are familiar with or have committed themselves. They are treatments for sick people to help survive treatment, including treatment of diseases like AIDS, which already is somewhat marginalized in mainstream culture. And even in those diseases, steroids are something to avoid if you can. So that makes purposeful steroid users in sports all the more alien. Ultimately, the reason why taking steroids is considered cheating goes back to the chemical properties of steroids themselves: they work too well at helping athletes build muscle, and combined with the countrys pharmacological Calvinism, make for bad press and public perception. This leads fans to consider steroids cheating and justify it by saying steroids give an unfair competitive advantage, when the entire sport of baseball is built on just such advantages. If steroids were less useful, like nutritional supplements today, they would probably be legal, widely used, and just another part of the game, like spitting sunflower seeds. Unfortunately, because of the pressure on athletes who will do anything to succeed, steroids are only going to get more powerful and hard to detect, rather than more benign and legal. But that doesnt mean the steroid scandal wont go away. Already, journalists are trumpeting this baseball season as the post-steroid era. If history is any indication, people will think steroids solved, stop caring, only to be shocked again when the next great and popular surge of offense turns out to be the result of their beloved players using the next generation of performance enhancers. CONCLUSION The recent epidemic of cheating in sports reveals ethical and anthropological dimensions that must be considered if we wish as a culture to eliminate it. The ethical dimensions go far beyond the violation of a particular rule governing a sports league. It goes to one of the bedrock principles of ethics, whether in sports players, coaches and fans believe that a good end never justifies immoral means. In the cases of cheating above, we see that the cheaters think that the end of winning or doing better in competition validates the dishonest means one takes to get there. There are now such enormous financial rewards or losses hinging on sports outcomes that those of lesser character find far greater incentive. The anthropological dimension refers mainly to the means one takes in violation of the ethical principle. Sports cheating today very often involve technological manipulation not just of the rules of the game like with the Patriots spy gate but also of oneself through performance-enhancing drugs. In former days the path to improvement came through practice, coaching, exercise and experience. Now for many it comes through injections, pills and creams. Rather than improving ones skills, one seeks to make himself better, stronger and faster through technology like a modern six million dollar man, or, if you consider the financial incentives for many pro-athletes, a hundred million dollar man. This comes at a huge cost. The death of pro-football player Lyle Alzado and 11 recent professional wrestlers through steroid use is enough of a warning. But we also have to be conscious of the huge temptation it places on all those who, at whatever age, wish to be successful college or profession al athletes who cannot compete on their own with artificially-enhanced peers. References: Sports and Cheating by Fr. Roger J. Landry Why in Baseball using steroids considered cheating? Brian Chase American council for drug education www.acde.org

Owning a Pet Essay -- Dog Cat Pets Essays Papers Personal Narrative

Owning a Pet Having a pet is a wonderful idea. Pets bring companionship, personality, and gut wrenching humor to households across the world. Having previously owned both a cat and a dog, and currently being without a pet, I began to think about getting a new furry friend. Born a dog lover, and bred into a cat lover, I had the difficult decision of choosing one of the two. When I was twenty-two years old, I answered an advertisement in the paper for free Labrador puppies. Driving up to the house, I saw all the little critters running around and having a ball of a time. I got into the pen with the pups, and finally decided on the shy runt who spent the majority of his time hiding under a board. I loved his personality and instantly knew he was the dog for me. I named him Charlie, and from that point on our master/dog relationship began. At the time I lived in a small two bedroom house with a fenced yard near Wanamaker road. Once Charlie was a full grown dog, he was the hit of the block. Charlie hardly ever barked, and was always just as happy to see the large groups of children exiting the school bus, as he was for me to arrive at home after work. Charlie had a bag full of tricks. My favorite was the Bob Dole, in which Charlie would sit and shake with his right paw, then I would give him the "Bob Dole" command, and he would immediately shake with his left paw. It was a riot, and netted Charlie about thirty pounds of treats in his lifetime. Vegas, on the other hand, was a full grown Persian cat that a friend was trying to find an adopted home for before she moved out of state. I had been around Vegas enough times to have a good idea of his personality, and I decided to help my friend out and give Vegas a try. Unlike C... ..., and none of it was as impressive or as interesting as the furry cat on the couch, not to mention the personal escort to and from the car to the door from the sweet, polite, black lab outside. But I can't really blame my guests, for Charlie and Vegas' cute faces and gestures worked their magic on me as well. And more times than naught, they got what they wanted in life. After losing Charlie in a car accident, and Vegas being returned to his rightful owner, I decided to get a new cat. A new cat would be more affordable, and fit in with my apartment house lifestyle. The ability to maintain a cats responsibilities while attending school, and spending weekends at work, is far less of a job than it would be for a new dog. The decision has proved worthwhile. Flea is doing well adapting to her new surroundings, and doing her best to avoid the lava life throws her way.

Planning and Control

Table Of Content 1. Introduction Planning 3 2. Planning 3 2. 1Goals3 2. 2Plans4 2. 2. 1 The Planning Process5 3. Controlling the Management Process6 3. 1Steps in Control6 3. 2Areas of Control7 3. 3Characteristics of Control7 4. Conclusion8 Reference 1. Introduction Of the four fundamental tasks of management I have chosen to discuss the first and forth steps of management which are Planning and Controlling the management process. Planning is the basis for the rest of the management functions. The two core components in the planning stage are goals and planning process.Goals are the destination of the organisation, they indicate where the organization is heading, planning is the route mapped out to achieve the goals, the steps taken and the changes that are to be made in order for the organization to reach said goals Planning Planning promotes co-ordination in the company where all departments work together to reach the pre-determined goal. Therefore teamwork and interdepartmental co- operation and communication are essential to work toward a primary goal. Management plan and formulate goals which are later used to assess control .The cost of the planning process may be time consuming. A lot of time and energy is needed to plan and strategize goals, this may cause a backlog in the management schedule. Planning may become rigid, not allowing any time to stray from the plans even the budget does not allow for it. The formal planning phase may also become a routine rather than viewed as a challenge thus the initial vigour and creatively may diminish over time. 1. 1Goals Goals are the starting point of any planning phase; they start from a mission statement and grow more specific.Organisations may have multiple goals the type of goal set is influenced by the level at which it is set. Goals are either stated publicly or not, this is determined by the degree of openness of the company. Official goals are declared publically to the media. Operative goals are private goa ls which are kept within the organization. Criteria for effective goals to improve chances of success achieving goals, managers should ensure that goals are not ambiguous. The SMART framework states that goals should be specific Goals should be Specific, it indicates what the goal relates to -Measurable , result can be evaluated in quantifiable terms -Attainable, challenging yet realistic -Relevant, relates to organisations mission and strategy -Time Bound, specified time line to instil a sense of urgency A goal setting technique : Management by objectives is a technique whereby the individual and Management goals are integrated toward on primary goal. Advantages of MBO The efforts of managers and employees focus on attaining organisational goals The organisations performance can improve Employees are motivatedIndividual goals align with organisational goals Disadvantages of MBO Constant change in the environment can cause frequent change in organisational goals Poor relations betwe en managers and employees reduce the effectiveness of MBO Operational goals may displace strategic goals The organisational culture may discourage effective use of MBO MBO can result in too much paperwork 2. 2 Plans Plans are the ‘blueprints’ of achieving goals. It is an indicator of how goals are to be reached. It specifies resources to be used, the period in which the plans must be implemented.Managers consider many alternate plans of actions and choose one or a few plan of action that may be most feasible this includes External factors such as environment and market stability, strengths and weaknesses of the company and staff as a whole as It is best to work to the strengths of the company taking into account skills, patent, capital and the image of the organisation. 2. 2. 1 The planning process Variables set the parameters within which the managers can formulate realistic organisational goals and plans.Planning in context, uses five variables namely, purpose, Missio n statement, Environment, Values of Managers and Experience of Managers. In each organisation the purpose must be clear. The organisation must take into account its social responsibility, job creation and how to improve its product. The mission statement states a clear defined goal. The organisation is constantly adapting the economic environment may cause the plan to change, money may not be available to attain goal, a new route must be planned. Thus with Managers the organisational culture and work ethic must be in line with the organisations view and have relevant experience.Establish a goal, several different alternative plans are looked at of which the most feasible plan is selected. This plan is then implement and monitored, called reactive planning. Planning happens on three levels of the organisation, top level – long term strategic goals, middle level- medium term tactical goals, and lower level – short term operational goals for their department. There are di fferent types of goals and plans. Strategic, Tactical and Operational. Strategic goals and plans involve the company as a whole long term goals and not specific function or operation.These aim to improve the image of the company and market the product to the masses to increase business opportunity strengthen the company and foundation in the market place by increasing sales and demand of the product. Tactical Goals, for middle management for functional area goals and how to carry out these tasks. These are medium or short term goals derived from the long term goals and are focused goals. Operational goals , are short term goals no longer than a year that deal with the day to day running of the company which are unit goals and operational standards.These require programs that are followed, targets to be reached, budgets and projects that need to be completed. 2. Controlling the management process The forth step of fundamental management where the assessment of actual performance agai nst planned performance initiates a new cycle of planning, organising , leading and control. Organisations use controls to ensure that they progressing toward their goals. Although it is the final step it forms the basis of a new cycle as it gives feedback as to what is working and what needs to changed. The purpose of control is to align goals and actual performance.Control helps organisations adapt to environmental change, helps limit error, ensures companies cope with growing complexity most importantly It helps minimizes financial implications. 3. 1 Steps In Control Establish performance standards at strategic point and is a mirror image of planning, as the plans indicate the goals and setting of standards or norms necessary for control. Measuring actual performance is based on assessing quantifiable, reliable results before any valid comparisons are made. Evaluate deviations the results are measured to assess if the target is near or far from the goal.At this stage the gap betw een below average, level or exceeds expectations are evaluated Take corrective action, the results are evaluated and strategy adjusted to achieve required result. 3. 2 Areas of control Most organisations define areas of four different types of resources, Generally human, financial physical and information resources are deployed to achieve specific goals. Physical control, are the inventory items like raw material deliveries on time so that production is not interrupted. Quality control, involves the product is made without fault.Human resources involves orderly placement and selection of staff , using regular job performance evaluations to make sure the standards are not slipping. Information resources are the accurate marketing and forecasting of the product, financial resources are the budgeting. Financial resources are at the centre of control as it enables and restricts the amount of control and planning executed by the company due to affordability. 3. 3 Characteristics of effec tive control system Integration – control system is more effective when it is integrated with planning.The closer links between control and planning the better the eventual control system will be. Flexibility – the system should be able to accommodate change . adjustments that are not regarded as deviations but rather revision of plans. Accuracy – provides an accurate objective, errors and deviations should not be concealed in the data. Timeliness control data should be supplied regularly as needed and not be taken hastily. Simplicity – a complex system is viewed as an obstacle because they can have a negative influence on the sound judgement of competent managers.Too much information can be demotivating and place great demand on time and attention of management which means that the control will become too expensive. Conclusion. The Importance of Goals are that they are unidirectional, meaning that the company moves towards a primary goal using a clearly formulated action. Planning ensures that the company has the resources to reach their goals and controlling the processes is the ever changing adapting process to keep the company on track to achieve the intended goal. REFERENCE : INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS MANAGEMENT; TOIT, ERASMUS, STRYDOM; OXFORD UNIVERSITY ; EIGHTH EDITION

Analysis Of Mandevilles Travels And Bisclavret - 1423 Words

Monsters have always fascinated readers because of their mysterious origins and motives. These strange and unknown characteristics lead us to ask questions and really think about how humans justify their actions and consider what is and isn’t moral. Monsters also help us come to a conclusion about who we are as people in a functioning society. In the works of Mandeville’s Travels and Bisclavret, the authors help us discover who we are to unify us as a community, give us a sense of security, and identifying monstrous qualities amongst people and creatures. In Mandeville’s Travels, John Mandeville tells us his stories of the discovery of the many monsters he finds across the world. Through his stories we discover who we are as people through his monsters. His monsters tell us what we are not, and by doing this he tells us who we are, educated, civilized, kind, and caring people. In Mandeville’s first encounter with a monster, the Melk are described as incred ibly cruel people who take pleasure in murder and making other people suffer, â€Å"There are wicked and cruel folk there too. For they have no delight or pleasure in anything except slaughtering people to drink their blood. And the man who can kill the greatest number of men is the most respected and worthiest among them.†(Mandeville, 134). Through this explanation we understand how bizarre of a ritual this is because no one in their right mind would take such pleasure in taking someone’s life. Not only does this describe