Deadline #4 HW#3

In the current age of professional and non-professional sports, athletes are finding ways to enhance their bodies. Steroids and other supplements such as human growth hormone (HGH) have been a major topic in the sports world. Most prominantly baseball has been taking harsh critcism from not only the media but the US government as well. The problem with these sports enhancing drugs is that they are so tempting to be used by athletes has they not only have the ability to strengthen their bodies in numerous ways, but possibly aid them in recoveries and their longevity of their careers. Since I am an avid baseball fan I am posing my research question as, "should sports enhancing supplements, most importantly steroids, be allowed to be controlled by licensed physicians in the current day and age of baseball?"

After the baseball strike in 1994, baseball as seen an influx in offense, resulting in increased revenue for baseball as a whole and more importantly the individual owners of the teams. In 1973, the American League adopted the designated hitter rule (DH), which allowed a hitter to take the place of the pitcher, which in turn increased offensive numbers in the American League. As most sports fans would attest, seeing runs/points/goals scored is more exciting to watch than no offensive output. Therefore there is an implied calling for increased numbers in professional sports, and in the case of baseball that equates to more homeruns, stolenbases, strikeouts and almost any other category logged in the game.

My goal of this research project is to address all the negative conoctations of sports enhancers as well as all of the positives with the hope of concluding in a happy medium of moderated sports enhancers. My audience is intended for sports fans as a whole, but more directly towards baseball advocates. However, since modern medicine has numerous uses for steroids/supplements in the normal world, my audience could include those interested in health professions as well.

Aiding me in my research I will undoubtedly be using numerous sports journals/magazines as well as journals/magazines that are health related as I will need background information on specific supplements/steroids. I plan on focusing on 3 or 4 supplements/steroids to have a good range of pros and cons for the use of each of them. One interesting thing I have to my advantage is that although I am only a blogger for the purpose of this class, I do read numerous sports blogs daily and will be able to ask myself more questions related to my research question with the ability to research on specific events/information. I also plan on digging up interviews with specific ballplayers to further aid me with my arguement.

This research paper will take a large amount of work due to the specificness to the sport of baseball alone, but I feel that will only be a positive as it will be more focused. One thing I will need to pay attention to during this process is the current events in the sports world as steroids/supplements are mentioned almost everyday. I plan on doing most of my research from home using the online capabilities of the library but will try to include as many books that are published on the subject to balance out my sources.