The use of steroids in sports - Are the penalties too soft?

The use of steroids in sports is nothing new.  Disgraced Olympian sprinters like Marion Jones and Ben Johnson used Performance Enhancing Drug's (Also known as PED's) to win Gold and were eventually caught and their achievements were erased from the record books.  Jones even did time in prison for lying to congress when she was accused of taking them.  Since then, the Olympics have enforced a 'zero tolerance policy' deal with the PED's issue in which athletes who test positive are banned on the spot.  The same cannot be said for a lot of the major leagues involving team sports.  I believe that even though there have been stricter guidelines to help with the steroid problem in sports.  The penalties given are not harsh enough to stop athletes from using them.


Team sports in the US are a great example.  Money is usually the major factor when it comes to athletes taking PED's as their careers only last 10-15 years so they want to get as much out of it as they can.  Melky Cabrera who is a baseball player that is currently playing as an outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays was suspended for 50 games in 2012 for testing positive for PED's.  Keep in mind that contracts cannot be voided if one violates a steroid policy.  So he had a career year in 2012 leading the league in all the major batting categories and making the all star team.  The three years prior, he had been playing on one year contracts ranging from $1-3 million.  Despite testing positive, his performance that season was enough for the Blue Jays to sign him on a 2 year, $16 million deal.  He now makes more in one year then he did for those three previous seasons with his punishment being that he sits at home for about 2-3 months with a tarnished reputation.  Knowing that you could double or triple your earnings with just an injection to the arm, what is the incentive for athletes not to take steroids?  Is the integrity of the game more important than one's financial security?


Despite the fact that baseball has been carrying the steroid tag for American Sports.  The sport of gridiron or American football (The most viewed sport in the United States) has it's problems with this issue as well.  Their problems are arguably more egregious then baseball yet the penalties in that sport are equal to a slap on the wrist.  This can be explained with the situation NFL (National Football League) defensive player, Von Miller put himself in.  Miller is in his third year and is one of the top defensive linemen playing for the Denver Broncos.  In July this year, it was reported that Miller had violated the NFL's drug policy and was suspended for 4 games.  He appealed the suspension claiming his innocence and that he did nothing wrong but the appeal was denied.  It did not end there though, his suspension was changed from 4 to 6 games for no reason but NFL explained this week that Miller had deliberately tried to cheat the urine test by attempting to switch his sample with a clean one.  Many experts believe that if this had been reported in July, Miller would have been done for an entire season.  Going back to baseball for a moment,  If a player had pulled a stunt like this people would be talking about that player facing a lifetime ban.  Why aren't the penalties as severe in gridiron?  It's simple, baseball is a non-contact sport and gridiron is arguably the most physically damaging team sport in the world.  Fans give gridiron players a pass for steroid use because of how grueling and tough the sport is.  So using PED's is a way of helping them recover and succeed from the weekly poundings they receive in their eyes.  With all this knowledge, why should a blatant cheater like Von Miller care about not taking PED's if he's only going to get a 6 game (Out of 16) ban?


Is there solution?  No, at least not yet.  As soon as the cheaters and their suppliers are caught.  Another lab has already been setup with those coming up with new ways to beat the test.  Could baseball create a new law to void guaranteed contracts if players broke the steroid policies in place?  Maybe, but they would have to take it up with the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association) which is one of the most powerful unions in America let alone American sports.  Their number one objective?  Protect guaranteed contracts for players at all costs.  Should the NFL do more to deal with this steroid issue?  Of course they should, if it's profitable.  This is the same league that is preaching player safety with the concussion lawsuit they had to deal with yet they want to add two more games to the schedule.  The irony.  Just ask yourself; With a needle in the arm, you could go from making $5 to $20 or being decent to being one of the best.  What's your answer?