Professor Hall
English 101
8 September 2014
Creative Title
In your article, “We, the public, place the best athletes on pedestals”, you reveal that the public people are possibly at fault for the “destruction” of celebrity athletes around the world. I both disagree and agree with your argument. You seem to be very knowledgeable in sports. However, the only sport and person you talking about in your essay was Alex Rodriguez, the professional baseball player for the New York Yankees, from your hometown.
You begin your article with a personal story of your own experience with drug use. You talked about the competition within the school to be at the top and then begin describing the struggle you had with studying for exams. Then you begin talking about how you had trouble focusing while studying for your exam to help us, the reader, relate to how you felt. You then begin to persuade us into thinking that you taking a Class 3 Drug were the only option you had because you studied so much and you began to care less about your grade. This brings us into an argument that we face every day, the decision of what is right and wrong. Do you take the pill that will help you focus or do you not take the pill because it is an illegal drug? Usually the wrong decision will be easier and have a greater success than the right one which is usually requires more effort. You say, “And knowing full well that what I was doing could be nothing better than against the rules (and less importantly, illegal), I did what I felt needed to do, to accomplish what was demanded of me.” (Moller, 547) We all have felt the pressure in doing well, but you did not have to take the pill. You did what you thought was needed to help you pass the exam, when you could have just studied without it and just because you took Ritalin doesn’t mean that you can relate to drug use in sports.
So why do athletes take drugs? You stated that “The negative of doing poorly on the test was far greater than the negative of getting caught.” (547) you believed that failing a test and not being successful than how you would be affected being caught for the usage of an illegal drug. Now I do agree we, as fans of celebrity athletes do tend to “worship” athletes and because of this they may resort to using drugs so that they can continue to be worshiped. This comes into play when you begin to try and persuade us that this is why the professional baseball player, Alex Rodriguez, began taking steroids.
You stated that “we, the public, place the best athletes on pedestals, gods on high.” (548) Alex decided to take steroids so that he can meet the expectations that his fans have for him, that he was pressured into taking the drug so that he can continue to be successful. Could Alex have been a