The 1990s through early 2000s was the MLB's Golden Age with all of the players performing to the maximum ability that baseball had ever seen in its decades of history. Some of the most notable players included Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and current all-time home run leader, Barry Bonds. Society, their fellow players, and the MLB have shamed these players and their use of the drug in their baseball careers. Some are unapologetic about their use like former player Jose Canseco, who is widely disliked among former players and teammates. Dozens of other great baseball players have been accused of steroid use, but none received punishment as bad as a certain player. Alex Rodriguez has been the most recent case of steroid use in the MLB, being banned for a season and a half before returning at the beginning of the 2015 season. Many other players were found to be guilty of using the drug, but Rodriguez headed the shortlist because of his notoriety in the sport and the media. Steroids have been found to be detrimental to the health of players and anyone else who uses them, but it is a possibility that banning them would be a hypocritical action while keeping other drugs in the mix. There are many supplements and some drugs that are still legal and used in sports or allowed in medicine in general that have been proved to be harmful in use. The NFL has been as guilty as the MLB in their use of the drug Toradol, a painkiller used through injection and pill form. If the drug was well known like Oxycodone, the media and congress would most likely be under harsher scrutiny. The media and well-educated people have been guilty of misusing the word considering the fact that it is a dangerous drug. 24-hour news networks have been some of the guiltier parties in the matter, but even some of the more respected news outlets have misused the word when referring to events that can use another word to describe it and are instead too lazy that they end up stating it is "on steroids" when referring to something being taken to an extreme. Congress has been problematic in their conduct while making steroids illegal in the MLB and forcing the organization to become harsher in its principles. This is believed to have occurred as a result of a few senators, especially one in particular, and the president desiring to receive a better approval rating from the American people and in the case of the senator, gain this approval to run for President of the United States while throwing it all away at the last moment with a monumental mistake for a running mate. One of the more problematic areas in getting rid of hypocrisy involving steroids is the media who feed directly to the American people and can manipulate and polarize their opinions based on their content.

Steroids are not taken as seriously in the media as they should be and are instead used as a way to a regular occurrence being taken to an extreme or as the media would refer to it "on steroids." Fox News has called the 2016 Presidential Debate "A Debate on Steroids" with the addition of Donald Trump to the dozen other candidates vying for a nomination to run for president, backed by the Republican party and its supporters. (Media Spotlight) MSNBC and NBC have both been guilty as well of comparing events to steroids. MSNBC has used steroids with the use on Morning Joe to state if the GOP needed "an Aiken on steroids." (Hardball with Chris Matthews) This is referring to a candidate being chosen that is more extreme in political stances than former United States Representative Todd Aiken, but have instead avoided explanation and use "on steroids to summarize." NBC has used the drug's name a reference to Pentecostals in California as Evangelists on steroids. (Nightly News) This is astoundingly inaccurate and their constant use of the word as a comparative to a regular mode of said event has desensitized people to actual steroids, which are, in case anybody has forgotten, a potentially dangerous drug used to stimulate muscular functions with a number of frightening side effects. Why stop at steroids when you can compare events to other drugs? Every time an interviewee does not show up to their interview, it may as well be called an interview on marijuana or when a show host talks about events in a paranoid, conspiracy theory-like manner it should be called a television show on meth. It makes no sense to compare any of these fictional scenarios to illegal drugs, so how can it be acceptable for steroids to be excluded from this standard and as a result become desensitized to the public as a dangerous use and ultimately desensitized to players in professional baseball who use the drug to escalate their careers and put their lives and families in danger. The 24-hour news networks may be the main culprits of this use of numbing steroids, but they are not completely guilty of this tactic. Sadly, one of the current presidential candidates, one Donald J. Trump, has been guilty of the same tactic of desensitization by comparing the United States of America as "Greece on steroids." While being completely untrue considering Greece is bankrupt and the United States is still the most powerful country in the world, it is a shame to see this disregard for a drug's effects being used to compare a country to an economically broke country just to prove a point. A man who possesses an Ivy League degree like Mr. Trump should be able to come up with a better analogy for the current economic situation, even if his claim is false. This is not the only time he has used the word to compare events to each other. This past year Candidate Trump has compared the Clinton email scandal to the Watergate scandal during Nixon's presidency leading to his impeachment and becoming known as one of the biggest stories in this country. First of all, this is extremely inaccurate considering the fact that a Republican led House Committee found that the Clinton email scandal regarding Benghazi was not found to be supported by evidence and second of all, a scenario is being compared, once again, to the use of an illegal drug that is possibly detrimental to health just for the purpose of making a point across about a possible scandal. The use of the word over and over is extremely inappropriate and is setting back our society from banishing steroids and other dangerous drugs from our sports.

Another reason why steroids are not taken seriously and banning of them is hypocritical in nature is because of the other drug or supplements that are legal containing dangerous side effects as well. There are hundreds of supplements used in muscle growth by athletes, but there are some drugs that are injected the same way steroids are taken. Banning steroids and allowing for other drugs to be allowed, arguing that since steroids are taken in this way it is immoral and cannot be legal while these other drugs are acceptable and no flaws being poked in their logic while arguing this. Creatine is one of a few supplements that can be beneficial to the growth of the body's muscles, just like steroids, while at the same time having effects that can lead to other bodily functions being harmed in the process. Reports say that creatine, in a few cases, have caused people to increase in weight and have caused some people to cramp easily when taking the supplement. (Examine.com) There is evidence that it could possibly cause baldness but that could just be a result of genetics at work. Steroids have a similar side effect, but nobody claims that it could possibly be a genetic connection instead of the drug itself causing it. That seems hypocritical and just one of the many arguments that helps demonize steroids and keeps other supplements and drugs with a clean bill when referring to their side effects. Any supplement or drug can be beneficial to some degree, but excess use of it can be harmful. While steroids can remain illegal, many supplements that have been used in helpful uses, even while scientific evidence has proven it does not help a majority of the time, include side effects that are dangerous to the health of an individual. These supplements have not been reported to be illegal even with the adverse effects surrounding its use. Some of the drugs even result in death and while steroids has been made illegal if discovered to be using without a proper license, the FDA has only issued a warning about the uses of these supplements. There are still drugs in sports that are legal, but can prove that those who allow the drug, but still banning steroids are hypocritical. Toradol is a drug that has been used in the NFL to benefit players suffering from pain after an injury to help them play through it and be able to practice and eventually perform well in their respective game on Sunday. In other words, this drug is a painkiller and can be extremely addictive and lead to depression and possibly death depending on the situation of the user. The process, according to the Washington Post, is similar to the intake of steroids with the 'use of pills and injections into the body by a needle.' (Maese) A federal investigation is currently being performed by the government, but is currently still legal for players to use. One could argue that this is a performance enhancer considering they could play with the pain and be inferior in play compared to the state of the player when using the drug. The argument for using the drug is that players have a pressure to perform well, but this argument could also be made for baseball players who would like to improve the number of homeruns to meet the standard the team desires from the player before releasing him or trading him due to their unhappiness with his current output. The circumstances of each drug, steroids and Toradol, seem the same, yet steroids have been case-closed illegal, while Toradol is still incredibly used, but unfortunately has not received the national recognition for its dangers like steroids has. It may be a wonder to many why steroids have been nationally recognized while Toradol is not as renown as the infamous drug known for its use in baseball, but can be explained by Congress and the senators it sent to expose steroids, but instead taking the opportunity to boost presidential stance for the 2008 election.

The search for the punishment and ban on steroids came just after 2003, when players were starting to be investigated for their use of the drug to boost performance. Congress decided to put their focus on the issue and had hearings about it in Washington D.C. where United States Senator John McCain, who has run for president twice without success, was the major influence in the actions for Congress to get the MLB to put their foot down on steroid use in baseball. Senator McCain had the most to gain from this since he was particularly fond of the position of Commander in Chief and was hoping to make another run for office in 2008. His two separate bids to become president showed a different side of him that his years as a congressman did not in that he did not entirely care which side of the spectrum he stood on, he cared the most about being the man in the Oval Office. According to Rolling Stone, during the 2000 election he denounced the policies of fellow Republican Karl Rove, who was an instrumental person in the campaign of George W. Bush, while breaking Reagan's number one rule of never speaking ill of another Republican. After losing, McCain pondered becoming a Democrat, but stayed with the Republican Party. He decided to embrace the people like Karl Rove who he once opposed in the 2000 election. It is believed that the steroids case was only a stepping-stone for his next bid for the presidency in 2008. Although the MLB and their players union reported to be making their own progress in forming legislation that would force out the prominent drug within baseball, it was not good enough for the government, however, as President Bush addressed the issue in the State of the Union in 2004. Bush had some experience in the subject area as former owner of the Texas Rangers, but Senator McCain does not have the same experience in the game as Former President Bush did. This is a reason why many speculate that McCain used the issue to his advantage in spurring his presidential chances for the 2008 election. Senator McCain pressured the MLB and at one point scrutinized the league by referring to it as "about to become a fraud." (Heath) McCain threatened to introduce legislation that would give a minimum standard about the MLB's intervention in steroids. The MLB folded and started drug testing and punishing any players who decided to juice. Unfortunately, Toradol has not received the same treatment from the United States Government that steroids once had. One might wonder that both President Bush and Senator McCain used this issue to increase support for themselves. Bush most likely used the topic since he had a lack of support by the American people in the wake of the Iraq War being controversial, while McCain used it to advance his political career.  Bush's needed the support of the American people since he was in an election year and would end up winning and serving four more years until 2008. Unfortunately for McCain, he hurt his own chances in the 2008 Presidential Race and put the final blow in his campaign after nominating the discovered to be extremely unintelligent Governor from Alaska, Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Steroids have been banned in baseball, but unfortunately, consistency has not been present around other drugs and sports organizations with similar issues. Steroids should be treated as a dangerous drug considering their effects on the users. People should not use the word as a substitute for another phrase out of laziness because this makes the word and the drug itself look less harmful than it actually is. Making a claim that something is "on steroids" harms the American people in their views on steroids in general. Steroids should not be the only drugs demonized in sports since there are many other drugs that can have similarities drawn up to it. We need to seek out the drugs harming our sports and if using them makes the ban of steroids hypocritical then they should either be banned or steroids should become legal. It is the choice we make that affects the players of the game and any athlete who desires to play. We cannot allow congress to make decisions on steroids to further their own agenda and use it as leverage so they may stay in office, while ignoring similar pressing issues and it is our duty as a democracy to hold their feet to the fire and make sure they perform the duties instructed in the Constitution of the United States. By doing so, we allow our society to grow and let democracy do it's job. This all may seem like it is above steroids, but steroids is an issue among many that are not treated consistently and show our world's hypocrisy. Our fight should be against absurdity and bringing anybody who is a hypocrite to be consistent in their judgments.

