Alex Thompson

UWRT 1102
February 3, 2015

Exploratory Essay
After playing sports all my life I thought it would be a good idea to choose a
potential topic of inquiry on something with sports. The only problem with choosing to
write about sports is that there are so many different categories within sports that I can
choose. First, I need to choose a specific sport and then I need to choose something
going on within that sport. After putting some thought into what I will write about, I have
three potential topics. The first two topics that came to mind that sort of tie together are
violence/abuse by players in the National Football League (NFL), and drug abuse by
players in the NFL. The other topic that came to mind when I was thinking about what to
write about is performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball (MLB).
I have been a huge football fan all of my life and what is going on in the NFL
really interests me. That is why I thought that problems going on in the NFL would be
interesting to write about because I wouldnt get bored while writing. One of the biggest
problems being faced in the NFL is physical abuse by players on their spouses or just
random people in general like if they get into a bar fight or something in that matter.
There has been many different accounts of abuse in the NFL over the years and it
seems like this problem is getting worse and worse. One of the most famous accounts
of physical abuse is the case involving Ray Rice, a former running back for the
Baltimore Ravens. Ray Rice was arrested on February 15 th, 2014 for assault charges on
his wife after he hit her in the face in an elevator and knocked her unconscious. The
video of this was released a few months later that shows Ray Rice trying to drag his
wifes unconscious body out of the elevator. Ray Rice was later released by the team
after they saw a video of this, but less than one year later on November 28 th, 2014 Ray

Rice won his appeal and he is now eligible to re-sign on a team and play again in the
NFL. Many cases like this Ray Rice case are happening every year and players are
being allowed to play with barely any consequences and I think that it is unfair and the
NFL needs to do something about this. Things like this can compare to when I used to
play football as a kid. It wasnt nearly as serious, but on my team if a kid was getting
bad grades or getting in trouble out of school, then he wouldnt be able to play on the
team anymore. This can compare to the NFL in a lesser way because it is still breaking
the rules and I think that the NFL needs to be stricter when it comes to players breaking
the rules and just kick them out. They are making millions of dollars to play a sport and
if they cant obey simple rules that arent that hard to follow, then they shouldnt be
playing anymore.
One of the other big issues in the NFL is drug abuse. You could probably turn on
Sports Center on TV every week and hear about NFL players getting arrested for doing
weed or having weed in their possession. I know in some states weed is now legal and
players think that they should be able to smoke if they want to but it is still a rule in the
NFL that players cannot smoke weed or do any other drugs for that matter. I dont
understand how some players are getting paid so much money and they cant do a
simple thing like not smoking weed. One of the things that bothers me about this topic is
that a lot of these players are breaking the rules and they arent getting punished at all.
They are only getting fined a little amount of money. There is one player named Josh
Gordon, a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, that has been arrested multiple
times for drug possession and he is finally getting punished for it by being suspended a
for a year but he is still getting paid since it is in his contract. I dont think this is fair to

anybody in the NFL, especially the players that are obeying the rules of the League. It
seems like drug abuse is happening a lot more in the NFL and players just keep
disregarding the rules because they see other players getting away with it by only
getting fined a small amount of money. One other issue that bothers me about the NFL
is that some players are being effected more by breaking one rule than another, but I
think that either way if you break a rule you should be punished the same.
The last potential topic of inquiry that I would want to look into more would be
substance abuse in the MLB. There has been a lot of controversy involving players
using things like steroids to enhance their performances and make them a better player.
Most of these players could be using these to get stronger in order to hit the ball farther.
One of the biggest controversies in baseball involving performance enhancing drugs is
the case with Barry Bonds and the home run hitting trophy. In 2001, Barry Bonds set the
home run hitting record in one season with 73 home runs and many players and
viewers started questioning Barry Bonds about using performance enhancing drugs.
Bonds began the 2002 season with 567 home runs and 484 stolen bases as history's
only player with at least 400 career home runs and 400 stolen bases. In 2007, Bonds
finally beat Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755 home runs in August. These
were astonishing numbers that nobody really believed was possible. Barry Bonds never
admitted to using steroids but many people believe that he did. Barry Bonds was
charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in his grand jury testimony in 2008.
Despite being charged with all of these allegations Bonds posted on his website
"Despite the charges that have been filed against me, I still have confidence in the
judicial system...And I know that when all of this is over, I will be vindicated because I

am innocent." It is hard to say whether or not Barry Bonds used steroids since he was
never proven guilty but you can see how performance enhancing drugs can affect a
players career in a negative way. The MLB is starting to take steps in preventing
performance enhancing drugs from being used, but there are still many cases where
these drugs come up. One of the things that I want to know that really involves all
leagues is what they are going to do to solve these problems. I personally feel that they
just need to have more severe punishments and that will solve all their problems.