Sevenword

Ryan Braun must now sit at home in shame. If press reports are accurate, Alex Rodriguez and about a dozen other Major League Baseball cheaters might do that too. But the homes they sit in are million-dollar mansions. That seems to be the lesson young athletes learn from the latest steroids scandal. Sure, they look bad. But both Braun and Rodriguez have millions of dollars to fall back on. What's most troubling about this affair is how many of today's young people believe cheating might be the only way to break through in sports. In a recent Zogby poll, nearly half of males ages 18 through 25 thought that taking performance-enhancing drugs is critical to making it in professional sports or helping one's athletic performance. And well more than half of those polled thought that at least one-third of the major leaguers in the recent All-Star Game had used performance-enhancing drugs, often called PEDs, to get where they are. The problem is, for every Braun and A-Rod, a thousand young men will never make the majors -- but are willing to risk their health, even their lives, by taking PEDs. These young athletes need to hear more about Taylor Hooton than Ryan Braun. Taylor Hooton was a star high school pitcher who turned to steroids to get to the next level. Although the steroids bulked up his body, they wreaked havoc on his emotions until one day he hanged himself. His father, Don

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July 2026