Although I might disagree with your point of view on this issue, I think you presented your case well. The tone was very conversational. Good Job. Ryan
Ryan although I disagreed on almost everything you said, I thought it was clear that you had a lot of personal knowledge and experience on the topic. However I thought you came off as very condescending to the audience thoughout many points of your speech. Also, next time make sure that you know the information before you read it, since there were parts where you seemed to get lost in your speech. Other than that though nice job. - Sam
Good work with your speech. You made some good points that I didn't think of in the past. Nice job
-Mark
.
I. Introduction:
Attention getter (EA): (Use Visual Aid)
· Who here has ever had a goal to look more defined, maybe a little more toned, or even just plain ripped? Wouldn’t it be great if you could accelerate the time it took for you to reach that goal, by, say, in half?
· Who here has ever thought to themselves, wow, I wish I looked like that movie star, how can I do it?
· Who here has ever thought to themselves, I wish I was the fastest and strongest guy or gal in the gym? (Could cut this out)
· What if I told you there was an answer to all of your questions? Yes, it’s the gym and a new diet, but I’m offering you a different view of how to manipulate the gym and a new, less tasteless diet?(Could cut this out)
Introduction: Steroid users are looked down upon in the sports world and even the fitness world. Many steroids are currently illegal in sports as well as in any situation (including basic fitness use).
Thesis: Steroids should be legalized in American Sports and the Olympics because the use of steroids can benefit humans as a whole. Steroids are looked down upon in sports, and the media is wasting too much time on making steroid use look bad, in which that time could be used for more important things like sex offenders. Believe me. Steroids can be very beneficial for athletes. I know this because I’ve seen my own lifting partners take steroids in front of my face, and I’ve seen the effects (CR).
Preview of points:
a. My four main points are ( Stock-Issue): (Some of these statements could be summed up for time constraints very easily)
a. Need (Problem): First, Steroid media coverage in sports and Bodybuilding is eating up time and money the media could be using for more important things.
b. Policy: Steroids need to be legalized through the Congress and FDA and be further deregulated to be free marketed. Once steroids are deregulated, the media will back off on showing the bad sides of steroids.
c. Cost Benefit Analysis: Steroid deregulation would have many more benefits than drawbacks. Many immediate benefits of steroid use and deregulation are often times over looked by America because of the medias take on the subject.
d. Rebuttal: Because of the media, people believe that there is an “Unfair advantage” in sports. This is one of the biggest problems with steroids, but the problem is not as big as people believe it is.
(Transition): Now, I welcome you to discussion on my first point.
II. Body (Stock Issue)
a. There have been thousands of articles that bash the use of steroids in sports and everyday life throughout the world.
b. The media wastes much of their time on not highlighting sports players’ achievements, but their so called problems with steroids.
a. Bad views of athletes in sports, especially baseball, are turning fans on their favorite players who deserve credit for their talents.
b. Rick Collins, a lawyer and former prosecutor, says that steroid bashing started in the 1980’s when testosterone use and basic Human Growth Hormone were said to have reached high-school males.
i. Now, everyone thinks steroids are plaguing not only our athletes, but our children.
ii. The terms “unfair advantage” and “performance enhancing” were coined at the time; and thus the terms went from the media to the consumer’s minds.
1. From here we see the common usage of testosterone being looked down upon by the world, although no statements of why steroid use was really wrong were substantiated.
2. It was just that the media reported that it was “unfair” no matter how common it was.
3. Too many people are questioning our athletes today, twenty years later, anywhere from Barry Bonds (who now holds the most homeruns in a career in baseball history) to Lance Armstrong (Who won the Tour De France seven consecutive times).
(Transition) Next, I will speak to you about my plan to help fix this rising problem.
c. Many athletes in sports use steroids to supplement their work ethics, but the media is crushing all their hard work.
d. I propose a three step plan to help fix this.
a. To start, a bill must be passed to deregulate steroids in Olympics, professional sports, etc to a free market-level.
i. The CBC Archives say that in 1988, Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal in the 100m dash because he used steroids.
ii. Johnson said the largest reason he was stripped of his medal was because he ran the fastest time in human history, and it was questioned by the media.
iii. It’s happened several times, over and over again.
iv. Unfortunately, fans are starting to believe that all record breakers use steroids, and that’s a bad misconception of the sports world. We can’t let that happen.
1. What if that happened to you? Would you be angry? (EA)
v. If a bill were passed to deregulate steroid use, we could look at steroids as a norm in sports, and the negative views of steroids and their steroid use would never exist.
b. Second, we should do further research in the field of what’s possibly good that could come out of steroid use in athletics.
i. Research could involve testing of regular people to show the positive benefits to human health while using steroids.
1. WebMD online says that steroids like Prednisone are used to help some types of cancers and diseases.
ii. Some research is being done, but “some” is not enough to hit mainstream news that actually influences our culture.
1. Research would solve the problem because the research would then turn over to the media, thus cutting all of their unnecessary slanted news stories about steroids.
c. Last, we should force the media to give a better-educated view of steroids.
i. Often times people are misled by credited doctors and mentors about all of the real effects of steroids.
ii. We must give the world more rounded views of steroid use and its affects, so people can make more educated judgments on steroids in general.
1. Media is slanted so often that it is has been forced into people’s minds that steroids are only bad. The media is not doing its job in this situation.
2. If the government makes laws that prohibit discrimination of steroid users then the media will have to show more on the positives of steroids, which will fix the problem.
(Transition) I now come to my third point dealing with the benefits and drawbacks of steroids in the world.
e. There are many more benefits in steroid use and deregulation then there are drawbacks. Some of the pros include:
Benefits to steroid use:
a. Steroids can boost self confidence and self-esteem by increasing muscularity and lean muscle mass. Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought you could look better? I bet you have. (AA)
i. An article from the
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, said that “Males have experienced an increased drive for muscularity in recent times as a result of females' expanded accomplishments among traditionally male dominated domains.”
ii. Women as equally as men desire muscularity though. The increased desire for both genders to become more muscular pushes the other, thus another benefit of steroid use, a growing culture.
b. Steroids produce winning athletes
i. Many gold medalists in the Olympics have taken steroids and many have been banned from the Olympic Games.
1. A Scholastic News Online article mentioned that Kelli White, the world’s fastest female sprinter in 2003, was banned from the Olympics for using steroids.
2. Kelli is just one of four U.S. athletes that faced charges at the time of her ban from the Olympics.
c. Steroids are readily available to everyone, so everyone has an equal chance of excelling in some form by using steroids.
i. In an August 5, 2007 New York Times article, MLB star Andruw Jones said that Bonds’ possible link to steroids ”Doesn’t matter” and that “There's a lot of people that take steroids, and they don't hit 755 home runs.''
ii. You and I could then reach our personal health goals with steroids if we wanted. Like being the fastest and strongest in the weight room, or on the court for that matter. Right now you may not have that ability, but with steroids that ability becomes possible.
d. Steroid use promotes hard work
i. A misconception that people are lazy because they take steroids is often times untrue.
1. Although some people are lazier, most bodybuilders and athletes take steroids to further regiment their rigorous work outs.
2. HR Fitness’s Online article, “The Bad, The Good, and Ugly” says that “In addition to potentially massive gains in strength and muscle mass they (Steroids) also seem to provide you with more energy and aggressiveness, things that can be conducive to good workouts.”
3. Steroids can take you from lifting forty-five minutes a day to four hours a day. I don’t think work ethic is questionable in that situation.
Possible drawbacks of steroids include:
· Media’s alleged Drawbacks of steroid use:
o Mood swings “Roid Rage” (does not occur in every steroid usage case).
o Severe acne (Mainly in testosterone steroids)
o Odd shaping of muscles ( Could happen from natural chemical imbalances in the human body)
· Unfortunately, some of the drawbacks the media influences are fallacies.
o In Lance Armstrong’s (The winner of seven consecutive Tour De France
‘s) case of being accused of using EPO (a steroid) BBC Sports Online says Armstrong “fooled” the world as well as Tour De France director Jean-Marie Leblanc.
o Some people may think steroids force people to lie (possible drawback of steroid use) Here we see a fallacy, though.
§ Sure, this is a possible drawback that someone may have been not telling the truth about Armstrong’s use of steroids, but it is a fallacy because there was no substantial evidence for Armstrong’s use of steroids to win.
· Armstrong was never found guilty of illegal steroid usage.
· Lance was able to overcome the media’s accusations, but he ultimately retired from the Tour De France because of the negative ongoing media coverage on the case.
§ Once again, we are tied back to the fact that Lance Armstrong was questioned so much because he was so successful. Armstrong has said himself that he feels he is the most tested man in the world. Why is this?
§ We can’t have our most prized athletes quit because they are being irritated by the media so much that it makes them sick. What if Tiger Woods was accused of using steroids and was forced to quit golf, whether he did steroids or not?
(Transition) The pros outweigh the cons in this situation.
f. That’s why you should consider my last point. People view steroids as an “unfair advantage,” but if you take into consideration that if everyone has an equal chance to use them in an unregulated way, then there is no more fighting over everything being “unfair.”
a. If we consider that everyone can use steroids and our culture becomes “supernatural” at sports we can have an even more competitive sports community.
b. The world will be better off with just accepting steroids so we don’t have to deal with all the controversies involved with steroid use, and free up our media’s time for more important news coverage.
c. We won’t have to deal with losing respect for our athletes anymore, and
we won’t have to make uneducated statements about people that take steroids.
d. Finally, we can take a step towards making ourselves look better when it comes to physical shape, and possibly fight one of the world’s biggest pandemics, Obesity.
(Transition) Steroids are something that should be double looked by everyone so maybe someday we can stop confrontations with steroid users, and thus provide a better athletic community.
III. Conclusion:
Restate Thesis: We should try and benefit our human culture as a whole through deregulating Steroid use in sports, Olympics, etc.
Review of main points:
a. Need (Problem): First, Steroid media coverage in sports and Bodybuilding is eating up time and money the media could be using for more important things.
b. Policy: Steroids need to be legalized through the Congress and FDA and be further deregulated to be free marketed. Once steroids are deregulated, the media will back off of showing the bad sides of steroids.
c. Cost Benefit Analysis: Steroid deregulation would have many more benefits than drawbacks. Many immediate benefits of steroid use and deregulation are often times over looked by America because of the medias take on the subject.
d. Rebuttal: Because of the media, people believe that there is an “Unfair advantage” in sports. This is one of the biggest problems with steroids, but the problem is not as big as people believe it is.
Closing Statement (Clap Line): Many athletes have taken steroids to supplement their hard work, but all their hard work is often stripped from them because they seem to be the best athletes most of the time. Just think if you got an A+ on your last paper, but the grade was taken away from you because you were said to have drank an energy drink (Your Steroid) before doing the paper. Maybe then you’d realize how athletes in sports feel whenever they are stripped of everything they have ever worked for because they used a supplement to boost them to their goals.
Bibliography
Collins, R. (2006). Pumped" A Truth-Enhancing Seminar on Steroid Use and the Law. Retrieved August 2007
I. Introduction:
Attention getter (EA): (Use Visual Aid)
· Who here has ever had a goal to look more defined, maybe a little more toned, or even just plain ripped? Wouldn’t it be great if you could accelerate the time it took for you to reach that goal, by, say, in half?
· Who here has ever thought to themselves, wow, I wish I looked like that movie star, how can I do it?
· Who here has ever thought to themselves, I wish I was the fastest and strongest guy or gal in the gym? (Could cut this out)
· What if I told you there was an answer to all of your questions? Yes, it’s the gym and a new diet, but I’m offering you a different view of how to manipulate the gym and a new, less tasteless diet?(Could cut this out)
Introduction: Steroid users are looked down upon in the sports world and even the fitness world. Many steroids are currently illegal in sports as well as in any situation (including basic fitness use).
Thesis: Steroids should be legalized in American Sports and the Olympics because the use of steroids can benefit humans as a whole. Steroids are looked down upon in sports, and the media is wasting too much time on making steroid use look bad, in which that time could be used for more important things like sex offenders. Believe me. Steroids can be very beneficial for athletes. I know this because I’ve seen my own lifting partners take steroids in front of my face, and I’ve seen the effects (CR).
Preview of points:
a. My four main points are ( Stock-Issue): (Some of these statements could be summed up for time constraints very easily)
a. Need (Problem): First, Steroid media coverage in sports and Bodybuilding is eating up time and money the media could be using for more important things.
b. Policy: Steroids need to be legalized through the Congress and FDA and be further deregulated to be free marketed. Once steroids are deregulated, the media will back off on showing the bad sides of steroids.
c. Cost Benefit Analysis: Steroid deregulation would have many more benefits than drawbacks. Many immediate benefits of steroid use and deregulation are often times over looked by America because of the medias take on the subject.
d. Rebuttal: Because of the media, people believe that there is an “Unfair advantage” in sports. This is one of the biggest problems with steroids, but the problem is not as big as people believe it is.
(Transition): Now, I welcome you to discussion on my first point.
II. Body (Stock Issue)
a. There have been thousands of articles that bash the use of steroids in sports and everyday life throughout the world.
b. The media wastes much of their time on not highlighting sports players’ achievements, but their so called problems with steroids.
a. Bad views of athletes in sports, especially baseball, are turning fans on their favorite players who deserve credit for their talents.
b. Rick Collins, a lawyer and former prosecutor, says that steroid bashing started in the 1980’s when testosterone use and basic Human Growth Hormone were said to have reached high-school males.
i. Now, everyone thinks steroids are plaguing not only our athletes, but our children.
ii. The terms “unfair advantage” and “performance enhancing” were coined at the time; and thus the terms went from the media to the consumer’s minds.
1. From here we see the common usage of testosterone being looked down upon by the world, although no statements of why steroid use was really wrong were substantiated.
2. It was just that the media reported that it was “unfair” no matter how common it was.
3. Too many people are questioning our athletes today, twenty years later, anywhere from Barry Bonds (who now holds the most homeruns in a career in baseball history) to Lance Armstrong (Who won the Tour De France seven consecutive times).
(Transition) Next, I will speak to you about my plan to help fix this rising problem.
c. Many athletes in sports use steroids to supplement their work ethics, but the media is crushing all their hard work.
d. I propose a three step plan to help fix this.
a. To start, a bill must be passed to deregulate steroids in Olympics, professional sports, etc to a free market-level.
i. The CBC Archives say that in 1988, Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal in the 100m dash because he used steroids.
ii. Johnson said the largest reason he was stripped of his medal was because he ran the fastest time in human history, and it was questioned by the media.
iii. It’s happened several times, over and over again.
iv. Unfortunately, fans are starting to believe that all record breakers use steroids, and that’s a bad misconception of the sports world. We can’t let that happen.
1. What if that happened to you? Would you be angry? (EA)
v. If a bill were passed to deregulate steroid use, we could look at steroids as a norm in sports, and the negative views of steroids and their steroid use would never exist.
b. Second, we should do further research in the field of what’s possibly good that could come out of steroid use in athletics.
i. Research could involve testing of regular people to show the positive benefits to human health while using steroids.
1. WebMD online says that steroids like Prednisone are used to help some types of cancers and diseases.
ii. Some research is being done, but “some” is not enough to hit mainstream news that actually influences our culture.
1. Research would solve the problem because the research would then turn over to the media, thus cutting all of their unnecessary slanted news stories about steroids.
c. Last, we should force the media to give a better-educated view of steroids.
i. Often times people are misled by credited doctors and mentors about all of the real effects of steroids.
ii. We must give the world more rounded views of steroid use and its affects, so people can make more educated judgments on steroids in general.
1. Media is slanted so often that it is has been forced into people’s minds that steroids are only bad. The media is not doing its job in this situation.
2. If the government makes laws that prohibit discrimination of steroid users then the media will have to show more on the positives of steroids, which will fix the problem.
(Transition) I now come to my third point dealing with the benefits and drawbacks of steroids in the world.
e. There are many more benefits in steroid use and deregulation then there are drawbacks. Some of the pros include:
Benefits to steroid use:
a. Steroids can boost self confidence and self-esteem by increasing muscularity and lean muscle mass. Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought you could look better? I bet you have. (AA)
i. An article from the
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, said that “Males have experienced an increased drive for muscularity in recent times as a result of females' expanded accomplishments among traditionally male dominated domains.”
ii. Women as equally as men desire muscularity though. The increased desire for both genders to become more muscular pushes the other, thus another benefit of steroid use, a growing culture.
b. Steroids produce winning athletes
i. Many gold medalists in the Olympics have taken steroids and many have been banned from the Olympic Games.
1. A Scholastic News Online article mentioned that Kelli White, the world’s fastest female sprinter in 2003, was banned from the Olympics for using steroids.
2. Kelli is just one of four U.S. athletes that faced charges at the time of her ban from the Olympics.
c. Steroids are readily available to everyone, so everyone has an equal chance of excelling in some form by using steroids.
i. In an August 5, 2007 New York Times article, MLB star Andruw Jones said that Bonds’ possible link to steroids ”Doesn’t matter” and that “There's a lot of people that take steroids, and they don't hit 755 home runs.''
ii. You and I could then reach our personal health goals with steroids if we wanted. Like being the fastest and strongest in the weight room, or on the court for that matter. Right now you may not have that ability, but with steroids that ability becomes possible.
d. Steroid use promotes hard work
i. A misconception that people are lazy because they take steroids is often times untrue.
1. Although some people are lazier, most bodybuilders and athletes take steroids to further regiment their rigorous work outs.
2. HR Fitness’s Online article, “The Bad, The Good, and Ugly” says that “In addition to potentially massive gains in strength and muscle mass they (Steroids) also seem to provide you with more energy and aggressiveness, things that can be conducive to good workouts.”
3. Steroids can take you from lifting forty-five minutes a day to four hours a day. I don’t think work ethic is questionable in that situation.
Possible drawbacks of steroids include:
· Media’s alleged Drawbacks of steroid use:
o Mood swings “Roid Rage” (does not occur in every steroid usage case).
o Severe acne (Mainly in testosterone steroids)
o Odd shaping of muscles ( Could happen from natural chemical imbalances in the human body)
· Unfortunately, some of the drawbacks the media influences are fallacies.
o In Lance Armstrong’s (The winner of seven consecutive Tour De France
‘s) case of being accused of using EPO (a steroid) BBC Sports Online says Armstrong “fooled” the world as well as Tour De France director Jean-Marie Leblanc.
o Some people may think steroids force people to lie (possible drawback of steroid use) Here we see a fallacy, though.
§ Sure, this is a possible drawback that someone may have been not telling the truth about Armstrong’s use of steroids, but it is a fallacy because there was no substantial evidence for Armstrong’s use of steroids to win.
· Armstrong was never found guilty of illegal steroid usage.
· Lance was able to overcome the media’s accusations, but he ultimately retired from the Tour De France because of the negative ongoing media coverage on the case.
§ Once again, we are tied back to the fact that Lance Armstrong was questioned so much because he was so successful. Armstrong has said himself that he feels he is the most tested man in the world. Why is this?
§ We can’t have our most prized athletes quit because they are being irritated by the media so much that it makes them sick. What if Tiger Woods was accused of using steroids and was forced to quit golf, whether he did steroids or not?
(Transition) The pros outweigh the cons in this situation.
f. That’s why you should consider my last point. People view steroids as an “unfair advantage,” but if you take into consideration that if everyone has an equal chance to use them in an unregulated way, then there is no more fighting over everything being “unfair.”
a. If we consider that everyone can use steroids and our culture becomes “supernatural” at sports we can have an even more competitive sports community.
b. The world will be better off with just accepting steroids so we don’t have to deal with all the controversies involved with steroid use, and free up our media’s time for more important news coverage.
c. We won’t have to deal with losing respect for our athletes anymore, and
we won’t have to make uneducated statements about people that take steroids.
d. Finally, we can take a step towards making ourselves look better when it comes to physical shape, and possibly fight one of the world’s biggest pandemics, Obesity.
(Transition) Steroids are something that should be double looked by everyone so maybe someday we can stop confrontations with steroid users, and thus provide a better athletic community.
III. Conclusion:
Restate Thesis: We should try and benefit our human culture as a whole through deregulating Steroid use in sports, Olympics, etc.
Review of main points:
a. Need (Problem): First, Steroid media coverage in sports and Bodybuilding is eating up time and money the media could be using for more important things.
b. Policy: Steroids need to be legalized through the Congress and FDA and be further deregulated to be free marketed. Once steroids are deregulated, the media will back off of showing the bad sides of steroids.
c. Cost Benefit Analysis: Steroid deregulation would have many more benefits than drawbacks. Many immediate benefits of steroid use and deregulation are often times over looked by America because of the medias take on the subject.
d. Rebuttal: Because of the media, people believe that there is an “Unfair advantage” in sports. This is one of the biggest problems with steroids, but the problem is not as big as people believe it is.
Closing Statement (Clap Line): Many athletes have taken steroids to supplement their hard work, but all their hard work is often stripped from them because they seem to be the best athletes most of the time. Just think if you got an A+ on your last paper, but the grade was taken away from you because you were said to have drank an energy drink (Your Steroid) before doing the paper. Maybe then you’d realize how athletes in sports feel whenever they are stripped of everything they have ever worked for because they used a supplement to boost them to their goals.
Bibliography
Collins, R. (2006). Pumped" A Truth-Enhancing Seminar on Steroid Use and the Law. Retrieved August 2007
Comments:
Hey Ryan-- while the speech was very controversial, you had a very nice structure. There was a little bit of awkward wording and fillers in the beginning of the speech, but you picked up a lot by the end of the speech and did a very good job!! -Danielle
Ryan, good job today! I give you credit for taking a side on steroids that most people wouldnt. Many people are against steroids because they know of the potential harm they can cause. I thought you could have backed up some of your ideas by addressing or disproving this "obvious" negative effects of steriods. Otherwise, i thought you did a nice job getting your point across. -Jen
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