artificial turf

A Dangerous Playing Surface

      Some of the changes that have occurred in professional football were necessary for the game.  Pads, helmets and other protective equipment helped the players safety.  Other developments though, especially artificial turf, have proven themselves detrimental to the game and its participants.  Just as changes were made earlier, they must be made again.  Stadiums need to convert back to grass playing fields for the safety of football players, the satisfaction of the fans, and most importantly to improve the sport overall. 

What Is Artificial Turf?

Like Kleenex or Xerox, AstroTurf has become the popular moniker for all artificial playing surfaces impersonating natural grass in the modern sports world. Born in the 1960's out of a military project to improve the physical fitness of urban teenagers, AstroTurf,along with its foreign and domestic impostors that were eventually squeezed out of the industry,was developed as a cheaper, more durable, low maintenance alternative to grass as a playing surface for football, baseball, and soccer. The original sales pitch rang true with all the sincerity of a beer commercial:  All the fun of the regular grass, with only a third of the maintenance. Monsanto, AstroTurf's original manufacturer, had an ace in hole as well; grass doesn't grow very well in domes. Seduced by visions of conquering Mother Nature and paying a couple kids minimum wage to run a vacuum cleaner over the field between games, stadium executives across the nation bought into the AstroTurf movement. However, as the powers that be soon discovered for themselves, AstroTurf proved to be neither cheaper nor lower maintenance than grass, and it had a nasty little side effect. Players, coaches, and trainers began to notice a substantial increase in the frequency of injuries on the improved traction and reduced cushion of AstroTurf. Doctors even identified and named a few new ones, common only to the artificial surface.

Turf Injuries

The relative hardness of AstroTurf has spawned an unpleasant little chronic injury called turf toe. It occurs when the big toe is crushed into an artificial surface, ramming the toe back up into the foot and ripping up any ligaments and tissue it might encounter along the way. A little less serious but somewhat more messy ailment turf burn, which like turf toe, simply would not exist without Astroturf. Turf burn occurs just about anytime exposed skin comes in contact with the artificial surface, which in a contact sport like football, is about every thirty seconds. Because AstroTurf has about the same texture as a toothbrush and it can sizzle at about 30 degrees higher than the air temperature on a hot day, it rips off flesh with the efficiency of sandpaper. And aside from the nagging pain and constant threat of infections, turf burn offers the added bonus of making you stick to your sheets every night as you sleep.

These, however, are but minor ailments. The notion that an increase in major injuries, particularly to the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee is a direct result of AstroTurf has been a more hotly debated issue. In 1974, the Stanford Research Institute International (SRI) completed a six year study commissioned by the National Football League on the health effects of artificial turf. SRI reported that "in 17 out of 17 categories, natural grass was safer to play on than artificial surfaces."  Joe Grippo, the director of SRI, later admitted that "synthetic surfaces could not be justified, not on an injury prevention basis, not on a relative cost basis." 

Those facts, however, did not stop the NFL Players Association from conducting its own injury studies. The NFLPA concluded for the 1984 season that "the average turf injury took longer to heal, that the number of players increased by a third and that the number of missed games doubled when the injuries occurred on turf."  More recently, an ESPN poll conducted in September 1995 likewise found that 98 percent of NFL players believe playing on AstroTurf will shorten their careers. The NFLPA's reasoning for the increase in injuries echoed what common sense and trainers across the League had been saying for years. AstroTurf, because of its augmented traction, split seems, and permanent high and low spots (known as "birdbaths"), sometimes causes a player's feet to stick to the ground. "The resulting torque places enormous pressure on joints like the knee and the ankle, resulting in a greater number of torn tendons and ligaments."

Football Players' Preferences

The results of a January 1997 study by the NFL Players Association showed that nine out of 10 NFL players believe playing on artificial turf is more likely than grass to cause the kind of serious injuries that shorten careers. The written survey was conducted by NFLPA staff members at team meetings during the1996 NFL season, as a follow-up to a similar survey conducted during the 1994 NFL season.

The 1996 survey revealed that 86.7% of the 1034 players who answered preferred to play on natural grass (up from 85.1% in 1994), while only 6.3% preferred artificial turf

(down from 7% in 1994) and 7% had no preference (8% in 1994). Almost three-quarters (74%) of NFL players in this survey also indicated that playing on a natural grass surface was either very important or somewhat important in selecting the teams they would consider signing with as free agents (up from 70% in 1994).

NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw stated: "This survey underscores the overwhelming and increasing preference of NFL players for top-quality natural grass playing surfaces. Given the need of every NFL club to recruit free agents to remain competitive, we expect that many NFL clubs will recognize the obvious advantage they will gain by converting to or upgrading to a first-class natural grass playing field."

When asked to rate the five best playing fields the players chose the following:

         

          Ranking               Stadium                                      Field Surface

   

    1                          Tampa Stadium                                  Natural Grass

    2                          Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami           Natural Grass

    3                          Jacksonville Stadium                         Natural Grass

    4                          Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona           Natural Grass

    5                          Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City   Natural Grass

Players rated the worst stadiums as follows:

           Ranking               Stadium                                      Field Surface

         1                  Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia       Artificial Turf

         2                         Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati       Artificial Turf

        3                         The Astrodome in Houston               Artificial Turf

        4                         Three Rivers Stadiumin Pittsburgh   Artificial Turf

        5                         Giants Stadium in New Jersey          Artificial Turf

     Other results of the survey:

93.4% of NFL players believe that artificial turf is more likely than grass to contribute to injury.

90.9% believe artificial turf is more likely to shorten their careers.

83.9% believe artificial turf is more likely to worsen their quality of life after football.

94.8% believe artificial turf causes more soreness.

58.9% believe artificial turf causes more fatigue.

52.5% identified an artificial turf injury they suffered that they believe would not have happened on grass.     

Medical Evidence Linking Turf and Injury

Examining 25 scientific journals, Dr. Willibald Nagler, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Physiatrist in Chief at the Cornell  Medical Center in New York City, and his colleagues found  that foot and knee injuries on synthetic turf in some cases occur about 50 percent more than on grass.  And when injuries do occur, they often are more serious and difficult to heal than those that occur on grass. Nagler explained that synthetic turf does not allow the foot to slide when it hits the ground, and ligaments in the feet and knees rupture -- injuries that can be "debilitating and painful for an athlete, and difficult to heal and to treat."  Ligaments whose sole function is to keep the joint in

place are not elastic, Nagler emphasized, and they rupture either partially or completely.

"It takes quite a long time to heal if they are even partially ruptured," said Nagler, a specialist in rehabilitation medicine.  "The ligament actually comes apart,

and it loses its functional value.  It doesn't hold the joint together anymore." Treatment is to immobilize the joint in a plaster cast or surgically suture the ligament back together.  That is difficult because the surgeon has to take ligament from someplace else, and the procedure is not always successful. Football on grass results in fewer ligamentous injuries, Nagler said, and those that do occur are not as severe, according to the published scientific articles.  Furthermore, synthetic turf may exacerbate existing injuries, or make healing take longer, the studies show.  Nagler and Dr. Debra Braverman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine examined more than two dozen scientific journals to compare ligamentous football injuries.  Among them:  Journal of Sports Medicine, Clinical Orthopedics,  the Journal of the American Medical Association, and others.  He was motivated, he said, "because there is a lot of anecdotal evidence, but no one's really searched the literature to see if it's true.  There is definitely an increase in ligamentous injuries on artificial turf."

Financial Downfalls of Astroturf Fields

AstroTurf has generally failed to prove itself any less expesive than grass.  The Monsanto company's claim, just before it sold its AstroTurf division to Balsam, was that grass would cost $40,000 annually to keep in shape compared to only $4,000 for AstroTurf. However as noted by Alex Hill of Colorado University, natural grass is still cheaper to install, and in a football exclusive stadium the total cost over a ten year period is about even for turf and grass at just over a million dollars.

Moreover, those statistics don't even account for the single greatest fear of many:  the possibility that a star with a guaranteed multimillion dollar contract will trip on a seam in the turf, rip apart his knee, and spend the rest of his career in rehab programs. It is a cost that is measured in missing Super Bowl rings as easily as it is in dollars and cents, not in groundskeeping costs.

The Solution

An ESPNET poll revealed that of 4650 fans surveyed 97 percent preferred watching games played on natural grass.  Players in the NFL prefer natural grass, and their protection is most important.  They are after all your investment in financial and athletic success as are the fans.  Having grass fields installed in your stadium will also attract free agents as well.  Astroturf's time is up, it's time for a switch back to grass.  The investment in a natural grass playing surface will ease the minds of players, fans and coaches alike and let them concentrate on the more important aspects of football

Are things equal between the sexes in college sports

"Monday night football won't be shown this week, instead women's field hockey will be aired."  Monday night football has been a long lasting American pastime and a change like this would tend to really shock and upset millions of dedicated football fans.  This group, made up of mostly men gather round the tube each week for a chance to watch men running around a field carrying a ball and running into each other.  The situation I stated earlier probably won't happen, at least not in the near future.  Men's sports still seem to dominate, and in order to allow this to be changed, certain steps must be taken.  First of all, the situation needs to be addressed as a serious problem, then those people affected need to be determined. Next, the cause of the problem needs to be addressed and finally, it is time to think of solutions. 

      So, first of all, is there really a problem?  Why does it matter that men get all the attention in sports?  That's the way it has been for hundreds of years dating back to the first Olympics.  But then again why should men get all the attention, women work just as hard as men at their sports, why not give them some credit?  Men and women are treated differently in sports ranging from the size of budgets, the number of scholarships given, and in how many athletes are participating in sports.

      Men's athletic budgets are without a doubt a lot higher than women's athletic budgets.   On average men's athletic budgets are nearly five times that of women's (Moline 18).  An example of this is at schools that offer women's sports of field hockey and volleyball that have budgets less than 20% of that which is allocated for men's sports (Hanmer 13).  Overall operating funds for women's sports are about three times that of men's (Moline 18).  Funding for individual sports is different but when all added together men receive a lot  more money for their sports than women.

      Another difference between men's and women's sports is the number of athletic scholarships given to athletes of differing sexes.  Male athletes, as a whole, receive twice the number of scholarships that women athletes receive (Moline 18).  In a survey conducted by the NCAA( national collegiate athletic association) of 253 division 1 schools, athletic scholarship funding was 69.5% for men and 30.5% for women.  The actual average amount of money given for scholarships was $849,130 for men and $372,800 for women (Farrey C1).  In 1992, division 1 schools with football teams were allowed to offer 92 scholarships per season (Farrey C1).  This exceeds any other sport, men or women's, in the number of scholarships available.  When everything is added together male athletes receive more scholarship money than female athletes.   This is another example of the inequality between the sexes. 

      Yet another difference between men and women's collegiate sports is the number of participants.  The ratio of men to women at most colleges is usually one to one, but sports participation is usually two to one favoring men (Tarkan 25).  Men's athletic teams are generally bigger than women's teams. This could be attributed to the bigger budgets and more scholarships that would allow men's teams to be larger.  This two to one ratio shows that participation is not equal and therefore women are discriminated against.

      These examples of inequality in college sports shows that there is a problem and it has been a problem for some time.  Women have less money budgeted for their sports, less scholarship money, and there are a lot fewer female athletes than male athletes.  In 1975, a girl in Colorado had to use the court system in order to be allowed to practice and play with a men's team. This was done since there was no available women's team. (Hanmer 96).  Having to go to court, again shows that a problem does exist, and even though it is getting better, with the number of female athletes rising, the problem of inequality still exists.

       Now that it is known that a problem exists, the next step in solving the problem is to figure out who is affected by sexual discrimination in sports.  Contrary to popular belief, female athletes are not the only people affected by sexual discrimination. Male athletes, female athletes, and society are all harmed by sexual discrimination in sports.

      First of all, the most noticed and the biggest group of people that have brought this problem to everyone's attention is the female athlete.  Female athletes have struggled for years to become men's equals in many areas, including athletics.  Even though the female role in sports has grown, men still receive most of the glory.  Television stations that air sporting events generally air male sports such as football and basketball.  The sports that are shown on television receive money from the television station.  CBS has paid over 1.7 billion dollars to broadcast the men's NCAA basketball tournament until 2002(Chad 22). Some of this money goes to each team playing in the tournament. Female sport's teams don't have the opportunity to receive money from television because the television stations don't want to air their games.  Another way that women are harmed by sexual discrimination is in the amounts of money budgeted to keep their sports going.  As I stated earlier, men's sports are budged an average of five times more than women.  Male sports seem to take everything away from female sports, but this is not necessarily true.

      Male athletes are also affected by sexual discrimination in sports.  As opportunities are gradually getting better for female athletes, something must give in order to make these opportunities available.  These things are usually men's athletics.  In some instances men's sporting teams have been limited or totally cut from a school's athletic program in order to make room for more female teams.   At the University of Illinois, the men's swimming and diving team was cut in order to meet the title ix equality requirements.  Members of this team filed a lawsuit claiming reverse discrimination, but lost(Briggs B4).  Another example of male athletes being harmed is at Yale.  Water polo and wrestling teams were dropped in 1991 and the track and cross country teams had limits placed to control the numbers of participants(Frankel ).  Though title ix was issued to stop discrimination, it is causing some men's sports to be harmed.

      Now that both sexes of athletes have been addressed, who else could be harmed by sexual discrimination? The answer to that question is society.  Everyone that pays taxes is affected.  A portion of the taxes that everyone pays goes toward education.  Some of the money given to schools through taxes goes toward the school's athletic program.  As schools try to equal things out between men's and women's sports, more money will have to be spent.  This rise in athletic costs could eventually lead to a raise in taxes in order to allow state schools to continue having sports programs.  Another possible affect is the rise in a school's tuition.  Parents wishing to send their children to college could face a higher tuition resulting from the money it takes to add women's sports.  Parents with athletically gifted male children could find it harder for their children to receive athletic scholarships, as more scholarships are given to girls.

      The people that are affected by sexual discrimination, including female athletes, male athletes, and society, are affected in different ways.  Each group faces hardships caused by sexual discrimination.  Now that it is known who is affected by sexual discrimination in sports, the next step to is to learn what causes it. Sexual discrimination is caused by many things that have been around for many years.  The three main things that cause sexual discrimination in sports are football, television, and tradition.  These three reasons all are causes to sexual discrimination.

      Football is a widely appreciated and closely watched sport in America.  Football alone is the major cause for the wide gap between equality in men's and women's sports.   There is no female sports that is comparable to football (Becker 70).  Football teams usually cost the most to run of any sport at a college (Gullenberg F5).  This is partly due to the large number of players on a team.  Numbers can range from 75 to 125 players per team (Tarkan 26). The University of Nebraska took 132 players to the Orange Bowl in 1994 (Burk 93).  Some schools are known to put up their football teams in nice hotels before home games, two to a room, while women are bunked four to a room while out of town(Tarkan 27).  Football players daily food allowances can average $25 for dinner and $15 for breakfast, while women receive only an $11 total daily allowance.  Another luxury of being a college football player is the mode of transportation.  While female sports and most male sports rely on busses and vans, the football team is flying. Football games also tend to draw the biggest crowds.  For example, at the University of Iowa, home football games can bring in crowds in excess of seventy thousand screaming football fans. The big public response that football receives only causes the sport to grow. ABC's sports commentator, Keith Jackson states, " I don't care for it.  There's too much emphasis on one game at the expense of others."  Football dominates the airwaves during the season with sometimes three or four college games shown each weekend.  Football is a big cause in the sexual discrimination problem that exists in sports today, but it's not  the only cause.

      Another cause for sexual discrimination in sports is the television and other forms of media.  As I stated earlier, football games are shown every weekend during the season with hardly any counter balance of women's games shown.  The two teams that played in the Fiesta Bowl split $17 million which is about $500,000 more than any other bowl game (Kirkpatrick 82). Basketball season, with numerous games shown every weekend, follows the football season.  Even with women's basketball getting some television time, it still doesn't compare to the amount of air time men's basketball gets.  During the NCAA championship, ESPN shows men's basketball for nine straight days.  CBS broadcasts nearly 66 hours of championship basketball over a 19 day span (Chad 23). This is compared to the one full day allowed for women's NCAA championship basketball (Baker 38).  Other sports that are aired by CBS are the College World Series, the NCAA outdoor track and field championship, and NCAA women's gymnastics.   The big time sports, football and basketball, bring in the biggest sponsors which is how a television network makes its money.  Temple University spent $500,000 on advertising it's men's sports teams while only spending $945 total for women's advertising (Bedell 5B). The money a  team receives to be on television also adds to the budget differences between men's and women's sports.

      Tradition also plays a role in the cause of sexual discrimination in sports.  For years, male sporting events have been very exciting and popular.  Today, with men generally controlling what is shown on television, male spectator sports still reign (Nelson 78).  Male sports are what people grew up watching and appreciating.  The excitement that comes in watching these competitions has kept them popular.  As women's sports grow, it is hard for people to change their ways and switch over to watch field hockey or volleyball instead of the high intensity game of football.  As exciting as these sports may be, people are not always so open to change.  Tradition can be a very strong cause to sexual discrimination in sports. 

      These causes; football, television, and tradition, all lead to sexual discrimination in sports.  Now that the causes have been identified, it is now possible to start thinking of  solution that will help the situation improve. Solutions to this problem of sexual discrimination in sports do exist.  Limiting football spending, offering more scholarships for women, and adding more women's sports programs are all possible solutions to this problem. 

      As stated earlier, football is a major contributor to the problem of sexual inequality in sports.  Limiting the amount of money spent on football would free up a lot of money for other sports.  If there was a national limit on the number of football scholarships allowed, this would ensure that no one team would have an advantage over another.  The limiting of scholarships would free up money to a school's athletic program as well as bring the overall number of scholarships closer to the number given to female athletes.   If the number of football players is reduced, this would also free up lots of money that would have been spent on helmets, uniforms, expensive knee surgeries, food, and assistant coaches.  It would also mean fewer tutors and counselors, because of the large number of academically deficient athletes football tends to include (Farrey C2). According to NCAA president Judy Sweet, "If you took football totally out of the mix, the number of scholarships for men and women would be equal-maybe even more for women."   An argument to this situation is that football programs bring in lots of revenue that goes to help athletic programs.  This is not necessarily true. Nearly 80% of all football teams lose money(Burk 93).  There are too many players on football teams and these excess players use up money.  Limiting the football budget and distributing the money elsewhere is a good solution, but it has it's disadvantages as well.  

      Another possible solution to the problem is to offer the same number of scholarships to male athletes and female athletes.  As stated earlier, men receive more than double the amount of scholarship money than women.  Doing this would be a big step towards equality between men's and women's sports. This solution also has a disadvantage, the cost.  Scholarships cost money and adding scholarships gets to be rather expensive.  This would be a good solution, if not for the high cost.

      Another possible solution is to add more women's teams to a school's athletic program.  This would be a good solution since most schools offer more men's sports than women's sports.  In the Big Ten Conference, they voted to bring intercollegiate sports to a two to three ratio of women to men (Moline 18).  Since 1992, over 800 athletic teams for women have been added to colleges across the country (Tarkan 26). This has helped in closing the gap between the number of men's and women's sports teams offered.  However, this is not a solution without drawbacks.  In order to bring this ratio closer, men's teams would have to be cut or additional funding would have to come from somewhere else.  In Illinois, a bill is being passed that would allow colleges to receive more funding for athletics (Tarkan 26).  This would allow more women's teams to be added without hurting men's teams.  This is a good start, but in most states funding for this solution makes it less attractive.

      Overall, money seems to be the biggest problem when it comes to a good solution to the problem of sexual discrimination in sports.  The solutions of cutting back at football funding, giving equal number of scholarships, and adding women's teams, all have their drawbacks.  It seems that none of these solutions alone will solve the problem.  I think a combination of all of these solutions is the best solution to this problem. 

      Lack of money was the drawback to the solutions of adding scholarships and more sports for women.  These solutions are good, but a source of money is needed to allow these to be practical solutions.  The money for these solutions could come from football.  Football has far more money budgeted than any other sport at a college.  As I stated earlier football doesn't necessarily make money and therefore they shouldn't  need to spend as much as they do.  If football funding helped subsidize new women's teams, it would allow more women's teams to be created.  This would help bring the number of men's and women's sports to a closer ratio, as well as bring the participation of male and female athletes to a closer proportion.  If football programs were limited to a smaller number of scholarships, those extra scholarships could be distributed to female athletes in order to equalize up the number of scholarships given to male and female athletes. 

      This combination of cutting back at football funding and adding more scholarships and sports for women seems to be the best solution to the problem of sexual discrimination in sports.  Even though this may not make things totally equal, it does make things better.  Hopefully, someday men and women will be considered equals in all aspects of life, including sports.  Until then, we must do our best to be as fair as possible.

Anabolic Steroids

Since ancient history, many athletes have resorted to performance enhancing aids to give them an edge on their opponents.  Greek Olympians used strychnine and hallucinogenic mushrooms to psych up for an event.  "In 1886 a French cyclist was the first athlete to die from using a performance enhancer, called speedballs, a mixture of cocaine and heroin.  In the 1920's, physicians inserted slices of monkey testicles into male athletes to help boost vitality.  In the 1930's Aldof Hitler allegedly administered the hormone testosterone to himself and his troops to increase aggressiveness" (Schrof, 54).  Athletes had already begun using the male hormone testosterone to boost performance by the 1940's.  The first synthetic anabolic steroid was developed in 1953, having a strength building effect five times stronger than the natural hormone testosterone.  Not since the development of the anabolic steroid has any performance enhancer been so effective and so desired by athletes.  Today, black market sales of anabolic steroids are topping $400 million per year.  One million Americans, half of them adolescents, use black market steroids (Schrof, 54).

      Anabolic steroids are synthetic compounds that resemble the natural male sex hormone testosterone.  Male hormones have two different effects in the body.  Hormones have an anabolic effect, which stimulates growth, and they have an androgenic effect, which increases male sexual characteristics.  Anabolic steroids are constructed synthetically to maximize the anabolic (growth) effect and minimize the androgenic (male characteristic) effect.  Steroids are molecules that occur naturally in the body and are carried in the bloodstream and act as messengers.  The most important of these messages tell the body to increase creatine phosphate synthesis and to increase protein synthesis (Schwarzenegger, 722).  These messages are delivered at various ratios depending upon the type of steroid.

      Creatine phosphate and protein synthesis are the two most important reactions that occur when training.  Creatine phosphate is a short-term energy restorer which allows you to contract your muscles for more than just a few seconds.  The more CP available, the more muscular work you can do, thus the harder you can train and the more muscle you will build.  This, along with the need for protein synthesis, is the reason for the attraction to steroids.

      There are hundreds of forms of steroids that have been synthesized, each

one having differing levels of anabolic and androgenic effects.  Some steroids are used to treat illness and injury.  Corticosteroids are one of the most successful forms that have been synthesized.  They are used to treat everything from tendon injuries to vision problems.  There are many other forms of steroids that were synthesized for their strength and muscle building properties.  Steroids can be taken orally of by an injection.

      Oral steroids have many drawbacks. Oral steroids, are constructed to have short life spans and are broken down all at once.  Because of this, oral steroids put a tremendous strain on the liver. For example, if a user takes 200 mg of an oral steroid, the liver must destroy the entire 200 mg in one day (Schwarzenegger, 724).  Taking oral steroids may also lead to blood sugar problems.  Injectable steroids are chemically constructed to have longer life spans.  200 mg of an injectable is constructed to last 17 days, meaning that the body will breakdown only 12 mg per day, which is much easier on the body (Schwarzenegger, 724).  Injectable steroids bypass the liver and go directly into the bloodstream, and therefore, they are faster acting.  Another drawback to taking steroids by injection, many users complain, is that it must be administered with huge syringes. The user must insert the needle 1.5 to 2 inches into the muscle of the thigh or buttocks. The deeper the depth of the needle, the less of the steroid that leaks through the

skin.  "Sometimes one of the guys will inject in one side of his butt one day and the other the next.  Then, we all laugh at him because he can barely sit down for he next three days," said a 19 year old teenager from Arizona (Schrof, 57).

      Not all the side effects have been determined yet.  Steroids are known to have effects on the cardiovascular system, testosterone production, liver function, and neurologic functions.  Prolonged, high doses of steroids can have serious effects on the liver.  Some of these include, progressive cholestatis and jaundice, peliosis hepatitis, hemorrhaging, and the possibility of liver cancer (Schwarzenegger, 726).  These problems are especially noticeable in users who take oral steroids.

      Steroids possibly have their biggest effect on the brain.  Steroids also cause a marked increase in the level of cortisol, the body's major stress hormone (Schwarzenegger, 726).  This can also lead to hypertension, stress and neurologic problems.  Steroid users also experience higher levels of aggression, often called " 'roid rages" (Schwarzenegger, 726). A recent study

has definitively shown that anabolic steroids can cause temporary mental problems, including mood swings and violent impulses (Time, 16).  These aggressions can grow to and become a  major problem.

      Although many of the long term side effects have not been determined, the short term side effects can be harmful, even fatal.  Athletes who choose to use steroids or other hormones must take into consideration the delicate balance of the body.  When a new hormone is flooded into the body, a series of events will occur as the body tries to regain its natural balance.  By

altering the balance of the endocrine system users may be taking a big risk.

Work Cited

Schrof, Joannie M. "Pumped Up." US News and World Report, June 1, 1992,

      Volume 12 Issue 21, p54.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold. "Anabolic Steroids and Ergogenic Aids." The Encyclopedia of Modern

      Bodybuilding. New York: Simon and Schuster. Pgs. 721-730.

"Health Report." Time, June 14, 1993, Vol. 141 Issue 24, p16.

A Working Mans Game

Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty were a duo known as Stealers Wheel when they recorded a Dylanesque pop hit, "Stuck in the Middle With You", in April of 1974. The single reached number five on the charts -  little did they know that eighteen years later it would become a cult favorite.

      In 1992 Quentin Tarantino, a little known writer/director, took the Cannes film festival and the world by surprise with his motion picture Reservoir Dogs.  The movie is about the difficulties that occur when five "master" criminals are hired by a crime king pin named Joe to pull off the biggest diamond heist of the century. 

      Stuck right in the middle of the movie,  the Egan/Rafferty hit is played as a introduction to one of the best or worst torture seens ever in the history of movies. It depends on how you look at it.

I'll set-up the scene in the movie where it is being played,  try and follow me...  The five criminals hired go by color-coded names .  During the heist the cops show and things got out of control.  Two of the robbers were shot and killed after Mr. Blonde, the "on the edge" gangster started shooting up the place when an employee triggered the alarm.  Mr. White and Mr. Orange (an undercover cop) escaped the scene and headed for the hideout where all the men were supposed to meet.  On the way to the hideout Mr. Orange was shot, he was bleeding severely but the injury was not life threatening.  Shortly after their arrival, Mr. Pink met with them and they all anxiousley waited for Mr. Blonde.

      Mr. Blonde, acting cool and unaffected by the mornings events, made his entrance.  After being questioned by Mr. White about why he went psycho in the store, Mr. Blonde called them out to see a "surprise" he had in his trunk.  Mr. Blonde in an effort to find out how the police heard about the robbery in advance had kidnapped a police officer.  They carried the man into the warehouse and after tying him to a chair Mr. White and Mr. Pink commenced beating the hell out of him.  They Asked him to tell how the police knew of the heist,  he said he knew nothing and after beating on him some more, Nice Guy Eddie came in.  He was Joe's son and told Mr. White and Mr. Pink that they would have to come with him to ditch the cars.  Mr. Blonde was told to stay and keep an eye on the cop and the injured Mr. Orange.

My idea is that the following scene was written by Director Tarantino choreographed to the song by Stealers Wheel.  Rather than the norm where a scene is written and the music is picked thereafter.  As I describe the scene I will give the lyrics to the song and show how they correspond to the characters actions in the scene.

      Mr. Blonde starts talking to the cop,  who still insists he knows nothing.  The lyrics to the song begin;  keep in mind that I am suggesting that the words are what the cop is thinking. 

Well I don't know why I came here tonight.

I got the feeling that something ain't right.

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,

and I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right...

Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

      The words being sung tell us that the cop is wondering how he got into this situation, he knows something is up, and he is scared that he may not be able to make it through the rest of this torturous interrogation alive.  The clowns are his fellow officers who allowed the situation to get so out of control, and the jokers are Mr. White and Mr. Pink.  And now he is stuck in the middle of this whole ordeal with the most cynical, evil, and hardest criminal of the bunch....Mr. Blonde.

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you

and I'm wondering what it is I should do

It's so hard to keep this smile from my face

cause I'm and I'm all over the place

(chorus)

      These are the lines that justify what I am saying the most.  He is wondering what he should do, he knows that Mr. Orange is a cop and if he were to mention it to Mr. Blonde it may save his life.  It is an internal  conflict in which he heroically decides to keep quiet.  He can't keep the smile off his face because he knows the cops are outside just waiting for Joe to come to the warehouse so they can bust the whole operation, and when he comes the torture will be over.

Well you started out with nothin' and your proud that your a self -made man.

And your friends they all come callin' - slap you on the back and say - please, please.

Tryin' to make some sense of it all

But I can see it makes no sense at all

Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?

'till I think that I can't take anymore.

(Chorus)

      Here, the officer is bringing out the fact that Mr. Blonde is proud of his life as a criminal,  and proud that his friends, Joe and Nice Guy Eddie  come callin' -begging Mr. Blonde to work for them right after he got out of prison.  The cop tries to understand the situation that he is in but he realizes it is a lost cause.  The last two lines show what the officer is asking himself.  Should he spill his guts or should he keep quiet until Joe shows  up.

      The music stops.  The cop is a bloody mess, Mr. Blonde had not only beat him, he had cut off his ear, and doused him with gasoline.  He was just about ready to set him on fire when six gunshots rang out--  Mr. Orange, the undercover cop had shot Mr. Blonde to death. 

Joe, Nice Guy Eddie, Mr. Pink and Mr. White all return shortly thereafter.  They find Mr. Blonde, the cop, and Mr. Orange all covered in blood and question Mr. Orange about what happened.  Mr. Orange tried to explain that Mr. Blonde was going to burn the cop, and split with the diamonds.  Joe called him a traitor and would not believe him. Joe shot the police officer and was ready to kill Mr. Orange when Mr. White turns his gun on Joe to protect his friend.  Intern Nice Guy Eddie turns his gun on Mr. White.  Sirens could be heard as the movie hit its climax - the cops bust in and three shots are heard, and three bodies drop to the floor. 

      Quentin Tarintino is a acumen in the the field music, I believe he truly wrote the seen I described - the torture seen - to coincide with the Stealers Wheel song.  In the research of my opinion I luckily stumbled on a quote from Tarentino taken from the compact disc booklet of "Truth and Fiction."

"Personnally, I don't know if Jerry Rafferty neccessarily appreciated the connotations that I brought to "Stuck in the Middle With You". There's a good chance he didn't.  But that's one of the things about using music in movies that's so cool: the fact that if you do it right, it's about as cinematic a thing as you can do.   You're really doing what movies do better than any other art form.  It works in this visceral, emotional, cinematic way that's special.  And when you do it right and you hit it right, then you can never really hear that song again without thinking about that image from the movie.  That's what comercials are counting on, but it never quite works with commercials.

      The thing is, once a movie has done that with a song, as far as I'm concerned that movie owns it.  I mean, they've used "Stand By Me" so many times, but to me the one that used "Stand By Me" that way was The Wanderers.  They play "Stand By Me" as the lead character, Ken Wahl, realizes that JFK has been shot. And it's perfect."

      I couldn't agree more with what Tarentino is saying.  His movies especially draw upon music to make the scenes flow together in a surreal, inspiring style. What more can a movie connoisseur like myself ask for in a movie?  As Tarentino says "Stand By Me" is perfect in The Wanderers, I say "Stuck in the Middle With You" is perfect in Resovoir Dogs.

A Professinal Football Game

This is my essay about the NFL and its players.

    The NFL is divided into two leagues, the AFC and the NFC.  In those divisions, they are divided into 3 conferences, the west, central, east. They both have about 14 teams each and they compete head to head.

    They start the game with a coin-toss. The winner chooses to either receive or kick-off, they do the opposite at half time. 

    The game is divided in 4 quarters, 15 minutes each, with a break half way called half-time.

    On each team there are 56 players. The starting line ups consist of 11 players on offense and defense. There are also 5 referees.

    They hike the ball and once that happens its called a play. The QB can either pass the ball or hand it off. If he throws it and the receiver drops it the play is over. If he catches it then drops it the play is over.

    Many types of penalties can be called. The most common is offsides and its 5 yards and replay the down. The worst is unneccasary roughness which can lead to 15 yards and ejections.

    At each end of the field is an endzone which if you get in there it is called a touchdown on offense, which is worth six points, or a safety on defense which is worth 2 points on defense. If you score a touchdown, a field goal is worth 1 point, if you dont its worth 3 points.

    For 4 quarters they battle it out and at the end, the team with the most points is rewarded with the win. Now that is my essay on the NFL.