Baseball is one of Americas greatest pastimes. Do we want to ruin that by taking performance enhancements that will make the players stronger, faster, better and ultimately dissolving the whole principle of competition? I myself am a player of this amazing sport at Galena High School and I have to ask, "Would you rather see an athelete who has worked for what he or she is? Or another kind of athlete that is nothing without the secret substance of which his ability is limited?" It makes me sad to think that the only thing that the players of this game want to be noticed for is how many home runs they hit or how fast they run, or even how hard they throw. This sport was once a game of pure effort, hard work, and practice to attain such a level of greatness, sadly to say those key ingredients have virtually disappeared with a pill, syringe, or a liquid. To restore order to this fabulous game we need to hit the problem square on the head where the source is the worst: In the hearts of thousands of kids world wide to take the hard challenge of saying no to performance enhancements and staying true to the sport.

Spring 2009 - by "Player"

Baseball a Popular Sport

Through the ages many people every spring and summer start watching baseball at home or at the actual games themselves. It almost becomes a routine and a part of life. But why is baseball so popular? Not only is it the itiming of the seasons that help factor in but also favorite players, teams, coaches, and past records come into account. A month ago I took a random and completely unbiased survey at the Meadowood Mall on why people think baseball is so popular to many pople around the world.

One man said. "It is so popular because of how involved with the media, parents, and friends. Throughout childhood sports are pushed on kids, either through movies, (Sandlot, Major League etc.) playing cards and games, or even books. Whether we know it or not baseball is one of the most influenced sports in America. In a sense it is a right of passage for the child to be involved with others and learn fundamentals. When this happens that sport has a tendency to follow them their whole lives and they start "outsourcing" their opinion on a certain sport. Thus persuading others to watch and take part in acknowledged sport." I was stunned, a man who was randomly asked about baseball came up wth a solid theory in about two or three minutes.

Another woman said, " It is on of America's oldest pastimes .It's a tradition." This response wans't as well put together as the other but it has a point. Baseball is one of the oldest pastimes of our country and may be respected as tradition, but not everyone plays or likes baseball so it does have some refutes.

And then I asked them if they knew of Modern Pentathlon (another sport that people know and love). Everyone person I asked said no they Hadn't. then, I asked why do you think that Pentathlon is less popular than baseball?

Someone said, "it is an opinion question and everybody might like a different sport than baseball, but who knows, if I had to answer I'd have to say that it isn't publicized enough. Baseball has it's own channels, movies, games, playing cards, etc. If you went into a regular card store there would be baseball, football, soccer, etc. everywhere but not anything on Pentathlon. It is simply this, not many people know what it is or about (not even me) so they really can't have an opinion on it, so it just stays unacknowledged and forgotten.

Honestly I agree with what she says ten fold. Pentathlon is nut not to keen on people's thoughts. They just won't take the time to learn something new, they want something old and familiar, something without change, and something easy to comprehend.

*********************************PENTATHLON**************************************

A five event sport that consists of fencing, swimming, horse riding, shooting and running.

Spring 2009 - by "Player"