Jocks off juice

CENTRAL VALLEY-"It would upset me if my hard work for four years was to mean nothing because another guy would take steroids for a year and seem to be a better athlete than me." High school senior Dominick Gonzalez is one of the many local athletes who have strong opinions toward the recent steroid scandal in professional sports, mainly Major League Baseball. The 17 year-old Monrovian is on the Monroe-Woodbury High School track team and has been a member since he came to the high school as a freshman. Gonzalez feels passionate about the subject as he tells his definitive opinions on steroid-use both in the professional world, and outside. He believes that the recent reports of steroid use in pro-sports are a disgrace to all sports in general. "Using steroids is no way to be a role model for kids to look up to," he said. "When kids see that an athlete has cheated to get that far, it becomes a negative influence." Gonzalez's view is similar to that of Chris Armstrong, who is also 17. The high school baseball player, who has been with the team since freshman year, is also against steroid use. "It's cheating, definitely cheating," said Armstrong. "If you're going to do that, why even play the sport?" Armstrong, a pitcher, says he throws an 86 mph fastball without the use of any enhancement drugs and adds that he shuns those who use the drugs to try and improve their performance. Both Armstrong and Gonzalez both plan on going to college, where they will continue to play the sports that they love. Armstrong is planning on being a starting pitcher at Iona College or SUNY Cortland and Gonzalez plans to be a thrower on the Syracuse University track and field team. The two both have harsh thoughts to those who may use enhancement drugs, which beyond hurting themselves and the dignity of the sport, could affect their own futures directly. "I am worried, worried about if a steroid-user was to possibly push me out of a college spot as starting pitcher or even kill my chance of a scholarship," Armstrong said. Gonzalez shared a similar idea. "It's just ridiculous to think that someone could hurt my chances because they take a drug whereas I have worked hard for four years," he said. They both agreed that nobody can know for sure if steroid-use is a problem with high school athletes or if it was a problem in their high school "There's always speculation, but it's impossible to know the truth," Gonzalez said. "The only way to know is to test players," Armstrong added. "But other than that, nobody really knows." But what both Gonzales and Armstrong say they do know is that steroid use is wrong.