We The Public Place The Best Athletes On Pedestals Analysis

Two authors, William Moller and Maya Angelou, both have similar themes throughout their narratives. Moller expresses his disagreement with stereotyping athletes in modern American sports such as baseball. Angelou concentrates on the bias and stereotyping of different races in modern sports. Both authors have comparable views on sports with common themes such as stereotyping, respect towards athletes, and viewing an athlete as a hero. William Moller opens his short story “We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals” by describing his own personal anecdote. He tells the reader that as a young high school student, overloaded with hours of homework every night, he took Ritalin. This is a class three drug, meaning that it is illegal for anyone to take without a prescription. Moller mentions that he was stressed and pressured and to him, failing a test was more detrimental than taking an illegal performance enhancing drug. He took Ritalin, aced the art history test, and took it a few more times to stay awake. Many people assume that lots of …show more content…
Rodriguez was caught using steroids, and has now been suspended for one year from the Yankees. Moller defends the use of steroids, agreeing that the average sports-loving American places athletes high above normal citizens. The author says, “I’d wager that the lure of being A-Rod is a bit more seductive than an A on that art history test” (551). Basically Moller is saying that even he used a performance enhancing drug in high school. Rodriguez was under a lot more stress and caved in to the use of steroids. He makes a valid point, stating that although several professional players are caught using drugs, that does not make all athletes bad, nor should we discriminate against all athletes. Although some athletes may cheat and use PEDs or human growth, that does not make all players in Major League Baseball