If you watched President Bush’s State of the Union address you heard something like, “Economy.” Yawn. “War in Iraq.” Like we haven’t heard enough about that. “Steroids in sports.”
Huh?
Saying that athletes are role models and should be a good example to the kids, Bush spoke out against the use of performance enhancing drugs in his speech, calling on team owners, players, coaches and most importantly, players union leaders, to “Get tough and get rid of steroids now.”
Hmmm. I wonder which sport Bush’s comments were directed at. The NFL certainly doesn’t think it’s them.
“I don’t know who Bush is talking about, but he’s not talking about the NFL, because we’ve already dealt with steroids, performance enhancing drugs and all of that,” Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said.
I would agree with Gene on his assessment. While it is a fact that some NFL players have taken performance enhancing drugs, the NFL performs random drug tests throughout the season to try and keep the playing field even.
Just a few weeks ago, four members of the Oakland Raiders tested positive for the steroid THG.
With a failed drug test comes an automatic four-game suspension without pay for a first offense, a six-game suspension without pay for a second offense and a one-year suspension without pay for a third offense.
The NFL also tests for masking agents, which are taken to try and cover up use of steroids. If a masking agent is found in the body, it is treated as if a steroid was found and the player is punished accordingly.
It is a very good drug testing system.
Actually, the sport that President Bush had the bullseye on was Major League Baseball and its incredibly weak drug testing policy.
This is the first year of the new policy after provisional tests taken last year showed between 5 and 7 percent of major leaguers testing positive.
Their names won’t be known, of course, thanks to one of the most powerful unions in America, the Major League Baseball Players Association. Always looking out for the best interests of their players, they want to make sure a .220 lifetime hitter can make $5 million a year and no one suffers the embarrassment of failing a drug test.
Commissioner Bud Selig took a well-deserved shot at the Players Association in his response to Bush’s remarks.
“In the minor leagues, where we have the ability to act unilaterally, we have a very effective drug testing program that includes year-round testing for all performance enhancing substances and significant penalties,” Selig said. “However, at the major league level, drug testing is a mandatory topic of bargaining. Nonetheless, we will continue to work with the MLBPA in an effort to enhance our program so it can be in compliance with the call of the president,” he said.
According to the new agreement, the first failure of the test, which will not be known by the public, will result in “treatment.” If that sounds vague to you, you are not alone. What it says to me is that you get a free pass. If you fail a drug test, it’s OK, just do better next time.
The second offense is a 15-day suspension or up to a $10,000 fine. The third failed test will result in a 25-day suspension or up to a $25,000 fine. The fourth failed test will result in a 50-day suspension or up to a $50,000 fine. And, finally, the fifth failed test will result in a one-year suspension or up to a $100,000 fine.
The tests are administered during spring training and at certain times throughout the year, but not in the off-season. A player could dope up during the off season and take enough steroids to last him through the next year. And even if he gets caught in spring training, all he needs is some “treatment.”
As pathetic as that is, it’s not the worst part.
The worst part is that they only test for steroid use, not any other substance that a player could take to enhance his performance, nor do they test for masking agents.
But hey, all we want is to see long home runs hit anyway, don’t we? After all, as the Nike commercial told us a few years ago, “Chicks dig the long ball.”
Naturally the new policy has come under heavy criticism from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is responsible for Olympic drug testing. Agency chairman Dick Pound ripped the new system, calling it “a complete and utter joke.”
“You can test positive for steroids five times and then they think of booting you out? Give me a break,” Pound said.
Pound is not the only one bashing the new system. New York physician and WADA member Gary Wadler called the announcement of the new policy “probably the blackest day in the history of sports.”
Of course, the players union thinks the new policy is just great and bristles at the complaints of others. Gene Orza, the union’s No. 2 official, called Pound’s statement “irrelevant.”
There is something irrelevant here, but it is not the criticism of the drug policy. It is the policy itself. With this new policy the players union has cemented itself as nothing more than greedy leeches who care only about how much money grown men can make for playing a children’s game. They care nothing about the integrity of the game.
In this era of the long ball and super high salaries, the message sent by Major League Baseball is clear. Home runs equal ratings, ratings equal dollars and dollars equal more money for the players.
And that is something that a certain former owner of the Texas Rangers, one George W. Bush, knows all too well.
Jeff Edwards can be reached at [email protected].