Congress needs to wake up on drug issues
Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 6:33 PM
At the risk of beating a maimed horse that refuses to die, I can’t stop thinking about Sen. Arlen Specter’s Captain Ahab-like obsession with the NFL’s Spygate, which even the Patriots’ most fervent opponents say is dead and buried. The reason I can’t help thinking about it is because of a recent blithe assertion by Troy Vincent, president of the NFL Players Association, that human growth hormone (HGH) is not a problem in the league.
Specter’s crusade continues to draw headlines. Vincent’s statement, lacking any evidence, barely elicited a comment. However, because he said it, the subcommittee that can’t resist calling in sports bigwigs to talk about performance-enhancing drugs has called another round of hearings. This time with representatives from both labor and management of each of the four major professional sports leagues. But Vincent wasn’t mentioned and he’s not on the list of witnesses.
These three developments all came about independently. To Congress, they’re not related, and that’s the problem: They should be.
First, Spygate is an issue that has been dealt with by the NFL. Congress has no business reopening the wounds and picking at the scabs. But because Specter has made it an issue – very possibly because it helps his two biggest campaign contributors, Comcast cable and the law firm that represents Comcast – it has stolen attention from the more relevant issue of drugs.
But the drug hearings are almost as irrelevant as Specter’s quest. Their sole purpose seems to be to showcase Congress’ power to make famous people squirm in public. Congress’ nudging has helped get baseball to implement a better testing program, but for the most part, the hearings have been a lot about posturing and very little about doing anything important.
They’ve also focused way too much on baseball’s drug problem which was out of control before it had a testing policy. Not one hearing has been devoted to the problem of performance-enhancers in the NFL, where one would expect to find more users because of the way the game rewards size, power and speed.
So much is being made over allegations against baseball’s Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, the two best players of their generation. But the NFL in the past two years has seen two of its greatest defensive players – New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison and San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman – suspended four games each for using performance-enhancing drugs. Where was the outrage? Where were the Congressional hearings? Where were the headlines?
If anyone in baseball had said what Vincent so flippantly stated – that HGH isn’t a problem in football because he says it isn’t – nobody would have let him get away with it. It’s an undetectable drug and it helps you recover from injuries more quickly. In other words, it’s made for football.
If Congress cares about drugs, let it show it by holding the NFL’s feet to the same hot fire that baseball has had to endure. Drag Vincent in and ask him how he can make such a bold assertion. Demand some evidence. Otherwise, you’re saying that cheating by home-run hitters and strikeout artists is of more importance than cheating by mere defensive backs and linebackers.
Either drugs are bad or they aren’t. It shouldn’t matter who’s taking them. Congress is saying by its actions that it does matter. The message is, if you use them to set records, it’s bad. If you use them to block and tackle, who cares?
