I wake up freakishly early for school, and every morning I take a shower just to get myself out of my sleepy daze. During my time in the shower, I have pretty random thoughts. After all, I am half asleep.
On Friday morning I was thinking to myself about substance abuse policies and NASCAR (I think these thoughts subconsciously came from a NASCAR commercial I saw the night before). I thought to myself, "If a NASCAR driver was on 'speed' (the drug), would that be considered a performance enhancer?" I thought it would be great to hear of a driver who did speed to try to get an edge. The humor in that would actually make me like NASCAR a little bit. But just a little bit.
Throughout the last couple days I've been thinking about substance abuse policies, not just in NASCAR, but in all sports. Baseball (and I think unfairly) gets most of the publicity, followed by football- which has a policy, but does not grab headlines like baseball when a player is busted. I'm just curious about those other sports...how come we don't hear much about the NBA? You could argue it's the number two sport in this country now (poor baseball), but I hear nothing about its substance abuse policy. Why is that?
I remember earlier this year Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks going on a radio program and admitting to smoking marijuana. He also indicated that he isn't the only one in the NBA to be doing this. Now we don't need to discuss recreational drugs and their affect (or lack there of) on an NBA player's game. I just want to point out that marijuana is illegal, and if a player does not have the good judgement to stay away from such a drug during the season (while on the job), what's saying he has the good judgement to stay away from other things, like steroids? Wouldn't it makes sense for some NBA players to get bigger, faster, stronger? What about the tall low-post player who needs to bulk up? What about the undersized point guard that gets pushed around by guys like Chauncey Billups?
It's just curious to me that some sports get free passes while others get the extreme spotlight. And it's not just the NBA. What about hockey? College football? Or college athletics in general? Maybe policies are in place and I've just been oblivious/ignorant to them. Perhaps they have strong policies that work, and MLB and the NFL are just behind the times in implementing their policies. I don't know. And I suppose I could look up some information about them on the internet, but I am too lazy.
As much as I dislike hearing about guys like Clemens and their doping pasts, I would like to hear about what other sports are doing with their athletes and potential substance abusers. I like knowing that MLB and the NFL are holding their players accountable for their actions and decisions. I hate that Sportscenter spends days, weeks, and months talking about it, but I like that their are penalties handed out to idiots. I like knowing that on some level the sport is relatively clean.
I just want that feeling for all sports.
~Mikey D
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3 comments:
It's all about the individual sport's culture. MLB has a very secretive culture whereas NFL is more open. Golic, for example, admitted to having tried steroids in the past. You'd never hear an old MLB player admit that willingly. NBA's substance abuse issues revolve around pot, as you said. The argument I have heard is that NBA players, for the most part, don't do steroids because it wouldn't help them with the talents they need (i.e. athleticism). I do agree with what you're saying - couldn't it help a weaker player become stronger or help with rehabbing injuries quickly.
I think the attack on MLB is for two reasons. First, the league was very secretive and hid the problem for years. Once they began attacking it, they have been slow to establish tough policies due to mistrust with the union. Second, fans are hypocrits. We care about the numbers in baseball so much and treat it as our "pure" nostalgic game. If you think it's just the media, consider how much away fans booed Bonds and the signs with needles that they brought to any game. You'd never see that in an NBA arena or NFL stadium.
NFL definitely holds their players accountable. We don't get up in arms when random 2nd string lineman was found with roids because they handled the problem appropriately in the 80s and 90s. Now if a superstar like Tomlinson or Brady tested positive, we'd hear about it non-stop.
NASCAR covered all of its principles in the new substance-abuse policy, with the exception of outlining what is illegal. The sanctioning body provided no list of which drugs are banned. NASCAR needed to amend its substance-abuse policy to ensure the safety of the sport.
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Sally
Drug Rehabs
school is a place where we can learn discipline.
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Brook
Drug Rehabs
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