How Can We Fight The NFL?

"Slow Reader" noted in another thread that the Bay Area newspapers take some wading through to find all the latest drug stuff. Using your link for BALCO material doesn't turn up this one from the SF Chronicle Sunday. Column by Gwen Knapp, which starts like this:

<<The NFL has the most intelligent, thorough, conscientious steroid- testing programming of all four major professional sports based in the United States. It laps the NBA, leaves Major League Baseball at the starting line and humiliates the NHL, which is a no-show in this competition.

And still, drug testing in the NFL is a joke.

The punishment for a first positive test is a four-game suspension. A second offense brings a six-game ban. That's not much of a deterrent. >>

So long as there's this kind of disparity between testing in the pro sports and ours (and we're only making the gap bigger if USATF gets its way) the sport will always be viewed as dirty while others are clean, no matter what the reality is.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

Don't lose too much sleep over this. Just as we cannot do anything about stray dogs "yapping" in the streets, we should not worry about other sports that do not want to clean house, even partially. Or if that does not satisfy you, I quote Sophocles from "Oedipus at Colonus", (412 B.C.?), out of context. "Cease lamentation, these things are with Authority".

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

NFL = game of positioning, planning,and outsmarting opponents. Physical ability is not a means to domination at that level.

Track = run as fast as you can, jump as far as you can, throw as far as you can, etc. No brainers in comparision to 11 guys working together.

Track athletes have more to gain from drugs. NFL is pure business, while track claims to be a pure sport....so keep drugs out of us and let them make the dough.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

>NFL = game of positioning, planning,and
>outsmarting opponents. Physical ability is not a
>means to domination at that level.>>

You haven't been watching the game very long and seen how somatatypes have changed have you?

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

ok, new analogy

NFL is run by owners who collectively agree that healthy products(players) lead to greater profits. Collectively agreeing to look the other way on the issue of drugs. Same goes for players union. $$$ + organization = everyone playing by the same rules.

Track is individuals scrapping for peanuts and pencil shavings to make a living doing their sport. Effectively athletes are their own owners and decide what is best for their production. All the athletes don't agree to cheat, so rules are made to disqualify those that cheat. The sport looks bad because of rules that the athletes WANT. The problem is that we suck at enforcing the rules.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

Lyle Alzado before he died of cancer made the claim that some 75% of all NFL players are using some sort of performance enhancing drug. Rarely does more then 1 player test positive for performance enhancing drugs in a given year. You figure out what the NFL says about drug use and testing.

[MJD]

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

Here's a guy who says he didn't inhale. He has been caught at least once. You'd think he would pick his friends a little more carefully. I read that this will cost him 317,000. I was wondering why the SD/Denver game had no line this morning. Must be this. Thought it was because of that ageless Flutie bugger.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/ ... 238573.htm

[michael lewis]

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

"Don't lose too much sleep over this. Just as we cannot do anything about stray dogs "yapping" in the streets, we should not worry about other sports that do not want to clean house, even partially. Or if that does not satisfy you, I quote Sophocles from "Oedipus at Colonus", (412 B.C.?), out of context. "Cease lamentation, these things are with Authority"."

Beautiful! To which I would like to add, "Expectation is premeditated resentment".

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

>Here's a guy who says he didn't inhale. He has
>been caught at least once. You'd think he would
>pick his friends a little more carefully. I read
>that this will cost him 317,000. I was wondering
>why the SD/Denver game had no line this morning.>>

There was no line because while he may not inhale, he does snort!

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

This is a track and field board; I think we should stop writing about the NFL and worry about our own sport, which is in a sad state as far as drugs go. Always easier to point fingers at someone else than look in the mirror.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

I think some of you are missing an important point. Compared to the NFL, we do not have a doping problem; we have an image problem. One way to help combat the public image of track is a dirty sport is to make everyone aware of how truly dirty the more popular sports are.

Has any baseball player ever been suspended for taking steroids. Absolutely not! Does that mean they're all clean. Absurd! It means they don't test the way we do, and when then find something, they don't punish the way we do. Yet when you talk about baseball to Joe Sixpack, he does not think "What a dirty sport," even though it is. You tell people you're involved with track and the first thing they mention is drugs. And sponsors know that and people in the media know that (indeed, they're part of the problem).

We have to turn this around and saying the NFL doesn't matter to us doesn't help us fix the image problem.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

>Here's a guy who says he didn't inhale. He has
>been caught at least once. You'd think he would
>pick his friends a little more carefully.>

If he didn't inhale he didn't inhale more than once as the way I understand the NFL rules you get counselling after the first offense and then if it happens again you can be suspended, fined, etc.

[MJD]

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

>If he didn't inhale he didn't
>inhale more than once as the way I understand the
>NFL rules you get counselling after the first
>offense and then if it happens again you can be
>suspended, fined, etc.

...my point exactly. That's why I said you would think he would have picked his friends a little more carefully after getting caught once.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

Contrarian:

Interesting, but showing that other sports are dirty as well will not help our image; it will only show that all sports are dirty, rather than only our sport being dirty.

I think we need to fix this problem from within; not only will that help our image, but morally I think it is the right thing to do. Our sport has a drug problem that must be addressed; "baseball is dirty" does not equal "track is clean."

BTW, you mentioned that they never punish anyone in baseball; that's because they don't test. Although there is a rule against steroids in MLB, there is no testing so the rule is basically moot. MLB may be the worst of all sports in addressing the steroid problem.

Re: How Can We Fight The NFL?

Look at the difference between how Marion handled herself yesterday at the Balco grand jury compared to some football player. I could say something about roid rage but won't. Don't want to get the post deleted.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 3228E1.DTL