The National Football Post's Andrew Brandt doesn't think Kevin and Pat Williams will win the Star Caps case against the NFL.
I never thought the Williams twins would win this case and that they were delaying the inevitable in dragging this thing out. But this does make me ponder the issue of NFL players and performance enhancing supplements and whether the league should just say the hell with it and allow the players to take whatever they want.
Let me say I do think the league has a moral obligation to test players for banned substances and performance enhancing drugs. But that's to protect the players from themselves and prevent them from damaging their bodies anymore than they already do by simply playing the game.
However, I don't think that's why the NFL tests for these things. The league does it because if it doesn't, steroid use will become rampant among the players and it's afraid of NFL football being labelled a dirty sport. And if it's considered a dirty sport, it will lose sponsorship dollars, advertising dollars and perhaps its place as America's favourite pastime.
Except I'm not convinced football fans care all that much what players are swallowing or injecting as long as they are helping the team they cheer for win games. And if the fans don't care and still keep coming to the games and watching them on TV and buying the merchandise, then the league isn't going to lose advertising dollars or sponsorships. Which means the NFL is testing its players for the wrong reasons – not to protect the physical (and mental) health of its athletes, but to keep the cash cow rolling. Am I being too hard on the league?
Friday, July 10, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
First of all, there should be no question about the banning of performance enhancing drugs and their masking agents. Performance enhancing drugs benefit nobody except those that use them to cheat their way into fat contracts and the record books. The fans, the league and the children that emulate them all lose. Not to mention the players who lose the contract or starting job because they weren't taking.
When you don't take a firm stance on PEDs, you essentially tell the players in the league, "If you don't take PEDs, other players in the league will, and your performance will suffer in comparison. If you want a career in this league, take PEDs."
Whatever happens with the Williams case, this should set a good precedent in order that it hopefully never happens again.
The bottom line is that Star Caps will mask the use of steroids, and that is why it is banned. If we give Kevin and Pat the benefit of doubt and assumed they didn't know any better and they weren't using it to mask any other drugs, it's still a rule, and it should be the top priority of every player, trainer and team to know what goes into the bodies of the athletes.
How this wasn't communicated down to the players is still a question. However, as with most things in life and law, ignorance won't get you off of the hook.
As much as I hate the fact that our players are involved, I have to side with the league on this one.
I think the NFL is testing not out of an 'obligation' to protect the players, but to maintain some sort of integrity in the public eye. They saw what was happening in baseball years ago and had the foresight to do something about it.
They weren't trying to protect the players when the had the information that these supplements had a diruetic in them and decided not to tell anybody. I think that the Williamses have a good shot at avoiding this suspension because it is in the Minnesota state courts and the state statutes apply (these are very favorable to the 'employee') The appeals court is not going to overturn this federal decision, there are no grounds.
I get that the NFL's stance is blunt (basicially, if it's banned and you test positive, you're suspended), but the Williams case lands in a very grey spot and is difficult to rule in either direction. I won't rehash what we all know, but it's awfully difficult to condemn the pair for making the effort to find out about Starcaps, being brushed off, taking it, having it not effect their performance in any fishy way (merely weight control), and call them juicers who should lose a quarter of their season.
That's why laws aren't written as simply as the league wishes their rules to be. It's ugly to add caveats like "in the event that a player makes a reasonable effort to ensure...", but cases like this show they're necessary to maintain a fair sense of justice.
good article:
http://www.twincities.com/vikings/ci_12854481
Post a Comment