Clemens testimony opens up argument of drug use in professional sports
Watching Roger Clemens stumble and bumble his way towards a possible perjury charge on Capitol Hill Wednesday, I was intrigued enough to give some serious thought to the apparent lack of a dilemma when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs in the NHL.
Now, let it be said that only the court of public opinion is now out on Clemens. Some believe he was hung out to dry by former trainer Brian McNamee. Others, and perhaps the majority of the sporting world, feel Clemens is covering up his own demons in an ill-fated effort to put the final stamp on an eternal spot in Cooperstown.
Time will tell if that court of public opinion yields to federal charges.
Baseball, the tainted pastime of America, is being pulled under by one of the largest scandals since the 1919 White-turned-Black Sox decided the World Series wasn't all it was made out to be.
And as much as the issue is sure to be tip-toed around by the NHL and its fans, the simple fact is no one really knows to what extent, if any, hockey players are abusing their bodies with steroids or human growth hormone.
You see, it is rarely the type of question asked during the NHL All-Star Game, the Stanley Cup finals or Board of Governors meetings.
Maybe it is because the issue isn't such an issue in the NHL, as we are led to believe. Or maybe it is because the league doesn't want to face the answer.
Whatever the case, the dirty linen currently being brought out in baseball is blowing the lid off of a problem that seems to be the plague of some, if not most, professional sports.
A couple of years ago, Dick Pound, then chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, made more than his share of enemies in the NHL by suggesting, without any real facts to back him up, that up to one-third of NHL players were taking performance-enhancing drugs.
And while, on the heels of Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report, NHL vice-president Colin Campbell maintained there is no drug problem in the NHL, former NHL goon Andrei Nazarov aligned himself in Pound's corner a year and a half ago, suggesting drug use is rampant in the NHL.
Former tough guy David Morrissette offered his own take in his book, Memories of an Enforcer, saying steroid use was routine in hockey, although players dared not take drugs in front of their teammates.
"You don't do anything in the locker room," said Morrissette. "It's taboo."
The NHL's drug testing policy is trumpeted by the league to be successful and points to Sean Hill as proof. But in a 2005 letter to Commissioner Gary Bettman and then-NHLPA boss Bob Goodenow, ranking Republican Tom Davis, who was a focal point in the Clemens hearing Wednesday, made it clear Congress wasn't exactly enamored with the NHL's policy at the time.
Now I am not at all suggesting that there is a drug problem in the NHL, but one would have to be naïve to believe there isn't some concern, however casual, at the league level. Chances are there is more than one or two dipping into the wrong side of the medicine cabinet, if you know what I mean. Call it the law of averages.
Remember, it isn't a crime, at least in the eyes of the guilty, until you're caught.
Any little edge can mean the difference between a multi-million dollar contract and a season of bus rides in the minors. Some players, particularly those on the lower level of the talent spectrum, realize this more than anyone.
It would be a stretch to suggest that the NHL has the same steroid problem as, say, the NFL and Major League Baseball.
But you have to think more than one player is taking a banned substance. Rather, only one has been caught.
Any other rationale just doesn't add up.