Skip to main content

Avoid the 'Roids

A true tempest-in-a-teapot erupted over the weekend when Dick Pound (stop that snickering) of the World Anti-Doping Agency told the London (Ontario) Free Press that "you wouldn't be far wrong if you said a third" of NHL players were using performance-enhancing drugs. Given the recent steroid scandals surrounding Major League Baseball, this was an incendiary remark to toss out there without any proof or substantiation, and the NHL is trying to put dampen the flames.

The problem, however, is that the message from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has sounded basically defensive so far - a demand that Pound document his claims. The venerable Don Cherry thinks it's time to call in the lawyers, which I'm sure will solve the whole mess, right?

What would be more encouraging would be to hear Bettman get out in front of the issue and talk about what the NHL is doing to control the use of performance enhancers in hockey, instead of merely reacting and claiming innocence - we've seen that already from the likes of Rafael Palmeiro, and similar sound bites just aren't that credible anymore.

Is there a steroid problem in hockey? That's doubtful - muscle mass just doesn't play the same role in hockey as it does in mashing home runs, but there are other performance-enhancers out there besides steroids. Amphetamines have long been rumored to be prevalent not just in hockey but other sports, as a way to keep players "up" during the course of a long, hard season (of which the NHL's is the longest, and arguably the hardest). Baseball is starting to take a harder stance on "greenies", but what about the NHL? Who knows? I checked NHL.com and found the press release covering drug testing, and while it sounds good (20 games suspension for 1st offense, 60 for 2nd, premanent for 3rd) the question remains, what is on the list of banned substances, and what is not? Is Pound going to come out with further information that disrupts what has been so far a very successful NHL season?

Whatever the case, the control of this issue is entirely in Dick Pound's hands (hehehe... I mean it, stop snickering) and Bettman is just along for the ride. That's not a situation that the commissioner wants to be in for very long.

Popular posts from this blog

Cheer up, it's the holidays...

Why is it that various media outlets continue trying to put their own spin on the "what's wrong with the NHL" story? Our latest example comes from The Hockey News , in a piece by Jay Greenburg entitled, "Excitement Level On The Decline." Take the opening sentence: Attendance is down and yet still up from before the lockout, leaving it arguable whether buildings in New Jersey and Florida are half-full or half empty. It's no surprise that attendance is down from last season, particularly if you compare the first half of 2005-06 to the first half of this year. Coming out of the lockout, there were legions of fans starved to see the on-ice product, particularly in light of the massive rule changes. This year is more indicative of business as usual, so the fact that the league is above pre-lockout levels is a positive. Toss in the projection that overall revenues are increasing despite a 1% decrease in attendance, and I'd say that paying fans have come back

How I'm Trying To Make Money Sports Blogging

To kick off this series of articles general sports-blogging articles here at OTF Classic, I think it's best to start with a comment that Brad left here last week, after I shared my goals for 2012 , which include specific revenue targets: I considered diving into the world of internet marketing myself, but I felt that my friends would hate me for bugging them about stuff. I mean, it's pretty low-risk high-reward, so it's tempting. I wouldn't mind reading about tips on how to maximize impact of blogging in general to make it a legitimate income source. Trying to make money at sports blogging can be a very touchy subject - for the vast majority of us, this is an activity we pursue to both exercise our creativity and share our love of the game, whether it's hockey, football, badminton, whatever, with fellow fans. Mixing that personal conversation with a commercial message can turn people off, especially if it becomes too intrusive for the reader. It's not unrea

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...