Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 2.33

www.afootinthecrease.com

So is it just me or is the drugs in professional sports situation becoming an awful lot like the internal strife at the NHL players association. An issue that just continues to hang around and everybody knows it but nobody wants to deal with it anymore. When Islanders defenseman Sean Hill was suspended 20 games for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substances program, that noise you heard was the collective groan of managers, coaches, players, broadcasters and fans alike realizing that this situation just opened up a whole new can of worms.

In the weeks ahead, the speculation over just how many players are, in fact, using performance enhancing substances will be reopened. Players and coaches will have to answer the same questions all over again, “Have you ever taken….Nooo”, “Have you ever seen anyone in your locker room…Nooo” and so on and so forth. On Saturday, World Anti Doping Agency Chairman Dick Pound suggested 20 games may not be enough of a suspension depending on what Hill tested positive for.

The fact is, the NHL is by far the cleanest professional sports league period. Over the past two seasons, 2800 tests, 1 positive result. For those of you who like math, that is .03%. Argue with the validity of the test all you want but if there is a serious drug problem in this league, even the most asinine testing format would yield a percentage great than .03%. In addition, the premiere players in this league participate in the Olympics every four years. There have been three such tournaments, ZERO positive drug results. Oh sure once every four years, easy enough to get it out of your system is your argument. Once you start relying on PED’s, it is impossible to get it out of your system for a two week period and still maintain your level of play.

People can say what they want. Dick Pound can say what he wants. The NHL is as clean a league as you will ever see. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.