Tym Glaser/ColumnistOUR NEIGHBOURS to the north appear to have worked themselves into a real tizzy over steroids in sport.
After years of apparent indifference, steroids in American sport is the hot topic and over the past couple of months there have been two congressional hearings. The first involved Major League Baseball (MLB) officials and players and the second featured representatives from the National Football League (NFL).
What apparently roused the politicians was not the BALCO drug scandal which has implicated prime athletes including base-ballers Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and track starts Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, but a tell-all book by former baseballer Jose Canseco in which he readily admitted steroid use and said many of his teammates, including former home-run king Mark McGwire, were "on the juice" as well.
Canseco even went on to say that from time to time he even injected McGwire in the buttocks. I know teammates can be close, but ...
inadequate policy
Anyway, the bottom line (pardon the pun) is that it appears the one thing you can't take liberties with is United States sports' holiest of holy things baseball records, and boy, were the politicians steamed.
At the baseball hearing, McGwire was reduced to tears, fellow home run slugger
Sammy Sosa, a Dominican, forgot how to speak English and the MLB executives headed by commissioner Bud Selig were hauled over the coals for an utterly inadequate policy regarding steroid use and punishments.
The first positive test of a baseballer sees him suspended for all of 10 days. However, that's a significant improvement on the days in the late '90s when the likes of McGwire and Sosa were bombing the ball out the park with monotonous regularity and there was no policy at all because steroids weren't illegal in baseball.
The NFL guys got off much easier than their baseball brethren and were even praised for a policy which sees first-time offenders nailed with a four-game ban and with a third positive test earning them a year suspension without pay.
However, despite the moral indignation, semi-interesting soundbites and hot air emanating from Washington, exactly what are the law makers out to achieve?
Bringing steroid abuse to the public's attention is all well and good. Apparently, steroid use among U.S. high school students is rising at an alarming rate and it's not just athletes who are shooting up; girls are using them too, for cosmetic reasons.
At the baseball hearing, a number of parents spoke about the deaths of their children due to steroids said anything to enlighten the young to the dangers of steroids is worth the effort.
However, steroids simply won't just go away. Canseco, who won an American League MVP title during his topsy-turvy career in the big leagues, said he would have never have made it to the 'show' without steroids and claimed 'roids made ordinary players good and good players world-beaters.
here to stay
With so much money up for grabs in pro sport, too many young men and women will still seek an edge despite the risks and don't, for a minute, think it can't happen here.
Basically, what is required is more stringent testing and harsher punishments, and they should not be left to various athletic associations to police.
One body should oversee all drug testing in pro sports worldwide and mete out the penalties for those who transgress.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) would appear the logical choice but NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue poo-pooed the notion at his hearing.
He basically said, "We can police ourselves and we don't need any outsiders to help" and missed the point.
Steroid use won't be stemmed until there is a united push against it headed by one omnipotent agency.
By all accounts, Tagliabue shone before the Congressmen. I wonder if he would be so bright if forced before the family of an NFL player who died because of steroids?
