As an ex-cop, I probably side with the league a little more than I do the players. Not because I think the league is automatically right, but because I believe that there has to be controls, and the day of guys using enhancements and getting away with it through masking has to stop.
Despite new controls, and testing, you can count on the fact that the large number of guys who have been suspended for PEDs obviously knew there was a risk. Yet, they had to believe there was a very strong chance they'd get away with it, because for some reason, it wouldn't show up in testing. They obviously wouldn't just do it unless they felt a degree of safety.
My guess is - notice I said a guess - there is a "cocktail" of acceptable drugs that will mask PEDs. I have no idea what it is, but we all know the practice of using PEDs isn't new. Finding ways to beat the tests has turned into a science, and there have been a lot of people getting caught over the years, as testing changes because of new drugs being added to the list of banned drugs.
Now, in support of the players, have you ever looked at the list of banned drugs? It's enormous. I'm a bit concerned that the players are clueless as to what they can and cannot use, drink, or even eat, in a lot of cases. It's a real problem for them, and the league has to help them realize how close to the edge they walk any time they put something in their mouth, or even topically.
It wasn't that long ago that boxers in the Olympics used diuretics to lose several pounds prior to weigh in for fights, then rehydrate with Gatorade, or any other "concoction" that someone that could dream up, that would work.
Where am I going with this? It's time that all this come to an end. I understand some people side with the players, but in all honesty, I can't. If you allow these players to travel down the same road as Lyle Alzado, you're condoning it at the college level, and in the end, in high schools, and even younger.
