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November 25, 2005
Dick Pound: One-Third Of NHL Players May Be On Performance Enhancing Drugs
I hope all my readers in the U.S. enjoyed Thanksgiving Day. And while readers in the U.S. might not have been looking, the world's leading anti-doping official decided to call out the NHL: "I spoke with Gary [NHL commissioner Gary Bettman] and he said, 'We don't have the problem in hockey,' " Dick Pound told the London Free Press yesterday in an interview for a story to be published today. "I told him he does. You wouldn't be far wrong if you said a third." The NHL's Bill Daly responded pretty angrily, suggesting that Pound doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the NHL. A few weeks ago at the National Press Club, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear he thought the NHL didn't have a problem with steroids, after going on record that he thought steroids couldn't help with performance in ice hockey. Is there a steroid problem in the NHL? I honestly don't know. But to suggest that steroids can't improve performance in ice hockey is disengenuous (though it looks like Bettman has abandoned that talking point) -- check out my friend Jes Golbez for the details. Jes makes an interesting point here: I’m rather more concerned with many other issues more in hockey than steroid usage. PED’s (Speed and Sudafed), Caffeine, and Alcohol abuse are, in my opinion, much more previlant and worth concerning myself about than steroids... One final point: whether or not there is a problem, Bettman doesn't want to have to deal with U.S. government regulation of steroid testing in the NHL -- something that he would naturally see as an onerous burden. And even if steroid use isn't common, any sort of testing regimen has the potential to turn over some of the rocks that Jes has mentioned.
Eric
09:23 AM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsWhile I believe that the NHL does have a steroids issue, it's hard to take anyone named "Dick Pound" seriously! Posted by:
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