DURSTIN: Hypocritical NFL’s Drug Policy is a Joke

By Larry Durstin

With the recent one-year suspension of the Browns’ Josh Gordon for a trace of marijuana in his system, the general reaction has been that the punishment may have been a bit unfair, but since Gordon was a repeat “offender,” he basically got what was coming to him.

In high profile cases like this, it appears that almost everyone loves to pontificate about personal responsibility and accountability and many seem to feel all fuzzy inside at the prospect of a spoiled (in this case) black athlete hoisted on his own petard and taught a lesson. And that’s cool, I guess, because America loves to lock-em-up, throw away the key, roar righteously and down a few cold ones.

But no one seems to ask the most important question about the league’s erratic suspension policies in general and the drug-related issues in particular: What is the purpose of the NFL’s pot policy? Given the fact that marijuana is not a performance enhancing substance and is legal in 22 states containing nearly 60% of the US population, what’s the point of testing for it? Can anyone explain why the dangerous and performance enhancing Human Growth Hormone is not tested for, yet players’ careers are harmed and destroyed for smoking pot?

I know the alleged “reasons” for pot-testing revolve around it being collectively bargained for by the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), a “union” of whipped dogs whose impotence as labor representatives is matched only by the defunct air traffic controllers. The NFLPA’s “negotiations” with the league are akin to a timid group of field hands shuffling along on egg shells upon entering the master’s house to plead for a few scraps. Since the “bargaining” between the two parties is of shotgun-marriage variety, the biggest laugh-line comes when someone says, “Blame the NFLPA, they agreed to it.”

The NFL can get away with such ruthlessness because, among other things, perhaps as many as 90% of its players can be interchanged or replaced as speedily as the workers in Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” — and the fans would barely notice the difference. So, if the players reps DARED ask for something the league didn’t like or — say — hinted at a walkout, the corporate behemoth would crush the NFLPA like a bug while the frothing fans — all hopped up on betting and the bizarre concoction called Fantasy Football — would begin forming lynch mobs to go after the players. The NFLPA doesn’t bargain, it begs. That is, if they know what’s good for them.

Let’s be honest, the NFL is a monster that invariably gets everything it wants. That’s why players are being suspended for marijuana at the same time a lawsuit is being filed against the league for illegally dispensing addictive painkillers to unwitting players — in other words, treating its employees like lab animals in order to return them to the field and maximize league profits. Still, so many seem to be ready to say, “well, duh, that’s the policy.” Well, duh, let’s look at a partial list of some other NFL “policies” that have screwed fans and players alike.

For decades, the league has covered up, denied and lied (tobacco industry like) about the severe brain damage players have suffered from concussions — while smearing anyone who said otherwise. It has bullied fans on personal seat licenses, TV blackouts and franchise relocation; raided the public coffers for palatial, tax-supported stadiums; meted out arbitrary fines and punishments with the capriciousness of a Southern Belle; and colluded to establish a secret salary cap while, year after year, crippling and concussing its non-guaranteed-contract warriors into oblivion and/or suicide. And on and on.

Like all oppressive rulers and organizations, the NFL understands that power is not possessed, it is practiced. That’s why they jerk around the players with silly things like bans on dunking and dancing. That’s why they delayed so long to announce Gordon’s suspension. To those who wonder why it took so long, here’s why:

The NFL took an incredible amount of heat in July over the two-game suspension of Ray Rice for a domestic-violence incident. The league knew at that time that Gordon was going to be suspended for 16 games but didn’t want to announce it then because the heat was still on, and they didn’t want their hypocrisy so blatantly illustrated. Nor did they want too much scrutiny on the sheer arbitrariness of so many of their rulings.

So they waited until last week to issue the verdict on Gordon and, presto, the next day the NFL announced a new policy on domestic violence with Commissioner Roger Goodell sheepishly admitting that he didn’t “get it right” regarding the Rice incident. And apparently all is forgiven, since it’s clear that the league loves and wants to protect women.

This nonsense will go on forever unless the fans realize they are being shafted by the league’s lack of discretion/judgment and that their favorite players are arbitrarily being taken off the field. To counteract these and numerous other offenses, fans must get fed up enough to rise as one to vote with their wallets. If not, the league will continue merrily on its brutish, avaricious way.

Because, in the end, it’s all about greed and good theater and what the NFL knows better than anyone is how to make tons of cash on the blood of its players and that — when it comes to selling its propaganda to the masses — there’s no business but show business.

[Photo: Erik Drost (Flickr)]

 

 

 

Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. He is the author of the novel The Morning After John Lennon Was Shot. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com

 

 

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