Around The Majors Special Report

Just over two months ago, I wrote a piece on steroids and how football is getting a free pass the day after the Mitchell Report was released. In that previous article, ESPN Baseball writer Jerry Crasnick seemed substanitally peeved that the N.F.L. got somewhat of a "free pass" in the 'roids investigation:
"Sprung, Don't get me started." Crasnick said in my December, 14 article "The Steroids Saga: What About Football??" Crasnick went on to say, "I think it's ridiculous that the NFL gets such a pass. In fact, the presence of so many 350-pound behemoths dying young is way more of a health threat than steroids in baseball. It's not a health issue -- It's a matter of managing PR, and the NFL is much better than baseball at that."
I'm sure it's more than a matter of public relations, but there has to be some sort of reason why baseball is being dragged through the mud and football seems to be getting off almost scott free. People have been saying that pro football has more steroids testing and everything, but some people can't even come to admit that HGH is a huge problem in all sports, especially football. "The HGH crap, save it for a doctor." Said Scouts INC's Marwan Maalouf in my earlier piece. Can an insider like that be so naive as to say that HGH isn't a problem in football? I'd bet a large amount of money that HGH is far more of an issue in the NFL than it is in baseball. And that brings me to Yankee VP Hank Steinbrenner's comments on steroids in sports:
"Everybody that knows sports knows football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs." Steinbrenner told the AP. "I don't know how they managed to skate by. It irritates me. Don't tell me it's not more prevalent. The number in football is at least twice as many. Look at the speed and size of those players."
There's no doubt in my mind that there's a PED problem in football, but N.F.L. spokesman Greg Aiello is adament that no steroids have been used in the league:
"We've had year-round random testing with immediate suspensions since 1990 and we conduct approximately 12,000 steroids tests a year."
Unfortunately for football, they have no testing for HGH. And even when people have been caught using PED's like Shawne Merriman and Rodney Harrison, not many people even batted an eyelash. But the backlash that players such as Andy Pettitte have received has been absolutely astronomical. It'd be foolish to say that some sort of double standard was not clearly in play. Floyd Reese was the GM of the Houston Oilers-Tennessee Titans franchise for 13 years and he was adament that the steroids testing has been rock solid in the game:
"I think if you look at the number of tests that players get in the NFL, it's more than for recreational drugs." Reese told SprungOnSports. "Players will get tested anywhere from 4 times a month to 15 times a month. Keep in mind, these tests go on year round. It's not something that you're going to get away with. You'll still see people get suspended and it might be because they haven't looked into what's in what they're taking." That's all well and good, but then Reese went into the HGH problem that Maalouf implied wasn't there:
"Now, HGH is something else. That's something that everyone is trying to address. I have no clue as to what percentage uses that."
But it certainly seems to be a problem that even football executives are aware of, just like baseball owners and GM's were aware of it during the early to mid 1990's. But some really wise baseball writers like ESPN's Rob Neyer is just fed up with the treatment that football gets:
"My guess is that most NFL players simply know how to beat the testing regimen. The NFL is a big fat hairy American money-making machine, and a lot of non-fans would be shocked by what's going on."
I think everyone has been shocked by the developments over the previous months, and it will continue to get worse as time goes by. But to think that it's an isolated issue in one sport is as stupid as getting injected with these steroids knowing that you run the risk of ruining your reputation. This is certainly an issue that won't be misremembered.