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We need Yao to take some HGH so he will be ready when the Rockets go to the Finals in June.
February 28, 2008
Stern Urges Congress Not to Pass Testing Law
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern was not about to back down.
Summoned to Capitol Hill to discuss whether Congress should legislate drug testing in the major professional sports leagues, Stern took exception Wednesday to lawmakers’ remarks and stood up for his colleagues from the N.F.L., the N.H.L. and Major League Baseball.
“This is an area where federal legislation is not necessary,” Stern told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
The hearing was upstaged by another panel. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Roger Clemens lied when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone at a sworn deposition Feb. 5 and at a hearing Feb. 13.
Wednesday’s hearing produced the rare appearance of the four commissioners sitting side by side with their sport’s union chiefs: Bud Selig sat near Donald Fehr, and Stern was next to Billy Hunter. Then there was the N.F.L.’s Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw, and the N.H.L.’s Gary Bettman and Paul Kelly.
All tried to convince skeptical lawmakers that their leagues had taken steps to thwart steroid use and were awaiting a dependable way to detect human growth hormone, preferably through a urine test and not a blood test.
“In spite of the fact that they want to pronounce that they have it under control, I still think that it’s not fully under control,” said the subcommittee’s chairman, Representative Bobby Rush, Democrat of Illinois. “And we have to do more.”
Baseball had the most to prove, having implemented a stringent steroids policy only in the past few years. The N.F.L. began addressing the problem two decades ago, and the N.B.A. and the N.H.L. said steroid use was virtually nonexistent in their sports.
All four leagues have toughened their drugs policies since 2005, when many of the same witnesses — including Stern — testified before the same subcommittee. Several bills were introduced in the House and the Senate after that session, but none came close to becoming law.
“Let’s get it right this time,” Representative Joe Barton, Republican of Texas, said. “Let’s go ahead and get something into law that is acceptable. It’s no fun having this hearing every two to three years.”
That was when Stern interrupted, breaching protocol to point out the progress that had been made. “The sports leagues have gotten it right in the intervening three years,” he said.
Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, said: “Mr. Stern, I would suggest that we have not gotten it right enough. If we had gotten it right — if you all had gotten it right — we would not be here again today.”
Blackburn said the leagues should be doing more to stem substance abuse at the grass-roots level, and her comment to the witnesses that “you all have been very well coached” piqued Stern further.
“Enormous progress has been made,” said Stern, who referred to the “voluminous, uncoached record” of material made available to the subcommittee.
The commissioners and the union heads agreed that collective bargaining was the best way to address the drug problem, rather than a law from Congress that would apply to all sports.
Rush disagreed, saying the subcommittee would continue to pursue legislation. But he was not specific. “At the Olympics, they deal with a mul ude of sports,” Rush said. “And they seem to come up with a pretty good way of looking at the differences but also the similarities.”
Selig said he met with Fehr and a group of players to discuss the recommendations of George Mitc ’s report. Selig said he hoped the “ongoing” talks produced a more transparent and flexible drug-testing program.
Rush said he was “extremely disappointed” that Vince McMahon, the World Wrestling Entertainment chairman, declined an invitation to testify. “Steroid abuse in professional wrestling is probably worse than in any professional sport or amateur sport,” Rush said.
A second panel included officials from the United States Olympic Committee, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the N.C.A.A. president Myles Brand.
We need Yao to take some HGH so he will be ready when the Rockets go to the Finals in June.
in most sports they have regular testing or recreational drugs...but for steroids is once every now and then
Wow...I actually agree with Stern.
As long as this goes on, I don't think the American people should have to pay their taxes. This is absolute bull .
C'mon... Look at Nene... He went from skinny to a bulked up superman in like one summer. There's so much weightlifting and a diet can do. If you don't see this happening in the NBA, you're not looking hard enough.
I agree - what a waste of my tax money - the economy is going into the toilet and they are wasting their time on some athletes who might use drugs.
Regime change required!
Or the fact he was like 19 when he came into the league. Some teenagers have the tendency to grow into their bodies, not to mention the fact that the Nuggets might, just might, have a weight room in their facilities.
I'm not saying he grew that much between he came into the league and now. I'm talking in a 5 month time span in 2006, between we played in May for the playoffs and October, when the new season started. The guy put a ton on muscle. I remember Duncan abusing him in the playoffs, and then he couldn't even back the guy down in the low-post. And Duncan is a pretty strong dude.
I'm sure their have been cases where Roid use has happened in the NBA. I most likely think it happened in the late 80's and 90's where the majority of steroid use in pro sports occured.
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