If a Tree Falls in the Forest

Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens

Today a story came out about Ray Lewis, the retiring NFL superstar about to end his career in the Super Bowl, where he is accused of purchasing performance enhancing drugs. The story isn’t actually new though. Two years ago the same man, Mitch Ross, said he sold PEDs to Lewis previously. Lewis has once again the denied the allegations and within a few days this story will blow over most likely.

Obviously I have no idea if this Ross character is telling the truth or just trying to get fame, publicity, money or whatever else he can by lying. Ray Lewis has never failed a drug test so for now we assume he is innocent.

However the problem here isn’t the accusations or even whether Lewis did it or not, but rather the fact that the NFL has a long list of banned substances, including the one Lewis is alleged to have used (deer antler spray… seriously), but then doesn’t even test for most of them.

Basically the league is operating on the “honour system” for many of the substances that can be as helpful as the ones they do test for such as steroids and HGH. It has long been known that PED use is rampant in the NFL, much like it was in baseball, but that not only do they not do much to catch the users, but it seems fans truly don’t mind.

There is a prevailing theory that the attitude of NFL fans is that they know many players use PEDs, but given the nature of the sport, they are fine with it. There are a lot of skeletons in the NFL closet, such as the Bounty-gate scandal and thus PED usage doesn’t really get much attention or interest.

If Ray Lewis is using the deer antler spray he is accused of purchasing, you can see why he would have done it.

The guy wanted to come back in time to play again this season, which was always likely to be his last. He had an opportunity to use something to make that happen that he cannot actually get in trouble for and he knows for a fact that lots of other players are using it too.

As humans we are always influenced by the culture we are surrounded by. That’s how a lot of well-meaning cyclists end up on EPO even if they had always been anti-PED previously. That doesn’t mean what they are doing is right and shouldn’t be punished, but it’s how these things become epidemics.

The NFL doesn’t seem to want to catch people using these PEDs, so of course the players are going to take them in such a physically demanding sport with one of the shortest average career lengths around.

What use is a rule if it’s never going to be enforced?

Lance Armstrong admitted one of the main ways he got away with doping was simply that they weren’t testing for what he was doing for much of that time. Sure, by nature the cheaters will always be one step ahead of the testers, but they can still make it a lot harder to do. There are tests that exist to test everything, or almost everything, banned by the NFL.

Having the rule but not enforcing it is purely a publicity stunt to make it seem like they are running, or at least endeavour to run, a clean sport. But while the testing stays as it is, it shows that the NFL have no real interest in opening the can of worms that surely awaits them were they to crack down on PEDs.

With everything going on surrounding the concussion issue in football, the last thing Roger Goodell needs is another scandal about the safety and integrity of the league he runs. So this story about Ray Lewis is something for talking heads to go on about for a couple of days and then forget all about the fact that underlying it is a much bigger issue.

Even if Ray Lewis had tested positive, the suspension would only have been four games for a first offence. Compare that to sports where you can be wiped out for entire seasons, multiple years or even lifetime bans.

Perhaps one day, once there is nothing ahead of it on the to-do list, the NFL will actually take drug testing seriously. But in the meantime, you are kidding yourself if you think half the players in the league aren’t abusing the rules in one way or another.

I love American football and am very excited to watch the Super Bowl this weekend (Monday our time). In fact I am hoping Ray Lewis goes out on top. However I am not naïve enough to believe I will be watching a sport where the athletes are clean, just like when I watched Le Tour during the height of the doping years.

When a tree falls in the forest, I hope someone will show up to drug test the lumberjack.