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SPORTS MEDIA THREAD DEUX


Dolfan in NYC

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Matt Dollinger ‏@matt_dollinger  Feb 27

Why doesn't the NBA crack down on people ripping plays on YouTube? Adam Silver: "Highlights are marketing." #SSAC15

 

The difference between how leagues handle things is one of the most interesting storylines that aren't really addressed.  Between the NFL's control everything, to the NHL's control nothing, someone needs to write a feature about it.  The way the NHL commissioner dismissed the suggestion that hockey has a cocaine problem is something that couldn't happen anywhere else in sports.  Someone needs to just put all the hypocrosy in one place.  Fighting in the NBA: worst thing ever.  Fighting in the NHL: encouraged.  Steroids in baseball: crime against humanity.  Steroids in football: no big deal. 

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Isnt the NHL doing the opposite of denying they have a problem? I dont think they would be even discussing it publicly (sending GB and Daly out to do media knowing it would come up) and trying to steer the PA into more/official testing?

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The thing about these gif accounts always surprised me, being obvious IP theft targets. And some have ads on them. Those i have no problem with the leagues going after.

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Isnt the NHL doing the opposite of denying they have a problem? I dont think they would be even discussing it publicly (sending GB and Daly out to do media knowing it would come up) and trying to steer the PA into more/official testing?

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The thing about these gif accounts always surprised me, being obvious IP theft targets. And some have ads on them. Those i have no problem with the leagues going after.

Here is the quote from the deputy commissioner of the NHL...

 

The number of [cocaine] positives are more than they were in previous years and they're going up. I wouldn't say it's a crisis in any sense. What I'd say is drugs like cocaine are cyclical and you've hit a cycle where it's an 'in' drug again. I'd be shocked if we're talking about a couple dozen guys. I don't want to be naive here ... but if we're talking more than 20 guys I'd be shocked. Because we don't test in a comprehensive way, I can't say.

Can you imagine another league saying "we might have a drug problem, but since we don't test I don't really know."  That is what I'm talking about.  It just wouldn't fly in any other league in the current media climate.  Remember baseball isn't going to elect Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Alex Rodriguez into the Hall of Fame, because they didn't test for steroids for the majority of their careers.  None of those guys ever tested positive for a banned substance.  Those are probably the three best players of my lifetime, and not testing for a banned substance is used against them.  In hockey you can publicly declare that cocaine is no big deal, and it barely makes the news. 

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The cynical POV out there is that the league is trying to subtly imbune the players' lifestyle choices as a round about way to discredit the concussion lawsuits. Not mine, but i heard two different jornos throw it out.

Before the story came out, id have thought the drug in the nhl was pain pills, not street drugs. But one is related to the game itself and one isnt.

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The cynical POV out there is that the league is trying to subtly imbune the players' lifestyle choices as a round about way to discredit the concussion lawsuits. Not mine, but i heard two different jornos throw it out.

Before the story came out, id have thought the drug in the nhl was pain pills, not street drugs. But one is related to the game itself and one isnt.

The NHL offseason drug testing policy is that only 60 players in the entire league can be tested.  There could be all types of drugs being done.  The point is they aren't bothering to check, they don't plan on checking, and everyone seems to be OK with them not checking.  That is the only league where that is considered acceptable.

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Stupid question cause I don't fallow hockey that closely how many players are there on a NHL team?

23 players on an active roster.
Of which 20 can dress and play in any given game.
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The cynical POV out there is that the league is trying to subtly imbune the players' lifestyle choices as a round about way to discredit the concussion lawsuits. Not mine, but i heard two different jornos throw it out.

Before the story came out, id have thought the drug in the nhl was pain pills, not street drugs. But one is related to the game itself and one isnt.

The NHL offseason drug testing policy is that only 60 players in the entire league can be tested.  There could be all types of drugs being done.  The point is they aren't bothering to check, they don't plan on checking, and everyone seems to be OK with them not checking.  That is the only league where that is considered acceptable.

 

 

The other leagues should follow suit.  Because why should anyone care? People just have the hardest time leaving other people alone.   

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The cynical POV out there is that the league is trying to subtly imbune the players' lifestyle choices as a round about way to discredit the concussion lawsuits. Not mine, but i heard two different jornos throw it out.

Before the story came out, id have thought the drug in the nhl was pain pills, not street drugs. But one is related to the game itself and one isnt.

The NHL offseason drug testing policy is that only 60 players in the entire league can be tested.  There could be all types of drugs being done.  The point is they aren't bothering to check, they don't plan on checking, and everyone seems to be OK with them not checking.  That is the only league where that is considered acceptable.

 

 

The other leagues should follow suit.  Because why should anyone care? People just have the hardest time leaving other people alone.   

 

I am right in line with you, but that is also something that is completely unrealistic.  Drug testing is one of those things that we only do to people we kind of don't like.  Almost every minimum wage job drug tests, but once you make about $50K a year somehow all those drug tests aren't so necessary.  Not saying that none of those jobs test, just not nearly as many as the lower paying jobs.  The biggest reason for drug tests in professional sports is that a good part of the population resents professional athletes.  The NBA is a little different, because of the Len Bias tragedy, but that had as much to do with 80s drug culture than NBA culture.  In 2015 I don't know if the culture of sports celebrity is the same as it was back then.  I honestly think most of these guys are so careful about what they do with their bodies we don't have to worry about players ODing(I know I'm typing this while Lamar Odom is in a hospital). 

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I'm fine with drug testing athletes in a paid competitive environment. College and HS is a sketchy thing, since it doesn't really stop anything when they do do it. Anything non-athletic is just a waste of time and money and just another way to fuck with the lower middle class and below.

 

My mother had to sign a written affidavit saying she wouldn't drink alcohol to keep getting a prescription pain med she's on and they even made her take a drug test beforehand. She doesn't even like taking the damn things, but she has to and they're now total dicks about it. No, it's not one of the super strong ones, but it could lead to abuse in people prone to it and drinking alcohol with it could kill you. Covering their asses for insurance purposes.

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I understand your point but when was the last time Lamar Odom played an NBA minute three years?

I was just trying to cover myself from the inevitable, "How can you say that with Lamar Odom in the hospital?"  Odom's problems are more personal than cultural, unlike the drug crazed celebrity culture of the 80s.  He is someone who probably is genetically predisposed to being an addict based on his family history.  Add the tragedy, stress, and celebrity and you can see who he could be someone who could become an addict.  The 80s was the wild west for recreational drug use, especially when it came to celebrity.  I'm not trying to equate Odom's situation to that, I'm just saying he's a recent NBA player who people could very well use as an example of why they should drug test.

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The cynical POV out there is that the league is trying to subtly imbune the players' lifestyle choices as a round about way to discredit the concussion lawsuits. Not mine, but i heard two different jornos throw it out.

Before the story came out, id have thought the drug in the nhl was pain pills, not street drugs. But one is related to the game itself and one isnt.

The NHL offseason drug testing policy is that only 60 players in the entire league can be tested.  There could be all types of drugs being done.  The point is they aren't bothering to check, they don't plan on checking, and everyone seems to be OK with them not checking.  That is the only league where that is considered acceptable.

 

 

The other leagues should follow suit.  Because why should anyone care? People just have the hardest time leaving other people alone.   

 

I am right in line with you, but that is also something that is completely unrealistic.  Drug testing is one of those things that we only do to people we kind of don't like.  Almost every minimum wage job drug tests, but once you make about $50K a year somehow all those drug tests aren't so necessary.  Not saying that none of those jobs test, just not nearly as many as the lower paying jobs.  The biggest reason for drug tests in professional sports is that a good part of the population resents professional athletes.  The NBA is a little different, because of the Len Bias tragedy, but that had as much to do with 80s drug culture than NBA culture.  In 2015 I don't know if the culture of sports celebrity is the same as it was back then.  I honestly think most of these guys are so careful about what they do with their bodies we don't have to worry about players ODing(I know I'm typing this while Lamar Odom is in a hospital). 

 

 

There are different reasons for drug testing in different situations though.  Low paying jobs drug test because "using drugs" is a negative perception that people have and it allows employers to weed out a potential "bad employee" easily even when that necessarily might not be the case.  My last career did not drug test.  You worked there based on performance.  Sure there's a possibility that someone addicted to drugs could allow that addiction to affect their work.  But it could affect their work in the same way as an employee that stays up late every night playing video games and gets two hours of sleep and that person isn't testing positive for shit.  It could affect your work in the same way as an employee who eats really unhealthy and doesn't exercise or take care of themselves and calls out sick all the time.  So if you didn't perform, you were replaced regardless of the reason.  You had to do a good job at work, no strings attached which is how it should be.  My current job drug tests but only certain shops(I work at a Navy shipyard).  So if you operate a crane, you're subjected to potential drug testing because of the safety aspect. 

 

Society has to come through this drug thing at some point and we need to try to do it with common sense.  With pro sports there's this perception about "performance enhancing" drugs but there's also this fake sentiment about keeping drugs out because they care about the player which is bullshit because you're shooting that player up with pain meds before every game so you can get every ounce of performance out of them which leads a lot of them to addiction of pain meds.  Tell me that's not "performance enhancing". I really feel like people need to respect each others decisions on what you do with your own body and mind.  I don't believe in the term "performance enhancing" when it comes to drugs.  It's all performance enhancing.  Cardio, weight lifting, vitamins, supplements, a certain amount of sleep, certain foods at certain times of day, it's all to enhance performance.  How has society as a whole come to the conclusion that abortion is okay based on the phrase "It's a woman's body to do with what she wants and who are you to say what she can and can't do?" but then we want to tell people that they can't take a certain pill or they can't smoke what they want? For whatever reason.  The reason doesn't even matter. 

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