New Jock City

     Since the basketball playoffs are on halt as they prepare for the 12th showdown between the NBA's biggest teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, I have an opportunity to talk about something else going on in sports world. The drug world is again making headlines this summer. The latest news being a Dr. Galea getting arrested for transporting Human Growth Hormone in the United States from Canada. Many of sports biggest stars have had treatments from this doctor including Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez. A couple of weeks ago the football player Santana Moss was also linked to this doctor. It remains to be seen whether Moss received any illegal treatments form this doctor since he claims just like the other two athletes that he only got treatment to rehab an injury. As I listened to the John Thompson show last week the rel question on this issue was not if anyone thought Moss was wrong so much as if anyone cared at all. The listeners of the show varied on that question but I think that most people in the D.C. area do not care whether Moss cheated. I do not think this because he has not been proven guilty for cheating but because the D.C. are a does not want to believe he cheated. The D.C. area is suffering from the "My son" syndrome. The "my son" syndrome is whenever a child is caught doing something bad the mother usually refuses to believe it until the evidence is overwhelming. Moss is one of their favorite sons of the D.C. area and he is getting the benefit of the doubt in this area. I happen to like Moss because he is a stand up guy in a time when more and more athletes are afraid to be critical of themselves when things go wrong. Now Moss's integrity is being tested. Moss is sticking to his guns that he did not receive any illegal treatment, but it does seem that he is not being as forthright with this information as he has showed to be after a Washington Redskin loss. Maybe his agent is advising him not to talk. But again, the main question remains, "Do we really care?"  I think we should care. I think these players need to be more inquisitive about what kinds of treatments they get from these doctors. They need to know what is going in their bodies, if not for their own well-being, but just because of the climate athletes operate under now. The sporting league's are looking for cheaters everyday. So, why put yourself in harm's way by not knowing. These athletes have to take responsibility for the supplements they use, the treatments they receive, and the doctor's they deal with. They have too much to lose to get caught up in New Jock City.