NFL pays price for suspicions about steroids
The National Football League has been vigilant about policing itself when it comes to steroids, but some Members of Congress aren't satisfied with that.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It's an ordinary summer night when Na'il Diggs gets the call. They'll be there at 7 a.m. the next morning for his urine sample. It used to be they couldn't test him any more than twice in the off-season, but now they can track him down as many as six times in the spring and summer.
The starting linebacker for the Green Bay Packers isn't amused. This is his down time and he thinks it's inconvenient and pointless. He expects there's always going to be some deviant who'll pump his body with steroids, but Diggs has never known anyone actually who has. Not when he was a scrawny kid being recruited by the football factory at Ohio State University. Not in five years in this Lambeau Field locker room.
Like a lot of his Green Bay teammates, Diggs said the health risks alone are scary enough to avoid the juice. On top of that, the NFL's financial consequences are way too steep. He takes a long scan around the locker room during the Packers' most recent minicamp, acknowledging that his teammates, some of them amazing athletes topping 300 pounds, are not your average-sized men.
But he cannot believe any of them got here without lonely hours in the weight room and a lot of genetic blessings.
"This is not a league driven by steroids," insisted Diggs.
NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue agrees. He has been defending the NFL's steroid testing and punishment policy in the last couple of months before Congress. Some lawmakers, following the allegations of steroid abuse in major-league baseball, have turned a suspicious eye to all pro sports. Legislation in several versions has been introduced that would force pro leagues like the NFL to follow federal standardized testing procedures, with stricter suspensions for those getting caught using steroids.
But Diggs can't see why the NFL should get a bad rap all of a sudden.
Tagliabue is backed by many Packers who believe the NFL's problem with steroids is minimal. They feel they do not need outside regulations from the government. Though those random tests are a pain to Diggs, he and others think they work in deterring athletes from using steroids.
"The major leagues can handle this on their own. There's no reason to bring paid politicians into this," said Diggs. "The economy, that's what (the politicians) need to be worried about. We have the strictest policy on steroids in the world, probably. The NFL penalizes the most, as far as steroids go.
"I mean, you can go smoke coke, get caught with cocaine and still be able to play. But you get caught for steroids once? You're done for four games, unpaid. And it's been that way for years.
"Now we're under scrutiny because of major-league baseball? It's a waste of time. It's a waste of taxpayers money. Yeah, there are probably a couple of guys out there who are taking (steroids), but it's like crime -- you can't completely stop all of it. And the small percentage that there is, it's not worth writing up bills and all that.
"And I don't like waking up at seven in the morning and taking this test. If I didn't get caught the first time, don't bother me no more and test me for nothin'. "
The NFL has had year-round random testing for steroids since 1990. There are two new elements to the NFL's self-imposed screening process this summer:
One measurement to test for testosterone levels in the body is more precise now, with a more concentrated ratio that helps determine if there is more testosterone in the body than there should be. The NFL used to detect if testosterone was six times more than normal in the body; now it can detect if it is four times higher.
The NFL has also allowed for those four additional unannounced drug tests in the off-season, meaning any player may be tested as many as six times in the off-season now. That's in addition to the season-long testing that includes a mandatory, unannounced test for all players during training camp. Also, any given week starting in the pre-season and continuing through the playoffs, seven Packers will arrive to a blue slip in their locker, their summons for another random test.
In all, the NFL said it spends $10 million a year on more than 9,000 tests of its approximate 2,000 players for all prohibitive substances, including everything from steroids to marijuana.
An NFL player who gets caught for steroids is suspended for four games without pay, representing a fourth of their entire paycheck. A second violation would mean a six-game, unpaid suspension and a third would equal a year suspension. The testing and consequences are all policies that were agreed upon with the NFL Players Association and are a part of the collective bargaining agreement.
"We've had the (toughest) drug policy in major-league sports for years and will continue to," said Packers center Mike Flanagan. "The TV revenue and all the dollars that are coming in . . . everybody knows this business is a golden egg and everyone's got to protect it."
Flanagan took an interest in learning about steroids soon after he began playing at UCLA in 1993, after hearing rumors about steroid use among college players. He said he has never taken them and has never seen any of his Packer teammates ever take them, so he concludes the use is not widespread.
"There is always a way to beat the system," said Flanagan. "I'm not saying morally or ethically it's right, but if anyone can find an edge, they find it. I'm not condoning it. It's not been something that's been a part of my life.
"But if it comes to it where they've got to test every guy for every drug on the street for steroids and everything else, it doesn't matter. There's always going to be people who want to step out of the box."
Still, lawmakers are not entirely satisfied with a business like the NFL policing itself when it comes to steroids.
If one of the bills currently under consideration is passed by the House and Senate and gets the approval of President Bush, the penalties for violators could be harsh. One suggestion follows the Olympic model: a two-year ban for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second, with five mandatory tests per year. Others call for a half season suspension on the first offense.
The NFL does not support this proposed legislation, according to Greg Aiello, the NFL's vice president of public relations.

LORI NICKEL
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel