Professional sports leagues may have collectively turned their heads and feigned ignorance during baseball’s famous steroid-induced homerun boom in the last 90s and early 00s, but the culture has changed a lot in the past decade. A concerted effort has been made by many sports to weed out cheaters, and unfortunately, the NBA’s drug policy, which was once considered impressive, has begun to lag. That may change next year, however, with the possible addition of human growth hormone testing.
The NBA Players Association has always been against HGH testing because it felt taking blood was too invasive. So, even though HGH has been banned for years, it’s never actually been tested for. With blood tests becoming increasingly common in soccer, cycling, the Olympics and now baseball, much of those “too invasive” claims from the union, as well as bullshit arguments about unreliability, have fallen by the wayside.
According to ESPN, the discussions between the league and the Players Association are still ongoing, but most sources close to the action think everything will be in place by the 2013-2014 season. With a firm announcement ahead of time, that should given any players breaking the rules time to alter their behavior or else face the wrath of public humiliation and a lengthy suspension.
There has always been some level of cheating in professional sports. From the spitball to jumping the gun during races, athletes will always try and take any edge they can get, but the difference between those in-game cheats and actually altering one’s body in order to great stronger, for many fans, is pretty pronounced.
We’ll keep you updated.
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