Catch the Buzz on NFL Pot Scene

[SirBlazinBowl]

Among other things of which Randy "Once in a Blue Moon" Moss is apparently guilty of being is too honest. I suppose there are worse crimes. These days, a well-known athlete admitting that he used drugs - and so effortlessly telling us like it was nothing more than confessing a craving for pralines and cream - doesn't provoke much of a negative public reaction.Nevertheless, the well-heeled folks who operate leagues and franchises, and their corporate partners, tend not to favor candor coming from hired help, particularly when the subject extends into taboo territory.
Sure enough, pro football's most-dangerous playmaker has acknowledged that he smokes pot. Or did smoke, depending upon whether you believe his agent or your own ears. Most people yawned, except I guess NFL executives at 280 Park Ave. in New York, whose dark-blue suits must have turned a paler shade.


According to published statements from Moss' agent, Dante DiTrapano, Moss is not in the league's substance-abuse program. He also said his client has passed every urinalysis administered by the NFL since entering the league eight years ago. (Even though Moss is the same dude who lost his scholarship at Florida State in 1996 because he got caught smoking marijuana, which violated his probation. He went to jail).


Meanwhile, the NFL isn't definitely saying if Moss' remarks will put him in jeopardy. Perhaps it's not good business to sanction the guy who has the hottest selling NFL jersey in America. Moss becomes the NFL's second star in the last year to acknowledge he likes weed more than artificial grass, joining the Bob Marley of football, Ricky Williams. Again, let's give a little credit to Moss and Williams for telling it like it is (or, as Moss claims, as it was).


That's more than I can say for one of Moss' former teammates because the word "stealth" and Onterrio Smith should never be used in the same sentence. Three months ago, the Minnesota Viking was nabbed in an airport carrying vials of dried urine and a urinating contraption known as "The Original Whizzinator." Smith has since been suspended for the entire 2005 season, though the league said it had nothing to do with his arrest. Guess not. He was suspended for four games of last season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.


The running back claimed the device belonged to his cousin, which is like Snoop Dogg trying to convince us that he's a reformed pot smoker. Our youth are confronted with more mixed messages than a CIA operative could decipher. (What do you expect when you see Commissioner Paul Tagliabue appear on the NFL Network with none other than the pop-culture icon Snoop?)


More and more of your favorite NFL players might be getting stoned these days and maybe getting away with it - if we can believe Williams' claim to The Miami Herald last summer that the league's drug tests are easily defeated by players who take detoxifying liquids readily available on the Internet. The NFL tests players with clean drug records once a year - before the season starts, between April and early August. That's it (except for steroid-testing, which is year-round).


If the league has a dirty little secret, it just might be that it's easier than you think for an NFL player to deliver a cannabis-free specimen, then suit up on Sunday to deliver the product fans crave like an addiction.


So, does the NFL have a mushrooming image problem, something that developed like a slow-growing cancer in the NBA a few years ago? You tell me.


Three days ago, another former Viking who no longer is in the league, Derek Ross, 25, was charged with drug trafficking - specifically, transporting 25 pounds of marijuana in South Carolina, police say. Nate Newton, a former six-time Pro Bowl player with Dallas, was released from prison last year for dealing the stuff. Fellow retired Cowboys center Mark Stepnoski admitted he was a user during his career. Big deal, right?


Now, it's one thing when players are whipping out cell phones and Sharpie pens and fans decry the harmless showboating antics. It's quite another when marquee players turn up dirty on drug tests, are placed on suspension and publicly flaunt usage.


Moss, consistent with his reputation, speaks his mind and worries about consequences later. But will there be any? When he gave his interview to HBO, it was almost as if he dared the NFL's buttoned-down hierarchy to try to stop what he does - indeed, who he is. But, I wonder, is anyone listening, and do we care?

Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl (420Times.com)
Source: Yahoo News
Copyright: 2005 USA TODAY
Contact: http://news.yahoo.com
Website: http://news.yahoo.com/
Author: Jon Saraceno