Sports 4 Dorks

We’re not going to get into a debate regarding whether
marijuana should either be legalized, or remain verboten. That’s for another
time, another space, and for the ears of another government who doesn’t want to
listen to the debate anyway. Maaaan.

What is worth discussing is the NBA’s role in policing the
lives of its employees, namely, subjecting its players to random tests for
recreational drugs like marijuana, a narcotic that hardly offers any benefits
for its users in terms of athletic performance.

David Harrison, a sometimes-motivated backup center for the
Indiana Pacers (cruel to point out in light of this, but it is the truth) was
suspended for testing positive for smoking marijuana two weeks ago. It was his
third offense, which leads to an automatic five-game suspension. Upon returning
to the team yesterday, Harrison had this to
say to Indianapolis Star NBA scribe, Mark
Montieth:

"I don’t understand
how they have a right to look into our lives on any level besides
performance-enhancing drugs. It’s not a rule made by government and it’s not a rule
made by God; it’s made by an organization (the NBA). I guess they feel it will
benefit that organization."

Well, as
Tom Ziller pointed out yesterday, "it" (toking up) is a "rule made by
government," whether you believe it unfair or not. What Harrison
takes offense to is the NBA’s testing for drugs that - for all intents and
purposes - has little bearing on what actually happens in the basketball court.

And, to be fair, he’s right: lesser of many evils here, but
I’m sure NBA teams would much prefer their players to soothe aching joints
while trying to come down after an NBA game at night with a spliff and a
spirited bout of Madden ‘07; as opposed to chugging away at their local, or
partaking in other powdery things.

But it’s still illegal.
And for a league that has no legal right to search into whether or not their
players are engaging in huge gobs of illegal betting, pitting canines against
each other, or bootlegging Doobie Brother CDs into China, it’s the least they can do.
And they’ll do it: especially after the players union that Harrison
is a part of collectively bargains drug testing into its labor agreement with
the league.

Harrison’s not done talking,
though. Indy Cornrows came across a radio interview David participated in yesterday on 1070 AM. Here’s a link
to the mp3 of the back-and-forth.

Two things to take from it: David is very intelligent, quite
lucid, and quite articulate; and not just by NBA standards. To pull this sort
of conversation out of his noggin, early in the morning and in a Milwaukee hotel room …
very impressive. Take it from someone who has failed miserably to articulate
much simpler topics over radio interviews, after the benefits of half a quart
of iced tea.

Secondly, David’s a little ticked. He’s obviously gone over the
subject in his head hundreds of times, whether he’s creating strawmen to make
himself feel better about partaking in what is still an illegal activity, to
questioning the inherent hypocrisy in limiting certain forms of un-taxable
recreations while pharmaceutical companies, breweries, distilleries, and
tobacco companies rake in trillions.

But it’s still illegal.
And it isn’t David’s right to play NBA basketball and smoke weed occasionally.

By now you’ve accurately guessed that I don’t think smoking
the drug occasionally (or, let’s face it, more often than that) is anywhere
close to what I would term "a bad thing."

That said, there are dozens of pro basketball leagues both
here and abroad that would allow David to ply his trade for a living while
passing over the idea of testing for pot. And just because he disagrees with
his current union on the drug testing format they bargained around and signed
off on, it doesn’t mean he’s allowed to be the exception to the rule. Stinks, I
submit, but it is how things work (or, "don’t work") sometimes.  

So listen to the interview. Give Indy Cornrows’ site a read, and go
over their
take on the issue. And let us know how you feel.