Some people were incensed that the Fanatics (see previous post) rode the Argentine players, and hard, on the drug-test issue, but that didn’t bother me at all.
Hey, I remember when thousands of Red Sox fans at Fenway Park repeatedly greeted Jose Canseco of the Oakland A’s with the chant, Just say no! Just say no! For one thing, it was laugh-out-loud-funny, which excuses a lot. For another, it was clever. And for yet another, as we’ve come to learn, it happened to be dead-on relevant and accurate.
I have lots of issues with the Fanatics, but their decision to mock the Argentineans, given the history of that nation’s players and drug-testing protocols, is not just acceptable, it’s welcome.
Let’s face it, Argentina has produced an entire crop of drug-test flunkers. I don’t know why, and I’ve heard all the disclaimers, but Guillermo Coria, Mariano Puerta, Juan Ignacio Cela—and now Guillermo Cañas—have either been suspended or investigated for violating the ATP tour’s drug policy. That’s an extraordinary number of players from a relatively small segment of the pool (given the size and international makeup of the ATP tour). And, as you may know, the cases that actually get investigated or result in suspension is a very small percentage of the cases that begin with a positive drug test.
So what is it with Argentina? Something in the water?
One thing I know for sure: Very few players in any sport who tested positive for banned substances ever said, “Yeah, I’m a drug cheat. I just got caught, that’s all.”