Steroids are back in the news and not because Jose Canseco got beat badly in an MMA fight. No, this time it involves the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals.
Richard Thomas, of Florida, was arrested Tuesday and apparently ranted that Nats and Caps were some of his customers. The Capitals and the NHL responded this afternoon and refutes the claims.
It is a wonder why Thomas would specifically name Washington teams and no others. No Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, or Florida Panthers. The details are sparse at this time, so only further investigation will do. These accusations cast a small shadow over the Caps great season. However, this places another level of distraction on the Nationals. Already reeling from poor pitching resulting in a pretty bad season, steroids accusations just pile it on. Testing is not perfect, but there has not been any public notification of steroid accusations for either team.
Now comes the hard part...proving a negative. Both teams need to prove that they didn't take steroids. For the Nationals, it is almost easy to believe, given the bad season they are having. However for the Capitals, it is an image they'll have to fight after a fairly successful season in a very physical game.
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No need to "prove a negative" for the Caps - it's already been proved. The entire team was random drug-tested _three times_ during the past season, and not a single player tested positive. That's all the "proof" any reasonable person should need. -JW
I agree with JW. Not too mention the fact that the period of time in question wasn't articulated so the very players potentially that used steroids may no longer even be in DC.
Also, it seems very odd that someone cornered the market exclusivley to only DC teams. It appears rather dubious what the motives may be too.