I’m not one who normally gives a second thought to professional sports, but I do get annoyed with the way the media goes crazy over trivial crap. So today as people are starting to work themselves into a frenzy over former Senator George Mitchell’s report on steroids in baseball, it would be nice to remind people that any conclusions are completely unreliable. Why? Because there’s a good chance that professional athletes have been unintentionally doping themselves :

According to a new study released today and commissioned by Informed-Choice LLC, a not-for-profit partnership between supplement companies and a world-class, anti-doping laboratory, approximately one quarter of supplements could be contaminated.

Fifty-eight supplement samples were purchased from popular retail outlets and Internet sites in the United States and sent to HFL*, the world’s most experienced anti-doping lab in the field of supplement testing, for analysis. Twenty-five percent of the samples showed the presence of steroid contamination while 11 percent showed the existence of stimulants. Samples were analyzed using a validated and ISO 17025-accredited method developed specifically for the qualitative analysis of supplements and used to detect the presence of low levels of steroid and stimulant contaminants that are considered prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
[. . .]
According to David Hall, HFL’s chief executive, the majority of the contamination is inadvertent.

“Although some supplement companies are aware of the banned performance-enhancing contents, the majority are not,” said Hall. “The levels of contamination are too low to be detected using routine methods, but high enough to possibly generate a positive urine test for an athlete. That’s why it is essential that supplement companies perform the proper testing of products to trace levels - using ISO 17025-accredited methods.”

With the promise that tomorrow’s report will “name names”, there’s a good chance that careers will be ruined because someone was unlucky enough to buy a supplement that was tainted with an illegal substance. With the presumption of guilt that surrounds these doping scandals, will the media, government, leagues, or public give anyone the benefit of the doubt?