Tim-Finchem-001

So this week, PGA Tour journeyman, Doug Barron (who?) got busted for using some sort of substance that’s banned on the PGA’s list of things you can’t take.  HOORAY PROGRESS!!!

Wait…progress?  What exactly was progressed?

Ah yes, the progression of PGA Tour commish Tim Finchem’s legacy of being a bumbling incompetent in a job that is STILL completely over his head.  Finchem is doing everything in his power to prove that the drug testing initiave undertaken by the Tour he lords over is not anything other than a colossal waste of money and resources…and he’s failing spectacularly in trying to do so.  And not only is he fucking that up, but when a potential bombshell is dropped, and the Tour has already had 45 days to deal with the appeals process, when do you think the best time would be to announce this?  Oh right, during this year’s Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony!!!
Finchem does not know the game of golf.  He was hired for his marketing and public relations expertise, so you’d think that he’d know a thing or two about how and when to deal with situations like this.  He obviously doesn’t, seeing as he pissed off not only the Hall of Fame entrants, including outspoken Lanny Wadkins, but he also pissed off the Hall of Fame itself.  And when asked for comment, reporters got a “no comment.”  So instead of totally difussing the issue right then and there, Finchem let it linger in the hands of golf writers with absolutely nothing else to write about.  Nicely done.

But that’s not the big issue here…the big issue is PED’s in golf and why this whole drug testing episode is a giant farse.

First off…the testing is so un-random, it’s not even funny.  Golfers have come out and pretty much said, “if you fail, you’re a moron,” despite the fact that, you know, there isn’t a substance on earth other than beta-blockers that’ll help you score better, the testing has gone on.  And lo…the sacrificial lamb first domino has fallen…in the form of a guy with a sizeable gut who not even the most stalwart of PGA followers knew existed.

So here we have a guy who hasn’t been relevant on the Tour EVER getting thrown off for one calendar year because of…well, we don’t really know.

But lets back up for a quick second.  Lets consider that Finchem really faught hard against testing even though all the players said they were for it and the players’ union essentially forced the program in.  So we have a guy in charge of a program that he didn’t want to be in charge of…that’s not good.

Now lets consider that Finchem had been dealing with PR slings and arrows from both sides.  From camps saying that he’s actively covering up any positive tests and others saying that he’s not doing a good enough job.  There are some really easy ways to deal with this issue…say it’s necessary, which Finchem hasn’t EVER said, and the other would be to give full disclosure, which Finchem hasn’t done.

So here we have the suspended golfer being suspended for…well, might as well open up the conspiracy theories, because there’s a whole bunch of them.

My problem is not with the drug testing program or Doug Barron’s suspension.  Barron probably tested positive for beta-blockers but there have been some whispers that the drug he was taking was for a medical issue, but either way, he’s still guilty.  The drug testing program works, because even if all the guys tested clean, like we all assumed, it would still be forcing the Tour assemblage to prove that they’re clean, which is never a bad thing.

Where I have beef is with the man handling the whole issue.  We have a completely transparent process for determining drug cheats in golf and the guy in charge of that is obscuring the whole issue by being a terrible commissioner.

When asked for comment about the suspension, Finchem gave nothing saying the official statement released by the PGA is more than enough.  Here’s the statement…

November 2, 2009

From the Office of the Commissioner:

The PGA TOUR announced today that Doug Barron has violated the PGA TOUR Anti-Doping Policy’s ban on the use of performance-enhancing substances and has been suspended for one year. The suspension will commence immediately.  This is the first suspension under the PGA TOUR Anti-Doping Program.

“I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the TOUR or its players resulting from my suspension. I want my fellow TOUR members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on TOUR,” said Barron.

The TOUR will have no further comment on the suspension at this time.

Right, Tim…that told us EVERYTHING we needed to know.  In this instance, Finchem has absolutely no leverage.  The 45 day window for appeal had come and gone and the PGA’s ruling was upheld.  We know there was an appeal and we know that there was a defense by Mr. Barron, yet we don’t know any of the details.

Instead, we’re left to wonder.  Is the commish using Barron, a fringe PGA player, as an example?  Is the drug testing too lax and not enforced enough?  Is Barron being punished only because he’s not that good?  Are there top 150 players who have tested positive, but not punished?

This is the very first instance in history of a performance enhancing substance being found on a PGA player, a potential bomb that could wreck the foundation of the sport or a harmless conincidence.  The problem is, we have no idea if this is either of those scenarios because all we got from the man making the judgement was a “no comment.”

Oh, and the whole matter of upstaging the Hall of Fame inductions.

Now, I’m making some incredibly big reaches here, admittedly.  The problem is I could be totally right with one of them.  There could be widespread PED usage in golf amongst the top 150.  There could also be none.  But at the same time, how the fuck would we know?  We don’t know if the commish is hiding shit or just being incompetent or if this is just an isolated incident, but instead of killing the issue while he had a golden opportunity, Finchem let it marinate, and what should’ve been dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders now seems incredibly fishy.

But we shouldn’t be surprised…I mean this is the worst commissioner in the history of professional sports we’re talking about here.

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