TIGHT LINES
GET HOOKED ON FISHING
with Andrew Spencer
Baseball, America's pastime, has recently come under pretty heavy scrutiny for alleged drug use (specifically steroid-related drugs) by players. If you believe some of the rumors, everybody is shooting up. Mark McGwire, formerly of the St. Louis Cardinals, was the most recent recipient of the backlash this whole mess has created. The home-run hitting slugger received only 128 votes in his first year of eligibility for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, a far cry from the 409 that he needed. And a lot of prognosticators are suggesting that McGwire was the victim of public opinion.

Whether or not McGwire used steroids is up for debate, as he doesn't seem to be too forthcoming with an admission. But, just for fun, if you look him up on Wikipedia.com, you'll find that his entry is subdivided into 11 separate areas. And right there, just above "personal life" is the ugly "steroid controversy" heading. For a baseball player, I'd think it's got to be problematic when the issues surrounding your possible steroid use are listed before your career totals. But I digress.

Illegal drugs are, unfortunately, an issue we have to deal with in the world today. The Tour de France - the Holy Grail of what is arguably the most steroid-laced sport on the planet - stripped last year's winner of his title. Although Floyd Landis maintains his innocence, he's still not the official winner. Even the Olympics aren't free from steroid use, as Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson can attest.

And, in a succession of unfortunate realities, illegal drugs aren't limited to professional sports. In a most unfortunate development, our own little island was recently the scene of a pretty sizable operation aimed at seizing cocaine from dealers here. And from the sound of things, the police did a great job in terms of putting a dent in the island's illegal drug trade. The thing that struck me, though, aside from the actual operation itself, was the name they used for it:

They called it Operation Bluefish. And that, ladies and gentlemen of the Senate Committee on Steroid Use in Fishing, is as close to a segue as I could come this week.

I'm certainly not here to criticize the police department, and I'm certainly not here to try to ruffle any feathers over their choice of name. I'm just curious why Nantucket's finest used the poor bluefish in connection with a drug bust.

When you really sit and think about it - and this being the winter, I've got plenty of time to sit and think - fishing is, thankfully, one of the few sports today that isn't yet tarnished by the smudge of steroid use. And there are certainly plenty of applications for muscle-building drugs - improved casting distance, greater fish-fighting power - but fortunately for the sport, professional anglers have yet to dabble in the dark side of science. There are a few incidents from past fishing tournaments when anglers have come out of nowhere to win major tournaments, only to have their fish turn out to be non-native species that had been "caught" under less than honest circumstances, but those sorts of incidents are, to the best of my knowledge, few and far between.

No, it seems that fishing is one of the last pure sports we've got left. So the question remains why the operation was named after one of our island's most popular game fish. Again, I had to sit and think this one over. I turned it over in my brain, but got nowhere. So I went as close to the source as I could - because I am nothing if not a thorough reporter for you, my adoring fans - and talked to a few of my anonymous contacts within the police department.

Yeah. I'm that important. I've got "anonymous contacts."

Problem is, none of my contacts could really give me any kind of clear answer. So I was back at square one. And that meant - yes, you guessed it - that I had to sit and think some more. And then it dawned on me, as it so often does at four in the morning when the dog decided she absolutely, positively had to go out in the driving rain.

As I stood there getting pelted by cold water, I realized that the police department had made an ingenious choice. After all, what are bluefish known for? They are ferocious hunters who approach a task with single-minded focus and they work with amazing strength and speed until they get the job done. Sounds to me like a pretty appropriate description of the best way to counter drug use on the island, if you ask me. So, ladies and gentlemen of the Blue Line, thanks for your efforts. And thanks, too, for the complimentary status you have bestowed upon the bluefish.

So friends and neighbors, let's work to keep our sport clean. There's no joy in a tarnished victory, and nothing tarnishes a victory more than illegal drug use, no matter how much it helps your casting. Remember the words of our very own sheriff: "Get hooked on fishing, not on drugs."

Tight lines. I