European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday. January 27. 1990 the stars and stripes Page 25 commentary Fly a fair tale tvs scary tale by Garu Nuhn Cox news service new Orleans a once upon a time there were three White quarterbacks. And they lived in a sugarplum Forest. And they were close friends with Goldilocks. And they used their vast Powers to keep the evil spirits away from the lovable Little furry creatures. That s what the nil wants us to believe. It wants us to believe this drug Story is a fairy tale invented by a failing to station to boost sagging ratings. Quot i was always told if you Don t have names you Don t have a  nil director of communications Joe Browne said. Wrong. There weren t Many names in watergate but there was a hell of a Story. To Tell the truth we done to know what we have Here Don t know if its a hell of a Story or a breach of journalistic integrity Don t know if it s a hell of a Story or. As the nil line goes just two disgruntled sex pm Floyces venting their anger. We May never know. A Washington television station Wila said the nil s drug testing procedure is flawed. No news there. The station went on to say the drug testing procedure is racist. News. And at to minus 3 Days and counting the super bowl received a severe Case of whiplash. The nil. Through Browne made the Standard Issue denial. Quot totally unreliable  he said. Quot a smear Quot he said. The station using a former employee of the a Fly a drug testing guru As its source said All positive tests Arentt necessarily reported. That in fact positive tests of three a Star Quot while quarterbacks within the last four years were covered up. The station said it confirmed this with Quot either the agents or the quarterbacks  powerful stuff but it stopped Short of naming the quarterbacks and thus did the surrealistic fury grow. Name names and you re on Page i of every newspaper in the country. Done to name names and you be Given All 24 White starting quarterbacks in the league a Black Eye. Quot three White quarterbacks Quot is a Sham. The Story begged for names. Demanded them. This Wasny to an Quot Anonymous source Story. This was Blanket indictment. No one was immune. Everyone was guilty until proven innocent. The two White quarterbacks on the scene John Elway and Joe Montana immediately and categorically denied they were among the three. Fine. Just 22 left. Names floated by like pieces of Driftwood in the big Muddy then floated by again. Caked with mud. The whole scene was ludicrous. Like an episode of Giraldo Rivera. A cocaine quarterbacks. And the women who love them a five . A on Geraldo Quot mccarthyism someone suggested. Was t this the football equivalent of Joe Mccarthy waving a list of a commie sympathizers Quot yes and no. This stopped one step Short of mccarthyism. Because much of the time Mccarthy named names. He was a fraud. And he went Down in disgrace. But at least he singled out his prey until the end. When his bite dulled by his circus tent falling around him he cried that everyone in Congress was a communist. This is certainly a version of mccarthyism. This is machine gun ism. Line Mem up and watch pm fall. Throw the paint and see whom it splatters. Everybody Well said Wila too bad. Investigative reporter Roberta Baskin said she wanted the focus on the faulty drug testing not on the quarterbacks. Nice try. The players do hold the a Fly a drug testing procedure in contempt. Former nil commissioner Pete Rozdec imposed the policy unilaterally after management and the former players Union could t agree on a program. Rozelle appointed or. Forest Tennant jr., a former Urcla professor who owns a string of methadone treatment centers in California. It was not a popular Choice. Tennant 48, had been at the Center of several controversies in his career and said former players Union head Gene Upshaw a we were opposed to him from the first  stories of mismanagement have plagued the nil s drug program since the first specimen was taken. A it scares me. I la Tell you a said 49crs defensive Back Tim Mckyer. A every time you go in there and do your Little Deal in the bottle you never know where it goes or what happens to it asked if nil drug testing has holes in it Denver guard Keith Bishop said a if a human being put it together it has holes in  As thursday ended Here there were enough holes to fill the Albert Hall. A if its True Quot 49crs running Bick Spencer Tillman said a and i emphasize if then a lot of Lack players Are going to have real problems with  if it s True any right thinking Man woman or child is going to have real problems with it. If it s True we re talking about a scandal that will cat to the very Core of the nil. Right now few Here know. Even As Joe Browne issued the nil s denials it was impossible for him to know what goes on in Forest Tennant or s labs in West Covina. Calif. Browne did admit its possible for first time offenders to slip through the cracks because the league is not notified until a second often so. The first time positive is strictly Between Tennant the team physician and the  from Pago 21 employees to Wila. According to Browne great care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the tests and each urine specimen is marked with a code number not the player s name. Only or. Tennant Browne said has a master list that will connect the number with a  from Page 21 line. Harrah s Reno listed san Francisco As a 13-Point favorite thursday for the third straight Day. A word around the san Francisco 49ers�?~ Headquarters was that Huey Lewis would arrive Friday. Denver Broncos Public relations people say they can t name a celebrity a not even John Denver a who they re sure will be Here to help the Broncos try to avoid a fourth super bowl defeat. Quot it s almost As if they re the Glamour team and we re just supposed to be the horse s butt or  Broncos wide receiver Mark Jackson said. Lewis s expected presence at super bowl xxiv will be no upset. The Rock n roller who began his career singing in Small san Francisco night spots is a big 49ers fan. Several san Francisco players have served As Back up vocalists on his albums. Following the club s super bowl the cd employees told a different Story. A Man fictitious by identified As a Cdr. Harley Quot said a Cdr. Tennant always Felt that lab work was such an easy thing that he did t need to have any lab technicians in there. He always made the statement a you could train a Chimpanzee to do the lab work a you walk in one Day. You re hired As a medical assistant or maybe a Secretary up front and head say come on in a going to teach you How to run Victory last year Lewis along with Model Christie Brinkley and several aspiring yet lesser known actresses were in the 49ers�?T locker room. Quarterback Joe Montana a wife Jennifer the Host of . Magazine in san Francisco frequently brings celebrity friends to games. The Broncos Aren t exactly longing for the Day when  become Hollywood steam. Quot those people Quot said Jackson referring to the 49crs celebrity collection Quot they just get in your Way  a amid complaints that super bowl visitors arc being charged As much As $500 a night for hotel rooms the City Council passed a damage control ordinance to try to head off future Price gouging. The ordinance required for the first time that room rates be posted in City hotel and Motel rooms and set up fines for innkeepers who charge More than that. A we wanted to assure the nil that we Are concerned and that we arc going to Lake Steps to try to minimize what happened this year Quot said mayor Sidney Barth Clemy who the machines in the Laboratory and tomorrow you would be a lab  Bobby Tovar who said he was originally hired As a courier told Wila a the envelopes that they shipped them in Many times. The specimens. They were not scaled property and the specimens would either break open. Leak through the wrapping and pretty much go through the entire package thereby Cross contaminating the specimens a when asked How often Cross contamination occurred Tovar replied a i immediately signed the measure into Law. Visitors in town for sunday s super bowl have complained bitterly about the High Cost of rooms a though hotels have argued that most of the gouging is by tour organizers who bought Large blocks of rooms and then re  at big profits. The new ordinance won t help this week but for the future it gives leverage to City officials who find sudden Price increases. A a we re going to let everybody know it is not our hotels but the travel agents who Are raising  said Barthelmy. A a if we do win this game by talking. I la go out and hire the Rev. Jesse Jackson or somebody like that right afterwards Quot said san Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice. A Dick Jorgensen who never worked a super bowl in his 22 years of officiating nil games Breaks his string sunday. Jorgensen was named referee for the me heading a Crew with 105 years of Al experience. Also named hindi Ansich Umpire Eamick Frantz head Linesman Ron Blum line judge a1 jury Back judge Gerry Austin Side judge Don Orr Field judge and a1 Sabato replay official. Alternates arc Dick Hantak. Referee and Rex Stuart Umpire. Would say 25 percent of the  Tovar also said hundreds of bottles were identified by players names including one allegedly belonging to Stanley Wilson the former Cincinnati running Back who was suspended after being found in a drugged state before last years super bowl. Nil commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Quot the reports of preferential treatment Are absurd. Its a smear on cd cry White quarterback in the league including the two great ones in this  san Francisco coach George Seifert. Says Rathman recovered