Sport: Scoring Off the Field

The penalty flag has been thrown for drug use among athletes

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The athletically gifted are different from you and me. As children they rule the sandlot and playground. While most kids pray they are not the last picked by the shirts or the skins, it is the natural athletes who do the choosing. Late in high school, the best are wooed by colleges offering scholarships, special treatment and maybe a nice set of wheels. A happy few make the jump from big man on campus to major-league pro. Most start with salaries in six figures -- not bad for a 22-year-old who, chances are, did not earn enough credits to graduate....

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