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'Sex is society's new drug'
By Ray Buck It's hard to shock John Lucas, but this does. "Sex is the new addiction among our athletes," says the former NBA player and coach. "Sex
Lucas not only has spent most of this decade counseling athletes, mostly NBA players, with alcohol and drug-abuse problems, but he is a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict himself. He now serves as a tennis instructor at a suburban Houston racket club. TO KNOW JOHN LUCAS is to know the most personal moment of his life story -- March 14, 1986 -- and how he woke up in downtown Houston after pulling an all-nighter. He couldn't remember what he had done or where he had done it. He aimlessly wandered the streets, looking for his car, wearing a urine-soaked suit, no shoes ... and sunglasses. He thought nobody would recognize him. That was his last drink, he says. He decided never to put himself through that kind of pain and humiliation again, and so he has been sober for more than 12 years. Now sex in this country shocks him. He says the preoccupation has become an addiction, and pro athletes are far from being exempt. In fact, he says, they are in a high-risk group. And why not? These are millionaires who stay in only the best hotels, attract only the most adoring fans and indulge often in chic nightlife as a guest of a club. Most pro athletes only need to identify themselves to the guy at the door for instant access, and inside they attract potential sex partners like steel to a magnet. LUCAS, A LONG-TIME CONSULTANT to the NBA's drug policy, has helped write policy for the NBA and NFL. But like alcohol abuse, sex addiction is difficult to police. It's readily available and, in most instances, strictly legal. It's a growing addiction, as Lucas pointed out, but nothing new. In 1989, then-Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs, now with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, was named in a $12-million palimony suit filed by Margo Adams, a woman with whom Boggs allegedly had had a four-year relationship. A settlement eventually was reached out of court, and Boggs subsequently went public with the revelation that he was addicted to sex. On Nov. 7, 1991, NBA superstar Magic Johnson stunned the sports world when he announced his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers, citing as his reason that he contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. This had been considered by mainstream America as a tragic disease but most directly affecting the gay community -- until Johnson said he had contracted the virus through heterosexual intercourse with many women. About that same time, former NBA superstar Wilt Chamberlain came out with a book entitled A View From Above, in which he said he had had sexual encounters with 20,000 women during his lifetime. AIDS has been around just long enough now -- and drugs to keep its symptoms in check are promising enough -- that some pro athletes are becoming complacent. That's what makes this a dangerous addiction: a carefree attitude mixed with a killer disease. THE SEX-ON-THE-ROAD phenomenon is back. Just ask anyone who travels with professional athletes. Athletes feel invincible again. The temptation has never been greater. What can be done? Johnson authored a book titled What Can You Do to Avoid AIDS to teach young people the value of abstinence. No matter how unpopular it might be among their peers, Johnson writes: "(Young people) need to understand that postponing sexual intercourse is a sensible option with rewards that go far beyond freedom from AIDS, unwanted pregnancy, or sexually transmitted diseases." A.C. Green of the Dallas Mavericks is another crusader for abstinence. As part of his A.C. Programs for Youth, the NBA's all-time record-holding iron man offers a teaching video on practicing safe sex titled It Ain't Worth It, available by calling 1-800-AC-YOUTH. The cost is $25. Green has been a vocal opponent of parents and civic leaders who advise young people to use condoms for safe sex rather than practice abstinence. Ray Buck is CBS SportsLine's national columnist. |