Counterintuitive policy

Major League Baseball likes to flex its biceps and tell the masses that it has the toughest, most comprehensive drug testing policy in professional sports.
Maybe so.
But the primary focus of such testing, other than ensuring fairness in the game, should be catching steroid and performance enhancing drug cheats by surprise.
But, according to the New York Times, major league baseball has done everything but fly banner-dragging airplanes over ballparks with such pronouncements as, ''Drug testing on Friday!''
According to the Times, baseball franchises regularly receive a day or two of notice before a testing agent actually arrives to receive samples from players.
Home teams are notified in advance to leave stadium access and parking passes for testers.
So much for covert testing.
This amounts to Major League Baseball saying: ''Hey, guys, start taking those masking agents. You have two days.''
Here's an idea: Have the testing agents park a block or two from the stadium and walk. Have Major League Baseball grant them full season passes that are accepted in every stadium. And, here's a novel concept, have them show up with no warning.
Until all of that happens, Major League Baseball can boast of its exhaustive anti-drug policy.
But it can't be especially proud of its enforcement practices.