You could have knocked me over with a feather. It was shocking news.

The news? Randy Moss admitted in an HBO interview that airs this Tuesday that he has and still does smoke marijuana.

Gasp!

The sad part of this story is the reaction of people to Moss' admitting drug use.

Some don't see a problem with it because it's not like Ricky Williams who floated off to live on a cloud.

Others don't see smoking pot as any big deal. Lots of people do it. Now, there's a convincing argument.

The NFL is upset because its image is damaged. If you only test for pot before training camp and the players don't have to worry about any follow up tests, you've created your own image.

''I have used, you know, marijuana … since I've been in the league,'' Moss said in the interview. ''But as far as abusing it and, you know, letting it take control over me, I don't do that, no.''

Moss now claims he was talking in the past tense, but his last sentence tends to sound more like the present or even future.

Of course, Moss's problems are the fault of someone else. After all, isn't that the American way?

In this case, the guilty party is HBO. Dante DiTrapano, who is Moss's agent, blamed HBO. After listening to his argument, one can only surmise DiTrapano either spent all of 20 seconds thinking of a response or he's been toking on the same left-handed cigarette as Moss.

''In an attempt to promote their dying network, they have maliciously couched his remarks in a manner that is confusing and leaves room for negative interpretation,'' DiTrapano told The Associated Press.

I guess Moss was misquoted, too, since it's on tape.

Oh yeah, that dying network has 33 Emmy nominations and four of the highest rated shows on television.

DiTrapano also said that HBO has done great damage to Moss' reputation. Now I know he's smoking something.

This is the Randy Moss who kicked another youth while he laid on the ground during his high school days.

This is the Randy Moss who didn't get into Notre Dame because, not only did he have a battery charge and marijuana use on his record, he didn't even fill out his admission papers.

This is the Randy Moss who was kicked out of - can you believe it? - Florida State for parole violations. Get this, he was caught smoking pot along with a battery charge. Hmmm.

This is the Randy Moss who tried to run over a police officer because traffic was tied up and he didn't want to wait.

This is the Randy Moss who threw water on a referee because he didn't like a call.

This is the Randy Moss who performed the disgusting and classless act in the playoffs at Green Bay as he pretended to "moon" the fans.

The list goes on an on.

Former Minnesota running back Robert Smith didn't see any problem with smoking marijuana. He said he did it while he was in the league and still does it.

Now this is coming from a guy who is going to become a doctor. Remind me not to visit his practice.

As a doctor, Smith should know that smoking some harmless pot isn't so harmless. Marijuana raises blood pressure, doubles the heart rate, hinders short-term memory, slows reaction time, makes it difficult to study, causes panic attacks, causes more chest colds, causes loss of coordination and perception distortion.

Not only that, there's four times as much tar in marijuana than in a regular cigarette.

Harmless? Better do a little more studying doc.

The youth of America have always looked up to their sports stars. Unfortunately, our youth have to look up a little higher to some of them.

Jim Walker is sports editor of The Ironton Tribune.