By now, you’ve all heard the story of Anttaj Hawthorne.

The first-round projections, the positive drug test, the catastrophic slide down the draft board. It was a regular draft-day tragedy.

Hawthorne was supposed to be a first-round pick. When questions began circulating about his work ethic, he became a first-day pick. Even after he tested positive for marijuana he wasn’t supposed to fall past the third round.

But he did. Then he fell past the fourth round, and the fifth. For almost the entire second day of the NFL draft Hawthorne’s name sat ominously atop Mel Kiper’s list of the best available players. Finally, the Oakland Raiders called his name in the sixth round.

The message was clear: don’t do drugs. At least, don’t do them at the NFL Combine. It seemed a resounding victory for football moralists. A convicted drug user paid the price for his indiscretion. The league’s general managers had made a statement. High fives all around.

Well, almost. The GMs did seem to take a firm stance on marijuana, a substance that has a negligible effect on the game’s integrity and a substantial effect on its image. But the war rooms disregarded a far more serious offense: steroid use.

Thanks to some recreational marijuana use, ‘Taj plummeted four rounds and Jonathan Clinkscale fell off the draft board completely. Meanwhile, Northwestern’s Luis Castillo, an admitted steroid user, was drafted in the very first round.

With the No. 28 pick, the San Diego Chargers sent a real message: our organization condones steroid use. And the NFL doesn’t seem too concerned.

Castillo’s publicly acknowledged steroid use did not hurt his draft status at all. In fact, it propelled him up the draft board.

Heading into the Combine, few had Castillo circled as a first-round prospect. But the 6-3, 306-pound lineman dazzled the scouts in Indianapolis. With a little extra testosterone flowing through his veins, Castillo hoisted the 225-pound bar 32 times in the bench press and posted a 4.79 in the 40-yard dash. Suddenly, the former Wildcat was a first-round guy.

When it came out that steroids may have had a hand in his Combine performance, the league went through all the motions. Everyone who was interviewed did his best to sound disappointed, shocked, appalled. But they didn’t move Castillo down the draft board.

All 32 GMs lined up to slap Hawthorne and Clinkscale on the wrist, but the Chargers weren’t ready to give Castillo the cold shoulder. The difference is that Hawthorne’s indiscretion is detrimental on the field, while Castillo’s vice is useful.

The GMs didn’t pass on Hawthorne to make a statement about drug use. They passed on Hawthorne because they doubted his commitment.

The same GMs saw no reason to pass on Castillo. After all, he’s so dedicated he’s willing to load up on andro to improve his game.

Hawthorne’s draft-day free fall is no victory for football moralists. It is merely an affirmation that the NFL, like the MLB (and pretty much every other professional sports league) cares more about performance, results and ratings than silly things like integrity.

The very thing that makes Hawthorne’s offense so innocuous is what makes it so much easier to punish. Marijuana does not provide a competitive advantage; it has the opposite effect. Thus, the drug poses no threat to the integrity of the game. What it does provide is a reason to doubt a player’s competitive drive and dedication to football — factors that can account for a slide down the draft board.

Meanwhile, steroids provide a significant competitive advantage, and thus pose a tremendous threat to the integrity of the game. But a steroid user is not punished on draft day, because NFL GMs aren’t concerned with preserving an even playing field or setting an example for the throngs of young fans who dream of playing in the league (and will do whatever it takes to get there).

Luis Castillo is not punished on draft day because steroids made him a better prospect. Never mind what they mean for his character (and certainly don’t consider his long-term health). All that matters is how he will perform on Sunday.

The Chargers didn’t draft Castillo in spite of his steroid use. They drafted him because of it. And the NFL let it happen.

A convicted steroid user, Castillo will be subject to as many as 24 drug tests during his debut season. Should he fail one of them, he will face a four-game suspension (not a two-year suspension, which the Olympic standard calls for after one positive test). Of course, he will receive no punishment for the test he has already failed.

Thus, the Chargers have no cause for concern as long as they are convinced he won’t fail another drug test. And that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Castillo never failed a drug test at Northwestern. After all, there are ways of getting around them (how many drug tests has Marion Jones taken?)

The 2005 NFL Draft was a perfect opportunity for the league to take a stand against steroid use. The NFL could have made Castillo an example to detract future prospects from turning to steroids. Instead, Castillo became a different kind of example — another case of a professional sports league looking the other way as the foundation of the game slowly crumbles.