A Picture Is Worth What Again?

It's good to be back from vacation. Plenty of interesting things happening since my last post. The Blackhawks haven't wrapped up their series against the Canucks yet. The Cubs and Sox are still a big bag of AWFUL. Starlin Castro providing early mixed reviews at best so far, while Jake Peavy continues to be one of the few bright spots for his team. Lawrence Taylor managing to top himself in terms of self destruction by being caught with a little statutory sex slave - ouch... The Raiders finally said "Step In To My Office 'Cause You're F*ckin FIRED!" to JaJokeus Russell. Plus Eldrick Woods pulled out of the final round of the TPC because (Wannie voice) "He's Gotta Neckkk..."

The funniest and most ironic story though, was the report of Houston Texans Linebacker Brian Cushing being in violation of the league's Steroid policy. Cushing had apparently tested positive in 2009 and had been appealing the positive test, but the final decision was handed down last week. Cushing will now be suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2010 season. Cushing's story is that he took a non-steroid banned substance but hasn't said which one yet. He also said he's been taking it for the last 10 to 15 years with no issues at all, however that is completely not true.

Cushing (along with another one of my personal most wanted steroid suspects Clay Matthews Jr) reportedly tested positive for steroids at the 2009 Combine, but that report was later proven false. Take a look at the picture above though. As you can see Brian's body has undergone some (ahem) changes over his time at USC. The picture on the left certainly puts the "gyne" in "gynecomastia" doesn't it? I'm not a doctor, so forgive me if I find it hard to believe that some random supplement, or some herbal tea, or a B-12 shot would be responsible for boobies! Cushing can pass all the other tests in the world, but one test he's not passing for sure, is The Beard's Eye Test.

With that said though, I must admit that I believe Cushing is doing exactly the same thing that 90% of the NFL is doing. He just had the rotten luck of getting caught. While I've maintained that I don't want steroids in Major League Baseball for some time, I don't feel the same way about the NFL or College Football. Just to give you the Cliff Notes version as to why I treat the two sports differently :

1. MLB is all about it's numbers, statistics, and ORDINARY men achieving those extraordinary numbers and statistics. Baseball has been around for over 120 years, and those numbers are transferable from generation to generation. Steroids compromises the integrity of those numbers by deflating their significance when the records are broken by guys who wouldn't have been nearly the hitters they were without The Juice.

2. Football is about Large, Strong, Angry, Super Fast men running into each other for our amusement, nothing more. It's not the least bit concerned with it's numbers the way baseball is and to prove it, ask yourself this question - How many rushing yards did Emmitt Smith finish his career with? Odds are, you don't know the number off the top of your head. Yet if someone asks you how many home runs Hank Aaron hit you automatically know the number without even thinking about it, don't you? Therefore due to the numbers being negligible, the use of steroids (over the past 40 years according to some accounts) is much more permissible when it comes to Professional Football, in my opinion.

So while it is amusing that Cushing has maintained his supposed innocence over the years despite damning visual evidence, it's hard to come down on him too hard, since he's now been caught by the NFL's ILLUSION of being against Performance Enhancing Drugs, rather than an actual league trying to prevent it's players from doing steroids.