Yesterday Jason Taylor made some very important comments about Shawn "Tainted Sample" Merriman. Taylor believes, as everyone should, that Shawn Merriman is a cheater and should not be afforded any awards or honors. In fact, I think the NFL should reexamine its penalties for cheaters so they cannot be given any awards that year.
"You really shouldn't be able to fail a test like that and play in this league, to begin with," Taylor stated fairly. "To make the Pro Bowl and all the other awards, I think you're walking a fine line of sending the wrong message."
Merriman, if you remember, tried to float the flimsy 'tainted sample' excuse for his positive test. Where is the healthy dose of jouranlistic skepticism that should accompany this ridiculous excuse? ESPN, Fox, NBC, all ate up this and have never followed up.
Also forgotten was the trial balloon that Merriman floated that he would sue the company of the supplements to clear his good name. I believe he also stated he would use this opportunity to become a role model for kids. Please, Shawn. Why don't you feed hungry kids with your new found faith in humanity as well? Not only is Merriman a cheater, but a bold faced liar!!
What confounds me is that these bogus statements were heaped upon us scantly five weeks ago and no one is following up. Has our attention span lapsed so severly that we no longer have even this limited recall? Why is Roger Goodell not said anything about this cheater?
Can you imagine the outrage if this happened in the MLB? Not only would the sports press not leave this alone, but the mainstream news organizations would also be covering it. Why is there such an incalcualbe double standard for the NFL?
MLB steroid tests are in the news again this week, and I'm sure there will be wall to wall coverage. I realize that for so long the sports press was complicit with MLB, in fact DCS discussed that recently, so now everyone is skeptical about allegations in MLB. Unfortunately, the NFL has this false perception that it is the cleaner league. Let me tell you, it isn't. Untold of numbers of players must be using HGH, which is untested, in the NFL.
I'm all for cleaning up MLB, I just don't understand why the NFL gets such a free pass. It is by far the most popular sports league in American with television revenues this year only of over $3 billion. Isn't about time that the rest of were as angry as Jason Taylor and started demanding more from the NFL? At mimimum let's not reward those who cheat. Can't we at least have that Mr. Goodell?
2 comments:
I have to agree with the bonnixian theory here. Recently I was asking myself why I am not as interested in the 12-2 Chicago Bears (pronounced "Shikaawgo Baerss") as I have been in years past (read "1985"). The answer invariably has to do with drug issue as well as the general devolution of professional sports into a purely business model. The guys are obviously too juiced up, the game is too technically oriented with less of the old instinctive mayhem associated with football through the 1980's, and the there's not nearly enough mud and blood. Some dreadlocked dude seems to get hurt on the turf every few plays and then there's a dispute over a call. Let's review the play in slo-mo. Why doesn't each team just have a cadre of in-house counsel on the sidelines with a retired judge serving as a binding arbitrator. They might as well have a full blown hearing. That would take about as long. Let's just play football.
Breakfast ball definitely has a point about the introduction of replay. at first i was a big proponent of replay. but after living with it a few years, i hate it. it slows down the game and does make it appear that every team needs lawyers. there is far too much protection of the quarterback. this all stems from the ultra-large investments teams are making. it definitely has lost some of the rough and tumble that made it great. however, revenues are up, so don't expect any changes...
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