I have written previously of how the morality of American professional sports has some odd kind of paradox where those that cover baseball have a sort of sanctimonious attitude to the ethics of the game. The real conundrum arises when you realize some of the same people who cover baseball, cover all these other sports as well. Earlier this week, it was announced that Brian Cushing a linebacker for the Houston Texans tested positive for a banned substance and was therefore suspended for four games. The reaction was, as I suspected it would be, very apathetic. No one cared. Then, the AP announced that they would conduct a re-vote for the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award that Cushing had won earlier in the offseason. I was a little surprised. For the most part steroids and the NFL are like spaghetti and meatballs. No one really bats an eye when news comes out, even when its a relatively high profile player (unlike baseball where every remote story gets reported and people speculate at the first instance of improved or declining performance). Well after they voted again, Brian Cushing won anyway. Now let me make this clear, I have no issue with this guy winning. It is perfectly acceptable and I find it completely disengenious for anyone to act surprised that this guy was on some kind of performance enhancing drug. For God's sake he reminded me of Lattimer from the movie the Program during the draft coverage last year (he was pulling a boulder in one clip). My issue is that the media reaction is an example of the complete hypocrisy when it comes to covering certain types of sports.
Baseball has its foundation in the historic fabric of this country. That is as far as I will go in the romance of the sport. Some writers and television personalities use that as the foundation to make MLB a religion, rather then a source of entertainment. Its probably the reason Congress and certain members of federal law enforcement have wasted money and time in trying to blow the cover off of steroid abuse in MLB. It is an absolute farce. No one in Congress has called for the NFL to testify or for a public lashing. This is unbelievable because if the same thing happened in baseball, there would be members of the media who would be screaming from the roof tops. Last year Manny Ramirez got suspended and pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement was allowed to rehab in minor league games during the final week of his suspension. This became a perfect example of how baseball doesn't have any teeth in its anti-PED policies. Well, the NFL just had one of their best young players test positive during an award winning season and announced it nearly six months after the end of the season.
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