Siegfried and DROY
I initially really didn't care about the DROY. I guess I always figured that Brian Cushing would fall and someone else would win. When I heard it didn't go down that way, I started to.
I initially really didn't care about the DROY. I guess I always figured that Brian Cushing would fall and someone else would win. When I heard it didn't go down that way, I started to.
I never thought Clay Matthews should get the award. Yes, it would have been nice, but he didn't deserve it. So I ask the hoards of homers out there screaming foul because Clay didn't win to kindly shut the hell up. In addition (and god only knows who this will piss off), they should not let writers ever vote on anything. Writers are too fickle minded, plain and simple.
There is no doubt in my mind that the award should have simply been stripped. The fact that Cushing even got an opportunity to win again is a travesty. It's not the fact that he took steroids, or that nobody seemed to care, it's the fact that he took away someone else's chance at greatness.
There are players out there that would give just about anything to have the opportunity that Cushing had. God only knows how far back that stretches. What chance did he rob someone of in high school? How about college? If his history spans back a few years he could have taken away god knows how many spots from other more deserved athletes. But instead, Brian Cushing got the offer.
That is the true shame of it all. Somewhere, someplace, there is a C.J. Wilson type guy who would have been elated to EVEN GET A CHANCE that never got one. That's the harm here.
If this is truly how the greater public and writers view performance enhancing drugs, I am worried for the NFL as we know it. Once this becomes okay, what's the next step? Special shoes? Robotic arms? Super gear? Mark my words, this is another step into the inevitable world of professional sports in the next 100 years. A world in which we watch fake or enhanced athletes perform on a star studded stage fueled by gambling and merchandise sales.
Actually, when you put it that way, maybe the future is already here.
Comments (7)
May 12, 2010 at 07:06 pm
"Special shoes?" = Here
"Enhanced gear?" = Here
"Actually, when you put it that way, maybe the future is already here."
Oh yeah. It's here Bud, get used to it. The problem is, all the little up-grades in equipment and training coupled with constant rule-changes happen little by little. So nobody realizes the extent of how much things are changing year-to-year, in reality though, the league is rapidly changing. But, as far as I'm concerned, as long as all of the 'upgrades' are made available to all players, I'm cool with it, It's still a level playing field (that's all I want). Enhanced, yet level.
GBP 4 LIFE
May 13, 2010 at 04:42 am
"Writers are too fickle minded, plain and simple." one writer actually changed his vote from Byrd to Cushing, WTF is that?
Alex Tallitsch
May 13, 2010 at 07:09 am
He said he changed it to protest the re-vote. Like I said, fickle.
JohnRehor
May 13, 2010 at 07:07 am
So cheating can win you awards. And when word of testing positive comes out, the award is take away and a revote is done. The results are in, and you retain the award which was taken away? Is this Bizarro World of the NFL?
May 13, 2010 at 09:57 am
"There is no doubt in my mind that the award should have simply been stripped."
Definitely looks ridiculous when he wins the re-vote. But I'm not sure he's the only one using banned substances-- he just got caught.
As for pro sports being rigged, it wouldn't surprise me. We definitely already treat athletes like demi-gods.
May 13, 2010 at 10:31 am
I don't think it's a problem to have man-made enhancements. Let's be real here. Or are you gonna make the case that a poor kid can get the kind of nutrition a pro player gets? So throw out that "fairness" crap. The world is not fair.
And the "it's harmful to your body" crap is also BS. NO PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE IS HEALTHY!!!! All the elite players go beyond their limit. Even if they don't take steroids, they're still gonna have a crappy post-sports life, healthy wise. Ask coutless ex-athletes, they'll all tell you that they can't bend their knees right, that they have a chronic back problem... All due to practicing sports in a high level.
I do think there has to be a limit. I think chemically altered players shouldn't be allowed. But arguing fairness or health is plain hypocrisy...
May 13, 2010 at 11:12 pm
It's ridiculous. What I can't understand is how different NFL writers are from MLB writers. In the MLB if you are even alleged to take steroids they put in you the corner and never let you come out. Whereas the NFL had to create the Shawn Merriman rule to prevent players from being awarded during the same year they have a positive test (apparently, since Cushing's wasn't final by the end of this last season, he is inelliglbe for any awards the upcoming season).