Revote on Rookie of the Year award but why?
Recently the recipient of the Associated Press’ annual Defensive Rookie of the Year award had to rely on a revote to retain the title.
Houston Texan linebacker Brian Cushing (134 tackles, 5 sacks and 4interceptions) was this player.
Before the National Football League season had started, Cushing was subject to the leagues random drug testing. It seemed as if he passed the random test and was good to go.
Unfortunately for the Texans and Cushing, it was later revealed that he had tested positive for human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), a fertility drug that is used as a masking agent for someone that is coming off a “steroid cycle.” This positive test was announced after Cushing had already received the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
This Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) happens to also be the drug that Los Angeles Dodgers leftfielder Manny Ramirez tested positive for last year.
After the AP had learned about the tests results they decided to hold a revote for the award. Cushing ended up winning again thankfully.
This situation brings up a huge argument. Why do we make such a big deal about steroids in sports?
Going back to the days of Babe Ruth, players have been using illegal substances. Sure Ruth was only an alcoholic, but it was during the 1920’s and the period of prohibition, when it was illegal to consume alcohol. Yet no one cared because they had never seen a someone hit the ball so far so many times.
During the Henry Aaron’s era (former career leader in homeruns), 50’s-70’s, drugs known as greenies ran rampant throughout the sports. Greenies in fact are slang for amphetamines. The use for amphetamines was to increase energy levels, concentration, and motivation. Sounds good but they were illegal too and still are to this day. But when we talk about steroids nowadays, we never recognize greenies.
Then BOOM in the 80’s and early 90’s cocaine hit the scene. Again athletes used this drug and the only athletes we really cared about doing “coke” was Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Bias (who died from only a one time use of the drug).
In the 90’s and early 2000’s everyone knew that seemingly everyone was taking steroids. Again no one cared that athletes were taking an illegal substance, but hey, players like Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffiled, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro and countless other were saving the sport with their bats. While pitchers like Roger Clemens (allegedly), Andy Pettitte, Eric Gagne, Kevin Brown, John Rocker and again too many to imagine were implicated in taking steroids or other PEDS.
Owners and league officials didn’t really care that players were taking anabolic steroids, human growth hormones and other steroid related drugs. A few baseball writers started writing about how angry they were about the apparent steroid abuse, which led to fans hating the drugs too, finally.
Fine, fine, fine. I get it. I started out football and went to baseball. So let’s go back to football.
Rodney Harrison was suspended four games in 2007 for using HGH. He admitted his use to the commissioner of the league but the story was barely a side note at the time regardless.
In 2008, three members of the New Orleans Saints, Deuce McAllister, Will Smith and Charles Grant failed drug tests along with Minnesota Vikings, Pat and Kevin Williams, and Grady Jackson of the Atlanta Falcons. All these tests never caught actual steroids, but they did catch “masking agents,” which is usually a diuretic pill.
All those players are Pro-Bowlers or even All-Pro’s, yet even I forgot that they were suspended four games for failing drug tests.
On Thursday May 20, former Tour De France winner, Floyd Landis finally admitted to using PEDs and then tried to accuse Lance Armstrong of taking them too, along with many more cyclists.
But even Landis says he has no proof that Armstrong did, so Landis is a joke. He spent all his money and other people’s money that was donated to him through his website. He denied for years and finally admitted it but only to try to bring someone down with him
With all these instances, Cushing’s situation is a joke. The AP was embarrassed so they tried to take the award away. Sure a lot of people changed their vote (originally 39 first place votes to 18), but one writer-Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette- actually changed his vote to Cushing, to supposedly show how stupid the re-vote was.
I tend to agree with Bouchette.
We haven’t had a problem with athletes taking illegal drugs until either we are embarrassed or we are feed up with it. So do we really care about drugs in sports? Doubt it.
Look for more of Clayton’s stories on http://thatsportsarena.blogspot.com
-By Clayton Fawcette
