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Posted by Mike Florio on February 17, 2009, 7:43 a.m.
We’re not quite sure how it started or why it continues. And, as folks who love football and loathe baseball, we’re not all that upset about it.
But the reality has been, is, and will continue to be that, while steroids use is a scarlet letter for guys who swing a stick, no such stigma applies to guys who put on pads.
The latest example? Pats linebacker Larry Izzo is expected to testify in the Barry Bonds perjury trial that Izzo received banned substances from Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson.
The news has been out there for a couple of days. But with the sports media transfixed by pro basketball’s meaningless two-day dog and pony show (apparently, Kobe has acquired a taste for Shaq’s ***), the news barely has generated a ripple.
We still don’t understand how this has happened. Maybe it’s because of the geekish obsession that so-called baseball purists have with the record book and the men who played in an era when the only available performance enhancer was a bottle of Scotch — as if Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle wouldn’t have loaded up their rear ends with anything/everything that could have helped them hit the ball even farther. Or maybe it’s because we all realize at a visceral level that human males don’t sprout cartoonish physiques without pharmaceutical assistance.
Regardless, as a people we’re far past the point of caring about banned substances in football.
We’re not saying it’s right. We’re just acknowledge the truth.
We’re not quite sure how it started or why it continues. And, as folks who love football and loathe baseball, we’re not all that upset about it.
But the reality has been, is, and will continue to be that, while steroids use is a scarlet letter for guys who swing a stick, no such stigma applies to guys who put on pads.
The latest example? Pats linebacker Larry Izzo is expected to testify in the Barry Bonds perjury trial that Izzo received banned substances from Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson.
The news has been out there for a couple of days. But with the sports media transfixed by pro basketball’s meaningless two-day dog and pony show (apparently, Kobe has acquired a taste for Shaq’s ***), the news barely has generated a ripple.
We still don’t understand how this has happened. Maybe it’s because of the geekish obsession that so-called baseball purists have with the record book and the men who played in an era when the only available performance enhancer was a bottle of Scotch — as if Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle wouldn’t have loaded up their rear ends with anything/everything that could have helped them hit the ball even farther. Or maybe it’s because we all realize at a visceral level that human males don’t sprout cartoonish physiques without pharmaceutical assistance.
Regardless, as a people we’re far past the point of caring about banned substances in football.
We’re not saying it’s right. We’re just acknowledge the truth.
