So, why did the Associated Press voting panel waste our time with this Brian Cushing Rookie of the Year re-voting crap?

I love it when you get really wound up like this, and I completely agree with it all. I’m almost shouting ‘DAMN RIGHT’ while reading along.

Just remember it if you get chance to talk to any of those schmucks, confront them about it on behalf of all of us.

There should be no reward for cheating. I really don’t like the message this sends to young athletes, or to young people in general.

This situation reminds me very much of Baseball Hall of Fame voting every year.

Not because they remind me of the old fashioned BBWAA people who simply refuse to acknowledge statistics and instead vote based on their gut or their warm fuzzy memories and emotions of yesteryear – though I’m sure some of the AP voters are equally moronic – but because they’re so blatantly being defiant and using their vote as a weapon, a soapbox, and an excuse to make themselves the news.

This is what assholes like Jon Heyman and hundreds of others do by refusing to elect Mark McGwire, and now it’s what idiots in the AP are doing by re-voting for Cushing.

Look, if you don’t care much about steroids or people getting suspended, that’s one thing; I don’t either. I like steroids. They improve the product and the supermen entertain me more. (Going past that, in baseball, they were effectively allowed/encouraged for 25 years, so who the hell are you to call it “cheating” anyway?) If you want to take them and take the risk of being caught, that’s fine with me. Just accept the consequences when caught. That’s fine with me. If the consequences are enough of a deterrent to make it a big deal with caught, that’s fine too, and thus that’d make me upset if a player on my own team juiced in today’s game… but when it wasn’t enforced, my opinion is that if you weren’t juicing, you weren’t trying hard enough.

Getting back to the voters – Obviously, my personal opinion on steroids dictates that I have no issue with any voter who simply said “you know what? I don’t care. He’s still the DROY. The rules state that he’s eligible, he was the best, he wins.” Fine.

But most of those people didn’t do that. They cast their vote for him as a protest against the idea of a re-vote. Hell, one Byrd voter CHANGED his vote to Cushing as a protest.

Those idiots should all be fired for insubordination.

This isn’t about you. It’s not about making a statement. Use your columns for that. You were instructed to vote for the DROY again with the knowledge that he juiced in the pre-season and that absent the extremely long appeal, he would’ve been suspended last year, revoking his eligibility. You were instructed to acknowledge the possibility that a big part of the reason he was so good was because he used steroids.

Instead, you ignored your orders. You didn’t do your job. You decided to take a stand and make a statement. You decided you didn’t want to set a new precedent. But guess what: That’s not your goddamn decision. The precedent was already set. Shut up and do your job. If you want to feign some moral objection, do it in your columns and get your readers that way. On the vote, you’re supposed to vote for a player, not against a process.

I say this even without liking the idea of the revote. If you ask me, they should’ve just revoked it and given it to the 2nd place finisher. I don’t think it sets a bad precedent, because the situation is unique. This isn’t rumor or a verbal admission several years after the fact. It was a documented failed test that happened before that season. He wasn’t eligible for the award, and thus he should not have won.

God I hate the national media. They don’t know the game, yet they’re allowed to write about it with an audience of millions, and they’re allowed to make moronic decisions that affect the way things are remembered throughout history. And because they’re such pompous asses, fifty years from now parents and grandparents are going to have to explain to kids why guys like Mark McGwire aren’t given awards they deserve because they admitted using steroids when they weren’t enforced, yet someone like Cushing gets the award when he was caught using them when they were enforced.

Slightly off topic, but you just let it fly by when Vic Ketchman refers to himsef as a member of the media.

Come on? Clueless team mouthpiece = journalist? Murrow is rolling in his grave.

Regarding Cushing and that crap, yeah, agreed.

But on the Vic thing, I’ll assume you were just distracted by Cush’s taut, rippling, acne-scarred back and over-sized lower jaw (ala Schwarzenegger in his Conan days), plus the shiny DROY statue on his mantel.

Not once could he look up and say, “I did not cheat”. Reading lies is easy.

He’s just naturally dumb.

that is found in pregnant women and men who try to MASK their steroid use, yet he says he has no clue how it got there. Unless Cushing is one buffed up ugly looking chick who was impregnated by Tawmy, then that only leaves one other option now doesn’t it Mr. Cushing? With all due respect you have a history of juicing and you can not deny that. No one is going to believe that this substance just magically appeared in your body at a high enough level for you to test positive. Just fess up and be done with it you roid addicted, cheating mofo.

It sets a horrible precedent, as Cushing never actually tested positive for any performance enhancing substance. For all we know, he could have just been jerking it before the test. Now, I’m not so naive to believe that he wasn’t using a masking agent (and not just having a little “me time”), but the AP’s handling of this was ridiculous.

But I really don’t get the debate with this topic. The substance he tested positive for a) is banned by the NFL and b) cannot occur naturally in a man. Seems pretty simple to me.

Bottom line: he broke the rules, the league will suspend him a few games (I understand this is his 2nd infraction and a 3rd could ban him for a lot longer), and the AP handled this terribly. They should have just stripped him of the honor. And yes, it’s an honor to be named DROY, an honor he “earned” while breaking the rules. And, yes, I’d like to see both Peppers and Merriman stripped of their honors as well…if it was banned back then, I don’t get the confusion.

I ind it so odd how in baseball if a player takes steroids he’s automatically a villain and cheater, and people who defend steroid users in baseball are considered to undermine the integrity of the game. In football though, the national media is like “whatever” when a player tests positive.

The thing that annoys me is when players use steroids for a GOOD reason. Ya know, like recovering from a serious injury! Some people consider it cheating because it’s unnatural or whatever, but this is these people’s livelihoods. They put food on their family’s table by doing this thing. Doctors prescribe steroids to regular people all the time to heal from injuries. It’s abusing them when not needed that is unethical. Yet, even those who have a good reason are vilified.

Look at the game and what it has become; very few players can get by with God’s gifts; if steroids are needed to shorten recovery time from injuries, or keep your strength up, then let them take them.

These are the present day gladiators, and to think they won’t use PEDs is being naive.

1, Should be stripped
2. Diplays no true sportsmanlike integrity
3. By Rules was never suposed to be allowed in probowl once tested positive